A woman cries out for her husband that she does not go to church, one cries
out, the other. Slow down my brother. Don’t make the other person
unhappy. You go and light a candle for him. When the Holy Gifts are being
blesses, remember him too! Say “Christ, you who are the light of the world,
enlighten him! You can!” And whatever we want to say to others who are in:
trouble and can’t bear it, let us say it to our God. With faith, with pain, with
tears, with vigil, with fasting. And there comes good results. The Lord
enlightens him. Let us not forget that the other has freedom and autonomy of
will, a gift of God, unique and unrepeatable, on which even the Creator
himself stumbles. And the Creator himself stumbles on His gift. Nor does He
withdraw His gift, the gifts of God are unchangeable, says the Apostle
Paul. And then the Christ shines at the proper time.
+ Fr. Ananias Kustenis
Translated by Dr. Nick Stergiou