Milica Yaksich

The Apostle Paul in the first epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 13: 1-3) tells us that, in everything we do, love is a necessary ingredient. How much love is in our hearts can be measured by how we see life and the world around us. When we look with love in our hearts we see the good and we can appreciate how blessed we and those around us are, and we immediately give thanks to God for these gifts. When we do not have love in our hearts we only see what is wrong or lacking and feel sadness and dissatisfaction and even anger. It is the proverbial difference between the optimist and the pessimist seeing the glass half full as opposed to seeing it half empty. All of this is, as it turns out, a question of faith.

One whose faith is strong never waivers, never succumbs to the temptation to be negative because he believes that everything is as it should be, according to God's will. He understands that there are things that he does not know and cannot comprehend and that these are things that he does not even need to know unless God chooses to reveal them. He is accepting of all this because he has put his faith and trust in the Almighty God who concerns Himself with all creation and knows better than anyone what is best. Even when faced with adversity and all manner of misfortune and suffering, the one who has true faith will only grow stronger and in his prayers still give thanks to God and still believe in God's immeasurable love and mercy.

Love, itself, is a gift as is faith and some regard them as one and the same. Sin is an affliction and is the offspring of a small or weak faith or, God forbid, no faith at all. When one is ill and seeks healing, the first step toward recovery is a correct diagnosis. It is only then that one may find the best treatment. Few of us are spiritually high enough on the ladder to maintain a consistently strong and deep faith and even those whose faith is strong understand the need to feed and nurture it. One can easily stray from the path through pridefulness, arrogance, vanity and even inattentiveness. One can become so distracted with life and this material world that one may not even notice how callous and negative one is until one day, by Divine Providence, one glimpses one's self - much like when passing by a window and chancing on one's reflection - and is confronted by the darkness. There is no need to live in darkness when the Light of God's love shines on all who truly want and ask for it. To keep one's faith alive and strong and keep one's heart full of love we all must pray.

It is not enough to pray just in church on Sundays or at the occasional service when it is convenient. Even then, mere attendance regarded as some duty or chore that must be done out of formality or social obligation to maintain the status quo, does not even qualify as prayer. Participation in communal prayer means taking part, listening attentively and truly appealing to God for mercy, looking into one's heart and understanding the need for that mercy and forgiveness, inviting Him into one's heart, praising and glorifying Him with sincere love and awe and repentant humility. God will answer such a prayer and for that reason every prayer must include gratitude for the great gifts we have already received and for those we are about to receive. The Holy Spirit, the Saints and the Angels are there with us in Church and in our hearts when we pray. Only a strong faith nurtured by a prayerful heart can fully experience the sacramental joy of the Divine Liturgy. Archbishop Barlaam states to Abbess M., in the book Russia's Catacomb Saints of prayer and the 'Inward Temple': "There is no need to weep much over the destruction of a church; after all, each of us, according to God's mercy, has or should have his own church-the heart; go in there and pray, as much as you have strength and time. If this church is not well made and is abandoned (without inward prayer), then the visible church will be of little benefit."

If we only engage in public prayer (during church services) we may never truly experience the sweetness of personal communication with God and even our public prayer will be weak. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that we should pray "in secret" (Matt. 6:5-9). It is not sufficient to pray alone behind closed doors, rather as the saints teach us in the "room of our hearts". There are four kinds of prayer: inward, outward, private and public. Inward prayer or mental prayer is done in silence and outward prayer is said aloud. Private prayer either silently (inwardly) or aloud (outwardly) is done when one is alone. When one prays together with other people in a church or some other place this is called public prayer.

Our faith is built on prayer and derives its strength and much sustenance from it. Regardless of what one's spiritual afflictions are, through prayer one can appeal to God for enlightenment (to understand one's weaknesses and how one has strayed), for strength to find the true path and stay on it, for mercy and forgiveness, for the gifts of love, hope and faith and the blessings of the virtues to temper the spirit and bring peace to the soul.

In Romans 5:1-5 the Apostle Paul explains how faith and hope are our response to what God has done first, which is to pour love into our hearts: "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us." "

We have peace with God" when we surrender ourselves completely to Him and rely only on God's grace and not at all on ourselves. Then we are truly in communion with God. When God pours His love into our hearts, it is the same as God entering our hearts. God cannot coexist with evil or corruption. He will not enter an unclean heart nor will He consider it a suitable vessel for His love. In order to receive the gift of God's love we need to cleanse our hearts with prayer and fasting and repentance and strive to be "virtuous". "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God". (Matt. 5:8) says the Lord. St. Simeon the New Theologian explains that: "Not one or two, or even ten virtues make the heart pure, but all of them together, merged as it were into a single virtuousness, which has reached the last degree of perfection. But even then virtues alone cannot make the heart pure without the action of the Holy Spirit."

A Saint was once asked by his disciples, "Abba, by what means can one best discern whether a man is indeed a saint or a cunning deceiver?" Abba thought for a moment and replied, "Listen carefully to what comes out of his mouth." The wise saint understood that eventually every man betrays what is in his heart by what comes out of his mouth. We could all learn from listening to ourselves how much we need God's mercy and help.

This is the season when we celebrate the Love of God and His glorious Gift to us: the Light of the world, His Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. I pray that God pours His great Love into each of our hearts and fills our lives with light, joy and peace! Rejoice, for Christ the Lord is born!