Year: 2011

The selection from Romans read for the Nativity of the Forerunner is a remarkable summary of the core teaching of St John the Baptist. Note that “teaching” is not plural, because, primarily, the Holy Forerunner was concerned with only one thing – preparing the way for the immanent appearance in the world of Jesus Christ, and he could only see one way to do this: “make his paths straight” We discuss how St Paul summarizes this teaching and also the wonderful assertion that ” now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”, which also applies very much to the ministry of St John, and should be realized by us each succeeding day of our life.

The Vespers parables for the Nativity of St John are what we might expect: the stories of barren women who bare children (notable Sarah, who bore Isaac, and the unnamed mother of Sampson, wife of Manoah) and the seminal passage from Isaiah which prophesies the coming of the Forerunner, with the memorable line “The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God”). What is important about these readings? Since the whole of the teaching of the Baptist was preparation via morality, we can expect there to be a heavy emphasis on how we should live. By the way, astute listeners will recognize that the second reading was incorrectly identified as referring to Hanna, the mother of Samuel, when actually the reading is about Sampson. Of course, Hannah was another barren woman who bore a child. Ooops

The Scripture is full of questions, commands, warnings, promises, and consequences for actions. All of these, every single one of them, applies to us. You must read the Scripture and answer the questions and listen to the commands and heed the warnings and realize they are for you. Here is one: the Lord says: Is not life more than meat and the body more than raiment?? That question is a very important one to answer, and it?s one that actually is answered hundreds of times every day by every person, whether they are Christian or not, whether or not they believe in God. And with it is the question that follows: ?And why do you take thought for your clothing?? None of this makes any sense to anyone unless we answer this first question well. This question can be also stated: What is life all about? …

Today we learn about desire, and what shapes our desires. Just as the light of the body is the eye, the soul also has an eye that enlightens it. Our physical eyes can easily discern light and darkness, but the eye of the soul must be trained to do this, because without training. The eye of the soul will not know light from darkness. How do we train the eye of the soul?

Synopsis: Exegesis of Romans 8:22-27 which contains the very good news that we are not responsible for competence in our prayer, but rather, if we provide the desire and compunction (described by St Paul as to “groan within ourselves”), “helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”. The very important and misunderstood word “hope” is also defined, and we investigate what “groaning within ourselves” should be. St Paul is often very technical and complicated in his writing, but this passage is among his most comforting – it is truly the “Gospel” (good news) for those who have the proper disposition regarding themselves and the world.