LIVING ORTHODOX

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Brothers and sisters, today we hear in the Gospel reading the account of the Roman Centurion. This man who was not a Jew, that is, a man who was a pagan, approached Jesus to heal his servant. He says, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only say the word and I know that he will be healed.” 

St. John Chrysostom says that God only requires one great work from us: faith. This is why, brothers and sisters, that St. John wrote, “but let faith be imputed to me instead of works,” which is in one of our morning prayers. He says this because anything we offer is ultimately feeble, frail, and fleeting, at best. Faith allows God to work in our lives, not because God doesn’t want to, but because God doesn’t violate the free will of His creatures. Otherwise, He wouldn’t be a God of love and mercy, but a tyrant. This is why Jesus marvels, as it is written, at the faith of the centurion, going as far as to say that He has not seen such faith in all Judea. 

But what is ultimately the greatest healing, the greatest gift Christ offers us, is freedom from sin. The healing of not just the body, but also the soul. This is why we pray this beautiful prayer before Holy Communion, the one written by St. John Chrysostom which quotes this Gospel reading, for ultimately we are all sinners and we are in need of a physician. 

St. Paul wrote the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. How much are we all, despite having received Baptism, enslaving ourselves to our passions? We have to cut ourselves off, dear ones, from that which takes us from God. We are no longer slaves to sin and the devil, but we are now all, as Orthodox Christians, bondservants. We must labour to grow in Christ. We, as Christians, must strive for a higher calling. The Church isn’t a social hangout, or a culture club. We, as Christians, don’t only become Christians on Sundays. We must live the faith in our day-to-day lives. We must learn to take our wicked thoughts (whether they are about ourselves or others) and put flight to them with the name of Jesus, which is above every name. 

It is easy for us to neglect to judge our own thoughts and instead to judge others for not being of our language or even a similar background. Yet, Jesus says in the Gospel that many will come from east and west, that they will sit with the great fathers of the Old Testament. This further is expanded upon by St. Paul, who wrote that in the Kingdom of Heaven there is no Jew nor Greek, no slave nor free.

Dear ones, I say to you, brothers and sisters, there is only one language of the Church: that is one of prayer and mercy. It is of charity and compassion. So be diligent, be watchful, and always pray that our Lord grant you faith so that your works may be edifying. 

Amen. 

Fr. Mikhail