The Christian Life Is a Life of the Cross

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).

    A Christian will be persecuted. We have to be prepared for this and not be surprised when it happens. Christ prepared us for this. Our faith in him makes us different from the world if we do his will and live for him with all our heart, as he wishes. The world lives for itself and its pleasures. A Christian mortifies and sacrifices himself for the love of Christ so that all his love goes directly to him. He detaches himself for the sake of Christ to love him with all his heart. Therefore he renounces the pleasures of this world and lives a mortified, ascetical life, a life of sacrifice and love of God. He renounces the world and its delights, delicacies, and pleasures in every aspect of his life, from his diet and way of dressing to how he spends his free time. He renounces the diversions and entertainments of this world in order to love God with all his heart, not with a heart divided and dissipated by the pleasures of the world. Thus he lives only for God, only for Christ, and his life is very different from the life of the world, from a worldly life.
         Therefore the world does not love him. It neither understands nor accepts him. The world rejects and persecutes him. But he continues living this way, only for God with all his heart, with a radically undivided heart, and he continues preaching the gospel.
            As Christ was rejected and persecuted by the world, in the same way the Christian will also be rejected and persecuted by the world. But he knows this. It does not surprise him. It is what he expects, for Christ prepared him for this. He told us, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next” (Matt. 10:22-23). So we continue with our way of life and our ministry in another place, as did St. Paul, who was imprisoned, stoned, beaten, and driven out of one city after another. Again and again he departed from where they persecuted him and went to another town and preached Christ there. We should do the same, not daunted by past rejections and persecution.
           “Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). “If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household” (Matt. 10:25). “The world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (John 15:20).
           This will be our life if we want to be Christians. It is a life of the cross. As they persecuted Jesus, so will they persecute us if we follow him with all our heart, renouncing the way of living of the world in its worldliness in order to live for Christ with all our heart.

The Silent, Contemplative Work of St. Joseph

“And God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth’” (Gen. 1:28).
     
        Today we commemorate St. Joseph the Worker, the foster father of Jesus Christ. It is a day on which we reflect on the importance of human work—all types of work, intellectual as well as manual. We were created to work, to “have dominion over the fish of the sea … and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen. 1:28). For this we were created, and therefore we are happy when we work.
           Being a contemplative does not mean that we stop working and only sit praying. No one can be happy living like that, for it is contrary to God’s plan for us. Monks who leave the world to live a contemplative life in the silence of the desert, far from the noise, distractions, and entertainments of the world, work. The Desert Fathers in Egypt made baskets, mats, and ropes; or copied manuscripts; or wrote books, as did Evagrius Ponticus. They worked according to their ability, personal inclination, and interest, using the gifts and talents God gave them. Thus each individual contributed to the well-being of the rest, making his own contribution to the community and to the world.
          God did not put us here in this world only to entertain ourselves, but rather to help others. We should not only receive but also to give to others. We receive the services of other people, while at the same time we serve them with our talents. Living in this way a person will be happy, for he is living in accordance with God’s will.
         Our work can change as we grow older or develop some physical disability. We can give up a type of work that requires much physical activity, distraction, and travel for a more contemplative type of work. A professor, for example, may stop teaching and instead occupy himself in writing books, in this way making the wisdom of his many years available to a much wider audience and in a more durable form, while at the same time living a quieter and more contemplative life. Thus he simplifies his life and greatly reduces the distractions he once had as an active professor.
          A monk works in silence, far from the world, so as not to be distracted. He does not travel. He always stays in the same place, within an enclosure (cloister), far from worldly entertainments, temptations, and distractions in order to live a life recollected in God, happily occupied in manual or intellectual work, which he does for the benefit of the community and the world. He lives in silence and prayer, even when working. But he also spends much time sitting in silent contemplation without words or ideas, united to God.
          St. Joseph is for us an example of silent, contemplative work.

Custody of the Heart

“You offspring of Canaan and not of Judah, beauty has deceived you and lust has perverted your heart” (Dan. 13:56).

      In the account of Susanna, the beautiful woman for whom the two elders, who had been appointed as judges, were overwhelmed with passion, we see clearly illustrated the danger of division of heart. Even two elders that were respected by the people and placed in positions of authority and trust fell into a disastrous situation because they did not sufficiently guard their hearts. They fell in love with the beauty of Susanna, and their infatuation cost them their lives.
         “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9). Knowing this, we have to take precautions to guard our whole way of life so that our heart does not divide. If we fall in love with forbidden beauty or with worldly pleasures, we are divided in our love of God and can no longer love him with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul, and all our strength, as we should (Mark 12:30). Part of our heart will be reserved for forbidden beauty or worldly pleasures, and our heart will be divided. But God wants all of our heart. He wants a heart that is undivided in our love for him. He does not want to have to compete with the delights of this world or with human beauty for our attention. He wants all of our attention, all of our interest, and all of our love, without any division. This is the life of perfection. Marriage is necessary and blessed; but apart from that, we should love God with an undivided heart; and celibacy, for this reason, is superior to marriage, for it enables us to love God with a more undivided heart (2 Cor. 7:32-34, 38).
           Therefore we are to serve only one master (Matt. 6:24), have only one treasure (Matt. 6:19-21), and renounce all to gain all, as did the man that discovered the buried treasure and sold all that he had to obtain it (Matt. 13:44-46). Thus we hate our life in this world to guard it for eternal life (John 12:25). But those who love their life, falling in love with forbidden beauty or with worldly pleasures, lose their life. Those who save their lives in this way lose them; while those who lose their lives for Christ save them (Mark 8:35). Therefore we are to be crucified to the world (Gal. 6:14). In dying to the world, we live for God.
Custody of the heart and of the senses is the job of a lifetime, as we see in case of these two elders who fell in old age.

The Call to Perfection

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength’” (Mark 12:29-30).

     Here Jesus quotes the great Jewish prayer, the Shema (Deut. 6:4), as his first and most important commandment. We are to love God with all our resources. This is the first commandment. It is also the call to perfection. Jesus called the rich young man to a life of perfection, saying, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21). For Jesus, the life of perfection is to love him with all that we have, with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. If the rich young man had left everything for Jesus’s sake, he would be on the way of perfection. Therefore Jesus says, “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). A true disciple lives completely and uniquely for Jesus Christ, and renounces everything else. He hates his life in this world (John 12:25). He loses his life for the sake of Christ, and therefore he saves it (Mark 8:35). He seeks the things that are above, where Christ is, rather than the pleasures and riches of this world, for he has risen with Christ and now lives a new and risen life with him (Col. 3:1-2).
         The true disciple, who has chosen the way of perfection, is crucified to the world, as St. Paul was (Gal. 6:14). He is dead to the world and its pleasures in order to have a completely undivided heart in his love for the Lord. He leaves family, houses, lands, and can even renounce marriage to dedicate himself completely and uniquely to Jesus Christ with all the love of his heart, without dividing it even with a Christian spouse (Luke 18:29; 1 Cor. 7:32-34). He chooses the narrow way of life, which is the way of the renunciation of the world and its pleasures rather than the wide and comfortable way of the world (Matt. 7:13-14).
          The true disciple has found the pearl of great price and the buried treasure, and he sacrifices everything else to obtain them (Matt. 13:44-46). He regards as loss all that was once his gain, and he does this to gain Christ (Phil. 3:7-8). Having sacrificed everything, he now lives for one master only, no longer for two (Matt. 6:24), and he has now but one treasure, not many (Matt. 6:19-21), because he wants his heart to be where his treasure is (Matt. 6:21). He does not want to divide his heart among the loves, pleasure, and riches of the world but rather reserve it only for the Lord. Nor does he want the thorns of the riches and pleasures of the world to choke him (Luke 8:14). He leaves everything else, because he does not want to be like a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle, since he knows that such is a rich man, surrounded by his pleasures, trying to get into the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:24).
           If we live in this new way, we have chosen the way of perfection (Matt. 19:21), and God will in turn be to us like the dew, and we will blossom like the lily (Hos. 14:5).

The Rich Glutton Tormented in Eternal Fire

“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish’” (Luke 16:25).

      We see here that not everyone is saved. Some are eternally tormented in hell, as is this rich glutton “who feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19), for “between us and you,” said Abraham, “a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us” (Luke 16:26). We see the same thing in Jesus’s teaching about the final judgment—those who have not lived rightly will go to eternal fire. “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ … And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:41, 46). This does not mean that Christ’s sacrifice was not perfect or that it lacked the power to save everyone. It was fully successful and powerful to save all the elect—that is, all those whom God had predestined for salvation, which are those who respond with faith.
      But why was this rich glutton tormented in eternal fire? Jesus tells us that he
“feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). And Abraham tells him that he already received his reward in his lifetime, and now he is in anguish (Luke 16:25). He lived a self-indulgent life, centered in worldly delights, feasting sumptuously every day. So he has already had his reward. Jesus says the same thing in the beatitudes. “Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24). On the contrary, he said, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20).
        nd the false god of the unnecessary pleasures of this world on the other hand. It is a life that has a divided heart, that does not live only for God with all its love (Mark 12:30). Those who divide themselves like this are like a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle (Matt. 19:24). Therefore Jesus said, “It will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:23). They do not serve only one master (Matt. 6:24). They do not have but one treasure only (Matt. 6:19-21). They are like seeds among thorns that “are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14).
        How much better to live only for God, completely for him.

Fasting: Why and How I Fast?

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast’” (Matt. 9:15).

      The time of Jesus’s ministry was a special time in salvation history. It was the messianic time when the Messiah was physically present on earth. Jesus was the bridegroom, and his ministry was the time of his wedding with the New Israel. Therefore his disciples did not fast during those special wedding days, although he himself fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert. But he said that when the bridegroom is physically taken away from them, then they too will fast. We are in those days now, and during Lent we emphasize fasting and its importance in the life of a Christian.
     Isaiah teaches us that our fasting should be accompanied by alms giving and helping the poor if we want it to have a good effect. “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free … Is it not to share your bread with the hungry … Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isa. 58:6, 7, 8). If when we fast we also help the poor with our wisdom and money, our light will break forth like the dawn, we shall shine with the righteousness of God, and the glory of the Lord shall be with us.
         Why does fasting have such power? It is because fasting cuts away the things that
divide our hearts and enables us to have an undivided heart in our love for God. By fasting, we reduce our food to the essentials for health and set aside delicacies. This is something we should do in every aspect of our life in order to be able to live only for God with all our heart. Thus we can say with the psalmist, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee … Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows … The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup” (Ps. 16:2, 4, 5). If one fasts in a healthy way, one can fast every day of the year—it can become a whole way of life. What I do is eat only once a day, at noon, never eat meat or use seasoning, and never eat delicacies (things made of sugar, artificial sweeteners, or white flour, or white rice) or fried foods. Thus one can eat all the essentials every day and in sufficient quantity for health but without dividing the heart with unnecessary pleasures. By eating in this way, my food is completely digested when I rise at 2:45 A.M. for prayer and contemplation. For contemplation, it is important to have an empty stomach. I then prolong this time with God in silence during the rest of the morning, quietly doing my work; and at noon, I eat again. I do not eat breakfast because it drops me spiritually at the most spiritual time of the day. We should then organize all the other parts of our life so they are in harmony with our fasting, avoiding unnecessary pleasures of the world in general in every aspect of our life so that our life is harmonious and homogeneous.
      

Losing One’s Life to Save It

“And he said to all, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’” (Luke 9:23).

         The cross of Jesus Christ redeemed us and brought us the kingdom of God, in which we can now live forgiven for our sins and reconciled with God. It is a kingdom of heavenly peace on earth that will come in its fullness at the Parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven but exists already ahead of time for those who believe in him.
       We see in the above quotation that not only Christ but we too must bear the cross if we want to be his followers. How should a Christian live? What is the purpose of our new life of faith, of our new life in Christ? We are not here for the pleasures of the world but rather to deny ourselves and take up our cross every day and follow Jesus. This means that we are to preach the truth of his gospel and offer ourselves in sacrifice with him to the Father. If we do this in a way that is faithful to his will, we will be persecuted in this world. Those who accept this and continue living for him with all their heart and mind will be his true followers. They will bear their cross of persecution and rejection every day. Thus will be their life in this world.
        The Christian life is a life of sacrifice and renunciation of self, for we wish to serve but one master only (Matt. 6:24) and have only one treasure in this world (Matt. 6:19-21), namely Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. If we want this treasure, we have to sacrifice everything else to obtain it as did the man who discovered the treasure buried in a field. He had to sell everything he had in order to be able to buy the field and all it contained and thus gain possession of the treasure (Matt. 13:44).
        hat does this parable teach us? It teaches us that if we want to obtain the kingdom of God, we have to do what this man did, renounce everything else, all the pleasures of the world, which only divide our hearts. Only in this way will we be able to possess this great treasure. To possess the kingdom of God is to have Jesus Christ shining in our hearts, filling us with heavenly peace and the joy of the Holy Spirit. But to receive this we have to have an undivided heart in our love for him.
        Therefore Jesus says, “Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it” (Luke 9:24). We lose our life for his sake by denying ourselves, by renouncing the world. Therefore during Lent we sacrifice the unnecessary delights of the table, and other things too, something we should be doing all year long, but for those who have not done so, at least during Lent they should do so. In this way, they will deny themselves, take up their cross of sacrifice, sell all to obtain the treasure, have only one treasure, and serve only one master. In this way, they will lose their life in this world for the sake of Christ, and in losing it they will save it.

Our Only Treasure

“If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1 Kings 12:27).
 
        Since its conquest by David, Jerusalem was the central location chosen and blessed by God in which the Israelites were to offer sacrifice. This was in accord with the law of the one sanctuary of the Mosaic Law (Deut. 12:1-27). But Jeroboam saw that if the Israelites continued going up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice, “then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah” (1 Kings 12:27). Therefore Jeroboam chose two places in his kingdom, one in Dan, the other in Bethel, and in each he made a golden calf so that in the future the people would offer their sacrifices before one or the other of these and no longer in Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:28-32). He also “appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites” (1 Kings 12:31).
       This was Jeroboam’s great sin. “And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the
Lord and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins which Jeroboam did … until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight” (2 Kings 17:21-23).
In Israel it was important to offer sacrifice only in the place designated by the Lord; not in just any place. “Take heed that you do not offer your burnt offerings at every place that you see; but at the place which the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings” (Deut. 12:13-14). Jeroboam broke from this important law, and this did not please the Lord.
         We see here the importance of obeying God’s will. Although the ten tribes of Jeroboam were stronger than Judah, they were finally completely destroyed. Only the descendents of Judah preserved the faith of Israel until the coming of the Messiah.
         is his will for us? It is to serve the Lord, and only the Lord, with all our heart, for, as the psalmist says, “Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee … Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their name upon my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot” (Ps. 16:2, 4-5). Jeroboam lost God’s favor because he did not serve him with all his heart and did not obey him. To serve God with all our heart is to serve him alone and to serve him in the way he wants to be served. It is to leave all for him (Luke 5:11), to be crucified to the world for him (Gal. 6:14), to have only one treasure (Matt. 6:19-21), and only one master (Matt. 6:24). It is to seek the things above, not those of earth (Col. 3:1-
2), and to renounce the pleasures of the world, so that God be our only happiness.

Where Is Our Happiness?

“Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes”’” (1 Kings 11:30-31).

    For not being faithful to the Lord, the kingdom was torn from the hand of Solomon, and ten tribes were given to Jeroboam. This is the Lord’s punishment of Solomon for his sin in forsaking the Lord, announced to Jeroboam by the prophet Ahijah. “He has forsaken me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did” (1 Kings 11:33).
       But afterward Jeroboam too would stop serving the Lord with all his heart. He would make two golden calves and put one in Bethel and the other in Dan and would say to the people, “Behold your gods, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). He then “appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites” (1 Kings 12:31), and he offered sacrifices on the altar in Bethel (1 Kings 12:32), something which should only be done in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:2; Lev. 17:1-9; Deut. 12:4-6).
        Therefore Jeroboam would also be punished for his sin. The same prophet Ahijah would say, “Therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male” (1 Kings 14:10). Thus we see the evil of idolatry. The kingdom was torn from the hands of these two kings because they had ceased walking wholeheartedly with the Lord. The Lord is a jealous God. He wants all of our love.
       Jesus Christ revealed the same message. His first and most important commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). He said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).
       But how many continue trying to serve two masters? How many continue dividing their hearts by the way they live? How many believe they can serve God and other things too? How many believe they can live a worldly life and also serve God with all their heart, with an undivided heart, as God wishes? Many, I think; but it is impossible. We should seek our happiness only in the Lord, not in the delights of the world, which only divide our heart and diminish the love we have for God. God wants all our love, not just part of it. He also wants to be all our happiness, not just part of our happiness. This is why monks live a life of prayer and fasting in the desert far from the world—namely to love God with all their hearts.

Modern Idolatry

“When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4).

    We see that in his old age Solomon’s heart became divided by serving other gods, and he “did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done” (1 Kings 11:6). Hence “his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4). How important it is then to have an undivided heart in our love and service of God and not allow our heart to become divided among other things! We should not allow other things to take the place of God in our heart. Therefore “the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel” (1 Kings 11:9).
         There are many things that we can put into our heart that should not be there and that divide the love of our heart so that it is not undivided as it should be. The pleasures of the world are idols that divide our heart. They are our false gods that make us worldly instead of pure followers of the Lord, and only of the Lord.
      Solomon thought that he had good reasons for his actions, for he made political alliances by marrying the daughters of various kings, such as the daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kings 11:1). Since his foreign wives were not Israelites, he built temples for them where they could offer sacrifice to their gods, and he joined them in their sacrifices. But this did not please God.
       We too can think that we have good reasons for putting other pleasures into our heart, but this also does not please God, who wants to see in us a heart that is integral and undivided in our love and service of him. We do not need as many things as we think, unnecessary things that are only for pleasure. All this only divides the heart.
        We have to beware of the culture that we live in and guard ourselves against it and not uncritically imitate its ways and fashions. We should rather discern the styles of our culture and reject what is not in accord with gospel living. The great sin of the Israelites was to mingle with the nations and imitate their ways. “They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and learned to do as they did. They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts” (Ps. 106:34-
39). Let us not do the same!
      Although we do not worship idols in the same way that they did, there are nonetheless many idols in our culture that are served and that divide the heart. The cult of pleasure is the great idol that is served today, and it divides the heart so that it is not wholly true to the Lord.
       

The Kingdom of God Belongs to the Poor

“And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God’” (Luke 6:20).

       This verse begins the beatitudes, Jesus’ programmatic sermon where he proclaims the poor blessed, and woe upon the rich. We need to understand what he is saying here and grasp the message of this important sermon, for it is an outline summary of much of his teaching in other places in the gospels. Jesus is proclaiming here a whole way of life, a new way of living, which is a life lived for God alone with all one’s heart and in service of one’s neighbor for the love of God. Jesus wants us to live completely and radically for God, leaving all else to live for him alone. God should be our only happiness, and we should therefore leave everything else for the love of him.
      The first disciples did this by leaving their nets, boat, and father, to follow him (Luke 5:11; Mark 1:17-20). Levi did it when “he left everything, and rose and followed him” (Luke 5:28). Jesus blessed his disciples for having done this to serve him completely with all their life and all their time. “Every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold” (Matt. 19:29). These are the true poor, to whom belongs the kingdom of God (Luke 6:20). They live for him alone with an undivided heart. Their heart is not divided by the pleasures of the world. Worldly pleasures choke us so that we do not bear fruit, as weeds choke a seed (Luke 8:14). Those that love these pleasures lose their life, while those that hate their life in this world will save it (John 12:25). He that loses his life for love of Christ will save his life (Mark 8:35). Such is the true poor person, to whom the kingdom of God belongs.
        there also will our heart be (Matt. 6:19-21). We should live a life of austerity and simplicity, renouncing worldly delights. Thus, and only thus, will we serve only one master, not two, for we cannot serve both God and mammon (Matt. 6:24). If we want to possess the kingdom of God, we have to renounce everything of this world, as did the man who discovered the buried treasure. He had to sell all he had to obtain the treasure, which is the kingdom of God (Matt. 13:44). The kingdom of God, which we seek, is a pearl of great price, which is only obtainable at the price of all else (Matt. 13:45-46). “So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). St. Paul said the same thing. “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). About himself, St. Paul said that he was dead to the world, crucified to the world for the love of Christ. “But far be it from me to glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).
        This is the evangelical poverty proclaimed by Jesus in the beatitudes. This is to live only for God with all one’s heart, without division. This is the first commandment of Jesus, to love God with all one’s heart, all one’s soul, all one’s mind, and all one’s strength (Mark 12:30). This is to live a simple and austere life for the love of Jesus, for “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24).
        Those who ignore these counsels are like a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle (Matt. 19:24). Woe to them, for they have already had their consolation. “Woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24). Where have they received their consolation? In the delights and pleasures of this world, and thus they have divided their heart. They should not expect any further consolation. This is the same thing that Abraham said to the rich glutton “who feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19). From paradise he told him, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish” (Luke 16:25). He already received his consolation in his gluttonous life. There was no further consolation for him to receive after death. We should avoid such a scenario. It is far better to live a life of perfection, the life to which Jesus calls us, a life in which we leave everything of this world to find our happiness only in God, not dividing our heart with the pleasures of the world. Therefore Jesus said to the rich young man, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21). Truly, many who are first in the world will be last in the kingdom of God, while those who make themselves last in the world for the love of Christ will be the first in the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:30). We should lose all for Christ and consider it rubbish in order to gain Christ (Phil. 3:8). “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ” (Phil. 3:7).
        “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied” (Luke 6:21), but “Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger” (Luke 6:25). Here we see sketched in a few words this entire teaching. “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6:20), “but woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24). Blessed are those who put this into practice and live a simple, austere life for the love of God in order to love him with all their heart, with a heart that is not divided by the pleasures of the world. They will have an undivided heart, not divided in its love for God. Theirs is the kingdom of God, both now and hereafter. They have not received their consolation in the things here below. They can hope to receive it afterward.

The Scorn of the World

“Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when his friends heard it, they went out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is beside himself’” (Mark 3:19-21).
 
      Often it must seem to the world that true Christians are beside themselves. To the world, they seem to be crazy. How many times did people say that Jesus had a demon (Mark 3:22; John 10:20; 7:20; 8:48, 52)? After hearing St. Paul’s defense, the governor “Festus said with a loud voice, ‘Paul, you are mad; your great learning is turning you mad’” (Acts 26:24). It is the same even in the Old Testament. At the last judgment when the wicked will see the just man in glory, they will say, “This is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach—we fools! We thought that his life was madness and that his end was without honor” (Wis. 5:4).
        Why is this the case? It is because the true Christian does not love the world in its worldliness and does not imitate its ways. He preaches to the world to save it, but he renounces its pleasures in order not to divide his heart. “Do not love the world, or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:1-2). A true Christian distances himself from worldly ways. He rejects the broad and comfortable way of the world, the way of the many, the way of perdition; and chooses instead the difficult way and the narrow gate of the few, the way of life (Matt. 7:13-14). But to those who are on the broad way of the world and its delights, those who are taking the difficult and narrow way of life seem to be crazy, beside themselves. If those on the broad path think that theirs is the correct path, then naturally the few who have rejected their path must be crazy. But they are mistaken
         The way of the few is the way of renunciation of the unnecessary pleasures of the world in order to have an undivided heart in their love for God. This is the way of life which few choose (Matt. 7:13-14). Even in the Old Testament, those who fasted an lived an austere life were the laughingstock of the rest. “When I humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me” (Ps. 69:10-12).
        The Christian trusts completely in Jesus Christ for his salvation and new life in the light. For the world which does not believe in Christ, this also is madness. To the world that lives only for things that are seen, only for the sensible pleasures of this present life, a life of faith seems like madness. The true Christian must, therefore, put up with the scorn of the world. This is the cross he must bear.

The Basic Principles of Christian Spirituality

“And as he passed on, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (Mark 2:14).

      Now is the hour of the kingdom of God. That which the Jews so long awaited has at last come, and the appropriate response is to repent, leave all, and follow Christ. This is the response that Jesus expected and received from his first disciples. St. Luke says concerning Levi that Jesus “said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he left everything, and rose and followed him” (Luke 5:27-28). This is the same wholehearted response which he received from Simon, James, and John: “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:10-11). They responded with all their heart and life, leaving all else for the kingdom of God, which had come into the world in Jesus Christ. From then on, they would live only for the kingdom, only for God with all their heart, with an undivided heart. They would love God with their whole heart (Mark 12:30), and Christ and his kingdom would be their only their only master (Mt 6:24) and their only treasure (Matt. 6:19-21). They chose the narrow gate of life (Matt. 7:13-14). They are seeking now the things that are above, and no longer the pleasures of the world (Col. 3:1-2). They discovered a buried treasure and a pearl of great price, and sold everything to obtain it (Matt. 13:44-46). From now on, they will lose and hate their life in this world for the sake of Jesus Christ (Mark 8:35; John 12:25).
     
         This is the kind of response Jesus wants to find in us too. We should live only for him and find our joy only in him in this world without dividing our heart among other worldly and unnecessary pleasures, including the delights of the table. We should be able to say with the psalmist: “Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from thee … those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their libations of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup” (Ps. 16:2, 4-5). The Invitatory of Friday of week four should be our motto: “Come, let us praise the Lord; in him is all our delight.”
       The more we divide our heart among the unnecessary delights of this world, the less affective energy we have for God. Thus we are dispersed, divided, and our love for God becomes weak, dissipated, debilitated. We are rather to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), without any division of heart among the unnecessary delights of this world. This is to have only one master (Matt. 6:24), only one treasure (Matt. 6:19-21). This is leaving everything for him (Luke 5:11, 28; 14:33). This is losing and hating our life in this world for the sake of Christ (Mark 8:35; John 12:25).
      This is the authentic response to Jesus’ call and to the arrival of the kingdom of God on earth in him, and these are the basic principles of Christian spirituality. This is the way of the saints, the difficult way of life (Matt. 7:13-14). This is life according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh (Rom. 8:5-8, 13; Gal. 5:24, 16-17; 6:8). This is being crucified with Christ to the world (Gal. 6:14).
     

The Duty of a Watchman for the People

“And the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain” (1 Sam. 4:11).

      Israel was defeated in battle against the Philistines, thirty thousand Israelites fell, the Ark of the Covenant was captured, and its two priests, the sons of the priest Eli, were among the dead. When Eli heard the news, he fell backwards in his chair and died. All this happened in fulfillment of the prophecy of the man of God who came to Eli and told him that God was going to punish him for the sins of his two sons, the priests of Shiloh, who disregarded the law of God, disrespected the offerings to the Lord (1 Sam. 2:27-34), and even “lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting” (1 Sam. 2:22). This defeat of Israel and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant was God’s punishment “for the iniquity which he [Eli] knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them” (1 Sam. 3:13). Eli himself did nothing wrong. His fault was that he did not restrain his two sons, who were priests but did not live in a manner worthy of the priesthood. He should have restrained them, but because he let them do as they pleased, all Israel was punished, and the Ark of God was captured.
         There is a lesson here, I believe, for us as well. We should not think that we have done all that God wishes of us if all we do is avoid sin. If there is sin and worldly living around us and we do not say or do anything to correct it, we ourselves are also at fault, and the whole people of God will be punished because we neither said nor did anything to correct the situation. We are the watchman for the people of God, as was Ezekiel, and “if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any one of them; that man is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand” (Ezek. 33:6).
         We, therefore, have a responsibility to warn people of the error of their ways for
the good of the Church. How many people all around us today, for example, live as though they had never heard of the basic principles of Christian spirituality, living worldly lives of pleasure, completely ignoring the importance of evangelical poverty, simplicity, austerity, sacrifice, and fasting? How many have forgotten that “whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35)? How many lose their lives in this world for the sake of Christ? They are the ones who will save their life. How many try to have an undivided heart in their love for God, not dividing their heart with the unnecessary delights of this world?
        If we see this error all around us, what are we doing to rectify it? What kind of example and witness are we giving? What are we saying? What are we writing? What kind of life are we living? What kind of sermons do we preach? Are we like Eli, doing nothing; or like Ezekiel, serving as a watchman for the people?

The First Fruits of the Consecrated Life

    “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men” (Matt. 2:16).

        The Church considers as martyrs those male children of Bethlehem and her environs that were two years old or under, whom King Herod ordered killed in an attempt to safeguard his throne. They were martyrs, baptized in their own blood. They died for Christ without knowing it. They lost their lives in this world for the sake of Christ. They are therefore rewarded with a heavenly recompense. It is their voices that we in the responsorial psalm, “We have escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!” (Ps. 124:7). So soon did they escape from this world to enter into the kingdom of their Father! Herod, without intending it, did them a favor. Furthermore, “These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first-fruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God” (Rev. 14:4-5 NKJV).
         In commemorating these Holy Innocents, we are strengthened in our faith that our goal goes beyond this present life. We are made for something more, which is to see God and live in intimacy with him forever, first in heaven after death, then on the new earth (Isa. 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13) with our risen bodies when Christ returns again to the earth in his glory with all his holy ones. Then we shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father (Matt. 13:43). The Holy Innocents escaped from the sufferings of this world in a very short time and were thus among the first to enter into heaven, opened by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They were “as first fruits for God and the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4).
         As virgins, they are also the first fruits of Christian virgins and celibates,
consecrated to God and to the Lamb as to their only spouse with a completely undivided heart (2 Cor. 11:2; 1 Cor. 7:32-34). They are the first fruits of those “who follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev. 14:4). They are, therefore, the first fruits not only of martyrs but also of Christian virgins and celibates, who are consecrated to God with all their heart, without any division whatsoever, not even for a human spouse. These are those who renounce marriage and family to follow the Lamb wherever he goes with all their time—full-time. They are therefore the first fruits of the religious life, the consecrated life. They are pure. They “have not defiled themselves with women” in fornication (Rev. 14:4). They live only for God and his kingdom. They represent for us the ideal of the monastic, religious, celibate, priestly life.

How We Should Prepare Ourselves For the Coming of the Lord

“For he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Luke 1:15).

John the Baptist was a Nazirite, dedicated to the Lord for life from his mother’s womb. A Nazirite drinks no wine or strong drink, lets his hair grow long, and avoids all contact with the dead (Num. 6:3-6). He is completely dedicated to God. In addition, John the Baptist lived a solitary life in the desert; renounced normal clothing, dressing himself in camel’s skins; and instead of bread, wine, and normal food, ate locusts and wild honey (Matt. 3:4). Jesus tells us that John neither ate bread nor drank wine (Luke 7:33).
John was furthermore “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:15-17).
This desert ascetic, John the Baptist, is our model during Advent, which is the time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. We are to prepare ourselves and our world as John prepared himself and the world to receive the Lord at his coming. We should live as though we were in the desert, living simply, in austerity and simplicity, reserving our heart for Christ in silence and solitude, in prayer and fasting, in moderation and love, not dividing our heart among worldly pleasures.
In the desert, we shall see the glory of the Lord if we are prepared. In the desert, we prepare the way of the Lord. How many things in our life still need rectifying? How, for example, do we spend our time? Are we really using our time in the way God wants us to? Are we spending enough time in spiritual reading and study of the word, or are we using up too much time in the small details of life, setting aside the essence of a life dedicated to God? All this must be set right if we want to have peace with God and peace in our heart. These things are the mountains that we have to make low, and the valleys that we have to lift up. These things are the uneven ground that we must make level, and the rough places that we must make a plain so that the glory of the Lord may appear (Isa. 40:3-5). These are the things that we must do to be prepared to receive the Lord at his coming.
Then “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God” (Isa. 35:1-2).

In the Desert, Prepare the Way of the Lord

“John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’” (Matt. 11:18).

During Advent, John the Baptist is one of our models, along with the Virgin Mary and the prophet Isaiah. John, as we see in this verse, is an ascetic, who neither ate as others did, nor drank wine. His food was “locusts and wild honey” (Matt. 3:4), and the angel Gabriel told John’s father, Zechariah, “He shall drink no wine nor strong drink” (Luke 1:15). John, furthermore, lived in the desert from his youth. St. Luke tells us that “the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80). He was probably in the desert because Isaiah had said, “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa. 40:3-4). This text was important for John, for when they asked him, “‘What do you say about yourself?’ He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said’” (John 1:22-23).
John was already in the desert when he received his call to be a prophet. St. Luke tells us that “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Luke 3:2). But in reality John was called before his conception when the angel Gabriel announced his birth to his father, Zechariah, saying, “He will go before him [God] in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:17).
In what better place could an ascetic live than in the desert? as the Egyptian monks discovered three centuries later. There he prepared the way of the Lord, making “straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isa 40:3). There he lived an ascetical life of prayer and fasting. Jesus also recommended fasting, even though he himself did not fast, for he was living in the special wedding time of the inauguration of the kingdom, and was himself the bridegroom physically present on the earth. But he said, “The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Matt. 9:15). The life of John in the desert is our model during Advent; and for monks, it is
their model for the whole year and for the whole of their life. But this is not only for monks, for every believer is invited to follow the example of John and the ascetical teaching of Jesus (Matt. 13:44-46; 19:21; 6:24, 19-21) and of St. Paul (Gal. 6:14; Col. 3:1-2). John awaited the coming of the Messiah and the kingdom of God in the desert, in
a life of prayer and fasting, renouncing the pleasures of the world in order to live for God alone with all his heart, without any division of heart, to be prepared when the Messiah would come; and he preached in order “to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:17). John taught as much by his life and example as by his word. Following him, we should turn to the Lord with all our attention and heart and live in silence, solitude, and fasting from the pleasures of the world to have a heart that is undivided in our love for God, and thus be prepared for the coming of the Lord.
           So here we are with John in the desert. It is Advent, and we are preparing the way of the Lord. The uneven must be made level; the rough places, plane. How beautiful are the words of Isaiah which were surely John’s own inspiration, leading him to take up a solitary life of prayer and fasting in the desert: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isa. 40:3-5).
What better place is there to prepare the way of the Lord than in the desert? There our senses are freed from the overload of the city. In order for our spirit to experience God’s love and rich presence, we must remove all else from it, reducing external sensory stimulation to the necessary minimum. Hence the expanded horizon of the desert waste is ideal for one who wants to live crucified with Christ and with St. Paul to the world, and the world crucified to him (Gal. 6:14). Here at last we can focus on the things that are above, and leave behind those below (Col. 3:1-2). Here our spirit can expand and be purified to be united to God and renewed by him. Here in the desert we can appreciate the blessings of the kingdom of God on earth and prepare ourselves and our world for the return of the Lord in glory. Here we can make ready a way for him in our heart and in our world and worthily receive him when he comes.
In the desert we can live modestly and moderately (Phil. 4:5), soberly and righteously (Titus 2:12), in silence and solitude, in meditation and work, in reading and writing, in prayer and fasting, preparing the way of the Lord. Here we can fill up the valleys and lower the mountains, level the uneven and make the rough places a plain. Here we can tame our spirit and purify it for the Lord, that we might be blameless at his coming (1 Thess. 3:13). Each day we should be more purified, more emptied of the things, pleasures, entertainments, and distractions of the world, until that great day finally dawns, and we are admitted into the fullness of God’s kingdom, where we shall shine like the sun (Matt. 13:43) and bask in the splendor of the Sun of Righteousness (Mal. 4:2).

The Way of Life

“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee” (Isa. 26:3).

There are two ways: the way of life, and the way of death. “Therefore choose life, that you and your descendents may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days” (Deut. 30:19-20). The way of life is the way of obedience to the will of God. The way of death is the way of disobedience to his will. God gives us the gift of his peace, but we will lose it if we do not obey him. But if we obey him with exactitude, he will preserve us in complete peace and joy of spirit. To be saved, we have to believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then God will save us. He will forgive our sins and disobedience and put his perfect peace, his heavenly peace, into our heart. Then we will rejoice in the Holy Spirit and exult in the name of our God. If we continue in his will, obeying it perfectly, we will continue in this great joy and heavenly peace, glorifying God in our heart. We will then be among the righteous. Justified by Christ, they remain in his will, rejoice in his peace, and live in his glory. “They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout” (Isa. 24:14). “The way of the righteous is level; thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous” (Isa. 26:7). Truly, “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Ps. 25:10).
But if we disobey God, we lose all this peace, and instead suffer agony of spirit and depression, for then we are under God’s wrath, and he is disciplining us in his love for us for our good (Heb. 12:5-11). This is why the prophet Isaiah says that the Lord “has brought low the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it into the dust” (Isa. 26:5). This is because they are disobedient. In their pride, they do not follow God’s will. They have chosen the way of death, not of life. They have built the house of their life on sand, and it collapsed; but the house of the one who built on the rock of obedience to the will of God did not fall (Matt. 7:24-27). The point is that we must do more than just believe. We also have to do the will of God as he reveals it to us in our life and our heart. “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
If you want to have peace in your heart and not live in the pain of guilt and depression, you have to believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation and the forgiveness of your sins and for the gift of the joy of the Holy Spirit, and then do his will with exactitude. This is the way of life.

We Are Not to Live According to the Flesh

Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness Take heed to yourselves lest your heart be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare” (Luke 21:34)

Living in the last days, awaiting the coming of the Lord, being always on alert—in a constant state of alert—means living in a certain way, not according to the flesh and its desires for pleasure, which only divide the heart from a pure love of God, from being reserved for the Lord alone. We are rather to live according to the Spirit in all purity, simplicity, and plainness. Living in a constant state of preparation for the coming of the Lord means to live detached from the pleasures of the world, for they are like thorns which choke the seed, preventing it from bearing fruit (Luke 8:14). We are rather to serve but one Master only, the Lord, not two masters—God and also mammon, that is, the riches and pleasures of the world (Matt. 6:24). It is impossible to serve two masters, although many try. This only divides the heart. We are rather to have but one treasure only, the Lord (Matt. 6:19-21), because where your treasure is, there also will your heart be (Matt. 6:21). This is why it will be difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. “Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:23-24). This is because the rich are usually surrounded by pleasures and divided by them.
Those who try to save their life in this worldly way, filling themselves with the delights of the world, lose their life with God. It is rather he who loses his life in this world, sacrificing all for Christ, who will truly save his life with God (Mark 8:35). “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). We lose our life in this world to save it with Christ by living only for Jesus Christ, renouncing all else, sacrificing it for the sake of Christ. Those who feel secure in this world are actually in great danger, for “when people say, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape” (1 Thess. 5:3).
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). We are all in the flesh in the sense that we have bodies, but St. Paul’s meaning is that we should live in the Spirit and not in the flesh, that is, we should follow the guidance of the Spirit of God and not the desires of the flesh for unnecessary pleasure, which only divides the heart. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live” (Rom. 8:13).
“Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening till wine enflames them! They have lyre and harp, timbrel and flute and wine at their feasts; but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands. Therefore my people go into exile for want of knowledge” (Isa. 5:11-
13). This is to be in the flesh or to live according to the flesh, and St. Paul clearly says, “Walk by the Spirit, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would … And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires … For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 5:16-17, 25; 6:8). The words of the Bible are clear for those who read them with a pure heart and an open mind and want to follow them. Clearly more than only adultery, fornication, and gluttony is meant by life in the flesh, but the anti-ascetical attempt to exclude these meanings from St. Paul’s words is misguided.
There are then two ways of life: life according to the flesh on the one hand, and life in the Spirit (or according to the Spirit) on the other hand. We are called to a life in the Spirit and to crucify ourselves to the world. “Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14). We are to die with Christ to the life of the old man and rise with him to the life of the new man, which is life in the Spirit (Eph 4:22-24; Rom 6:4). Thus shall we be prepared for the coming of the Son of man. Thus shall we live worthily in these last days, awaiting the coming of the Lord.

You Are Lights in the World —Do Not Be Ashamed of It

“And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also “And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9). acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8-9).

How important it is to confess Christ in the world and not be ashamed of him before nonbelievers! God put us in the world for this, to be his witnesses. Christ sent us out to proclaim the gospel and give witness. “As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world,” (John 17:18). “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (John 20:21). Jesus “sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal” (Luke 9:2). We proclaim the gospel and preach Christ by our words and by the way we
present ourselves and behave in the world. There are many who, more than anything else just want to blend in with their surroundings and with everyone else and live like everyone else. They do not want to be different or stand out in any way. They fear being different than others and do not want to swim against the current. They are often ashamed of their faith in public and do not want to be known or recognized as Christians or priests or religious. They want to be anonymous in the crowd. So they dress like secular people. They do not want to be signs of the kingdom or give the much needed witness of their faith and consecration to God. They are embarrassed to be known as priests or religious in public places. But “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).
It is not only with our words and sermons that we give witness to Christ. Our very life, our way of life, and our consecration to God will always be our first and most important sermon and our best witness. We should not put our light under a basket, but on a stand that it might give light to all who are in the house (Matt. 5:15).
We should live as the Holy Spirit guides us; and if this guidance makes us different from others, we should not be ashamed of this difference or refuse to follow the Spirit’s guidance. Our difference will be our own particular witness that God has given to us for the edification of others. Our ideal should not be just to blend in with the rest or not to stick out in any way but rather to give witness to Jesus Christ. Thus you will be “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). This is your vocation—to be lights in the world. Do not be ashamed of it.

Your Body Is a Temple of the Holy Spirit

“And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought; saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:45-46 KJV).

The temple is a sacred place, and we should behave differently in it than we do in other places. Our church building is our temple. It is a place of silence and respect, not a place to greet friends and converse with them, as so many do today.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?” (1 Cor. 6:19).
If we are temples of God and are therefore holy and if our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, it is therefore important how we live. We are not to live in just any way. We are not to imitate the secular lifestyles that we see around us. As we should behave in a different and special way inside a church in which the Blessed Sacrament is present, so should we also behave all the time in a special way since we have been bought and redeemed by Jesus Christ and are now temples of the Holy Spirit. Every aspect of our life should be changed by this fact. It should affect our way of eating. Our food should be simple, plain, and unadorned, not spiced up and doctored up for pleasure. It should rather be wholesome and healthy so that we can focus on God with an undivided heart, and not be distracted and divided by the pleasures of the world.
The fact that we are temples of God should affect how we use our time. What is our daily schedule? At what time do we get up? What do we do in the morning? How do we use our free time? It should also affect our dress. Do we dress simply and modestly? If we are priests or religious, is our dress appropriate to our state in life, and not simply an imitation of the secular world around us, which so much needs our witness? Our new lifestyle as temples of God should also affect where we go, knowing that gadding about is not only a waste of time but also a great distraction to our spirit. This is why contemplatives live within an enclosure—to concentrate on the one thing necessary. This is why they choose to live in deserts, or mountains, or in a monastery— to reduce the distractions of the world, in order to focus on God and love him with an integral and undivided heart.
If we are a temple of God and of the Holy Spirit, we also need times and places of silence, not speaking indiscriminately at just any time and place, but rather observing silence at certain times and in certain places. Monks give us a good example in this. They have times and places in which they do not speak, and with good reason.

A Radical Life for God

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as your self” (Luke 10:27).

To love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength is the first and most important commandment of Jesus Christ, as we clearly see in the gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew (Mark 12:30; Matt. 22:36-37). This commandment should guide us in all we do, in our whole way of life; and the more radically we can follow it, the better. God will guide us in the ways we are to do this. Hence the Holy Spirit guides some to leave everything of this world to follow Christ with all their heart and life, as Jesus invited the rich young man (Matt. 19:21). This is the call to perfection, to a life of perfection in the service of God. All are called to a life of perfection and to leave everything for the sake of Jesus Christ, but some do so more radically than others, according to God’s guidance in their life.
The monastic life is the most radical way to observe the first and most important commandment. The ideal of the monastic life is to live for God alone and leave the world and its pleasures behind. Monks therefore live within an enclosure, separated from the world and its pleasures, noise, distractions, attractions, and temptations. They live in silence and simplicity, without television, radio, or movies, and they live a life of continual fasting—that is, without meat or delicacies, eating but one full meal per day. This is the ideal. We see it in the Desert Fathers, in the life of St. Anthony of Egypt, and in the lives of St. Bernard and St. Bruno, for example. This is an ideal which challenges monks today as well.
This is, furthermore, an ideal which can also inspire priests and religious. They live celibacy precisely because they want to live only for God in a radical way with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength. They do not want to divide their heart with the love of a human spouse. They should not divide their heart with other unnecessary worldly pleasures either. They should furthermore live a life of prayer and fasting in the service of the Lord. They should be separate from the world and not lost in it. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14). They should not turn on the television set the first thing in the morning to get the latest news and advertisements, thus profaning the most a sacred time of the day but rather should reverence the first hours of the morning, dedicating them to God in silence, prayer, contemplation, the divine office, lectio divina, the celebration of the mass, and quiet thanksgiving after Holy Communion. They should furthermore be recognizable by their manner of dress as distinct from the secular world, thus giving the much needed witness of their distinctive way of life for the inspiration of the world. And they should dedicate themselves to their neighbor in charity, offering their life in service.

Leaving Everything, He Rose and Followed Him

“As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him” (Matt. 9:9).

The call of the apostles together with their immediate and wholehearted response, leaving everything and following Jesus, is always an inspiration for us to do the same when Jesus Christ calls us. It is a radical call to leave all for Christ, and Matthew’s response is equally radical, “And he rose and followed him” (Matt. 9:9). According to St. Luke, “He left everything, and rose and followed him” (Luke 5:28). Simon, James, and John responded in an equally radical way after seeing the great catch of fish they made at the command of Jesus. “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11).
Leaving everything is a radical response. It changed Matthew’s whole life. He renounced his work, his means of livelihood, and the way he spent his time. His life completely changed. So it should also be with us. We too should change our whole life and lifestyle upon following Jesus Christ. After responding to the call of Jesus to be one of his disciples, we are no longer private individuals that can just wander around incognito wherever we want, doing whatever we want, with no one knowing who we are. Once we have been called by Christ, we are known as his disciples, we are marked men, and should live only for him from then on. Our whole life should be dedicated to him, not to ourselves, not to our own entertainment. We should renounce worldly pleasures and a worldly life and lifestyle, as St. Matthew renounced his impure work as a tax collector for the Romans.
Matthew now invites all his contacts, other tax collectors and sinners, in order to bring them to Jesus. In the future, he will be a preacher of the kingdom of God, poor like the other apostles who left their secular work to follow Jesus full-time.
And you, have you responded like this to the call of Jesus Christ? Have you given up a worldly lifestyle in order to live only for God and find all you joy only in him, giving up and renouncing a life of pleasure in the things here below? This is what Christ wants of you. He wants all of you. He expects a response from you as radical as that of the apostles. We have much to renounce—our freedom to wander about incognito in the world as private individuals, doing whatever we want, seeking the pleasures of life. Rather, we are to leave everything, rise, and follow him (Luke 5:28).

Marriage and Celibacy in God’s Plan

“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.’ So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mark 10:6-9).

This is God’s original plan for man and woman. This is why God created woman, saying, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen. 2:18). The woman was created from Adam’s rib and is therefore, as Adam said, “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Gen 2:23). She was created after Adam, to be his helper, his assistant, one suitable for him, unlike the beasts of the field. She will live with the man, as one flesh with him and will help him. The man is the head of his wife, and she is subject to him, just as Christ is the head of the Church, and the Church is subject to Christ. “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands” (Eph. 5:22-24). Husbands, for their part, are to love their wives. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).
This is the ideal relationship of love between spouses in which they behave well and live in faithfulness to each other and love. In such a situation, the wife will be happy to submit to her husband and be subject to him; and he will love and care for her. This is God’s plan for married people. It is what married people should try to live. Thus the wife will help her husband as an assistant appropriate for him. It is true that there are many problems in actual life, but this Biblical teaching orients us correctly so that we know what the ideal is in the eyes of God and then can try to live it.
But we also see here that St. Paul says that the relationship of the Church to Christ is like that of the wife to her husband. That is, our relationship with Christ is a nuptial relationship, and as such should be as exclusive as possible. We should love Christ as the only spouse of our soul. “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband” (2 Cor 11:2). Marriage is thus the model for our relationship with Christ.
Both married and single people should have this nuptial relationship with Christ, in which Christ is the only spouse of our soul. Married people do this together as a couple, and celibates do it as solitaries and can therefore have an even more exclusive nuptial relationship with Christ, as literally the only spouse of their soul. This is why celibacy for the kingdom of God is a higher calling than the vocation of marriage, as the Church has always taught—and still teaches. “The unmarried man gives his mind to the Lord’s affairs and to how he can please the Lord; but the man who is married gives his mind to the affairs of this world and to how he can please his wife, and he is divided in mind. So, too, the unmarried woman, and the virgin, gives her mind to the Lord’s affairs and to being holy in body and spirit; but the married woman gives her mind to the affairs of this world and to how she can please her husband” (1 Cor. 7:32-34 JB).
How beautiful is celibacy. It is the gift of those “who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12). It is another kind of marriage, a marriage with God, with the Lord Jesus Christ, in which we reserve our heart for him alone and guard it lest it become divided by the love for another person or for a thing or for the pleasures of the world.
A celibate who falls in love with a woman has divided his heart and loses the advantage of his celibacy, which is to have an even more radically undivided heart than married people in his nuptial relationship with Jesus Christ. The ideal of celibacy for the kingdom, of religious life, of priestly and monastic life is to have a nuptial relationship with Christ that is radically exclusive so that all the love of one’s heart goes only to Christ, his only spouse. The celibate is not even divided by the love for a human spouse in the sacrament of matrimony.
The celibate should also guard his heart from other divisions as well. If a celibate dedicates himself to the pleasures of the world, he is divided. Hence he should live an austere and ascetical life, a life of simplicity and evangelical poverty, a life of prayer and fasting. His delight is in prayer, the word of God, spiritual reading, lectio divina, his spiritual studies, and his work for the Lord. His delight is in Christ, in his peace and love, in his splendor and light, in silence and solitude, in prayer and contemplation, and in love and service to his neighbor.
The celibate, therefore, should live apart from the world and its pleasures, noise, superficiality, delicacies, and distractions. He wants to live recollected in Jesus Christ, with the love of Christ burning in his heart, and thus be an example for others, someone who uplifts and renews the world. People like this are oases in the desert, refreshments in the heat, people who nourish and give life.

The Gate of the Few

Whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35).

This is a scripture verse that has made many saints. It contains a whole orientation of life. It has been a key verse in my own life, one that has guided me in decisions I made at certain key points of my life. I chose, by meditating on this verse, the more difficult way of losing my life in this world for the love of Christ instead of the other possibility that lay before me.
Jesus Christ invites us to follow him completely, leaving the world and other possibilities behind, for he invites us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him. “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34 NKJV). Then our key verse follows, for denying ourselves, taking up our cross, and following Jesus in this radical way is to lose our life in the world for the sake of Jesus and the gospel. But Jesus promises those who choose this more difficult way, this way of life (Matt. 7:13-14), that they will save their life with him. But those who do not want to lose their life like this in this world for the sake of Jesus and the gospel will lose their life with God, which is true life, the only life worth living.
Those who choose true life are few. Most will prefer the comfortable way that leads to perdition. The way of life is for the few because it is the more difficult way (Matt. 7:13-14). It is precisely this more difficult way that Jesus invites us to choose. “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:13-14).
Many choose the wide gate, for it is the gate of saving our life in this world. Yet it is the way that leads to perdition. It is the gate of those who will lose their life in the only sense that has meaning. Few are they who choose the narrow gate. For it is the gate of losing their life in this world. But those who do choose it will save their life in the only way that has meaning, for it is the gate that leads to life.
Which gate are you choosing? Which gate have you chosen up until now in your life? What does this gate that leads to life look like, this gate that few choose, the gate
of losing your life in this world for the love of Christ and the gospel? It is the gate of loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). It is the gate of those who observe the first and most important commandment of Jesus. Those who love God with all their heart, who keep the greatest commandment, watch over their heart lest it divide among other things and the pleasures of the world. They do as does the man who discovered a treasure buried in a field. “In his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matt. 13:44). He loses his life in this world by selling all that he has to buy the field, but he saves his life with God by obtaining the hidden treasure, which is the kingdom of God, the love of God in his heart.
He did not want to hear what Jesus said to the rich, “But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation” (Luke 6:24), nor did he want to hear what the rich glutton, “who feasted sumptuously every day” (Luke 16:19), heard in Hades, “Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things” (Lk 16:25). The rich man has already had his consolation in his luxurious life in this world. He did not lose his life in this world to save it with God. Instead he saved it in this world to lose it with God. He chose the wide gate of the many, the gate of saving his life, enjoying the delights of this world, so he lost his life in the only sense that has any meaning. He chose the gate of the many, which is the gate which leads to perdition. He refused the narrow gate of the few who love God with all their heart, the gate that leads to life, and he rather divided his heart among the delights of this world and so lost his life with God.
The gate of life is the more difficult, narrow gate. It is not the gate of the seed sown amid thorns, for the thorns are the “riches and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14). To avoid the thorns, one has to renounce the pleasures of life which choke us so that we do not bear fruit for God, “for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14). Most people do not want to renounce the pleasures of life, and so they do not bear much fruit, but rather are choked by these same pleasures, and their heart is divided among them, and so they do not love God with all their heart. They have not lost their life in this world to save it with God, but rather have saved their life in this world, and so have lost it with God. They prefer to be the first in this world rather than the first in the kingdom of God. But to be the first in the kingdom we have to renounce this world and be the last in this world, for “the last will be first, and the first last” (Matt. 20:16).