Category: Relationships

Here in the Valley, a lot of us begin the season of the Nativity by transforming our homes into a festive reminder. It takes some work, butthat is the point. All transformations take some work! I don’t want to get into the debates over trees, decorations and lights and their origin, I just want to reflect for a minute on our local seasonal tradition that helps us center our life on Christ and His birth!

Now my wife is the driving force to my many hours of decorating. It simply brings us joy. When I say us, as a martyr we are one, but her half does enjoy the results of decorating more! Happy spouse, happy house! In the decorating season, since we celebrate the Nativity on the old calendar, we are able to purchase decoration replacements and such at a heavily discounted price after the Pope celebrates his!! Each year I replace more of the old incandescent lights with more efficient and much brighter led lights and they even now seem to do all kinds of light shows and sequences and they normally stay up till February.

Back in the day we would spend hours troubleshooting our strings and strings of lights to replace the burned out bulbs and reuse them year after year. Now they last longer and are bargain priced at the end of the season so if they are too time consuming to repair, we toss them. I don’t think we have over-done it, but you can actually walk around the outside of our mountain home in the darkest of nights and have your path illuminated by our festive Christmas lights. Maybe the Whos from Whoville would give their approval!

However, there is some darkness in a corner of our home that I am still working on! It needs some festive light! This darkness is somewhere woven into my soul and I have yet to spend the effort to transform it to a brilliant light. We heard in the epistle today: And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. [Eph. 5:11] Saint John Chrysostom says: “For just as when a candle is set, all are brought to light, and the robber cannot enter, so if your light shine, the evil being scrutinized shall be easy to capture. So then it is needful to expose them….Paul did not say ‘judge,’ he said ‘reprove’ (ejlevgcete)….What Paul is saying is of this sort. As a wound, so long as it is imbedded and concealed, running beneath the surface, it enjoys not a bit of attention, so also sin, as long as it is hidden, being as it were in darkness, is daringly committed with full license. But as soon as it is made manifest, it becomes light; not indeed the sin itself—for how could that be?—but the sinner. For when he has been brought out to light, when he has been admonished, when he has repented, when he has obtained pardon, hast thou not cleared away all his darkness? Hast thou not then healed his wound? Hast thou not called forth his unfruitfulness into fruit? Either this is the meaning or else what I said above, that your life being manifest is light. For no one hides an irreproachable life; whereas things which are hidden, are hidden by darkness covering them.” [Hom. 18, P.G. 62:127 (col. 122); cf. Bl. Theophylact, P.G. 124:408 CD (col. 1108).]

The Gospel writer John says it this way: “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness overcome it not.”(John 1:5) We have a choice, to keep our wounds and sinfulness hidden in the dark, forever chained to the chill of death, or we can transform those thorns in our flesh by exposing them to His warm brilliant healing light. St John Chrysostom words it this way: “Since then neither death nor error can overcome it, since it is bright everywhere and shines by its proper strength, he says, ‘The darkness overcame it not.’ For it cannot be overcome, and will not dwell in souls which wish not to be enlightened.” [Hom. 5, P.G. 59:39, 40 (col. 58) A dark soul creates a shadow like a tall wall blocking the light. In this festive season, make your life with Christ brighter by replacing those burned out broken bulbs with His renewing light illumining your path to salvation.

Fr. Gabriel Weller 12-15-2019

 It’s mine, no, I had it first! I can still hear the squabbling sounds of young children not wanting to share. And I can also remember the tug of war battles I have had with my siblings as we each tried to gain dominance over a thing we each wanted and thought we desperately needed or deserved. We heard in the Gospel this morning: “But God said to him, ‘Fool, this night they demand thy soul from thee; and what thou didst prepare, for whom shall it be?’ “Thus is the one who treasureth up for himself, and is not rich toward God.” [Lk. 12:20-21] Perhaps at that age we were too young to understand the gift of sharing!

It’s mine; it is my turn! I hear this at church some too as people become less of a servant and more about demanding that their wants and needs be met. The church is one body, when a part of the body suffers, the whole body in affected! We all need to be here, it is our prescription for healing.

It’s mine; you always get the first pick. So many things sparkle and glitter and after we possess them, they lose that appeal and end up at a yard sale or deep in the closet or thrown up into the attic of our stuff-museum. “The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit,” so says Saint Basil the Great!

It’s mine, I need all this money for my stuff and its monthly payments, and God will just have to wait! Someone else will take care of the poor; after all they continue to make bad choices that keep them cold, naked and hungry! The celebration of Thanksgiving is about giving alms and sacrificing our time for others. As Saint Maximos the confessor said: “He who gives alms in imitation of God does not discriminate between the wicked and the virtuous, the just and the unjust, when providing for men’s bodily needs.”

As we begin this advent journey to Bethlehem, I hope and pray that we all can be less distracted with the mess and stress of stuff and family dynamics, and more open and observant to see those ways we can help our brothers and sisters in our families, here at church, at work, next door, and all those struggling to survive. The Nativity season is about giving through unselfish love and therefore as Saint Clement writes: our “Sins are purged by alms and acts of faith.” (St. Clement of Alexandria)

Our Father through His abundant mercy has given us the greatest gift and He was born poor, without stuff, in a barn amongst the animals and laid in a feeding trough or manager where the animals were usually fed their sustenance. And through His birth in a trough we all have been fed the necessities of the most precious everlasting life. May the mercy we have all been shown be an unlimited resource as we transform the world through Christ-like love, one act at a time, one person at a time, with continued repentance and service to all of God’s creation, the wicked and the virtuous. The world is need of a Savior; we simply have less time for stuff and need to spend more time working in His vineyard, being truly thankful for all that we have been given. Everything that is, is HIS!

Fr. Gabriel Weller 12-1-2019

And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?”  [Lk. 8:45]

We all go about the motions of trying to be a good Orthodox Christian and we may be certainly in the crowd but are we touching Christ? We can say our prayers and practice all the Christian virtues but skillfully neglect that thing that separates us from God. That thing is different for everyone. We have all been sinfully disfigured and wounded and therefore struggle to put all of our faith and trust in the great healer. At times, we seem to get just close enough without total surrender, keeping our options open so we can once again flee, licking our wounds and disappearing into the throng of bystanders, unwilling to change and experience true liberty. And just like the crowd in the Gospel reading today we press up on Christ, while still protecting our injuries and failures, finding comfort in the bondage and chains of slavery of past wrongs, whose memory have become our norm and our thin cold blanket of comfort. As Saint Ambrose writes: “For those who throng do not believe; those who touch believe.” [Saint Ambrose [Ib., Bk. VI, §57.]

Oh Lord, help my unbelief! The wounds of my soul are more life-threatening than any disease or illness but yet I neglect their healing. I settle for mere existence, as the shadow has become comfortable, and days come and go. Loving as Christ loves seems so vulnerable and foreign, maybe I will try harder tomorrow or next week, we’ll see! We then settle for being in the pressing crowd near Jesus but not close enough to touch his garment’s hem and not close enough to heal that part of our hemorrhaging life.  

Oh Lord, heal my unbelief! Is it my lack of courage or distrust of God, or should I say that I seem to trust me more than the Alpha and the Omega? Evangelist Luke instructs us to: “Be of good courage.”(Lk 8:48) Good courage comes from above and only through ascetic struggle as we hear St. John the Theologian say: “Perfect love casts out fear” (I Jn 4,18). How then do we love perfectly while our attention seems to be on our woundedness and then our actions are deeply rooted in pain and brokenness? Is it my shame for my continued sinfulness that cripples me or my lack of true repentance? Where is my faith? Do I still love the world more than my salvation?

That thing that keeps us from being made whole differs for each and every one of us and our Lord will respond to each of us differently in way that will help us individually in our growth towards holiness if we allow Him in, into the cold shadows, into the pain and darkness, into our failures. O Lord, cure my unbelief!

Light overcomes all shadows! Reach out to Christ, the light of the world, for His mercy, forgiveness, strength, and healing as best and as often as you can. Place your feet here, at the chalice, which truly contains the Body and Blood of Christ, where we can all intimately touch His warmth and life. Just like Jarius and the woman with the issue of blood, with faith draw nigh. (Lk 8:41-56) Come out of the shadows and into the Light, for His mercy and love are what you have been longing for and what you really need! Our Savior is merciful! More of Him, less of you!

Fr. Gabriel Weller 11-17-2019

I have heard over the years that when it is nearing time for a wedding, folks fast and try to lose some weight. This is a routine we all do so we will fit our fatter-selves into our wedding garments, less carbs, more fruit, more exercise! Even scientist have developed a fabric to help us with this problem called Lycra or Spandex. We find this fabric woven in to a lot of our clothing these days to allow for weight fluctuation or fat redistribution!

In the parable this morning, the king was angry first in that the chosen people did not come. This wedding was not a priority for them; they obviously were not truly his friends. The king then invited more people, anybody! Folks did come but one man came wearing his filthy Wal-Mart spandex shopping attire instead of a festive wedding garment, he probably had not even bathed! He did not make an effort to prepare himself for this wedding and banquet. The king cast this man out into the outer darkness. [Mt. 22:13] Saint Gregory the Great comments: “It is correctly said that this man is to be cast forth into the darkness, the outer one. We call blindness of heart inner darkness, and the everlasting night of condemnation outer darkness. The condemned are cast into outer, not inner, darkness, because one who fell willingly into blindness of heart in this life will be cast forth unwillingly into the night of condemnation in the next.” [Ib., 350, 351.]

We heard: “The kingdom of the heavens hath been likened to a man, a king, who made wedding festivities for his son. [Mt. 22:2] A great banquet has been prepared for you today by your great King, have you prepared? We hear from Saint Chrysostom: “Great is the punishment for those who have been idle, indifferent, and lazy. For even as those who showed insolence and gave injury by not coming, so also dost thou by thus reclining with a life corrupted. For the meaning of filthy garments is this: to depart hence having an unclean life.” [Ib., P.G. 58:681, 682 (cols. 650, 651).]

Many folks today tell me they are Orthodox but they do not come to the wedding banquet, they always have more important plans! Maybe these folks are more of a friend of the world than they are a true friend of our beckoning King? And when you are consumed with the world you are deathly bloated and in need of Spandex! Where is there any room left for God?  Shower off your earthly dirt in confession and repentance, prepare your heart by reading the pre-communion prayers, prepare your soul by fasting, and cloth yourself in a garment fitting for a great banquet with our King, and most of all, come! You have been invited and He is expecting you to be here!

Fr. Gabriel Weller 9-22-2019

I have always been fascinated with technology. I enjoy that ever-changing part of my job in the electronic security business. Electronic security has many levels and normally the more money you spend, the higher amount of security you have. Higher levels of security are necessary if you are protecting something of great value or you are in an area with a lot of crime. I can remember a time when even at our home when we didn’t lock the door but now we even plant thorny bushes around accessible windows and bolt lock the doors, arm our professionally installed electronic security system and wave good-bye to my surveillance cameras as I leave the house!

The man in the parable this morning wanted to protect his vineyard. It is a vineyard of great value and lacking nothing. (Matt 21:33-42) He planted a hedge around it to keep the wild animals from destroying his vines and I can picture the wall of greenery and thorns in my mind. We don’t know what type of a hedge our Lord is referring too but Blessed Theophylact abstractly describes this great wall as the Law given to Moses. Saint Ambrose then writes: “Isaiah clearly stated that the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel [Is. 5:7]. Who else but God founded this vineyard?” [Ib., Bk. IX, § 23.]

God has also given us a vineyard to labor in, lacking nothing! We gentiles have been grafted onto His life-saving vine. It is truly a treasure beyond measure. St. Paul writes: “For I speak to you Gentiles…if the root is holy, so are the branches.  And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.” (Romans 11:13,16-18)

We wild gentile branches need plenty of water, pruning, protection from the cold and wild animals, fertilizing and many willing workers. The church is His vineyard and we have been given everything necessary for an enormous harvest. As King David says: ‘Perfect for Thyself this vine which Thy right hand did plant’ [Ps. 79(80):15, 16(14, 15)]. We do not want to be wicked vine-keepers neglecting this most precious gift. We want to nurture ourselves and protect that which is holy through transforming our freedom in the world to a freedom from death and decay.  

A security breach happens when we fail to protect His vineyard and some of our plants die to the frost of coldness of heart, lacking to love each other as Christ loves us! Some vines are ripped from the fertile soil by wild beasts of worldly seduction and self-satisfaction. Some of His fruit are baked in the heat, thirsting for His nourishing Word but yet our Bibles remained closed, gathering dust and we then make excuses not to come to church. We neglect to stomp out all of our passions that act like wretched insects devouring our greenery. It is a necessary process to perfect His vine so that it will yield a heavy crop, protecting it with a divine rampart of protection. There of course is a great expense for this high level of protection, you have to surrender your life and all that you are. You then have to enlist in His army of prayer warriors and be diligent with the time you have left seeking first the Kingdom of heaven! And remember, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” (Matt 7:19-20)

Fr. Gabriel Weller 9-15-2019

Faith, where is it when you need it? Or maybe, we do not use faith enough and have forgotten where we left it lay. It seems when the title waves of life crash ashore, I look for anything to cling onto and I often find faith when I realize just how powerless I am in the midst of a fierce storm. Where do you find your faith?  Saint Bede: “Blessed St. Jude advises us to build ourselves up on the foundation of our holy faith, so to join ourselves as living stones to the house of God which is the Church.” [Jude 20.] [Commentary on Jude, 251.] 

A Belorussian Monk once said: “You Americans, you talk about miracles like you don’t believe in God!” We seem to want an instant way out of the trap we are caught in without daily practicing fasting and prayer without daily seeking God! Saint Bede the Venerable writes: “In the love of God we need to have true faith and the purity of good actions, for without faith it is impossible to please God, and faith without works is dead [Jas. 2:26].”

Faith springs from our soul if we are in a healthy relationship with God. The first commandment is first and foremost “I am the Lord thy God…. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Pray, fast, worship, commune and seek God, putting God first in all things. Faith comes from that steady communication with our Creator and God and energizes our faith through prayer and obedience. All of our paths in life, seeing, thinking, believing, choosing and our actions, are distorted when we break that chain of communication. James 2:24:^”Ye see then that by works a man is justified and not by faith only”. Blessed Theophylact defines that scripture as: “When he says, ‘by works,’ he does not mean by the law, such as circumcision and such things, but works of virtue, righteousness, and the like.” [P.G. 125:335A (col. 1161).]

Our warmth and love toward God become clearer and stronger as we pray and worship together. Our faith becomes a living faith, a spiritual force that breaks through the normal disciplines of religious life when we act as a servant in His name, for His glory. With God providing the guidance and power for us, His creation, the possibilities are immense as long as we continue to be prayerful and follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit which feed and nourish our dry thirsting mustard seed. God gives us living faith, miracle faith, “mountain moving” faith! The kind of faith that provides us with clarity to see the mountain in us that needs to be moved. The mountain preventing us from surrendering all that we are for all that He is!

We just need a mustard seed of faith and with our practice and His grace we can overcome death. Listen to the words of our Savior: “Because of your unbelief. For verily I say to you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard, ye shall say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”  [Mt. 17:20] And even human life begins with a tiny seed, even much smaller than the size of a mustard seed and do you see the enormous possibilities that tiny seed creates. Do you see what gigantic possibilities you have with the tiny seed He planted in you? Our Lord and Savior began His life’s ministry as a tiny seed and look and see what He did with His opportunity, and His death gave abundant life and spread more seeds of God’s love and salvation to all the world. (John 12:24)

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia expressed his conviction earlier this week that believers shouldn’t cease to be Orthodox when they go to work and when they return to their families. And especially when they find themselves in conflict situations that test their loyalty to the Lord. He says if believers stay Orthodox in these situations their lives will change for the better.

“And this is possible only if we live a genuine religious life. If we, having got a feel for the ascent to Mount Tabor during the service and step down into this world, continue to bear in our minds and hearts the memory of these wonderful moments of presence in the church, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and contact with the grace of God, then our faith will be actualized, and become living and effective. And we will gain the ability to solve our life problems – both large and small— family, social, state, all that is important for a person. If we solve these problems on the basis of our Christian calling, relying on our faith, strengthened by the power of the grace of God, then our world will change. We ourselves will change, and by our faith, we will undoubtedly have the hope of realizing a genuine and real meeting with the Lord and the Savior in that transfigured world, which everyone will enter at the end of their earthly life.” (Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in the sermon for the holiday of the Transfiguration of the Savior on August 19, 2019)

Fr. Gabriel Weller 8-25-2019