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The Word of Life – Jn 16:32 (10/5/15 – 24/5/2015)
“Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered,
each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with Me.”
Reflection on Jn 16:32
“Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered,
each to his own – eis ta idia (Gr. orig.), and will leave Me alone.
And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
Again, Jesus says these words on the evening before His death. It is good to read at least 5 verses before and 5 verses after it so as to perceive the connection. But it is best to read again the whole chapter 16 and 17. Verse 23 is the response to the preceding words of the apostles who confessed their faith in the divine mission of Christ. Jesus points out the weakness of their faith. Light affliction will come and they will be scattered. That night the apostles were scattered and Peter who was a hero at the beginning and followed Jesus gave way to fear for his life in the end and denied Christ amid pressure and hatred towards Christ. But he repented thereafter. Jesus knew the weakness of the apostles and He knows our weakness too. In a crisis, our old nature – i.e. our soul infected by original sin – gives way to fear and does not believe in Christ and His Word.
How very needful it is to follow Him
Life is so short! We know neither the day nor the hour. And yet we do not believe in God’s Word, we do not reflect on it but rather we think about foolish things, we get angry… Let us look at the cemetery. How many people lie there who also were angry, suffered heart failure, pursued career, wealth… But this all is passing away. Our goal must be life, eternal life, which we are given by God. Therefore we need to be prepared at all times for the moment when we shall depart this life. We must be in Christ even here on earth and carry all our crosses and burdens with a living faith. Jesus says: “Deny yourself and take up your cross; do not be in depression, take up your cross and follow Me – Jesus.” How very needful it is to follow Him! It is an everyday way of the cross. Lord, what is my cross? How should I deny myself? In little things – you thus get to the level where the power of sin does not work, you get out of your nature and enter into communion with Jesus. The kingdom of God is in us and corrupt nature is in us too.
We cannot have accord with the spirit of the world
+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Learn one thing
Whenever a problem arises, our old self automatically begins to complain against God, swear or be distressed. Learn one thing: Deny yourself and give thanks. “Lord, thank You for this cross – for getting a scolding again, for missing my bus…” You only need to give thanks and God will enlighten you: “Look, such bad thing would have happened to you there, it could have such and such consequences…” And you suddenly realize numbers of other things related to it. But if you revolt against God and indulge in self-pity, you actually throw away your cross. If someone rebukes us, the automatic reaction is hatred and self-pity. We must deny it and our eyes will be opened. We must take up our cross – our concrete pain – and follow Jesus. Where to? To Calvary and then to glorious resurrection. Where is Jesus? In glory. There is our homeland. Here we are mere pilgrims.
The most important thing is to save souls
+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
Christ died for sinners – of whom I am the worst
Our soul manifests itself above all through reason and will. The fact that we hardly perceive divine truths is caused by darkness which is in us. The Apostle Paul said: Christ died for sinners – of whom I am the worst. No false mysticism. He did not consider himself a super saint. Holiness consists in humility, in realizing the truth that every day I am self-willed, every day my soul automatically produces sin, I condemn others in my thoughts, I am a hedonist. And the worst thing is human pride – the devil’s sin – when one refuses to admit the truth about oneself.
We must witness to the living Christ
+ Elijah
Patriarch of the Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate
The Word of Life – Jn 16:23-24 (26/4/15 – 10/5/2015)
“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.
Until now you have asked nothing in My name.
Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Reflection on Jn 16:23-24
And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name.
Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
The night before His death, Jesus emphasizes several times that we should ask in His name. He also speaks about true love for God which consists in keeping His commandments.
Today the EU and U.S. foreign policy forcedly introduce satanic gender antilaws, antilaws on child stealing and planned suicide, so-called euthanasia, which is a hell on earth and after death. This all is being intensively promoted by mass media, especially TV, which are under the influence of globalization ideologies (in Ukraine too). The best solution today is to make short work of television.
Francis I approves transsexualism
19 April 2015
Vatican Secretariat of State
The Lisbon Treaty, which is a joint constitution of apostate Christian Europe, legalizes the so-called rights of sexual minorities. It concerns homosexuals, paedophiles, transsexuals, sadomasochists, zoophiles and others. Homosexuality has been openly declared to be the priority of US foreign policy. The nations that do not accept it are sanctioned.
These sexual perversions are the fruits of new thinking based on apostate Christianity which approves heresies denying the essence of the teachings of Christ and the inspiration of Scripture and which also approves reverence for pagans and their demons. The Word of God, by contrast, points out clearly and emphasizes in many places that this very sin caused wars and the Babylonian exile! Thus, the fruit of the heresies of neo-Modernism is a regard for pagans and their demons, and the consequence is sexual perversion. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator… For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions … men committing shameless acts with men.” (Rom 1:25f) “Though they know the righteous judgment of God that those who practise such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practise them.” (see Francis I) (Rom 1:32-2:1)
