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August 22, 2018August 27, 2018

85. Mosaic Icon: Order Your Life Well

The process of making a mosaic icon of Christ requires the iconographer to carefully place small pieces of colored glass or stone, one by one, into a particular pattern. When the individual pieces are well-ordered, the mosaic presents a clear image of Christ. If the mosaic tiles are not well-placed, then the image of Christ is strangely distorted or even unrecognisable.

The Orthodox Way is like a mosaic icon. People around us who identify with non-Orthodox religions and ideologies share some of the individual aspects of the Orthodox Way. They have some of the same or similar “pieces” that we do. For example, you can find the Golden Rule, indicating that we should treat others as we would want to be treated, as a basic principle in multiple religions and philosophies. Outside of the Church, many people believe in God, or gods, or at least have a sense of spirituality. Throughout the world, people consult authoritative writings, spend time in meditation or prayer, follow rituals, help the poor, or practice asceticism. Yet, all the other paths lack very important pieces and the individual similarities held in common with the Orthodox Faith are incapable of presenting a whole picture that reflects complete Truth. Non-Orthodox Christian sects in schism from the Holy Orthodox Church have much in common with the Orthodox, but even seemingly small differences distort the Truth as a whole. When an individual embraces (in heart, mind, and action) the Truth that is Holy Orthodoxy, all the various aspects of Holy Orthodoxy together point him or her to the God-Man Jesus Christ and the Way of salvation.

We are individually like mosaics, too. If you firmly hold to the Truth in your mind and heart and live it in your daily life, the various aspects of your life shall be well-ordered. Your inner life and your daily lifestyle will reflect the image of Christ. Since Christ, the God-Man, shows us what a perfect human person looks like, the more we are like Christ, the more authentically human we shall be. The more your mosaic “pieces” fit together harmoniously, the more you will share in His perfection and serve as a living icon of Christ to others. On the other hand, if your inner life and daily lifestyle are confused, then you will present to others a distorted or even unrecognisable image of Christ.

Jesus Christ has given us His Church to teach us and form us so that the good and useful things in our lives may be properly arranged, what doesn’t fit can be discarded, and what we lack can be added.

Keep the Truth in your heart and mind whole and unaltered. Do not let sin or heresy distort your soul. If you have failed to be a faithful representation of Christ, then repent with humility and follow the Way. God repairs poor icons. He heals the soul and holds all the aspects of our lives together in harmonious unity.

Read: 2 Corinthians 3.12-18

August 20, 2018August 20, 2018

84. Unity of the Body; More than a Colony

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Individual ants work together for the benefit of the colony. Together, they accomplish much more than each could do alone. The Church is a community with a mission – a mission to love each other within the Church and, in unity, to extend God’s love out into the society. We are the Church. You are one of us.

Collaborating ants provide an image of how we should work together, but it doesn’t really capture the depth of the unity we share. We are joined with Christ and bound together in the Holy Spirit as one Body, that is, the perfect, pure Body of Christ, in an indescribable spiritual union.

The relationship between the individual Orthodox believers in the Church is analogous to your own physical body. Your body functions as a whole because the particular parts and systems operate in harmony together. With your senses, you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell the world. The hands, arms, legs, and feet work in coordination. Similarly, within the Body of Christ, you have a particular role to fulfill in harmony with all the other parts, your fellow believers. Whether you are an eye or an ear, a hand or a foot, you are a member of the Body of Christ with work to do. Your local parish will be most effective when the believers work together, each offering his or her own particular contribution, to do the work of Christ in the world.

Our lives are interconnected for the good of our salvation and the salvation of the world. Understand that you have a part, in concert with others, in the Church’s work. Strive to personally share more deeply in the inner perfection of the Body of Christ. Also, dedicate your time, your skills, and your resources toward fulfilling your particular contribution to the common work.

Read: John 17.9-23; Romans 12.3-8; 1 Corinthians 12.1-31; Colossians 2.18-19; Ephesians 4.1-16; 5.21-32

August 3, 2018August 20, 2018

83. Live Free

You are not a pre-programmed robot. You aren’t an irrational animal, uncontrollably dominated by your own inclinations, either. No, you’re a human being endowed by God with free will. You possess the ability to make choices. You choose whether to do good or to do evil. Likewise, you choose whether you live as a free human being or as a slave.

Freedom does not mean doing whatever you want. A woman who owns a wine bar can drink as much as she wants, but if she doesn’t remain on the Way of sobriety, she will become enslaved by addiction to alcohol. A man who overeats as much as he wants will be enslaved by gluttony. One who tears away the natural beauty of virginity for the sake of either physical pleasure or emotional comfort will be enslaved by lust. When you sin, you commit self-inflicted harm and sell yourself into slavery.

Others, whether demons or human beings, may use their free will to do evil against you. By the power the Cross, transform what has been done to you into something good and beneficial by using your free will to respond with goodness in faith and love. You are not responsible for what others do to you, but what you do to others according to your freedom.

If you live according to self-will, just doing whatever you want, you become a hostage to your own harmful delusions and desires. Avoid becoming captive to false promises of freedom that require you to turn away from the One who loves and cares for you. If you want to be liberated and soar freely, be obedient to the One who gives you wings and makes you free. Carefully align each of your choices in harmony with the Way of Christ. Merge your will with the stream of the Divine Will. Allow the River’s current to carry you where you should go.

The healed human being, guided by the Holy Spirit, lives free. Be sober, watchful, and obedient with wisdom, hope, and joy.

Read: Genesis 2.16-17; 3.1-7; Matthew 7.13-20; 11.28-30; Luke 4.1-19; John 8.31-59; 1 Corinthians 6.12-20; 10.23-33; Galatians 5; Ephesians 1.7; 1 Peter 3.8-22

August 1, 2018

82. Your Home Altar

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In your home, prepare a place for daily prayer. You can, of course, pray anywhere at any time, but set apart a special place where you can go to calm yourself in silence, collect your thoughts, focus your heart on God, and pray. Ideally, your space should be oriented toward the east, but practical matters, such as placement of windows and doors, often dictate the best placement. The space can be simple, such as a shelf or small table with an icon of Christ, a candle, Holy Scripture, and your prayer book. When you receive blessed items from the Church throughout the year, like holy water, flowers, and palm branches, place them on your altar.

Let your home altar be a place for you to begin and end your day in prayer. When you are stressed or anxious, go there and stand before the One who loves, cares, helps, strengthens, and heals you. Whenever you pass by it, be reminded to pray. Between the times you gather with fellow Orthodox believers at the church temple for prayer and worship, prepare yourself at your home altar. Make this space the most important place for you and your family in your home in appearance and actual practice.

July 30, 2018August 1, 2018

81. Maintain Proper Temperature

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A kettle of steaming hot water is useful for preparing food and hot drinks. If the kettle is removed from the fire and left sitting on a table for a long period of time, the water will cool to room temperature. Similarly, useful cold water will assume room temperature when left unattended.

If you do not nurture the Fire of God’s Grace in your soul, you will fall lukewarm. Your heart, mind, and behavior will conform to the society around you. In other words, you will lose your Orthodox mindset (that is, your heavenly perspective), your intimate connection with God, and your zeal for living the Orthodox Way.

Remember that you are not like everyone else. Our society encourages you to conform to the secular values of the time, but you are called to be spiritual heat and light in a world that has become tepid and dim. You have been given access to the knowledge of God so that you will be different from those who remain in ordinary ignorance. The gift granted to you is not only for your own salvation, but for the benefit of others. If you conform to the mind and lifestyle of others, how can you bring them out of their lukewarm state into the living Divine Energy that warms, enlightens, and transforms?

Stay close to the Divine Source of spiritual Heat and Light so that you may fulfill your identity and useful purpose in the world.
Read: Matthew 24.3-14; Romans 12.1-2, 11; Revelation 3.15-16