2ND Sunday OF MATTHEW

The healing apostolic mission of the Church

The healing mission of the Church is not to create a religious alternative to the science of medicine. Nor is it to provide a sort of emotional (sentimental) type of comforting to those that suffer. In the Church, we are called to acknowledge and proclaim God’s active presence in every healing process and, throughout this process, to preserve Man’s sacredness as an
image of God. The loss of human dignity in hospitals is not only due to the fact that the sick feel that they are separated from society and often feel exploited by today’s medical industry. It is also because those that are healthy in the wider society are separated from the sick. Thus, the sick cannot receive the love and support that is required for their healing; the healthy cannot learn from those that suffer so as to prepare themselves for their own inevitable personal sickness. Healers are called to heal the patient in soul and body; to “raise” him and her so that they can live as persons within the grace of the Holy Spirit. Loss of human dignity in health care settings occurs when the sacredness of the patient is ignored and when health care settings do not function as healing communities of persons. In such healing communities, the patient and the healer have similar tasks: 1) to facilitate the therapeutic process in light of the threat of death; 2) to integrate illness into all the phases of life, allowing it to be a catalyst for maturity and growth within the loving fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This is the obligation that the Christian community has before the sick and the therapist.

This is more or less how the Saints lived

Elder Chrysostom, Abbot of St, Nicodemus the Hagiorite, Kilkis, Greece

When Christ said that “the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) the word Kingdom referred to the Grace of the Holy Spirit. And where else, my brothers, will we experience this Grace of the Holy Spirit, if not in the temple of God? Every time we go to Church, to the Divine Liturgy, we have to go prepared. Whoever honors the Divine Liturgy, is honored by God. My brothers and sisters, Saint Seraphim of Sarov said that the real purpose of our life must be the act of obtaining and acquiring the Holy Spirit. You all know that the first day of the week is Sunday. On Sunday we gather in Church, or rather climb up to the heavens since each Church is a piece of heaven on earth, to meet God, and we all interact with angels and saints to see and live the things that apostle Paul told us “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). From Sunday to Sunday, the Divine Liturgy continues. We take Christ from Church through receiving Holy Communion. “With fear of God, faith and love draw near.” Through the sacrament of Holy Communion, we receive Christ and take him with us on the road, and drive him from our church to our homes and to our workplace. Everywhere. And the Divine Liturgy continues with the Altar Table being our heart which is in the Holy Sanctuary that needs to be our body. So, our life must become an endless Divine Liturgy. And we are preparing to enter the splendor of the saints, and to experience it and to see not through « a mirror, dimly, but face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). We are preparing to enter along with the spiritual beings, the Angels and the Archangels, the Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged and many-eyed soaring aloft upon their wings. All of us who carry deep within us the divine jewel our Lord Jesus Christ can participate in this heavenly experience. Currently, in my ears, I hear a heavenly melody resonating from my heart: “How shall I, who am unworthy, enter into the splendor of Your Saints? If I dare to enter into the bridal chamber, my clothing will accuse me, since it is not a wedding garment; and being bound up, I shall be cast out by the angels. In Your love, Lord, cleanse my soul and save me, as You Are the one Who Loves mankind.” This is more or less how the Saints lived.

“Remember us all Lord our God”

Dr. Alexandros Papademetriou

“In our Church, we constantly pray: “remember us oh Lord in Your Kingdom”. As people lose their cognitive capacities in our hyper-cognitive society and their motor abilities in a fast transit world, they tend to be shunted to the periphery, to have their very "human-hood" questioned, certainly to be treated with less than the full dignity that we have seen our Faith ascribe to every human being. But if the community of the faithful - the "body" of which they are an organic part - remembers them by continuing to treat them like those whom God sees as beloved children, then in a very real sense that community will be remembering those individuals in the sense of bringing them back into the human community, refusing to let them be cast aside and forgotten. Once, when a lady found out that she had Alzheimer’s, she would often say to those close to her: “When I start forgetting, do not forget me!” Pastors are in a very critical position to facilitate this process of remembering these persons who are members of the Body of Christ, regardless if they are isolated in their homes or are distant from their home atmosphere and live in various special care units or healthcare institutions.”

 

The difficulty to find the necessary faith

Saint Nikolaj Velimirovic

The reality is that when hardships enter our life, particularly through sickness and death, it is often difficult to find the necessary faith to endure the pain and suffering these hardships bring. We must cultivate our faith in God before we encounter them. This is why Ecclesiastes says, “Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain” (Eccl. 12:1-2). “Friendship is more necessary for the soul than for the body. When you’re sad, the thought of a friend brings a smile to your face. On your death-bed, the presence of a friend beautifies the face of death. Friendship is always the lifegiving breath or the angel who accompanies us through life, who raises us when we fall and who inspires us when our strength fails.”