суббота, 30 мая 2009 г.

SUNDAY BEFORE PENTECOST.Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh.

When Paul was on his way, he thought of what had happened
to  himself  in the solitude of his journey from Jerusalem to Damascus
and in the gift of the Spirit mediated to him by Ananias. And we also,
each  of  us  singly and all of us together should reflect on all that
God has given us. He has given us existence and breathed life into us,
- not only the life of the body, but a life that makes us akin to Him,
His  life.  He  has  given  us to know Him, the Living God, and He has
given  us  to  meet, in the Gospel and in life, His Only Begotten Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. In Baptism, in the Anointment with Holy Chrism,
in  Communion  to  the  Body  and  Blood of Christ, in the mysterious,
silent communion of prayer, in the moments when God Himself came near,
although we were not thinking of Him, He has given us so much.
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The  saints had heard Christ say, 'No one has greater love that he who
gives  his  life  for  his  friends'.  Paul,  the  other apostles, and
innumerable  saints  after them gave their lives, shed their lives day
after  day  forgetting  themselves,  rejecting  every  thought,  every
concern  about  themselves,  having  thought only for those who needed
God,  who needed the word of truth, who needed love divine. They lived
for others, they gave as generously as they had received.
+++
Let  us think of all we have received from God and ask ourselves: what
can  we give first to Him so that He can rejoice in us, so that He can
know  that  He has not lived and died in vain. And what can we give to
all  those  who surround us, beginning with the smallest, the humblest
gifts  to  those  closest  to  us and ending with giving all we can to
those  who  need more. And then truly Pentecost will come as a gift of
life,  a  gift that unites us, welds us into one body capable of being
to  others a vision on earth of the Kingdom, but also a source of life
and  of  joy,  so that truly our joy, and the joy of all those whom we
meet should be fulfilled. Amen.
http://www.metropolit-anthony.orc.ru/eng/

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