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Has our Pursuit of the "American Dream" Become a Ball and Chain? |
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Both of my parents were born and raised in the same small village in Northern Greece. They both received the equivalent of a 6th grade education. My dad came to the states in 1919 and my mom in 1948, after they were married in their village in Greece. They settled in Detroit and gave birth in the early 1950s to my older sister and me. They came here and worked hard for a better way of life. They wanted their children to get a good education and go to college so they could get decent jobs and enjoy a better standard of life than they did. Something like “I don’t want my kids to have suffer like I did” way of thinking. This in a nutshell is the “American Dream”. It still motivates many who immigrate to this country today. It is a major value that still motivates those who have been born here and their families.
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The Giving Mind, the Giving Heart |
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The story is told that some farmers once were plowing the earth behind their oxen, when they saw a king pass by, majestically clad in purple and resplendent in his shining crown, and surrounded by an enormous crowd of body guards. Since there was nothing at hand for them to present to their ruler, one of them immediately scooped up some water in this hands – for there was abundant water flowing nearby – and brought it to the king as a gift. The king said to him, “What is this you bring me, my son?” And the peasant boldly replied, “I bring what I have, since I thought it best not to let my poverty hide my eagerness to give. You have no need of our possessions, nor do you desire anything from us but good will. But for us, giving you a gift is both a duty and a praiseworthy gesture; for glory has a way of coming to those who show themselves grateful.” The king was filled with wonder, and praised the man’s wisdom; he received the farmer’s act of kindness graciously, and bestowed on him many generous gifts in return. (From a homily of St. John of Damascus on the Dormition of the Mother of God)
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"Prayer Without Ceasing" Is Necessary for All Christians |
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By St Gregory Palamas
Let no one think, my brother Christians that it is the duty only of priests and monks to pray without ceasing, and not of laymen. No, no; it is the duty of all of us Christians to remain always in prayer. For look what the most holy Patriarch of Constantinople, Philotheus, writes in his life of St. Gregory of Thessalonica. This saint had a beloved friend by the name of Job, a very simple but most virtuous man. Once, while conversing with him, His Eminence said of prayer that every Christian in general should strive to pray always, and to pray without ceasing, as Apostle Paul commands all Christians, "Pray without ceasing" (I Thessalonians 5:17), and as the prophet David says of himself, although he was a king and had to concern himself with his whole kingdom: "I foresaw the Lord always before my face" (Psalms 15:8), that is, in my prayer I always mentally see the Lord before me. Gregory the Theologian also teaches all Christians to say God’s name in prayer more often than to breathe.
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Wrapping it up: The Relationship Between Preparation and Receiving Holy Communion |
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Over the last year and a half I have been writing about this above topic as it pertains to the following areas of the spiritual life: Fasting, Prayer, Repentance (Baptism & Confession), and the moral lives we lead. I have stated why these areas are important in their relationship to receiving Communion. I have addressed when one should or should not come to Communion based on how one has approached these above areas as we “work out our salvation in fear and trembling.” I am not going to rehash all that. If you have never read what I have written, you can go to our web page and find those reflections in the Pastor’s Corner of our web page. Or if you have pitched the old newsletters and still want to read what I wrote, see me and I will be glad to provide you those articles for you to read. What I want to do this month is summarize what I would ask you to do as your priest in these above areas as you prepare for Holy Communion. If this conflicts with what other priests have told you to do, please speak with me, and I would be glad to further discuss this with you.
Guidelines in preparing for Holy Communion:
• FASTING: Observe the Wednesday and Friday fast throughout the week to the best of your ability. If you aren’t able to keep the full fasting guidelines please see Fr. Paul and talk with him. Please keep a total fast from midnight on, until you receive communion on Sunday. For evening liturgies the total fast should be after you eat your noon meal. Children eight and older should be able to observe this as well. We should not approach the cup if we have totally disregarded the fast due to rebelliousness and self will. (“I just don’t want to do it.”). I have not addressed here the need to observe the four major fasts through the year (i.e. Great Lent, Advent Fast, Dormition Fast, and Ss. Peter & Paul Fast) I will speak about those at another time.
• REPENTANCE/CONFESSION: People should come to Confession at the minimum of twice a year; once during the advent fast before Christmas and once during the great fast before Easter. For those who receive Communion every week, their participation in the sacrament of Confession should be more frequent (at least four times a year). Once again, if someone is ignoring and choosing not to come to Confession at all, I would ask you not come to Communion and speak with me so we can work out what deters you from coming to Confession. I will not refuse Communion to those who still want to receive because I realize there is a long history in this parish of people who don’t go to Confession and receive Communion. Love, patience, prayer and education are the solutions to changing this habit, not legislation and a hammer.
• MORALS AND BELIEFS ABOUT THE FAITH: People should not be receiving Communion if they are committing major sins, living a lifestyle that is contrary to the teachings of the Church; especially if they are not repentant about it. Having an abortion, doing physical harm, or adultery are examples of major sins. Unmarried couples of the opposite sex or couples of the same sex who are sexually active or living together in a non-platonic relationship, should not be coming to Communion until they have come to Confession and repented of the sin. If anyone has rejected and renounced any of the beliefs of the Orthodox Christian Faith as defined in the Nicene Creed one should not be receiving Holy Communion until one can once again reaffirm those beliefs in the sacrament of Confession.
• PRAYER: Endeavor to keep a public and private prayer rule as part of preparing to receive the Eucharist. The public prayer refers to coming to the cycle of services the parish offers throughout the year. When taking a vacation during the summer, don’t take a three month vacation from Christ and the Church. Find a church to attend while on vacation. Do not forget to say your morning and evening prayers each day, this is your private prayer rule.
Finally I can’t reiterate how important we do all the above for the right reasons. I have said time and time again, we could do all of the above and be no closer to Christ and His Church if we have the self righteous mind of the Pharisee who uses his self justification to find fault with others. If our goal in fasting, confession, prayer, and living a moral life, is not to seek God, not to hunger for Christ, and not to do it in love, then we will only condemn ourselves before God because of our arrogance and self serving motivation. The way to approach preparation for Communion is to do it with the idea of esteeming all others as being better than ourselves and to acknowledge as St. Paul did that “I am the chief of sinners.” This concludes my series of reflections on this above topic. Take care, and God bless you, Fr. Paul. |
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What is a Prayer Rule? |
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Seven times a day I praise You, because of Your righteous judgments. (Psalm 119:164)
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
A public or private prayer rule is a commitment to pray at specific times, and to pray for specific things on a regular basis. This definition might to be too simplistic and can be misleading about prayer if not understood properly. The psalm verse cited above is the basis of our daily cycle of services in the Orthodox Church. The seven times a day that one praises God gets liturgically fleshed out in the Church in the services of: Midnight Office, Matins, the Hours 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th, Vespers, and Compline. This is the public prayer rule of the Church that is regularly observed in most monasteries. In parish life, fragments of this daily cycle are celebrated with various degrees of frequency, consistency, and content. Some parishes do more, some do less. In addition to this, if we personally are serious about living the Christian life, it is necessary that we keep a private prayer rule of our own. In most cases this takes the shape of saying prayers in the morning when you arise, and then at the evening as you prepare for sleep.
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