Galatians 5:22-6:2; Matthew 8:28-9:1
Today’s
Scripture readings describe very different spiritual conditions. Our gospel reading presents two demon-possessed
men who lived in a cemetery and were so scary that no one came near them. As Christ passed by, these wretched men met Him
but could speak only in the voice of their demons: “What
have we to do to You, O Son of God? Are You
come here to torment us before the time?” The demons then
asked to be cast out into a nearby herd of pigs, which then ran over a steep
bank into the sea, where they drowned. When
news of the miracle reached the people of the region, they asked the Lord to leave. He then got into a boat and did so. The formerly demon-possessed men had been
delivered, but their neighbors apparently were not happy about that. They were similar to the demons in wanting
nothing to do with the One Who had set them free. Like the demons, they perceived Christ’s presence
as simply a torment that threatened the disruption of their lives.
Our
epistle reading presents something entirely different, the profound teaching of
St. Paul that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there
is no law.” He acknowledges that to embrace
the Savior’s healing does require a kind of death but only a death to all that would
keep us enslaved in misery, for “those who belong to Christ Jesus have
crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” To share in Christ’s salvation
by the power of the Holy Spirit requires us to grow in holiness to the point
that we “have no self-conceit, no provocation of one another, no envy of one
another.” That could certainly not be
said of the people who asked Christ to leave their neighborhood after His
miraculous deliverance of the demon-possessed men. Instead of giving thanks for how He had set
two of their neighbors free from misery, they thought only of themselves, being
caught up in fear about what might happen to them.
Today we
commemorate Saint Athanasius of Athos, founder of the Great Lavra, the oldest
and most prominent organized monastery on Mount Athos. An orphan who was raised by a nun, he was then
taken to the court of the Byzantine emperor and studied rhetoric under a famous
teacher. Longing for the monastic life,
he became a monk and devoted himself to strict asceticism and intense prayer as
he endured great temptations. With funds
from the emperor, he built churches in honor of St. John the Baptist and of the
Theotokos. Nearby monastic cells, a hospice for the sick, a dining hall, and
other buildings comprised the magnificent structure.
St. Athanasius was blessed on many occasions
to behold the Theotokos, including once when his monks were so hungry that they
had all left. An account of his life
reports that:
The saint remained all alone and,
in a moment of weakness, he also considered leaving. Suddenly he beheld a Woman
beneath an ethereal veil, coming to meet him. “Who are you and where are you
going?” She asked quietly. Saint Athanasius from an innate deference halted. “I
am a monk from here,” Saint Athanasius replied, and spoke about himself and his
worries.
“Would you forsake the monastery
which was intended for glory from generation unto generation, just for a morsel
of dry bread? Where is your faith? Turn around, and I shall help you.” “Who are
you?” asked Athanasius. “I am the Mother of the Lord,” She answered, and bid
Athanasius to strike his staff upon a stone. From the fissure there gushed
forth a spring of water, which exists even now, in remembrance of this
miraculous visitation.[1]
After
departing this life along with six other monks when a wall they were inspecting
fell and buried them, he appeared several times to his brethren to console or
rebuke them.
Saint Athanasius is an example to us
all of what it means to acquire the fruits of the Holy Spirit. His path was not
easy and required constant vigilance.
Though, like everyone else, he had times of weakness, he did not run
away in fear from the great challenges that he faced in fulfilling his calling.
Instead, he “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” and learned to “walk
by the Spirit.” It is not easy for
anyone to grow to the point that they have “no self-conceit, no provocation of
one another, no envy of one another,” but people like Saint Athanasius show
that it is entirely possible for each and every one of us if we persistently turn
away from living according to our self-centered desires and instead humbly reorient
our hearts to their true fulfillment in God.
Even as finding the healing of our
souls requires struggle, we must not view it as the product of our own
willpower. We are always dependent upon
the mercy of the Lord, as were the two men He delivered from demons in our
gospel reading. The fruits of the Spirit
are always gifts, not qualities that we have earned merely by our own
efforts. We must, nonetheless, mindfully
cooperate with our gracious Lord through obedience and humble repentance. As Saint
Porphyrios taught,
Deal
with everything with love, kindness, meekness, patience and humility. Be rocks.
Let all the waives break over you and turn back leaving you
untroubled. You’ll say, “That sounds fine,
but is it possible?” The answer is, “Yes, always—with the grace of God.” If we
look at things in human terms, of course, it is impossible. But instead of affecting you adversely, all
these things can be of benefit to you, increasing your patience and your
faith. Because all the difficulties that
surround us represent a kind of gymnastics for us. We exercise ourselves in patience and
endurance.[2]
As members of
Christ’s Body, the Church, we lack nothing that is necessary to manifest the
fruits of the Spirit every day of our lives other than our own reception of His
healing. We must embrace personally, to
the depths of our hearts, the full meaning of St. Paul’s teaching that “those
who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and
desires.” Doing so is an ongoing process
of personal transformation in the likeness of God, not a matter of legalism or
religious self-reliance. Were it all up
to us, we would know only failure and frustration, perhaps to the point of becoming
like the neighbors of the men who had been delivered from demons in their
rejection of Christ. Thanks be to God,
the same Lord Who restored those men to a recognizably human life shares His eternal
life with us even now. He comes to
restore us as His beautiful living icons.
We accept His restoration in humility when we pray, fast, care for our neighbors,
and repent of our sins as we take even small and imperfect steps to reorient
our lives to the blessedness of His Kingdom.
That is how we may all come to embody the fruits of the Spirit to the
point that we truly “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ.”
