5th Sunday of Luke
Luke 16: 19-31
… as though we’ve already journeyed to the other world and returned again.
Each person in this world will suffer many things if they desire to be saved. The reason for this is the existence of much sin deep within the soul, which does not leave a person unless he is stretched. And so each person needs to pin themselves down and to endure whatever s/he needs to endure. The most difficult of all is to bear seeing yourself, and not to be frightened, nor to complain, nor to resist as you will see how poor you are! Lazarus wasn’t vindicated by Christ because he was poor, but because he didn’t grumble. He had faith in the mercy and righteousness of God. This is the crucial point: to desire to accept the state of our spiritual poverty and to live it with patience, with hope, and with trust that God will at some point show mercy to us, will give us the richness of His Grace.
The rich man, when he saw the truth of things, wanted his brothers to be informed about it so as not to end up with him in Hell. But Christ says that it isn’t necessary for someone to return from the other world and inform us about it. If we believe in the Word of God, we are able to live so truly that it is as though we’ve already journeyed to the other world, saw the truth of it, and returned again. But how does God entrust this saving faith to us? God gives it to the person who takes seriously the matter of his salvation.
Let us call upon the Lord to find a way to shake each one of us up so that we will say: “It’s over now. I will begin my true life from this moment forward.”
t so that you will see how poor you are! Lazarus wasn’t vindicated by Christ because he was poor, but because he didn’t grumble. He had faith in the mercy and righteousness of God. This is the crucial point: to desire to accept the state of our spiritual poverty and to live it with patience, with hope, and with trust that God will at some point show mercy to us, will give us the richness of His Grace.
Transcribed talks by Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos
From: Holy Hesychasterion “The Nativity of Theotokos” Publications.
