November: Day 21: Teaching 1: Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos Into the Temple

 

November: Day 21: Teaching 1:
Entrance of the Most Holy Theotokos Into the Temple
 
(Spiritual Pursuits Should Not Be Neglected)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. The Most Holy Virgin Mary, three years after her birth, was brought into the Temple of Jerusalem, and was brought up there until the fifteenth year of her life. What did she do there? What was her way of life? The Church Fathers have preserved for us an ancient tradition, according to which it is known that the Most Holy Virgin, not averse to needlework, spent most of her time in prayer, reading sacred books, in reflection on what she had read, in spiritual conversations with the elders at the temple.

II. "What a sad occupation," another will say, "to pray, read, think, speak only of spiritual things, how monotonous and tiresome it is. And is it necessary for a man living in society?" No! Spiritual occupations are by no means boring occupations, and in vain do secular people neglect them. First of all, it should be noted that one should not judge matters and things decisively without knowing them well and truly.

a) Among spiritual activities, the most important is prayer. But it is impossible to know its power and sweetness to one who has long since lost the habit of making the sign of the cross and, what is especially bad, considers this duty to be the lot of childish weakness and bondage. He who understands that the soul and the body are not the same, that the body will go to the earth from whence it was taken, but the spirit will go "to God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7), and that, in praying, the soul converses not with people, but with the Creator of the universe Himself, and that by prayer the inhabitants of heaven were brought down to our sinful world and miracles of God's mercy were performed for people: that Christian who reflects in this way will soon feel the spiritual sweetness of the prayerful state, entering it from the stifling vanity of life, just as everyone, leaving a stuffy room where the air is stale and heavy, under the open and clear sky immediately feels that his soul has become light.

b) The same must be said about reading spiritual books. People who are befuddled by worldly amusements or the passions are completely unfamiliar with this occupation. They look at the Bible as a textbook for people preparing for holy orders, and the Chetyi-Minei as an accessory to church repositories. Not to mention that the Bible is the book of our faith and salvation; it is enough to recall what important questions, even for our earthly happiness, are decided in it. Many people are perplexed by the question: where does evil come from, and what measures should be taken so that it does not hinder the well-being and development of society? It can be said positively that many misfortunes in society would be stopped, and many would not appear at all, if we loved to read and fulfill the Holy Scriptures. Here is Christ's simple instruction: "Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise" (Luke 6:31). If Christians observed this, how many mutual insults between them would be prevented!

c) In order to see the power of this pure teaching by experience, it would be necessary to study in detail the lives of the saints, where the Christian life is described, not in dreams, but in reality. With what avidity are read those novels and stories in which it is conveyed how the human heart is enslaved to passion, and in the struggle with obstacles remains faithful to it! In sympathy they exclaim: “Oh, how natural it is! Taken straight from life!” – Alas! It consoles a child, when he himself has fallen and lies on the ground, that his comrades are falling in exactly the same way. What consolation is there in reading how a person errs, without even realizing his error, how he perishes without repenting even on the brink of his destruction, how he shows off his vice, proud of the fact that he draws others into the same pit? Is it not more interesting to see how a person fights evil and overcomes it, how he leaves his errors and becomes an invincible confessor of the truth, how in the labors of self-control and in the exploits of pious people there are no longer signs of natural weakness, but signs of God's supernatural power? Here is a martyr who, despite the convictions of his torturers, the terrible instruments and scenes of executions, rejecting on the other hand all the bait of refined pagan luxury, fearlessly repeats: "I am a Christian!" Here is a baby who, not yet knowing all the vileness of paganism, sees caresses and threats that distract from Christianity, but nevertheless asks for torture, and in infantile babble courageously pronounces: "And I am a Christian!" Only a hardened heart will not be delighted, looking at such a triumph of the Christian faith.

III. If many in society do not like spiritual activities, this is due to the depravity of taste. Does it not happen that in illness a person becomes disgusted with pleasant foods? And can a person be called healthy when he lives in a whirlwind of secular entertainments, or, what is worse, in enslavement to passions? Impassioned hobbies, noisy amusements drown out the hearing of the soul, and do not allow it to feel, distinguish and appreciate those quiet consolations that are sent down to us from the spiritual world, from the realm of faith. A child, having played, breaks his toy; "when I was a child, I thought as a child; but now I have put away childish things" - says the Apostle about himself (1 Cor. 13:11). There are, on the contrary, people who want to live a lifetime in jest: but is life a joke? Only those pleasures in it are true and lasting that leave us no reason to repent and be ashamed of them. And such are precisely spiritual consolations: they do not lead the soul into self-forgetfulness or self-delusion; but they establish in it silence, contentment and hope. As sweet was the life of the Virgin Mary in the temple, likewise not at all joyless are the labors and exploits of those pure souls who follow the path of faithful imitation of Her. They are led by the Spirit of Comfort “in joy and gladness,” and will one day be brought “to the temple of the kings,” – to that heavenly chamber where it is no longer possible to invent amusements, how to kill time, for time itself will not exist, but where that everlasting sweetness is prepared, which will suffice for all eternity. Amen.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.