Community is the essential element in what it means to be human
Christianity is a communal faith, one that requires it’s followers to be actively involved with others. The Church’s worship is communal, and salvation itself is a corporate act, one that necessitates interaction with others. One is not “saved” in a vacuum, but as part of the corporal life of the Church. Your salvation must be as much a concern to me, as is my own salvation. My relationship with Christ is not about me, but about us. Our sins are not just against God, but against the Body of Christ, the Church. Our love of God can not be salvific if we do not love others, for just as the Lord said, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20)”.
Given the communal nature of the Church, it is particularly alarming to see increasing numbers of people isolating themselves from others. Many have turned to the Internet as the primary source of interaction with others, finding “friendships” with people who will never be met in person. The importance of social interaction in the central square, as seen in traditional villages where the cafe life and church were the primary source of fraternal interaction, has pointed the way to a future of increased estrangement from each other.
Isolated from others, the communal nature that is an important element in what it means to be human, is lost. It is thus imperative that we guard against the temptation of spending too much time in front of the computer, and too little time with others. The sight of young people sitting in coffee houses, together, yet apart, is troubling. Mobile phones, text messaging, ipods, communication through email, and countless hours on facebook, leads to the furtherance of an isolation that is murdering the soul. As humans, we are meant to be together, for it is in our lives together that we grow in mind and spirit. It is in community that we learn to love God. For friendships to be limited to on-line chat rooms is a tragedy of major proportions, one that will ultimately be the ruin of society.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday October 6, 2016 / September 23, 2016
16th Week after Pentecost. Tone six.
The Conception of the Honorable, Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John.
Canonization (1977) of St. InnocentMetropolitan of Moscow.
New Hieromartyr John priest (1937).
New Hieromartyr Arsenius archbishop (1937).
Venerables Xanthippa and Polyxena(109), disciples of the Apostles, who died in Spain.
Virgin-martyr Irais (Rhais) of Alexandria (308).
Martyrs Andrew, John, Peter, and Antoninus of Syracuse, martyred in Africa (886).
“Slovensk” Icon of the Mother of God (1635).
“Hawaiian” Myrrh-streaming Iveron Ikon of the Theotokos (2007).
New Martyr Nicholas Pantopolis at Constantinople (1672) (Greek).
New Martyr John of Epirus (1814).
Venerable Adamnan, abbot of Iona, biographer of St. Columba (704) (Celtic & British).
Scripture Readings
Ephesians 1:1-9
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Redemption in Christ
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
Luke 4:16-22
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Father, today’s reflections call to mind a thought I’d had in the midst of an ongoing correspondence with a dear friend (God rest his soul). Here it is, in part:
“Truth (certainly in its most profound dimensions and also, ultimately, even in its most humble, practical applications) is beheld as such, only as the bearer of Meaning; and Meaning, in turn, is ultimately experienced only in and through the relationship of Persons. Accordingly, since God is the Author and Source of Persons — indeed, in His essence is Three Persons in eternally abiding Relationship — He is, in that Eternal Relationship of His Own “Tri-Personhood” and in his relationship to us men as persons of His creation, the very identity of Truth as we behold it through the mediation of His Son.”