Let your love shine...

Homily on the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent

Hebrews 9: 11-14; Mark 10: 32-45.

This Sunday we move closer to the mystery of our salvation – the Holy Cross. Without the Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection, we would not have our salvation. There are some groups who claim that salvation is once and for all upon accepting Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

However, they have strayed from the truth that salvation is a process. Like Saint Mary of Egypt, whom we celebrate today, we are slowly moulded into the person we should become through the grace of the All-Holy Trinity. As I have noted before, you know that you are on the right path if good deeds, charity, and love flow from your faith in God.

As Saint Maximos the Confessor states:

“But I say to you,' the Lord says, 'love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.' Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one you loves all equally in imitation of God”

What this means in essence is that a heart moulded after God cannot help but do good for others. Hate and despair kill off the good in a human heart. When have you seen a person full of hate truly happy and alive? I would challenge you that you never have.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa, in his work On the Soul and the Resurrection, puts it in this way:

“...the soul copies the life that is above, and is conformed to the peculiar features of the Divine nature; none of its habits are lift to it except that of love, which clings by natural affinity to the Beautiful. For this is what love is; the inherent affection towards a chosen object. When, then , the soul, having become simple and single in form and so perfectly godlike, find that perfectly simple and immaterial good which is really worth enthusiasm and love, it attaches itself to it and blends with it by means of the movement and activity love, fashioning itself according to that which it is continually finding and grasping.”

What this highlights is the need for us to conform to Him who is the icon of perfection. We are His hands and feet in this world and, as such, have been charged with a special mission of bringing Him to others. It is not that He cannot do this, but rather that He wants us to be labourers in His vineyard, the world. This is wonderful: we are not inconsequential in His plan. Rather, we have been given a role – and this shows the great love and trust He has in His creation.

All of this is rooted in the command to love – for if we do not love, then we cannot truly become like God. Saint Maximos the Confessor puts it in this way:“He that loves Me, saith the Lord, will

keep My commandments; and 'this is My commandment, that you love one another.' He therefore who does not love his neighbor does not keep the commandment. Nor is he that does not keep the commandment able to love the Lord.”

What this shows us is that the key to loving God is to love our neighbour and, through this love, be as Christ to them. Christianity is a revolutionary truth, for it shows us that to be on the path to salvation is to be united ever more to Him who is divine love.

Moreover, we have a God who is a lover of mankind and ever patient, for He forgives our failings when we come to our senses and ask for forgiveness. St John of Kronstadt puts it in this way:

“God is long-suffering and merciful to you: this you experience many times every day. Be long-suffering and merciful to your brethren, also fulfilling the words of the Apostle, who thus speaks of love before everything: "Love suffers long, and is kind." You desire that the Lord should rejoice in you by His love, rejoice on your part in the hearts of others by your tender love and kindness shown them.”

Yes, sin is a reality, but it is not the totality of our human condition. Like the prodigal son, when we realise that we have sinned and missed the mark, God is there waiting to forgive us and welcome us in with a wonderful feast. The image of God has unfortunately been distorted by some to paint God as an angry God desiring to punish sinners. Whilst God can have just anger, this is not how He is depicted in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Here we are shown a loving and concerned father who only wants the best for his sons. So too it is with God; He wants the best for you. Holding onto guilt from past sins is not healthy, and this is why we have the Mystery of Confession, where you can ask God for forgiveness and He will grant it if your repentance is sincere.

Do not let guilt and sorrow trap you in their fetters, for life is to be lived, and to the full. This is why Christ came: to release you from that which holds you back so that the new creation can be born through the Mysteries of Baptism, Chrismation, and the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist. These Mysteries exist so that we can be moulded into the image and likeness of Christ and become icons of Him in this world.

Through this process, we are united to Him who is the source of our life and are given grace upon grace so that we have divine life within us. Without this life we cannot be resurrected on the last day – this is why Christ took on our humanity and united it with His divine nature – two natures united perfectly in the one Person. In the tomb He raised our human nature up with Him and restored what had been lost at the fall of Adam and Eve. This is why He gives freely of Himself in the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist, for when we worthily receive the Holy Gifts of His body and blood, we are united to Him, and through this great Mystery we are nourished and given the grace we need to fight the good fight.

Saint Clement of Alexandria has this to say on the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist:

“’Eat my flesh,’ [Jesus] says, ‘and drink my blood.’ The Lord supplies us with these intimate nutrients, he delivers over his flesh and pours out his blood, and nothing is lacking for the growth of his children”

Furthermore, never doubt that He is truly present in this Great Mystery, for Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says this on the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist:

“Do not, therefore, regard the bread and wine as simply that; for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the body and blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured by the faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the body and blood of Christ. . . . [Since you are] fully convinced that the apparent bread is not bread, even though it is sensible to the taste, but the body of Christ, and that the apparent wine is not wine, even though the taste would have it so, . . . partake of that bread as something spiritual, and put a cheerful face on your soul”

Therefore, it is vital that you receive this great Mystery as often as you can, for it is a great support in our journey of salvation. It is by this great Mystery that our sins are forgiven and we are united to our dear Lord and Saviour who desires for all to come unto Him. The table is set and the invitations have been delivered – this is the important thing that we need to remember. Christ came that we might have a seat at His Heavenly Banquet.

This week, focus on this great gift of love that God has given us and pray that your faith and gratitude may increase, that you might become an icon of Christ to others.