Homily for the Epistle Reading on the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
On Spiritual Gifts
Romans 12:6-14
By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea
(Delivered on August 5, 1956)
On Spiritual Gifts
Romans 12:6-14
By St. Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and All Crimea
(Delivered on August 5, 1956)
It is important and necessary for everyone to understand what gift of grace they received from God, what form of life activity the Lord predestined them for. After all, how often, out of our own willfulness, do we strive for high and honorable positions, disdaining lower ones, though they be pleasing to God. For He destined us for such activities that are within our power and correspond to the conditions of our life, as the Apostle Paul wrote about in his Epistle: "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness" (Rom. 12:6–8).
How many failures and sorrows befall anyone who does not recognize his gift from God and willfully follows the path that he likes! And for those who have correctly understood and diligently preserve the gift of grace assigned to them by God, it is very important to do the work pleasing to God with great diligence and zeal.
The Lord God distributes the great gifts of His grace to people so that they may do His will and be guided on the thorny path of life by the fundamental of all Christ's commandments: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39); "Let love be unfeigned; turn away from evil, cleave to what is good" (Romans 12:9).
Think about it, can self-love really be feigned? But don’t you know that our expressions of love for our neighbors are often insincere, hypocritical and should be called people-pleasing.
The Lord demands from us that we cleave to goodness with all our hearts and hate unrighteousness: “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving respect to one another” (Rom. 12:10). The apostle demands from us not simple brotherly love, which can be cold, but a high form of love - “with affection.” The heart of our Venerable and God-bearing Father Seraphim was full of such true love. He greeted everyone who came to him with a word full of affection: “My joy!”
And with the words “in honor giving respect,” the Apostle Paul reminds us of the first beatitude - “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3; Luke 6:20), for only the truly humble, who consider themselves lower than everyone, are respectful to everyone.
“Be fervent in spirit” (Rom. 12:11). This extraordinary precept of the Apostle confuses us; the hosts of Cherubim burn before the Lord, about whom it is said: “Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flaming fire” (Ps. 105:4). However, there were great saints who also burned in spirit before God. Let us try to be at least a little like them.
“Serve the Lord” (Rom. 12:11). So we must serve God with pure hearts, so that His name may be sanctified by us, as we ourselves ask for in the Lord’s Prayer.
“Distribute to the needs of the saints” (Rom. 12:13). The apostle calls all brothers and sisters in Christ saints, recalling that the first Christians had everything in common. And now how far we are from communal property, how greedily we guard ours, how little we give to our neighbors in need.
“"Be zealous for the hospitality of strangers” (Rom. 12:13). Let us remember Blessed Sampson, who, for his immeasurable love for strangers and the sick, was honored to be canonized. But that was many centuries ago, at the beginning of the 6th century. And not far from us, the simple Voronezh peasant Melania, an orphan who grew up in poverty, shone before God no less than blessed Sampson. Living in extreme poverty, she burned with immense love for the homeless and hungry wanderers, with whom she filled her wretched room to the brim, and she herself spent autumn nights sitting on the porch. To Blessed Sampson, the Emperor Justinian built a huge hospice, and a stone house was built for Blessed Melania by a rich merchant struck by her love of strangers.
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Rom. 12:14). I told you about the small degree of love that Christ requires from us in relation to those who offend and persecute us. Without responding to their anger in kind, silently enduring their insults and making the sign of the cross over them, we will “heap burning coals on their heads” (see Rom. 12:20), and with a meek response we will calm their anger.
You see, my brothers and sisters, how holy and precious the words of the Apostle Paul are. Read diligently his Epistles and the Epistles of the other apostles of Christ, and they will help the great work of cleansing your hearts and sanctifying your souls. In this most necessary matter, may our Lord and God Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and power with His Father Who is without beginning and the Most Holy, Good and Life-Giving Spirit, help you forever and ever. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
