1st Sunday After Pentecost: the Sunday of All Saints
In a homily for today by Fr. James Thornton (memory eternal), he briefly explains the different categories of Saints, focusing on the martyr, the emperor, and the ascetic. After explaining that most of us will probably not be martyrs or emperors, he says:
“That leaves the third possibility, that of asceticism. Many will unquestionably reply that they are family people, burdened with endless responsibilities of wife and children, of jobs or businesses, of mortgages on houses, and of constant debts and obligations. True, these are facts of life for most of us. But in no cases are we thereby denied the possibilities of Sainthood, of winning the quest of eternal life.”
How can this be possible when it seems that our daily routines rarely leave enough time leftover but for a few rushed prayers?
In the parable of the sower as recorded in Matthew 13:22, the Lord says:
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
Most of us aren’t going to rob banks, become prostitutes or launder millions from corporations, and our enemy the devil is crafty and knows that temptations like these will be ineffective for many. In the parable of the sower, we are warned that it is not necessarily the obvious sins that are the most dangerous (though indeed they are deadly), but the subtle ones that seem innocuous. “How can I dedicate time to God when my life is so busy?” we ask, not realizing we risk being like those who passed over the kingdom of God because they wanted to bid house guests farewell (Luke 9:58-62).
If we use our everyday duties as excuses for not pressing on towards the kingdom of God, we delude ourselves, and are not loving our gracious Lord as we ought!
So how can find God in the modern day? How can we walk the Orthodox path of purification, illumination and glorification when we’re assailed by endless texts, notifications, noises, and all other manner of soul-disturbing distractions? The answer to this will be different for each of us, and each needs to ask God for discernment, but there is one thing we know: it is possible to attain this in some measure despite the never-ending currents of busyness that surround us.
We know this is possible from the life of St. Symeon the New Theologian, who is his twenty-seventh hymn writes:
“Do not say that it is impossible to receive the Spirit of God… do not say that men cannot perceive the Divine Light, or that it is impossible in this age! Never is it found to be impossible, my friends. On the contrary, it is entirely possible when one desires it.”
Though St. Symeon was burdened with the responsibilities of managing a patrician household during the day, nevertheless, in the Philokalia he assures of the certainty that God will give to he who asks. Writing of himself in the third person, he says things such as:
“…he did nothing else except carry out every evening, before he went to bed, the short rule given him by the holy elder. When his conscience told him, ‘Make more prostrations, recite additional psalms, and repeat “Lord have mercy” more often, for you can do so,’ he readily and unhesitatingly obeyed, and did everything as though asked to do it by God Himself. And from that time on he never went to bed with his conscience reproaching him, saying, ‘Why have you not done this?'”
And most relevant to us today, he adds:
“…the heart of a city cannot prevent us from practicing God’s commandments so long as we are diligent and watchful…”
Through the prayers of St. Symeon, the Mother of God and all the Saints, may God vouchsafe us steady progress on the path to union with Him!