“You shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve “ St. Luke 4:8
With this words of our Lord I approach you, dear Faithful, in the beginning of our fasting journey which is expected to lead us to Pascha. The saying of St. Luke is reminding us of the purpose for which God made each one of us, and therefore, the chief goal we should have in our lives every day. The world in which we are living is such that we are seldom reminded of our origin and our chief goal in life. Life hastens on from one immediate duty to the next, from one planned event to the other, leaving a little or no time for us to stop and think about the main issues of our lives. Here comes Lent. It should come as a welcome reminder and an important opportunity to stop, reflect and pray.
On this Monday, we will take the first step in our journey that will lead us to Good Friday and Glorious Easter Sunday. It can be a very fruitful and very joyful journey for each of us.
St.Luke speaks to us about Jesus Journey to Jerusalem, where He will be crucified and resurrected. We are invited to follow Him, “like Simon of Cyrene who carried His Cross “(Luke 23:26).
Unity in the Trinity
Before his death, the Lord prayed for the unity of his disciples:
“ that they may be one, even as we are one” the model of unity Jesus is presenting us is his unity with the Father and Holy Spirit: that they May all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us”. There is no doubt that the unity between the Father and His Son was one of mutual wonder and self-surrender in love. This made a wonderful communion between Father and Son which was model of communion between the disciples of Jesus.
The purpose of this Unity of the disciples was witness to this communion before the world: “so that the world may know that you has sent me and has loved them even as you has loved me”.
As we look around us today we see the continuing division of the followers of Jesus Christ. Communities that have lived separate lives over centuries cannot be reconcilled over decades. Yet the continuing divisions cannot be a cause of grief to us and of scandal to the word.
It is imperatavive that we Orthodox hold within our Church a firm grasp of that precious unity with which our saviour endowed his Church.
We do expect perfection. But, in the meantime, let us cease to strive by personal renewal to bring the Church to the “Measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ “(Ephesians 4:13)
An essential part of our calling as disciples of Jesus is to live in Communion of love with one another that is as an image of love in the Holy Trinity and shows forth that love to the world.
Amen
+Paul
Metropolitan Archbishop
Primate of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand
and the Philippines
http://www.antiochianarch.org.au