When I read or think of this episode, one of the things that strike me is:

“And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?” – I mean the Holy Myrrh-Bearers do not even suppose that the stone cannot be moved! They “said among themselves” – not “will the stone be moved”? “when will it be moved”? and there were no “what-ifs” (I liked much this Father’s term). They did not think of any obstacles or threats. They were convinced that somebody will definitely open that door. They were not overwhelmed by any feelings like these, unlike us…The Faith prevailed in their hearts over all this. If we bare in mind at least this scene, the image, the event…we can understand & learn – there are no barriers for God, nothing is impossible (actually, it seems to me that the weaker our faith is, the more often we use this word “impossible”), and there exist no such doors, no such locks which would not fall in the hour of God’s will execution.

“But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee” – Go your way…this is what presents difficulty for us. We often stop, avert, glance back, fall to sleep, have a rest, try to find another, easier as we think, way, or even go some round-about way – as if it is possible to deceive ourselves, or God, or chose another cross – seemingly more attractive & easy. What is important for us – to go our way, a unique way for everyone, to inherit Heaven. It is difficult, we are to overcome obstacles, many of them – yes, definitely – are created by our sins & passions…but this is our way. It’s out of place to mention here maybe, but today, before reading this Father’s post, I listened to Frank Sinatra a bit, and in particular the song I love: “My way”. When I hear this song, and his voice, I often think we have to love our way. Whatever struggles we face, whatever sufferings we bear, whatever sins we fight with – we fail to notice sometimes, fighting tooth & nail against circumstances, that our way is beautiful. Only after the time passes, and we glance back at our way that we have passed, this road which is left behind us, we realize how beautiful, unique it was. If we go through it with Christ.

We should only say to ourselves: “Be not affrighted!”

God is with us.

Bless,

Natalia

I usually don’t care for the little stories that I get from ‘spam’ in my e-mail inbox, but this one was different. I was reminded of it as I read your inspiring post:

>>A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with bright light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. This, the man did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down with his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore, and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, the Adversary decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the man’s weary mind: “You’ve been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t budged. Why kill yourself over this? You’re never going to move it” —thus, giving the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

“Why kill myself over this?” he thought. “I’ll just put in my time, giving just the minimum effort and that’ll be good enough.” And that’s just what he planned to do— until one day he decided to make it a matter of prayer and take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. “Lord” he said, “I’ve labored long and hard in Your service, putting all my strength to do that which You’ve asked. Yet, after all this time, I haven’t even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What’s wrong? Why am I failing?”

The Lord responded compassionately,

“My friend, when I asked you to serve Me— you accepted. I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength— which you’ve done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me— with your strength spent, thinking that you’ve failed. But is that really so?”

“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscular. Your back sinew is mighty. Your hands are callused from the constant pressure;and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you’ve grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you’ve done. I, my friend, will now move the rock.”<<

I thought this story explained with a somewhat simplistic but very clear picture, the seeming contradiction between our need to put forth effort and to work at our salvation, and our acknowledgment of our complete helplessness and inability to save ourselves: With faith and in obedience to His commandments, through prayer, fasting and good works I push against the rock (indeed, the mountain) of my passions–and I am changed. The mountain WILL be moved through faith exercised in obedience to His will–but it is still GOD who moves the mountain and rolls away the stone from my tomb.

Deborah