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Let us be men of faith like Abraham (video)
Post date: 2016-10-20Autor: BCP
Let us be men of faith like Abraham. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
To remain faithful to God in essential things (video)
Post date: 2016-10-16Autor: BCP
To remain faithful to God in essential things. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Life becomes fruitful through the cross
Post date: 2016-10-13Autor: BCP
Through the cross our life becomes fruitful, otherwise we would die of apathy or vanity. Many times we do not give thanks for our cross but rather avoid it; however, if we begin to give thanks, the Lord will gradually fill us with joy and we will be happy that we could deny ourselves instead of groaning or being in fear.
One for all, all for one
Post date: 2016-10-12Autor: BCP
Although the four musketeers were fighters of the world, fighting in unity against evil and against church hierarchy, there was a lot of sense in their motto, if correctly understood: One for all, all for one. Jesus is the One because He has already died for us, and He wants to build this unity in us all.
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness (video)
Post date: 2016-10-11Autor: BCP
Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Abraham trusted in God with all his heart (video)
Post date: 2016-10-09Autor: BCP
Abraham trusted in God with all his heart. + Elijah Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Reflection on Acts 1:5.8
Post date: 2016-10-08Autor: BCP
We know from experience that just as it was not enough for the apostles to have a one-time spiritual experience of receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit – the baptism with the Holy Spirit, as the Scripture says – so also it is not enough for us either (Jn 1:33). We need to walk in the Holy Spirit – it means to seek the will of God and to do it by faith. Walking in the Holy Spirit is a lifelong way. The way of following Christ, the way of unity with Christ, the way of a spiritual fight with sin in us and around us as well as a fight against the forces of darkness (Eph 6:12f). The receiving of the Holy Spirit is the beginning, which each of us experiences once in our life; however, walking in the Spirit means to renew the receiving of the Holy Spirit time and again and to do the will of God. However, this is not by our own might but by the power of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The vision of restoration of Christianity in Russia and Ukraine
Post date: 2016-10-06Autor: BCP
It is necessary for the Orthodox priests to resolve to devote at least one and a half days a week to God and their souls in prayer and reflection on God’s Word. This would lead to the spiritual resurrection of all Russia and Ukraine.
He must increase in me, but I must decrease
Post date: 2016-10-01Autor: BCP
Jesus is my King, but unless my soul dies like a grain of wheat, Jesus cannot be my King, for my sin, my ego, my old self is my king then. John the Baptist calls: “He must increase in me, but I must decrease.” This is a process, the way of following Christ, seeking the kingdom of God in myself and in my brother. Then I will be able to remove the speck from my brother’s eye without hurting him. And he likewise will be able to see Christ not only in himself but in me too, and when the hour of death comes, we shall see Him not only in the light of faith but also in the light of God’s glory.
Lord, let me see!
Post date: 2016-09-27Autor: BCP
We should see Christ in our neighbour. In the parable of the Last Judgment, Jesus says the same to those who will be saved and to those who will be condemned with only a slight difference: “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine” or “whatever you did not do”. And then He says: “you did for Me” or “you did not do for Me”. Jesus is in my neighbour, especially in my brother – he is baptized, has received Christ, wants to follow Him with a sincere heart, and even wants to sacrifice his life for His sake, and yet there is a barrier – spiritual prison. My brother does not see Christ in himself and neither do I, and what is more, I do not see Christ in me either, so there is double blindness – the two of us do not see.
Reflection on Mt 8:2-3
Post date: 2016-09-24Autor: BCP
Lepers were isolated from the community of healthy people and stayed outside in deserted places not to infect others. Such a poor man approached Jesus, knelt before Him and cried out with great faith and confidence: “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean!” He put everything into this life’s chance of his encounter with Jesus! What is your encounter with Jesus in prayer like? Is it a habitual formality or do you seek a living contact in faith and humility? Each of us carries the infection of original sin which progresses in the form of both visible and hidden sins, such as immoral lust, pride, envy, greed for wealth or career… If man is spiritually blind, he is unaware of this disease of contagious sin in him. He takes offence when someone tells him about it, and he thus proves that he does have it. Leprosy is a disease of the body; sin is the leprosy of the soul.
God’s requirement: true fellowship
Post date: 2016-09-11Autor: BCP
A living communion with Jesus – this is the mystery of a living Church. What is necessary is fellowship, the condition of which is a living faith and willingness to repent genuinely time and again. God can give a great blessing even through our weakness, through our faith and our unity in the following of Christ. We are called to make unity (although we have completely different characters), and this true unity in Christ presupposes spiritual dying, spiritual cross and spiritual death of all members of community. This mission will then be of great benefit. A Latin proverb says: tres faciunt collegium. Three makes company. That is also why Jesus says: if two or three agree… If two agree, it is a great success, and if three agree, it is the height of success in that all the three, in order to come to an agreement, have to renounce their own visions even if these were given by God many times, just as Isaac was given to Abraham by God.
Reflection on Mt 7:24-25
Post date: 2016-09-10Autor: BCP
If we seek first the will of God in our life and if we also try to do it, it is true about us that we are like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Sooner or later the winds blow, the rain descends and the floods come, but if our house is founded on the rock, it will not fall. The problem why we try to build a house on the sand many times is that we easily believe in what seems good to us, evokes our interest, offers advantage and makes the impression that right this attractive option is the ideal solution in our decision-making. Once we cling to this vision and try to achieve our dream, we are no longer willing to seek the will of God because we avoid the thought that we should abandon our house on the sand.
Bear one another’s burdens
Post date: 2016-09-09Autor: BCP
Our mission is to seek Jesus together, to carry our own cross and, as the Apostle Paul says: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” If we bear one another’s burdens, people will feel divine love which is founded on a living faith, self-denial, carrying one’s cross and the following of Christ. We must allow Christ to reign in our life, that it may be true: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”
Jesus is with us – and where are we?
Post date: 2016-09-03Autor: BCP
We must see Christ both in ourselves and in our neighbour. However, this is not possible without denying ourselves, especially our opinion of ourselves, various philosophies we were acquainted with or various views which must be put aside, because seeing Jesus in ourselves is a question of faith. But beware – this is no autosuggestion. This is reality. We can recall in a flash several times a day: “Where is Jesus in this situation?”
The problem of our character
Post date: 2016-09-01Autor: BCP
It is programmed in the nature of each of us that it is natural for us to do good things, but at the same time there is a kind of spiritual poison in our nature, a specific form of pride, blindness and negative manners which practically destroy that which is positive in us. And this is the same in all people, only the tint is slightly different in each. Behind certain natural gifts there is the poison of sin which we have inherited from Adam. It only takes different forms. It is the old self in disguise which has only one aim: It refuses to repent and to call the poison in us, that which is negative, by its proper name, and if anyone touches it, the fat is in the fire.
Reflection on Mt 7:15-16
Post date: 2016-08-27Autor: BCP
By these words the Lord Jesus teaches and warns us that in order to persevere on the narrow way leading to eternal life, we should first beware of false teachings, heresies and those who preach them (heretics and apostates). So this is the most essential thing – to keep the true faith and a true inner relationship with Christ. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says that if an apostle, or even an angel from heaven, should preach a different (i.e. false) gospel, let him be accursed (cf. Gal 1:8-9).
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them
Post date: 2016-08-26Autor: BCP
It is said: “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” And then Jesus says that if two agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them. This really is the key not only to building a living Church as the basic cell but also to true unity where Jesus is in the midst and where it is necessary for both of the believers to become powerless, i.e. to deny themselves and take up their cross, and then Jesus can show His power. If we do not obey the principle of self-denial and if we refuse to carry our cross, Jesus is paralyzed.
Take up your cross – your nature and character
Post date: 2016-08-24Autor: BCP
We must take up our daily cross. This cross is in the first place our own nature and character. If someone tells us his attitude towards us, it hurts us. The problem with many beginners is that although they have received Christ, their nature, the old self, is so strong that it cannot stand criticism and use it as an incentive for true repentance. They fail to use this inner pain to look at Christ scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified or to unite their pain to His pain. The old self, on the contrary, either turns this painful wound into hatred towards the brother – this works automatically without any effort – or indulges in self-pity, which also is a false path. So we really have reason to know ourselves more and more deeply and motivation to fight against the spiritual poison in us.
The process of evangelization
Post date: 2016-08-22Autor: BCP
On the one hand, there is a need for evangelization, but on the other hand, there is a need to pray to the Lord for evangelizations to be organized in a certain rhythm, because although they bring zeal and dedication, and one can say a spiritual harvest in their climax, they are just like the exodus from Egypt. Then follows the Red Sea and the desert, i.e. a series of trials. And then the people of God came to the land of Canaan, but we see that they very quickly turned away to pagan practices again, as described in the Book of Judges, and actually in the entire history of Israel. The tendency to go back to the old way of life – paganism and the cult of the old self connected with it – continues.