Have you ever heard the saying “Think before you speak?” Unfortunately, most of us have great difficulty in following this wise advice. How often do we find ourselves regretting the harmful and, sometimes, hateful things we say to one another. If only we could control our tongue!
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The Church’s Liturgy is so important St. John of Kronstadt even said that: “If one was to put all of the world’s most precious things on one side of a scale, and the Divine Liturgy on the other, the scales would tip completely in favor of the Divine Liturgy.”
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Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
The first Beatitude has nothing to do with poverty or economics. “Blessed are the poor in spirit/ for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The term “poor in spirit” comes from the Greek, meaning “completely empty.” Empty of what? To inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, our inner self must be totally void of pride, arrogance, self-centeredness and self-reliance. A person “poor in spirit” humbly realizes that God has blessed us with all things, and that we are all lowly sinners, unworthy of His divine grace. Still, those who are in this state of “spiritual poverty” fully understand that our Lord, in His righteousness, loves the sinner even though He detests our sins. We are implored to be like the publican in Christ’s famous parable, unable to even lift our eyes to Heaven as we shamefully recall our many transgressions. There will always be a place in God’s Kingdom for those who approach Him in sincere humility.
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Humility is the door of the Kingdom [of heaven] that introduces those who draw near to it… We who wish to understand this must not cease to examine ourselves; if in the perception of our heart we consider that our neighbor excels us in all things, then Divine mercy is near us.
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The assertion of the spirit-bearing potentialities of the material creation is a constant theme during the season of Lent. On the first Sunday of the Great Fast, we are reminded of the physical nature of Christ’s Incarnation, of the material reality of the holy icons, and of the visible, aesthetic beauty of the Church. On the second Sunday we keep the memory of St. Gregory Palamas (1296 – 1359,) who taught that all creation is permeated by the energies of God, and that even in the present life this divine glory can be perceived through man’s physical eyes, provided that his body has been rendered spiritual by God’s grace. On the third Sunday we venerate the material wood of the Cross; on the sixth Sunday we bless material branches of palms; on Wednesday in Holy Week we are signed with material oil in the sacrament of Anointing; on Holy Thursday we recall how at the Last Supper Christ blessed material bread and wine, transforming them into His Body and Blood.
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