„The Lord is Sensitive When Man Wants To Change His Life”

22/3/2010

Romanian Orthodox Church

On the 5th Sunday of the Lent, also called of Saint Pious Maria the Egyptian, His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, delivered a sermon, in the patriarchal chapel dedicated to “Saint George the Enlightener”, in which he explained the spiritual meanings of the Gospels read during the Divine Liturgy.

The first Gospel, the one according to Mark, speaks about the time when two of the Lord’s disciples, James and John, asked to sit “one on His right and the other one on His left side in His glory”. Because their words caused discontent to the other disciples, Jesus Christ, our Lord, urged His disciples to be humble and serve many people, not to want to be first ones. “In other words, He inverts the logic of power as using other people in His own interest with the logic of the holy service, namely serving the many people by those of a higher rank. Jesus Christ, our Lord, wants to show that whoever is higher over the community must take care of the life and salvation of the many people. The Holy Church scheduled this Gospel for the 5th Sunday of the Lent in order to urge us to be humble and see that the true honour is brought to man by serving many other people, those who need our help and guidance”, said His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel. The Church also scheduled, ever since the 11th century, the 5th Sunday of the Lent for remembering Pious Maria the Egyptian, a woman “who used to be a sinner while young, but who repented and not only that she had her sins forgiven, but she also lived a holy life, so that when she prayed, she could lift up from the ground and pray in the air. She was so detached from the earthly things, that God gave her the gift to pray standing above the ground, without touching it”. The Gospel the Holy Fathers scheduled to be read when a pious woman is remembered speaks about the sinful woman who repented her sins when she came into Simon’s house, the Pharisee from Nain, she shed her tears on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair, pouring very expensive myrrh on them.

Return of Christ

The Patriarch of Romania said: “this Gospel shows us that the Lord is very sensitive when man tries to change his life, that He is very understanding and attentive and shows us how big the power of repentance is (…). What made this woman come to Jesus and repent, complain her sins and show, in complete humbleness, her great gratitude to Him was her desire to change her life. His holiness met her sinfulness. So great was the difference between her sinful life and His holiness that she wanted to elevate herself, to change. The spiritual vacuum of her life met the fullness of His love and holiness. His merciful humble love in which His holiness is shown generated her desire to elevate herself, to change her life. We see that this sinful woman, who wanted to change her life, did no longer meet Jesus again, because the Gospels do not speak of her any more. Then, the Lord did not scold her, did not reproach her with anything and she said nothing. The only way of communication between them were her tears, so many, that the words were stifled by tears and by her appreciation, or her gratitude to Jesus was expressed in the very expensive myrrh. So, we see there are people who want to change their lives not because they were scolded, or because they were punished with disease, trouble, sufferance, or unfortunate events, but because they met somebody holy who, in opposition to their life, generates their desire of renewal, of changing their sinful life. So, we see that the grace of God works in quite a special way: it can call to repentance not only through sermon, not only through pedagogic scolding or insisting call, but also through the presence of the holy people beside the sinful ones. As Saint John Damasakin says, “a coal can be lighted by another coal”, meaning that an extinguished coal which symbolises a sinful man can get light again from a burning coal, from a hot one that generates both warmth and light. So, we see that the holiness of Christ, also present at the saints He liked, can become a mysterious form of generating the desire of holiness, of repentance and beginning of a good life, unexpectedly and surprisingly.”

To end with the sermon, His Beatitude the Patriarch explained a few spiritual teachings that resulted from the life of Saint Pious Maria the Egyptian and pointed out the fact that she is not only an example of repentance, but also a great prayerful for us in heaven because “the example of her life makes her a teacher for all those willing to give up sin, a teacher of repentance who brings about hope, a teacher who brings about holiness and spiritual uplifting”. (Article drafted by Gheorghe-Cristian Popa and published in „Ziarul Lumina” of 22 March 2010).

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