Articles

Introduction

As Christians we are called to be saints. The Greek word translated ‘saint’ is ‘agios’, ‘holy one’ or ‘set apart one’ or ‘consecrated for His purpose.’

“To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” (Rom 1:7)

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor 1:2)

“…but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Pet 1:15)

‘Be holy, for I am holy…..’ Our question should not be is it possible?’ Rather, it should be ‘HOW is it possible?’ This year’s Fasting and Prayer Program, entitled ‘How to Live a Holy Life,’ aims to help us to strive towards holiness by focusing on the How?

In the next seven weeks leading up to the Holy Pascha we will be focusing on seven characteristics of holy people. Each week we will look at one characteristic in depth, with particular focus on how to live this characteristic in our daily lives.

Before we begin our journey we leave you with these words from St Philaret of Moscow to inspire you on your path to holiness:

“Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to become holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal blessedness. It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the means to become saints.”. . .

7 characteristics of holy people

Week 1 – Holy people are filled with the love of God

Week 2 – Holy people love others

Week 3 – Holy people are humble, willingly and lovingly attributing to God all that they have and all that they will ever be

Week 4 – Holy people are people of prayer

Week 5 – Holy people are not perfect , they are always striving for repentance

Week 6 – Holy people struggle in their spiritual life to obtain virtues

Week 7 – Holy people love and live the commandments of the Lord

Day 1 2018 (1st Monday of the Holy Great Fast )

How? Be devoted to God

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’” (Matt 22:37)

. . .

“What does to ‘love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our mind, and with all our strength’ mean? This means to be steadfastly devoted to God with our whole hearts and souls; that is, with all the strength and fullness of love that is possible for the human heart, not sharing our love in the same measure with any other being, however, beloved, needed, and dear that being may be to us.

To love God with all [our] heart, and so forth, means to think more often and more readily about God and what is pleasing to God, because in general it is an attribute of the love of our heart that the one whom we sincerely love is constantly with us in our thoughts. We are often separated from the one we love, but are always with that one in our thoughts: looking at, listening to, and speaking with him or her.

To love God with all [our] heart means to speak about the Lord God, as often, as long, and as readily as we can. Because it is an attribute of the love of our heart that we speak as often, as long and as willingly as possible about whom we sincerely love, for you speak of whatever lies deepest in your heart; ‘for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ (Matt 12.34).”

Metropolitan Gregory (Postikov) of St Petersburg

Day 2 2018 (1st Tuesday of the Holy Great Fast )

How? Fulfill the will of God

“Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight.” (Exo 33:13)

. . .

“To love God with all [our] heart means to try to the greatest extent possible to learn the will of God, or that which is pleasing to God and that which offends Him, and then as readily, diligently, and joyfully as possible to do what is pleasing to the Lord God, and as attentively and thoughtfully as we can to avoid what offends Him. For it is an attribute of the love of our heart that we try to the greatest extent possible to know the will of whomever we sincerely love and to fulfil it with all diligence and pleasure, no matter how difficult that may be.

To love God with all [our] heart means to fulfil the

will of God readily and with joy, even when this is

sure to demand great self-sacrifice of us. For it is an

attribute of the love of the human heart that we try to

fulfil the will of whomever we sincerely love, regardless of any obstacles, difficulties or unpleasantness, to fulfil it regardless even of clear danger to our lives.

Love overcomes all obstacles; for it, everything

difficult is easy, everything unpleasant is pleasant, and

everything heavy is light.

To love God with all [our] heart means to glorify the Lord God with the greatest zeal and to try with all our power to put a stop to or prevent anything that [calls into question] His glory. For it is always an attribute of our love that we everywhere praise whomever we sincerely love and at any unpleasant mention of our beloved we try our utmost to defend the honour of our beloved and his or her good name. For we are always gratified when our beloved is held in respect by all and

displeased when he or she is not loved or respected. Such should be our love for the Lord God, and it

is entirely fitting that we should love Him with all the

fullness of our love.”

Metropolitan Gregory (Postikov) of St Petersburg

Day 3 2018 (1st Wednesday of the Holy Great Fast )

How? Unite with God through prayer

“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:12-13)

. . .

“We pray as a response to love, and we pray in order to love….

For Christians, love is action, not feeling. Christian love is not the warm rush of desire and joy that can be experienced in a love affair, political rally, or charismatic power meeting. That is romanticism, not Christianity. So responding to God with warm feelings is not what prayer should be about…

Love experienced on the deep level of reality results in a conscious decision to act toward someone in a caring way and to communicate with that person. So God acts by sending His Son, the Eternal Word, to us. This is the ultimate declaration of love. We respond to the sending of His word with our words. We pray.

Prayer is more than just our response to the way God loves us. It is part of how we love Him. Love breaks down separation because we want to be with the person we love. If we love God we want to become one with Him. St Dimitri of Rostov wrote: ‘No unity with God is possible except by an exceedingly great love.’ Loving and joining go together.”

St Dimitri of Rostov continues: “To kindle in your heart such divine love, to unite with God in an inseparable union of love, it is necessary for you to pray often, raising the mind to Him. For as a flame increases when it is constantly fed, so prayer, made often, with the mind dwelling ever more deeply in God, arouses divine love in the heart. And the heart, set on fire, will warm all the inner person, will enlighten and teach you, revealing to you all its unknown and hidden wisdom, and making you like a flaming seraph, always standing before God within your spirit, always looking at Him within your mind, and drawing from this vision the sweetness of spiritual joy.’”

Very Rev Michael Keiser

St Dimitri of Rostov

Day 4 2018 (1st Thursday of the Holy Great Fast )

How? Seek to grow in the likeness of God

“As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness.” (Ps 17:15)

. . .

“Christ did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil them. He called His followers, and He calls us, to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. That doesn’t mean that we will follow more laws than they did, but that the meaning and purpose of the Law will be fulfilled in us: that we will grow in the likeness of God, that we will be united fully with Him through love; that His love will overflow into every relationship that we have and will become present in the world through us.  In other words, we will become holy through the love of God and neighbour; indeed, that’s what true holiness means, to be purified in love and union with God and with one another.

Though we may not yet have the eyes to see it, our entire life in the Church—and every bit of our life in the world as Christians—presents an opportunity to grow in holiness through the love of God and neighbour. Indeed, that’s the point of it all:  of our services, our prayers at home, our fasting, our feasting, our generosity to the poor, our forgiveness of others, our marriages and family life, our recreation, and all our work on the job or at school.  They are all part of fulfilling our most fundamental calling: to grow in the likeness of God, to become partakers of the Divine Nature, to grow in loving union with the Holy Trinity and with one another.

When we make the time to pray daily and to come to Liturgy on Sundays and Feast days; when we confess our sins and prepare conscientiously to receive Communion; when we wrestle with our passions through fasting or other forms of self-denial; when we humble ourselves to serve others and to ask for their forgiveness when we offend them; when we live faithfully—though imperfectly—as Christ’s followers, we grow in the love of God and neighbour, and we shine a bit more brightly with the holy light of Christ.  Then we grow in union with the Lord and His righteousness and, despite our unworthiness, we share in Christ’s fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. That is what our life as human beings is about, and it is possible because the Son of God really has become one of us so that we may become more like Him, being truly perfected in love.”

Fr. Philip LeMasters

Source: suscopts.org