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2nd Sunday in Lent OCALA 3/19/06 Today's Gospel lesson regarding the healing of the Paralytic is indeed a powerful lesson on faith and perseverance. Since we spoke on this last year, I chose to offer a few thoughts on the rich young ruler of the Gospel, who asked the Lord: "what must I do to gain Eternal Life?, to which the Lord replied: "Keep the Commandments." The young man said: "I have kept them from my youth!" whereupon the Lord, putting him to the great test, said to him: "Fine. But yet, you lack in one thing. Go, and sell all that you have and distribute to the poor. Then come, and follow Me, and you shall have great treasures in Heaven!" This was truly shocking for the young man, because he could never envision his separating himself from his earthly treasures. Without a word, he makes an about face, and dejectedly he walks away. Here we are today, --- the 2nd Sunday in Lent; --- I think we all can ask ourselves, if WE are lacking yet in one thing? Moreover, we can ask ourselves, --- whether we have consciously grasped the great opportunity, which Lent affords us for spiritual perfection, and which in turn guarantees us the happiness, which we all envision? I really think, that so many Christians live on the edge of happiness, without ever getting to the core of happiness, simply because, they do not exercise spiritually, as so many of us neglect our physical exercising, even though we may have the best of intentions to commence exercising. Life can truly become abundant, if it is founded on conviction! This is what many people lack. True and unshakable conviction. Just being good, as some people think, by simply avoiding evil, is never enough! The question then, naturally arises: "What is the positive good, which we lack? And how can we move from the edge of spiritual life, into the very heart of it?" Firstly, we must come to believe, and to put into effect the spiritual life; a life, which is organized around an idea or an ideal. A life with a definite purpose. A life with a plan to follow. A life built around an organizing principle. I believe, that so many Christians live a hectic and perhaps confused life, which really should not be that way. We are impulsive and often erratic. Momentarily, we may be carried away by what may be felt as spirited enthusiasm, but soon after, we abandon this enthusiasm only to fall into dreary monotony. The great weakness of the unorganized life is, that it carries no inner reserves, with which to meet life's experiences. The unorganized life most always finds itself at the mercy of the moment. So it is, that when a person finally comes face to face with some crisis, there is no depth of resources from which to draw. As a result, people grope frantically, or they may even use pretense, --- that is, if the situation calls for it. Our Lord Jesus taught us the simplicity of life; a life surrounded by an idea! He taught us and exemplified the idea of God's love in everyone's heart. When we read the events of the Lord's life, we can almost sense the calmness, and the poise, with which He walked amidst the frustration and confusion during His time in Palestine. In a similar manner, we also should make every effort to live our life, with this discipline and conviction. In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord gives us the secret of this calmness and poise. He says: "If your eye is single, or clear, your whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body shall be full of darkness. (Matthew 6:22-23)Our Lord Jesus emphasized the single or clear eye, meaning that it is the simplicity of intention in our life. He exposed the confusion of a multiple purpose, which results in multiple vision! He advocated the unified and disciplined life, and condemned the attempt to serve two masters, as so many Christians choose to do! Secondly, --- we must come to understand that the spiritual life cherishes inner personality, more than the external objects, to which unfortunately, so many Christians give primary importance. If Christians are ever to move beyond the edge of life to enter fully onto the spiritual plane, we must do more to discipline our life, and to have it dominated by the organizing principle of Christian virtues. So many Christians live on the surface. We get caught up in the swift current of building our life based upon the enjoyment only of the physical things. We measure our security by our material possessions. We rarely bring to mind, that God created us in His own image; that is to focus our life in becoming God-like. God gave us His breath of life, which is our spiritual counterpart --- our eternal soul! The soul, which so often is neglected, or mal-nourished, because we have learned to cater only to our physical counterpart! That is why, even though we are physically sustained by bread, the Lord said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word, that comes from God's mouth!" (Matthew 4:4) The spiritual life is one, which clearly and definitively recognizes, that the measure of a person is, in the wisdom of one's mind, the kindness in one's heart, and the depth of one's soul! It is precisely this inward wisdom, kindness and the depth, which the rich young ruler lacked, as do so many, many Christians. Thirdly, a spiritual life involves the complete commitment of self to enthusiasm and devotion.Do we know that the word "enthusiasm" is a synthetic Greek word "en Theo," which means "in God?" As Christians we must consciously love our fellow humans to he utmost, as God has loved us! Yet, -- how many Christians love as they should? We love God; we respect Him; we acknowledge Him; we praise Him, and we thank Him, as we did again today in our Divine Liturgy, as true Members of His blessed Family, --- but somehow, so many Christians do not fully commit themselves to God, as the first and great loyalty in our life. Why is this so? The answer may be in the fact, that we choose to live on the edge of the spiritual, rather than in the heart of its power. All of us must ask ourselves: "Are we really committed to God? Or, is our commitment on the outer rim of the circle, instead of in the core?" When the Lord asked the young ruler to go and sell all, He was merely testing him, so as to prove to him, that his wealth was his primary love, and which stood in the way of his devotion to something, comparatively greater than himself. By responding positively to the Lord's calling, he would have had the guarantee of being much wealthier in his spirit, and to serve the insights well, which Jesus has revealed to His followers for all time! Our Lord is not primarily concerned, whether a person possesses, or lacks wealth. Rather, He is concerned, whether a person lacks a consecration to the eternal truths of the human spirit. He recognizes, that to lead a truly fulfilled life, as is natural to desire, the individual must give of himself, or herself completely. The persons, whom Jesus blessed in the Gospel narratives, in every instance, were people who offered Him their total being in some particular category, whether their pride, their faith, their loyalty or their gratitude. This, the Lord asks from all of us, two thousand years later. Amen. +Fr. George Papadeas
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