A priest friend of mine, known for sending strange and humourous items my way, sent the following “wedding rant.” It was from the October 4, 2009 bulletin of St. Lambert’s Roman Catholic Parish in Skokie, IL. While it amplifies some modern issues with marriage celebrations in the Roman Catholic Church today, I think that any pastor, whether they be Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, etc., may find it at least mildly humourous. One final note – it does offer a solution but does not expand on that solution – perhaps I can offer some thoughts on this at a later date.

The Reverend Know-it-all
“What I don’t know… I can always make up!”

Warning:: THIS EPISODE OF THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE YOU KNOW. PLEASE READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE. THE REV. KNOW IT ALL IS NOT OPPOSED TO ALL WEDDING CELEBRATIONS. HE IS NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR WEDDING WHICH WAS A TRIUMPH OF PERSONAL SANCTITY AND GOOD TASTE. HE IS PROBABLY JUST HAVING A BAD DAY.

Dear Rev. Know it all,
I visited your church once and am thinking about having my wedding there. How long is your main aisle?
- Mary O’Burne

Dear Mary,
I am often asked that question, and never quite understand it. Are brides curious about the length of the aisle because they think a longer aisle may give them a few more minutes to back out of the whole thing? Or, as I suspect, does a long aisle prolong the glorious promenade of which a young girl dreams as she thumbs through bridal magazine as she contemplates her special day, when all eyes focus on her as she approaches her enchanted prince and all the world thinks she’s gorgeous and knows that she has bagged her man just as surely as a Wisconsin bricklayer bags a deer and ties it onto the roof of his pick up truck? I have certainly seen a few grooms who look like a frightened deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

Why is it that weddings cause people to spend so much time, energy and money? And more money. The average American wedding costs almost $29,000, according to “The Wedding Report”, a market research publication. $29,000!” Oh, by the by, the usual donation to the church is about $200.00. That $200 goes to the church, not to the priest. The usual gift to the priest is a hearty handclasp. The usual cost of the photographer is $2,000.00. All this tells me that the photographs are one hundred times more important than the grace of the sacrament, in most peoples’ estimation. The usual fee for the DJ is $1,500.00. I am consoled by this. It means that painful, occasionally obscene music loud enough to cause brain damage is only 75 times more important than the grace of the sacrament.

You must be thinking why is this guy so down on weddings? I am down on some weddings because I am very “up” on the sacrament of matrimony and really in favor of marriage. That’s why the modern method of marrying and the wedding industry make me crazy. They militate against marriage.

Here is the heart of my complaint. IT IS STUPID TO SPEND MORE TIME AND MONEY PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING THAN YOU DO PREPARING FOR THE MARRIAGE!!! I have known people who are still paying the credit card bills generated by the wedding years after the marriage is over. The Modern Method of Marriage, a Reprise. The following is taken from my own experiences and things people have told me (outside of confession, you’ll be glad to know.) Here goes.

A young man and a young woman meet and have a few dates. They go for a weekend at a bed and breakfast where they bed one another, and then have breakfast. If he isn’t too much of a jerk and she isn’t too picky, they are then an item. She goes to the doctor gets a prescription and goes on to a more permanent form of birth control. At some time during this stage, the uncomfortable meeting with the parents happens. Everyone is polite and “supportive.” Secretly the father of the young woman who knows exactly what’s going on, contemplates buying a gun and the mother of the young man begins gossiping with whomever will listen about how her little boy could do better. After a while, if things hold up, they begin to have the conversation about taking their relationship to the “next level” by which they mean shacking up, as we used to call it. Now, I think it’s called moving in together.

Mom and Dad buy housewarming gifts in an attempt to, once again, be supportive. They don’t want their little dears to hate them and besides, it’s what everyone is doing these days, so it can’t be wrong. They have vague thoughts about getting married at that point and mom explains to grandma and to friends at church that they are just doing it to save money for the wedding. At this stage an engagement ring may appear. At some point, when they think about getting the house and the kids, because that’s what you do, they decide to have the wedding. They rent the hall and then go see the priest. He tells them there are four other weddings that day and they respond, “but we’ve rented the hall already.” Someone suggests a garden wedding if the church is occupied. The priest says we can’t do garden weddings. (More on this later.) The young couple begins to complain about how narrow minded the Church is with all these rules and regulations. They eventually pick a date. Then the bottom drops out. It seems the groom is not Catholic. He was baptized in the First Reformed Church of the Druids, though he never practiced. This means there must be a dispensation for the marriage, another irritating Catholic invention, and the wedding date cannot be confirmed until the dispensation is received. The bride goes back to her doctor, this time for a prescription for valium. Her mother joins her on this visit. Finally the dispensation is granted, The groom’s druid will do one of the readings at the wedding, the loans are taken out, the banns are published. Then there is the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The best man comes to the rehearsal drunk out of his mind, the groom only slightly tipsy. The bride is furious at everyone for some reason known to her alone. Probably because the groom is far more interested in drinking and watching the football game on his hand held computer thing than he is in gazing lovingly into her eyes in anticipation of the great day. In fact they haven’t been, well… friendly in weeks. It is, after all, football season.

The special day comes, the best man is still drunk, the groom is hung over, no one knew about that interesting tattoo that the maid of honor had way low on her back, now revealed by the plunging back of her dress that is held up only by wishful thinking. Grandma, upon reading the logo of the maid of honor’s tattoo, has fainted. Somewhere in all this the vows are exchanged, and quite a few of the wedding party receive their first Holy Communion that day, however one of the ushers puts the host in his suit pocket not having a clue what it is. (This actually has happened to me twice.) The pictures have been taken. The noise level in the church reaches that of an English soccer match after the riot has broken out. The children are jumping off the altar and the priest is scowling at everyone. Now on to the pictures in the forest preserve, a “must” at every wedding. There the wedding party is attacked by mosquitoes, one of the children falls into the lagoon and the bride is having a hard time smiling for the photos. The best man passes out. On to the reception. The bride loses it because the shade of fuchsia in the floral center pieces clashes with the shade of fuchsia in the wedding party’s outfit. The groom adjourns to the bar where the game is on the television. The wedding dinner is served as music is played at a mind numbing volume. Grandma is better now. She has turned off her hearing aid. The priest is seated with the pious relatives in plaid suit coats and leaves shortly after the grace before meals. The best man makes the toast which drones on about how he loves the groom and one begins to wonder. The college roommate/maid of honor does the same for the bride, going on for fifteen minutes about how she knew the bride would find eternal marital bliss the moment she met her in the third grade and they have been like sisters ever since.

Then at some point, there is a video presentation of embarrassing photos not unlike the ones that are now shown at wakes. The bar opens up again. The music reaches levels that cause blood to drip from some peoples’ nose and ears. The joyous event ends with the bride and groom being the last to leave the hall. They are slow to go up to the room they have rented in the hotel because nothing new or beautiful awaits them there. The groom promptly falls asleep, being heavily sedated already, and, as he snores away, with his shoes still on, our blushing bride, having shed her dress of virginal white, thinks back on this day, her special day, the most important day in her life, the day she has dreamt of since she was a little girl. They will stay an extra day at the hotel, but cannot afford the time or money to go on a honeymoon because on Monday they will both be back at work in order to pay off the colossal bill that their special day has incurred. For some reason, the bride is depressed. Perhaps she is realizing that the high point of her life is now past and the rest of it will be spent with the lump that is now snoring beside her with whom she has never really had a serious conversation, except about the proper shade of fuchsia for the floral centerpieces. So it is that we celebrate the marriage of Christ and His Church in these enlightened and tolerant times.

Remember, none of these things happened at your wedding, thank God and don’t think from reading this that I am down on marriage or even weddings. I love a wedding celebration when there is something to celebrate. Also, it is never too late to begin again by taking Christ and His gospel seriously.

PLEASE SPEND MORE TIME AND MONEY PREPARING FOR THE MARRIAGE THAN YOU DO PREPARING FOR THE WEDDING.

Yours,

The Rev, Know it all

P.S. Garden weddings. They look good in all the bridal magazines but they are just opportunities to feed biting insects and suffer from sunburn. It is however amusing to watch the bridesmaids sinking in the mud as they try, after a few margaritas to maneuver the newly laid sod in spiked heals. The bride is generally exhausted from not having slept for three weeks as she worries about the weather reports which are promising a 50 percent chance of typhoons and earthquakes that day. And destination weddings. Don’t get me started on Destination Weddings! You want to be married with just your closest friends on a beach in Maui. That means that Grandma can’t go because she hasn’t flown since the Hindenburg Disaster, and is thinking of cutting you out of the will, and all the friends and relatives who aren’t with you on the beach in Maui realize they aren’t very close to you after all. And I haven’t a clue how long the aisle is here at St. Dymphna’s.

The entire piece can be found here.

Redeemer of the nations, come,
That we may taste the Virgin’s fruit
And every age in wonder gaze
On such a birth, worthy of God!

No earthly father’s seed played here,
But mystic Breath touched Virgin womb:
The Word of God took human form
And human flesh blossomed divine.

The Virgin’s womb a burden bears;
A Mother still remains a Maid.
God Lives within His fleshly shrine;
Banners of grace His presence show.

See! from His bridal-chamber, now,
From the high halls of purity:
A giant, both human and divine!
A champion shows us how to run!

Proceeding from the Father, God,
To God the Father He returns;
He races to the gate of Hell,
Through death, to life, with God to dwell.

You bear the trophy of Your flesh
To God eternal, with Him one;
Strengthen our mortal, earthly frame,
With conquering grace: the prize You’ve won.

The cradle where You lie breaks forth
In light that changes night to day;
A light that cannot know dismay
As faith takes up the radiant beam.

Glory to You, O Virgin-born,
Our Lord and with the Father, God,
In unity of Spirit, now
And ever, through eternity.

-St. Ambrose

Among the many types of saints, there is one particular kind of saint that intrigues me. A fool-for-Christ in known for his or her apparent insanity and yet is considered to be holy. Here is a little summary of a fool-for-Christ:

One form of the ascetic Christian life is called foolishness for the sake of Christ. The fool-for-Christ set for himself the task of battling within himself the root of all sin, pride. In order to accomplish this he took on an unusual style of life, appearing as someone bereft of his mental faculties, thus bringing upon himself the ridicule of others. In addition he exposed the evil in the world through metaphorical and symbolic words and actions. He took this ascetic endeavour upon himself in order to humble himself and to also more effectively influence others, since most people respond to the usual ordinary sermon with indifference. The spiritual feat of foolishness for Christ was especially widespread in Rus’. (Excerpted from The Law of God, Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, NY: 1993)

The whole idea of being a fool for Christ is rooted in part from St. Paul’s exhortations to the Christians in Corinth: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18); and “If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise” (1 Corinthians 3:18). Fools-for-Christ took to an extreme the fact that the wisdom of God appears as foolishness to the wisdom of the world.

I don’t know about you, but part of me really doesn’t like to appear foolish in front of others. It is displeasure. But, in some way, we are all called to that foolishness that St. Paul writes about and the fools-for-Christ practiced to an extreme. Like the saints, we mustn’t be afraid to bring the Gospel to the world, and we mustn’t be afraid to appear foolish.

Is there some small way we can put into practice what St. Paul writes about the saints practiced? I believe there is  the Nativity of Christ (Christmas) is approaching (less than 40 days away). In the celebration of Christmas, our society has forgotten some keys aspects of this feast, and has embraced some things contrary to what Christmas is all about. I am wondering if we are willing to “appear foolish” in our approach to Christmas this year and in the years to come?

In the Gospel of Matthew, we read of the wise men that came to Bethlehem searching for a king. “And so they left, and on the way they saw the same star they had seen in the East. When they saw it, so happy they were, what joy was theirs … They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, and presented them to Him” (Matthew 2:9-11). They had found the King of kings born in a little corner of the world in a cave, resting in a manger, a food trough for the animals. And it was to this King – born in all humility and littleness – that they fell and prostrated before Him. The star in the East led to them to great joy!

When I was a small boy, I remember asking my parents, who then asked my parish priest: “How long did the star in the East stay there? Did it ever set?” The answer was that they did not know. This question still persists today as I meditate on the Mystery of the Incarnation. And the only answer is the same as before: I do not know if the star ever set – materially. But I do know one thing that is true for all of us, that the star of the East still shines brightly for the Church and for each of us interiorly. The star of the East still draws us to Jesus Christ as it did for the wise men some 2,000 years ago. And this star leads us to great joy as well!

In a mystical way, when we became Christians at our baptism, and became incorporated into the Body of Christ, we were illuminated with the Light that never sets. In some sense, we, each of us individually, and together as a body, are that Star of the East that stills shines. By our words, our actions, our thoughts and our prayers, we are the ones who shine unto this world, pointing to the Babe Who is the very Incarnate Love of God.

My friends, look for this star in your hearts. Show this star to your spouses, to your children and your children’s children. Teach them of the joy of Christmas, a joy which is much more than any emotional high, a joy which endures forever, a joy routed in the hope of salvation. And may the Lord provide every opportunity for this! Let’s get foolish!

Be assured of my prayers for you.

I have finally arrived home after what seems to be a day of comedy of errors and pain.

I had an early appointment to get my snow tires put on my car for the pending season of snow, ice, slush and freezing rain. I have spent the last 16 of 17 winters in Manitoba and never had snow tires – I just used the all-season radials that came with the car. I moved to Ottawa last July and now I have this sudden urge to get snow tires on my car. For the time being, I will call that urge providential. I took some light reading with me as I waited in the dealership cafeteria (yes, dealers sometimes have the best buys on snow tires!). I thought the wait would be a maximum of one hour. Two hours went by and I was called to pay the bill – which I did. I walked to my car and sure enough the remote opened the locks – to another car that looked just like mine. After the initial confusion – both mine and the service advisor – we came to realize that another customer with an identical car (even the same colour) had come into the dealership at the same time as me with an electrical problem. The dealership had put my tires on the wrong car. They assured me that they would fix this immediately. I went back to the cafeteria and sought out the other customer and explained the situation to her (a retired elementary school teacher). She looked relieved – the mechanics had told her that there was no electrical problem with her car – that’s because they were looking at my car. Another two hours passed and I was able to drive away – a happy customer. Really, I was happy. Although there was some frustration with the mix-up, I was able to get more reading done that I thought I would, and the car drove very well with the new tires. I was officially re-tired.

I was also very happy because I could get home and get some pain killers in me. You see, I had been to the dentist the day before with a severe toothache that had started some two to three weeks ago. A root canal was in order and I was scheduled with a local endodontist for December 3. Later that day I called back saying that I would not last until then and so the root canal was scheduled for today at 4:30 pm. I had never had a root canal before – and I have heard horror stories from family and friends.

I got home, took some pain killers, and went off to the Sheptytsky Institute at Saint Paul University for the weekly Wednesday noon Divine Liturgy. On the way, the dealership called – they had put the wrong tires on my car. More frustration! After the Liturgy, I returned to the dealership and had the correct tires put on – and with the pain killers really not being effective, and the pending unknown horror of a root canal, I began to wonder if the service advisor just had had a bad day or was he in the wrong profession. However, I must exonerate him here – he was fully and utterly apologetic over it all.

When I got to the dentist’s office and she asked how my day went, I asked for the freezing first, and THEN told her and her assistant what had transpired. They were amazed at the story, shaking their heads every so often. Once the freezing had taken, the drilling began. All went well until she hit a nerve that did not get frozen. I jumped in the chair, which caused the dentist to jump up out of her seat, and drop the drill in my mouth. Thankfully, the rubber tooth dam that had installed prevented any cutting of skin, etc. As a result of touching my nerve, my whole body was shaking for about three minutes. My dentist was extremely apologetic for what she considered, I guess, to be unprofessional behaviour. I told her that if someone my size jumped in a dental chair as I had done, I too would have reacted as she had reacted. With deep breaths I settled in for a procedure that now had to be completed. More freezing and more hit nerves, my body was sweating and my mind was racing. Due to (yet another) genetic inheritance (with which I often tease my father), this particular molar had five rather than the usual four canals. More freezing and more hit nerves…

It was in the midst of all this that I finally turned to the Lord – I asked, “Are you there?” and immediately I recalled some words of Holy Scripture:

Seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Dt. 4:29 NKJV).

Indeed, in the midst of all this, there He was. And a peace poured over my heart that melted the frustration, the fear, the anxiety. I still shuddered when a nerve was hit, but I shuddered with peace. There on the dental chair I recalled our Lord’s suffering I the garden and on the Cross. I saw mine in the light of His. I recalled the suffering of heart of some of those parishioners whom I have served over the years. I saw my suffering in the light of theirs in the light of His. And I rejoiced for this sight. I rejoiced because I saw how He has joined us to Him in His suffering, and in His Life. I began to weep (a little) for joy. I am sure that the dentist thought the tears were from the pain she was inflicting – quite the contrary. I will tell her so when I return for a follow up visit next week.

Finding the Lord in everyday experiences. It is something that we ought all to try. In the Acts of the Apostles, we are exhorted to:

seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:27 NKJV).

My friends, let us seek the Lord, our God, and we will find Him if we seek Him with all our heart and with all our soul, and if I may add, with all our nerve.

In the homily at the Eucharistic Celebration culminating World Youth Day 2000, the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II said:

If we are here today, it is because we identify with the Apostle Peter’s reply: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).

Around you, you hear all kinds of words. But only Christ speaks words that stand the test of time and remain for all eternity. The time of life that you are living calls for decisive choices on your part: decisions about the direction of your studies, about work, about your role in society and in the Church. It is important to realize that among the many questions surfacing in your minds, the decisive ones are not about “what”. The basic question is “who”: “who” am I to go to, “who” am I to follow, “to whom” should I entrust my life?

You are thinking about love and the choices it entails, and I imagine that you agree: what is really important in life is the choice of the person who will share it with you. But be careful! Every human person has inevitable limits: even in the most successful of marriages there is always a certain amount of disappointment. So then, dear friends, does not this confirm what we heard the Apostle Peter say? Every human being finds himself sooner or later saying what he said: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”. Only Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God and of Mary, the eternal Word of the Father born two thousand years ago at Bethlehem in Judaea, is capable of satisfying the deepest aspirations of the human heart.

In Peter’s question: “To whom shall we go?” the answer regarding the path to follow is already given. It is the path that leads to Christ. And it is possible to meet the divine Master personally: he is in fact truly present on the altar in the reality of his Body and Blood. In the Eucharistic Sacrifice, we can enter into contact with the person of Jesus in a way that is mysterious but real, drinking at the inexhaustible fountain that is his life as the Risen Lord.

Although these words are addressed to the youth of our world, they are words that we, too, need to hear. For all our longing, for all our desire, in the next world and in this world is to be found in Jesus.

Perhaps we have spent time this past year reflecting on our own lives, on the decisions we have made and need to make – if we haven’t made the time, you have my deepest encouragement to do so. With the sins and mistakes of the past, we may find a certain amount of fear in the decisions for the future. “Be not afraid!” were the words of our Lord to His disciples. “Be not afraid!” were the words of John Paul II in his first address as Pope. And if I may be so bold to place myself but for a moment with Christ, I say to you, my friends, BE NOT AFRAID!

Be not afraid to turn, to repent — for repentance is but turning from sin and the Culture of Death to Christ and the Gospel of Life. It is to Jesus Christ that we turn in prayer and in Mystery. Do we not receive Him in the Holy Eucharist? It is true that He “dwelt among us” but is also true that He dwells among us! Now!

Be not afraid to forgive. In a society where compensation is so much sought after for wrong that is done, healing is often left wanting because we have forgotten to look for reconciliation and healing. Compensation alone leads to a slavery of spirit. Only forgiveness will set us free so that healing may come. We have already been forgiven much by our Lord. We, in turn, must do the same. Do we not request this in the Lord’s Prayer? Turn to Christ again, my friends, and seek His power to forgive when we find it difficult

Be not afraid to love. Our Lord has given Himself fully to us in His life, death and resurrection. And our communion with Him is a participation in the redemption He has wrought. This is love – the complete and unselfish giving of my entire self to another without seeking a return. Can we “see” this act of love in the awesome gift of His precious Body and Blood? Perhaps not with our eyes, but with our heart…

The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council wrote that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It from Jesus that we receive the ability to love at all. My friends, be not afraid to love deeply your spouses, your children, your in-laws, your friends and neighbours. We have received power to do so from Him who loved us first.

Having our fears put aside, we, like the youth mentioned above, will be refreshed and renewed in our faith. And then we can get on with our business – that of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the world!

As any pastor will tell you, for the Great Feast of Feasts (Pascha) and Christmas, there is usually some sort of small competition among parishioners wanting to invite you over to their home for the festive meal. I usually try to sort this out weeks if not months in advance. There are plenty of times for me to visit with parish families through the year; in order to prevent a perception of favouritism, I usually visit with personal friends for Pascha and Christmas – unless there is a pastoral necessity to visit a parish family. On Pascha 2008 I had to visit with one particular parishioner – Michael D.

Michael was a long time parishioner at Holy Eucharist Parish in Winnipeg. He had sung in the choir at the Ukrainian Divine Liturgy on Sunday for decades. And he offered his gift of reading the Epistle regularly. He had a strong, clear voice having no need for a microphone. He always seemed to have a good sense of not only what he read aloud in Church but the meaning of what he read. Through my encounters with him and his dear, loving wife I realized that this was a result of a life of pious and humble prayer.

Then one Sunday near Christmas 2007 it happened. Michael was proclaiming the Epistle from the church balcony and his voice seemed so tired. And then came the crack of his voice, a pause, a look of frustration and worry on his face, and then submission that he could not continue. Another gentleman finished the reading.

I went to visit Michael later that week and found out that cancer had returned to him for a second bout. Over the months between Christmas and Pascha, Michael’s health deteriorated to a point that he was hospitalized a few weeks before Pascha. I went each week to the hospital to prayer with him and to offer him the Holy Mysteries.

Due to the medications that were administered to him to help him with the pain, he was often asleep when I came to visit. I would shake him gently, his eyes would open, and a smile moved across his face. We would chat for a bit, move to praying together and then I would give him the Holy Mysteries. Just that small encounter of no more than ten minutes would exhaust him. I would give him a final blessing, and begin to walk away. Each time, I looked back and saw his head fall back into the pillow with his eyes closed, ready to sleep again – with a smile across his face.

On Pascha 2008, I had served the glorious Matins service, greeted each parishioner present with the kiss of peace, read the Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, and served the Divine Liturgy. Oh, how I love Pascha! As I was putting my vestments away after the Liturgy, my thoughts turned to Michael in the hospital. I had reserved a particle of the Holy Mysteries for him at the Liturgy. As I travelled to the hospital, I asked the Lord to prepare Michael for the reception of Holy Communion – something I always did on the way to the hospital. I walked into his room and as usual Michael was sleeping. Rather than gently shaking him, I began to sing quietly Христос Воскрес – Christ is risen and bit by bit I raised the volume; half way through the second time I sang the Paschal Troparion, Michael awoke. He was a little slower this time, but a smile came to his face. And then he said, “Ah, the Divine Physician has come. You, Father Michael, are a true physician come to heal me.” We chatted a bit, we prayed together again the Paschal Troparion and I offered him the Holy Mysteries from the Paschal Liturgy. But this time, he would remain lying on the bed. With every, and I mean every, bit of strength, he raised himself to a seated position. He prayed the customary prayers before Communion and reverently received our Lord into his mouth. His strength gave out and he fell back into the bed. I helped to make him comfortable as he consumed the Eucharist. Seeing that he was so tired, I prayed the thanksgiving prayers and gave him a blessing. He thanked me for coming to bring him Communion and called me a true physician again. We sang the Paschal Troparion and I said goodbye. I looked back – he was falling asleep – smiling.

The next morning, Michael’s daughter went to visit him. They sang the Paschal Troparion together. It was a short visit. Michael reposed in the Lord later that Bright Monday.

Today is the Feast of St. Matthew. We read the following from the Gospels:

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. And as he sat at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13 RSV)

I couldn’t help but think of Michael D. today as I prepared my homily for the seminarians. I shared with them a little about Michael’s last days and the effect it had on me as a priest. Christ is the Divine Physician – He is the one who heals. And He does this through the everyday ministry of priests. I believe that every priest – and every man who is studying toward priestly ordination – needs to accept and begin to understand (it is ultimately a mystery). Should he, in the name of humility, not accept this, he runs the risk of withholding the healing of the Divine Physician. It’s not about me – it’s about He who is in me.

I often pray for Michael D. and his eternal repose. I know that Michael was not a tax collector – but he would be the first to say that he was a sinner and in need of the Divine Physician. I thank the Lord for his selfless offering of his gifts to the mission of the Church, and for the lesson I learned on Pascha 2008. He is asleep now – I pray he is smiling.

I have watched every James Bond movie ever made—even the latest, Quantum of Solace. Some of the turns and twists in the plots of these movies are incredible. Just when you think the rogue agent working with James Bond is about to help him get the thief or the one seeking world domination—wham! —the story turns on its head and you are again at the edge of your seat. It is no wonder, then, that the One who made us in His image and likeness, uses even better turns and twists in the story of salvation history—which, my friends, is not fiction!

Scripture contains some wonderful examples of these edge-of-the-seat turns and twists in our salvation. The birth of Isaac by Sarah when she and Abraham were in their elderly years; Sarah was long past her child-bearing years. John the Baptist, too, was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth after she had been ridiculed for being unable to bear children. What was humanly impossible was made possible only through the presence, activity and providence of God.

Today, we begin the 40 day period of preparation for the feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Flesh – often call Philip’s Fast or Pilipiwka. As we approach this feast, the Church testifies to the Lord’s activity in our midst. We also recall (as at all times through the Church year) the importance of the Theotokos, the Godbearer in salvation history. On November 21, we celebrate her presentation into the Temple. On December 9, on the feast of the Conception of St. Anna, we celebrate the fact that God can make fruitful that which is barren.

Mary, the Mother of God, has always been venerated by the members of the Church. The early Fathers of the Church called her the New Eve, the mother of a restored and revived humanity. As she is given the titles Godbearer, Mother of God, and Mother of the Church, she gives witness still that God has not deserted humanity; rather, God is with us!

I ask you, friends, to read again and reflect on Jacob’s dream of the ladder bridging earth and heaven.

Jacob left Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place, and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you.” Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place; and I did not know it.” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:10-17)

This dream becomes reality in the conception of the Mother of God in the womb of St. Anna. God pours forth His grace upon Joachim and Anna who, while being barren for all her life up to this point, conceives and gives birth to a sinless girl, who in turn becomes the Mother of the Son of God, Jesus. God descends through Mary and through Mary humanity ascends to God. In Christ Jesus, through Mary, we are able to stand with the assurance that God is not isolated from us. No, my friends, God is with us—Emmanuel—Z namy Boh! (з нами Бог!).

My brothers and sisters in Christ, may the Lord of life bless you in these days of the Nativity Fast (Advent) and continue to enlighten you in the Feast of His Nativity!

It has been much too long since I have posted to this blog. Well, stay tuned as I will be adding something everyday starting November 15, 2009. It is all part of the 40 days of Blogging as suggested by the Preacher’s Institute. Wish me luck!

In Winter of 2004, I followed a graduate course on Eastern Christian Hermeneutics and Exegesis in the Prophecy of Isaiah. It was taught by an excellent man and professor, Fr. Andrew Onuferko. At the time he was also the Acting Director of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at Saint Paul University, Ottawa. One section of the course highlighted the early Church and their use of the only Scriptures they knew of at the time – what we Christians now call the Old Testament. The author, John Sawyer in his excellent book, The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity, notes that the early Christians used Isaiah extensively in their evangelizing efforts, even informally creating a ‘Gospel narrative’ – something very much akin to what we now know as the Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Sawyer proposes such a Gospel narrative in a collection of verses of Isaiah woven together. I have reproduced it below for your marvelling!

Behold a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son (7:14 LXX, Vg), a rod out of the stem of Jesse (11:1). His name shall be called ‘Immanuel’ (7:14), ‘Wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’ (9:6), Key of David (22:22), the Christ (45:1 LXX, Vg). To us a child is born (9:6). The ox knows its owner and the ass its master’s crib (1:3). The gentiles will come to your light and the kings to your rising … they shall bring gold and incense (60:6). The idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence (19:1). Behold my servant … in whom my soul delights (42:1). The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding … (11:2). By the way of the sea, beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations (9:1), the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor… (61:1). Surely he has taken our infirmities and borne our sicknesses (53:4). Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened … then shall the lame man leap like a hart (35:5-6). The glory of the Lord is risen upon you (60:1). He shall be a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation (28:16), but also a stone of offence and a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel (8:14). He said, ‘Go and tell this people, Hear indeed, but understand not …’ (6:9).
I will weep bitterly … because of the destruction of the daughter of my people (that is, Jerusalem 22:4). Say to the daughter of Zion, Your saviour comes (62:11 LXX, Vg). My house will be called a house of prayer for all people (56:7). My servants shall eat but you shall be hungry, my servants shall drink but you shall be thirsty … (65:13). Ho everyone that thirsts, come to the waters … (55:1). He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter (53:7). The government (that is, the cross bearing the inscription ‘King of the Jews’ on it) shall be upon his shoulder (9:6), and there shall come up briars and thorns (5:6). I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to those that pluck out the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting (50:6). He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities (53:5). From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness, but bruises and sores and bleeding wounds (1:6). He was numbered between the transgressors … and made intercession for the transgressors (53:12). They made his grave … with a rich man (53:9). His tomb will be glorious (11:10 Vg). Now I will arise, says the Lord, now I will lift myself up, now I will be exalted (33:10). Then shall your light break forth like the dawn (58:8). Seek the Lord while he may be found (55:6). Behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted and lifted up (52:13 LXX, Vg); he shall be high and lifted up (6:1). I will set a sign among them … I will send survivors to the nations, to the sea, to Africa and Lydia, to Italy and Greece, to islands afar off, to those who have not heard about me and have not seen my glory; and they will proclaim my glory to the nations (66:19).

John F. A. Sawyer. The Fifth Gospel: Isaiah in the History of Christianity. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 49-50.

By St. Nicholas Velimirovich

In 1941, with the German occupation of Yugoslavia, Bishop Nikolai, together with Patriarch Gabriel Doshich, was arrested, and sentenced to imprisonment in the infamous Dachau Prison Camp in Germany. He spent two years in Dachau, witnessing, and suffering some of the cruelest torture of human beings the world has known.

Bless my enemies, O LORD. Even may I bless them, and not curse them. Enemies have driven me into Your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from the earth, and have demolished all my aspirations in the world. Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms, and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having secured myself beneath Your Tabernacle, where neither friends, nor enemies can slay my soul.

Bless my enemies, O LORD. Even may I bless them, and not curse them. They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world. They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself. They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments. They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself. They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O LORD. Even may I bless them, and not curse them. Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish. Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were small. Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background. Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand. Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep. Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long, and tranquil life, they have demolished it, and driven me out. Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world, and have stretched out my hands to the hem of Your garment.

Bless my enemies, O LORD. Even may I bless them, and not curse them. Bless them, and multiply them : multiply them, and make them even more bitterly against me ; so that my fleeing to You may have no return ; so that all hope in Men may be scattered like cobwebs ; so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul ; so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins — arrogance, and anger; so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven ; so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life. Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies, but cruel friends. It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good, and who has done me more evil in the world: friends, or enemies.

Therefore, bless, O LORD, both my friends, and my enemies.

A slave curses enemies; for he does not understand. But a son blesses them; for he understands. For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore, he freely steps among them, and prays to God for them.

Bless my enemies, O LORD. Even may I bless them, and not curse them. Amen.