Tag Archive for: Ministry

Our Purposeful Life – Living Purposefully

/in /by
Fr. Christopher Metropulos
October 7, 2012

Book Reference
Life of the Beloved
Spiritual Living In A Secular World
By Henri J. M. Nouwen

Opening thoughts and basis for discussion

Purpose in Life – Living a Purposefully Orthodox Christian Life

A life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Not an occasional glance at each but rather a more meaningful and on purpose action in each area.

When we define the word purpose the following words come up: intention, aim, object, objective, goal, end, plan, scheme, target; ambition, aspiration. These definitions or synonymns are action based.

Reaching Our Full Potential

We don’t realize our full potential to be purposeful due to the trappings of this life but also because we really do not know how special we are to God according to Henri Nouwen. We are in God’s eyes the beloved.

It all stems from knowing who we are from the beginning of time. Jesus Christ’s baptism is a good place to start. We hear the voice of God at Jesus’s baptism, “You are my Son, the Beloved;my favor rests with you.” (Matt 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11, Luke 3:21-22) The key words here are, You are my beloved.

What Voices Are You Listening To?

What are the voices of the world calling you? Beloved or not loved at all. True to heart or hypocrite. etc. When Henri Nouwen hears the word beloved this is what he hears. “I have called you by name, from the very beginning. You are mine and I am yours. I have carved you in the palms of my hands and hidden you in the shadow of my embrace. I look at you with infinite tenderness and care for you with a care more intimate than that of a mother for a child. Wherever you go I go with you, and wherever you rest I keep watch.

Has anyone ever expressed themselves to you in such a way? If yes, Glory be to God and if not, why not?

I don’t want you to waste to much of your time on silly things. I have fewer years behind me than ahead of me.

The Journey

The journey of the spiritual life calls not just for determination but to also know the terrain you are traveling on. I don’t want you to get stuck somewhere and not be able to fend for yourself, free yourself and move towards our Lord.

It is our task our destiny to become one with God as we discussed last month. In the words of St. Augustine, “My soul is restless until it rests in you,O God”. We were innocent before we started to feel guilty; we were in the light before we entered into the darkness; we were at home before we started to search for a home.

Becoming God like in a purposeful way takes more than determination. It means becoming vulnerable and asking God to enter your life and take charge. “Letting the truth of our belovedness become enfleshed in everything we think do and say.

Words to Live By

Let’s talk now about four words that Henri Nouwen feels he lives his life by and frankly words that we would do good to live by as well.

Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given

Conclusion

St Theophan the Recluse: Exert all your strength, but rest your concern with success on God.”

Finally, “May your baptism remain as your shield, your faith as your helmet, your love as your spear, your patience as your armor.”

Theosis – What is Prayer?

/in /by
Fr. John Codis
September 23, 2012

Book Reference
Making All Things New
An Invitation to the Spiritual Life
By Henri J. M. Nouwen

Opening thoughts and basis for discussion

“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me.”

Matthew 6:5-13
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.  And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
Prayer is not magic rather a relationship between two begins.

Three Stages of Prayer

Purification –  Praktiki – The practice of the virtues
Illumination –  Physiki – The contemplation of nature in God
Union – Theologia – The contemplation of God

No one can ever claim in this life to have passed beyond the first stage.  The three stages are not so much successive as simultaneous.  Three deepening levels, interdependent, coexisting with each other.

Prayer as Discipline – Repentance, metanoia
Prayer as Nature – Contemplating the things which God has made, present time
Prayer as God – The realization of God beyond nature and in all things

Prayer in Solitude

Prayer is a time for solitude.  What is solitude?

Solitude is a discipline by which it enables us to live active lives in the world while living in the active presence of God.

Solitude is not time for talking rather a time for listening.

Solitude is essential for the Spiritual Life.

How will solitude benefit us?

Prayer in Community

What is communal prayer?

“It is a free and empty space among people where together we can practice true obedience.”

Through corporate worship we prevent ourselves from clinging to each other in fear and loneliness, and clear free space to listen to the liberating voice of God.

The sacramental life in which we participate within the Church, is what constitutes our life in Christ.  Personal prayer and corporate prayer form a single unity.

Conclusion

“There is no other virtue that is either higher or more necessary than sacred prayer, because all other virtues – I mean fasting, vigils, sleeping on the ground, ascesis, chastity, alms-giving, and all the rest – even though they are ways of imitating God, even though they cannot be taken away from us and constitute in the immortal ornaments of the soul – do not unite man with God but only render him fit to be united.  Sacred prayer, and it alone, unites.  It alone joins God with man and makes the two one spirit.”

St. Nicodemos the Hagiorite.

Theosis – Becoming One with God

/in /by
Fr. Christopher Metropulos
September 9, 2012

Book Reference
Making All Things New
An Invitation to the Spiritual Life
By Henri J. M. Nouwen
Anaphora of St. Basil, writings of the fathers; Athansios. Ireanaus, Dionysios, Justin Martyr, Theophilus and many others

 

Opening thoughts and basis for discussion

Psalm 82:6:
“You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.  But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes”…using the metaphor of life and death…Theosis becoming once again with God.

Stages of Theosis
Came about or developed by Evagrious of Pontus, Dionysios the Aeropagite, St Maximus the Confessor.
Purification
Illumination
Union

Not a three step process but rather a process of dynamic growth.
How do we work our way towards Theosis?

INNER PEACE and Worrying

The authentic spiritual life finds its basis in the human condition which all people whether they are Christians or not find themselves.

Scripture Reference:

Let us make the human being according to our image and likeness Gen 1:26 And let them rule the fish.

What must we do to achieve inner peace?

The authentic spiritual life finds its basis in the human condition which all people whether they are Christian and not have in common. Spiritual life is a real when it is lived in the midst of pain and joys of the here and now.

Occupation or preoccupation

On top of our everyday lives is all of the bad news in the avalanche of ads-unrelenting insistence that we will miss out on something very important if we do not do something specific they advertise.

How do you feel about your present life?

What do you long for spiritually?

What are your priorities?

Unfulfilled

Henri reflects that boredom, resentment, and depression are the result of being unfulfilled. What role have these feelings played in your life? Henri describes boredom, resentment and depression, all of which are signs of disconnectedness.

Conclusion

“Jesus responds to this condition of being filled yet unfulfilled…” (p. 37).

Jesus says in Matthew 6:33-34 on page 21 in your bibles..

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”