DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Saturday, September 23, 2006
The Conception of the Forerunner and Baptist John
Kellia: Jeremiah
5:10-19 Epistle:
1 Corinthians 4:17-5:5 Gospel:
St. Luke 4:31-36
Self-Excommunication: 1 Corinthians 4:17-5:5,
especially vs. 20: “For the
kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” St. John of Kronstadt invites us to marvel “at the greatness
and life-giving properties of the Holy Sacrament...A young girl who was almost
dying, after the Communion of the Holy Sacrament began to recover on the same
day from her illness; began to eat, drink, and speak; whilst before this she
was almost in a state of unconsciousness, violently tossed about, and could
neither eat nor drink anything.”
Considering God’s power revealed in the Holy Gifts, he exclaimed: “Glory
to Thy life-giving and terrible Mysteries, O Lord.”
Who keeps any child of God away from the Holy
Cup? Is it not one’s own pride,
lust, and willfulness? Let us all
“weep between the porch and the altar” (Joel 2:17) when any for whom Christ died
turn aside from such a marvelous gift of love. If we sin against our Lord and God, let us not delay, but
hasten to cleanse ourselves before Him, having examined our past thoughts,
words, and deeds, purposed not to repeat those things by which we have broken
faith with Him, and poured out in confession the sins we have committed,
seeking His forgiveness.
While we know the way to return to our Father when we
have wallowed in the pig pens of this world, a firm determination not to cut
ourselves off from the Life-Giver is equally important. In today’s Epistle reading, St. Paul
advances some important habits which the Faithful in Christ need to cultivate
in order to prevent the sort of self-indulgence that leads to excommunication:
heeding the voice of the Holy Spirit, shunning arrogant self-will, and avoiding
excuse-making.
The Apostle urged the Corinthian disciples to welcome
St. Timothy, his “beloved and faithful son in the Lord,” whom he sent to remind
them of his “ways in Christ,” a mode of living that he taught “everywhere and
in every church”(vs. 17). In the
same way, let us welcome the reminders of “the beloved and faithful” Holy
Spirit of God. St. Timothy models
His coming in order to recall us to the Apostolic life in Christ taught
universally throughout the Church.
Unlike the Corinthians, we have a two-thousand year Tradition of exemplary
teaching passed on to us from the Holy Fathers, who themselves struggled
through purification and illumination to attain deification and speak to us
like St. Paul - with the voice of the Lord Himself.
When the Spirit of the Lord speaks, be confident that
He will direct us away from “being puffed up,” just as St. Paul warned the
Corinthians (vs. 18). Let us never
be so full of self that we vainly think like those who never imagine that God
“will come to [them] shortly” (vs. 19) and not merely in words of caution or
even of rebuke, but “in power” (vs. 20), correcting and sharply punishing us
for daring to scorn Him and His will.
Oh, yes, Beloved of the Lord, He comes even to His own with a rod (vs.
21 and Heb. 12:6). Life does not
work simply as the secularists suggest - “What goes around, comes around.” God is an active participant in the
course of this world, so let us never ‘discount’ or ‘ignore’ His immediate
awareness of our thinking and actions.
Rather, in the sense suggested by the Apostle to the
members of the Church at Corinth, let us mourn that any of us “might be taken
away from” a share in the Holy Cup (vs. 2), and recoil from any whisper within
of excusing or “understanding” self- indulgence. The fashion of this world regards those who sin as “victims”
of overwhelming social conditions or unfortunate circumstances, instead of
seeing them as persons accountable for their actions. In the manner of Saint Paul and “with the power of the Lord
Jesus Christ,” let us live in awe of the Holy Mysteries and strive actively to
be worthy of their “greatness and life-giving properties.”
O Word Whom we magnify, let us who enjoy the banquet
of Thine immortal table, and in the upper chamber, receive with uplifted minds
Thine exalted words and ways.
Return to the September Calendar