by Milica Yaksich

  Every one of us is connected to God and therefore the spiritual world by virtue of the fact that we are His creation, and lurking deep within our hearts there is the silent memory of where we came from and the knowledge of where we ultimately should end up. If we long for something spiritual, something we recognize as not of this world, then it is precisely that. When we look into the eyes of the saints on the holy icons, we see the contentment that they feel, for they are in their Father's house. This world can be confusing and those who do not know their faith can easily be led astray. By knowing one's faith I mean knowing what God expects of us, what is right and wrong according to the Lord's teachings and knowing how to apply that in practical terms to everyday situations in life. "Blessed are those who follow the ways of the Lord," but to follow, one must learn His ways.

  How much do you know about your faith and where did you learn it? Do you ever buy orthodox books or read periodicals other than the church bulletin? When you are unsure of something or have a question who do you ask, the priest or someone else? Do you watch christian T.V. programs or listen to christian radio even when it is not orthodox? Do you accept what they say as dogma and have you ever had an instance when you noticed something that seemed like a contradiction? Do you ever read the horoscope in the daily newspaper? Do movies, shows, and books about ghosts, psychics and the occult intrigue you? If you view this type of material what do you believe about it? Would you read a book or watch a T.V. show about miracles and /or angels? Do you think of the supernatural or psychic as gifts or powers? Do you ever wish for an experience like a vision or a miracle? If you have, did you examine your motives or reasons for such a wish? We are all to some extent interested in the mystical, but we should be aware that many of these interests and activities are contrary to our faith, unreal, untrue and generally unhealthy for both soul and body. We should also know that not everything labelled as christian or as being done in the name of God, really is.

  There is a great preoccupation these days with miracles, mysticism, psychic phenomena and whatever magical or para-normal subject one can think of. The desperate search for proof of that which they cannot otherwise believe in, has led many down a dangerous (and often costly) path. Some have adopted 'new age' principals as the foundation of their belief system and others haved supposedly stayed in their 'legitimate' religion but polluted their hearts and intellect with a mish-mosh of heretical and satanic ideology. Sadly, many don't even realize the seriousness of what they've done! It is difficult to imagine that they believe any answers can be found in a thin veil of smokey lies and cheap illusion. Even more disturbing is that they would invest time and money in this futile pursuit when they have invested little or nothing to learn about God's truth. If we have not armed ourselves with Christian faith and truth then we are prey to the noetic wolf who smiles at us from the television and lies to us on radio and in print, who tempts and invites us with cunning to stray from the true path that leads to our Father's house.

  We live in a time when truly, people do not know the difference between what is good and what is evil. How can this be? Surely man is not so blind or deaf or foolish that he cannot discern something so obvious. But the Lord Himself said that not all would have the "eyes to see and ears to hear". The Apostle Paul wrote, "...in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness. but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."(Tim.3:1-5 ).

  Do you recognize these traits in the world around you? Do you recognize sin in yourself ? Before we move to the next logical step which would be how to remedy all this, let us consider the one most important pre-requisite to everything else, FAITH. Most of the problems people encounter in life have to do with faith or a lack or weakness thereof. Faith is, simply put, a love for God. If there is no love felt for God then all the expressions of worship and all the rest is useless. If you feel love for God then fasting and prayer and repentance and doing His will is much easier, because nothing is difficult when there is love. If you feel a longing, an emptiness, and no matter what you do there is the sense that something is lacking, then you have distanced yourself from God. People look to mystical and paranormal experiences as if they were entertainment and in the hope that by some 'miracle' their lives and they themselves would be more special, more important. This is temptation to increase pride and puff one's self up with self-esteem, but this will not lead to contentment. The early church fathers teach that we need to learn humility and temperance, patience and repentance. We need to look inside ourselves and recognize our sinfulness and feel sorrow at how much we have distanced ourselves from God. There is one true love on which everyone can rely, which will always be honest and will never abandon us or betray us, and that is God's love for us. God in His great mercy is always ready to forgive us and accept us if we truly repent. Our repentance and sorrow for our sins, our broken heart is the best indication of our love for God. God only asks that we love Him. Our steadfast determination to do His will and our sincere effort to learn what that is, is what will shorten the distance between us and God and insure our inner peace and contentment.

  If it's mystery you want our faith is full of it. But if it is your intention to uncover that which God has covered up then you are not after mystery, rather you are a victim of your own pride and self esteem and you are trying to make yourself wiser and greater than the One who created the mystery. Some questions are made to be answered but some are to be left alone. Remember that there was another who made that mistake and he would love to get you to make it too. St. Maximos the confessor wrote:"The mark of pride is to deny that God is the author of virtue and nature; the mark of self-esteem is to make divisions in nature and so to treat some things as worthless. Conceit is their natural offspring, being an evil state composed of a voluntary denial of God and ignorance of the equal dignity that things possess by nature. Conceit is a mixture of pride and self-esteem. In its contempt for God it blasphemously maligns providence; while in its alienation from nature it treats everything belonging to nature in an un-natural way, and thus corrupts its beauty by misuse." This quote, not only explains the evil of pride, self-esteem (which is so strongly promoted as a virtue in our society), and conceit, but it also speaks to the importance of respecting nature and life as it was given us by God. All the problems man is encountering on this earth, materially and spiritually are in some way related to his arrogant corruption of nature and the natural order of God's creation.

  If an individual is prideful he cannot feel a fear of God. According to the Church Fathers, it is only because of faith and humility that God will grant us to attain fear of Him. God is love and fear of God is not only fear of consequences, it is fear of being a disappointment. You've heard it said: "it would have been better if he'd hit me than to see that look of disappointment on his face."

  God's creation is full of miracles if we look to see them and take time to listen for them. If we practise humility, patience, temperance, repentence and avoid pride, self-esteem, conceit, anger and always treat others with the same respect, mercy and charity that we want to have them treat us then we are on our way toward love, faith, and fear of God, and the Holy Spirit will grace our hearts with peace and contentment and enlightenment. We must remember that God came to us in humility and lowliness, not pride. We were asked to love Him and instructed to "be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect". As God's creation we are perfect in image, but we must work at being perfect in likeness. Here is the true path to a spiritual life, full of mystery and miracles. The rewards are peace, contentment and eternal life. May God guide all of us to the truth and grant us understanding and tears of sorrow for our sins.

Christ is risen!