In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
In today's Gospel (St. Luke 10:25-37) we hear the Lord
saying to each of us that our neighbour is not the one whom we like, not even
the one whom we love; it is the one who needs us, whether he likes us or not,
and it is to him that we must turn in compassion, in charity, as indeed the
Lord God Himself turned to us at the moment when the whole of mankind was alien
to Him; and again, turns to each of us at the moment when we are at rock
bottom, when we are as far away from Him as we can imagine, indeed, much
farther, because only God can measure the distance that separates us from our
being in Him, with Him, the distance which measures His absence from our life.
On November 28th is the beginning of fasting time that
prepares us for Christmas; many will turn to fasting, eating those things which
are appointed by the Church; but is that the fast which God wishes us to keep?
Listen to what the Lord said to the Hebrews, from the lips of Isaiah the
Prophet [Isaiah 58:3-8]:
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and show My people their transgressions ... Yet they seek Me daily,
and delight to know My ways, as though they were a nation that did
righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God. ... Wherefore have
we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul,
and Thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure
and exploit all your labourers! Behold, you fast for strife and debate and to
smite with the fist of wickedness! You shall not fast as you do this day, to
make your voice heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen, a day for
a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to
spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast, and an
acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast I have chosen to loose the
bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free,
to break every yoke! Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou
bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that
thou cover him? and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall
thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth
speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of thy Lord
shall be thy rearguard."
Let us remember these words, because more than ever in
our time we must not fast hypocritically, not fast with false piety, but fast
by turning away from every evil, from all evil, put right in our lives
everything that has gone wrong.
Are we going to meet the day when the Lord our God
took flesh in order to enter into the realm of death, He Who is the Eternal
One, the day when He chose to enter into the realm of suffering for our sakes —
are we going to meet this day by accepting to continue in our estrangement from
Him? And we are estranged from Him when we hate our neighbour, when we reject
our neighbour, when we refuse to forgive, when we turn away from him or her who
is in need of our mercy — not only of bread, not only of shelter — indeed, that
also counts! — but in need of forgiveness, of the mercy of the heart! Are we
going to meet the Lord who came to save sinners by rejecting those whom we
consider as sinners, those who have offended us, those against whom we have
fought? Can we meet the Lord on such terms?
Let us think of the shepherds: they were simple
people, unsophisticated, uncomplicated, but their hearts were open to the
extent to which it was possible to them, they were clean, pure of heart, and
therefore, they could hear the news of the Incarnation; they could hear and
receive the news as the most wonderful thing that changed everything in their
lives. We have been listening to the good news day-in, day-out, year after year
— has it come to us as good news that has transformed our lives, made us into
people beyond compare, people who are prepared to live and to die for those who
hate, who reject, who ignore, who offend us? If we are not — it is in vain that
we speak of being Christian; he who does not love his brother is a liar when he
says that he loves his God — these are the Apostle's words.
Let us therefore enter into this period of fasting in
earnest, stand in judgement before God to be judged by Him, and ask ourselves
whether we could stand side by side with Him when others come to be judged, and
step forward and say, 'Lord! I have forgiven — Thou hast no grudge against him,
against her, any more!' Amen.
Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh
November 25, 1990
Source: http://www.mitras.ru/eng/eng_196.htm
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