March 25, 2008
“The Veneration of the Holy Cross”
“The Oasis”
The focus of the third Sunday in Great Lent is Jesus’s mission to save us through His sacrificial death on the Cross. Therefore, on the third Sunday of Great Lent, we venerate the cross thus acknowledging Jesus’s sacrifice. This feast is specifically inserted at the
The Israelites
Over a period of 40 years, the Israelites crossed the desert on their journey or Exodus into the Promised Land.
The Israelites began to weary in the journey and to complain that they were better off in
Us
The 40 days of Great Lent references the 40 years of the Israelites’ crossing. During Lent, we too are wanderers crossing the desert to the promised land of Pascha, i.e. our passing over from enslavement to sin into the new life in Christ’s Kingdom.
Just like the Israelites, the Church Fathers, knowing that we can become weary in our Lenten journey, through this Mid-Lenten Sunday, have us look to the cross to inspire us to continue and to sustain us. We are to take up our cross and follow Christ, “dying to ourselves”, that is our ego and self-centeredness which leads to sinfulness, so that we may participate with Christ in His Resurrection and ours.
The feast of the Veneration of the Cross
This feast reminds us to reflect on the hope to come at the end of Great Lent. This makes the Veneration of the Cross a spiritual “oasis”, refreshing and reassuring us.
The Oasis
The oasis is good but there is a danger with the oasis. We can be tempted to tarry longer than one should; in effect we stop our journey because we feel that we have gone as far as we should. Progress or advancement on the journey may be delayed or, even worse, halted and negated. Resting at the oasis, we can become stuck at a half way point, or backslide to where we were. Change or something new can be scary. Human nature is to stay with what is familiar and resist change. The oasis is meant to be only a stopping point; a refresher that enables us to continue on our journey.
How will the recognition of an oasis change our lives?
a. We must move on from oases that we find ourselves in.
b. We must keep growing, expanding; become more of what we are for others; for life and for God’s glory. This was what we were created for.
c. We cannot mistake the oasis for the final destination.
Define the oasis: Something that can be a substitute for the Promised Land. We face the challenge of complacency which can lead to backsliding and miss that which is ahead and much better for us, that is Christ’s Kingdom.
The risk is that we remain at the oasis; it becomes a permanent spiritual home and keeps us from reaching our ultimate destination. The oasis is only one phase in our spiritual life. We can get comfortable spiritually and potentially complacent. An oasis can become like a mirage thus deceiving one spiritually. Our efforts have been good enough and there is no need to do more. Thus, when we stop for rest and start believing that we have done enough, we can backslide. This backslide can resemble self-righteousness, arrogance, ego thus enslaving us once again. This can also take the form of rejecting new information in favor of only retaining that which serves one’s own interests. The lack of seeking knowledge and choosing not to know is a sin. What you value is what you seek to know. Sometimes we reject knowledge because it takes us out of our comfort zones and calls for us to change and to grow.
What can become an oasis?
a. Spiritual knowledge for the sake of spiritual knowledge. Learning is good but it cannot remain at the level of the intellect; it must be experienced. There has to be relationship between Creator and creature,kne Father and child; theology bends the e to relationship.
b. When praying or going to Church becomes a mechanism, not a living, thinking communication between the individual and God. i.e.: it may be good to be in church for two hours, but valueless if the attendee does not know who Jesus really is.
c. The traditions, icons, music, the church itself, etc. enhance worship, but how many people can answer the question: What is the essence?
According to St. John Chrysostom, the real Liturgy takes place after the distribution of the antidoron. It is what we do with our lives after the Liturgy; how we live and how we treat others.
Wood, water and bread (manna)
The wood opens the way for water; for life. During the Exodus, water comes from the rock after God tells Moses to strike it. (Exodus 17:6). Water serves as a life giving element in two ways: water for the sustaining of physical life and water as the sustainer for spiritual life (by means of baptism). Wood is the element that changes the water: At the Crucifixion, water flows out of Jesus side, signifying baptism, as He dies on the wooden cross for us.
In Old Testament theology, water was seen a symbol of death. The serpent that tempted Eve slithered from the water attempting to draw God’s creations (Adam and Eve) back to death. Also, people drowned which is physical death. Christ overturns this.
As with water, God also provides for heavenly bread (manna) (Exodus 16:13-21). The Jews did not have to work for it and this is expressed in the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy. The bread and wine, having been sanctified at the Divine Liturgy the previous Sunday are already consecrated. It is also spiritual nourishment for us when we partake of them at the mid-week Pre-Sanctified Liturgy (on Wednesdays).
God feeds and sustains us and helps us finish; we cannot do this on our own.
Relationship with God
Big sins vs. little sins: In Orthodox theology, anything that separates us from God or interferes in our relationship with God is sinful. Sometimes big sins can make a greater impact and provide impetus for repentance and change than smaller ones that we may think are not so significant but add up to destroy our spiritual fabric.
Orthodox are experiential. One does not just know about God, one must experience God. However, people may be fearful of the relationship with God.
Once one has the knowledge and awareness of the relationship with God, one must have the will to change and to continue on the journey towards spiritual growth and communion with God. Make the decision and have the courage to stand by it. It is a question of “thelima” or will. “The goal of Orthodox theology is the relationship to and with God. One must seek the giver (God) more than the gift (eternal life)”.