August 2024
Dear Beloved in the Lord,
St. Paul writes to the Corinthians about seeing in a mirror dimly or through a glass darkly. Anyone who has looked through a dirty windshield of a car or into a foggy bathroom mirror after a shower knows this experience. We would not want to drive very far with a windshield that did not allow us to see the full road in front of us. Also, we would not want to shave our beard or put on makeup while looking into a mirror that was fogged up. We have this experience with our fleshly eyes and it is very noticeable. St. Paul is telling us that this is our experience with our spiritual sight as well.
There is a phrase from the Philokalia which states, “A blurred eye sees everything blurred.” This is important when we look at the people and the world around us. It is not to say that we can not see anything or make a judgment about what we see. But we do need to recognize that we do not see clearly. This is why judging others and self-assurance are dangerous realms to venture into. What is it that will clean off the dirt from our hearts and clear the fogginess of our spiritual eyes?
We have the answer in the words of Christ, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” This vision comes by turning (repenting) towards Christ and turning away from sin, judgment, pride, envy, lust, greed, hatred, resentment, etc. All of these things cloud our vision and distort our spiritual eyes. The log in our own eye makes it difficult to see the splinter in our neighbor’s. We look first within ourselves. Dostoevsky gives Elder Zosima these words in his work Brothers Karamazov;
Remember especially that you cannot be the judge of anyone. For there can be no judge of a criminal on earth until the judge knows that he, too, is a criminal, exactly the same as the one who stands before him, and that he is perhaps most guilty of all for the crime of the one standing before him. When he understands this, then he will be able to be a judge. However mad that may seem, it is true. For if I myself were righteous, perhaps there would be no criminal standing before me now.
By these words we are reminded of the prayer that we pray before approaching the Holy Chalice, “I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first.” To see clearly we must repent and confess our own sins and do this until our last breath. Then we may have eyes to see. Not sin of the other but Light and beauty, Truth and Holiness, and all that is good and pure in this world. We are able to see the great potential and high calling for each of us. To see that the image of God is in each person who crosses our path. With a pure heart we can also see that God can bring good within each circumstance of our life and that all of creation is sacramental in its creative purpose, given to us as a path to communion and union with God.
St. Sophrony of Essex says, “The life of the world is organized so as to accommodate certain human passions, and the spiritual life is pushed into the sidelines. We should reverse this order and put spiritual life at the heart of our life.” May we strive to place Christ at the center of our life and all that we do. In so doing we see not only the world around us but may gain the sight to peer into the depths of the Kingdom of Heaven! With love in Christ, Fr. Benjamin
St. Paul writes to the Corinthians about seeing in a mirror dimly or through a glass darkly. Anyone who has looked through a dirty windshield of a car or into a foggy bathroom mirror after a shower knows this experience. We would not want to drive very far with a windshield that did not allow us to see the full road in front of us. Also, we would not want to shave our beard or put on makeup while looking into a mirror that was fogged up. We have this experience with our fleshly eyes and it is very noticeable. St. Paul is telling us that this is our experience with our spiritual sight as well.
There is a phrase from the Philokalia which states, “A blurred eye sees everything blurred.” This is important when we look at the people and the world around us. It is not to say that we can not see anything or make a judgment about what we see. But we do need to recognize that we do not see clearly. This is why judging others and self-assurance are dangerous realms to venture into. What is it that will clean off the dirt from our hearts and clear the fogginess of our spiritual eyes?
We have the answer in the words of Christ, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” This vision comes by turning (repenting) towards Christ and turning away from sin, judgment, pride, envy, lust, greed, hatred, resentment, etc. All of these things cloud our vision and distort our spiritual eyes. The log in our own eye makes it difficult to see the splinter in our neighbor’s. We look first within ourselves. Dostoevsky gives Elder Zosima these words in his work Brothers Karamazov;
Remember especially that you cannot be the judge of anyone. For there can be no judge of a criminal on earth until the judge knows that he, too, is a criminal, exactly the same as the one who stands before him, and that he is perhaps most guilty of all for the crime of the one standing before him. When he understands this, then he will be able to be a judge. However mad that may seem, it is true. For if I myself were righteous, perhaps there would be no criminal standing before me now.
By these words we are reminded of the prayer that we pray before approaching the Holy Chalice, “I believe, O Lord, and I confess that Thou art truly the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who camest into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first.” To see clearly we must repent and confess our own sins and do this until our last breath. Then we may have eyes to see. Not sin of the other but Light and beauty, Truth and Holiness, and all that is good and pure in this world. We are able to see the great potential and high calling for each of us. To see that the image of God is in each person who crosses our path. With a pure heart we can also see that God can bring good within each circumstance of our life and that all of creation is sacramental in its creative purpose, given to us as a path to communion and union with God.
St. Sophrony of Essex says, “The life of the world is organized so as to accommodate certain human passions, and the spiritual life is pushed into the sidelines. We should reverse this order and put spiritual life at the heart of our life.” May we strive to place Christ at the center of our life and all that we do. In so doing we see not only the world around us but may gain the sight to peer into the depths of the Kingdom of Heaven! With love in Christ, Fr. Benjamin