Comments on: Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:1-10 27th Monday after Pentecost

By: Natalia Arzhantseva

Natalia Arzhantseva — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 10:05:41 +0000

Thank you Father!
Indeed, when death rushes into our lives it divides them into "before" & "after". The loss of our beloved is a great trial – of our Faith, of our humanity, it shows the spiritual measure into which we managed to grow…Glory to those widows who preserve their Faith & fidelity to Christ! We have such examples in history, like mother of St John Chrysostom…
The loss of a husband means being unprotected in the society, means being left (in many cases) without financial & moral support, especially when there are several children in the family.
Of course we cannot rebuild the society soon, but how I wish it would be more sensitive to such women, such children! I wish the government pays more attention, people could be more aware of other people's grief, and that such families could receive more attention from the ruling circles – first of all I mean in Russia (as I am not very much informed how it is all about in other countries).
May God take care of them Himself!

By: helen

helen — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 17:09:59 +0000

very interesting article about widows. the fact that they are widows makes them deserve great respect, not just sympathy. (anyway, we should be sympathetic and compassionate with everyone.) But widows also deserve respect. And their widowhood is an "office," like a job; they are to pray and care for others. That's dynamic. I love it. I learned a lot from this article. I guess I only thought before that widows only deserve sympathy, that they are perhaps very lonely; but no, having been a wife and maybe raised children, they are wise and caring persons and deserved of great respect.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:21:12 +0000

Father, Bless, Your post inspired and convicted and my 'soapbox' speech' below is more to myself than to anyone: There is an old Irish fable about a man who was about to cast his old father out of his house because now that he and his wife had a new baby, he did not think they could afford to feed that many mouths. As he was arguing with his wife about whethor not to turn the frail old man out into the cold with a full blanket or divide it and give him only half the blanket, from the cradle by the hearth, the baby said "Give him only half the blanket, Father. I will need the other half to give to you when it is time to turn you out of my house." Jesus tells us that "....with the measure you use, it will be measured to you". Our inattentiveness to our children, our lack of care for our aging and needy loved ones and neglect of the poor will come back to haunt us. Our culture is set up in such a way now that we can neglect the helpless and not even know that we are doing so. Aging parents and children are cared for by others, and the poor are carefully hidden away out of sight in the 'other part of town'. This lack of full engagement with the young, the elderly, the sick and the poor hurts not only them, but us as well--Christians, the lost, our whole society. Even if material needs are being met by hired professionals and government institutions, something crucial the wellbeing of our culture and to our salvation is lost when our children, our needy loved ones and our less fortunate neighbors do not receive loving, sacrificial care, directly from our hands. ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ Matthew 25:45