Once more, a moment in my life which really has great impact and strength in this pilgrimage of life.
As a little boy, I was convinced that anyhow there must be a hope, yet I feared to hope anything. I had to face many things in this life that made me scary and forced me to deal with the reality that were not acceptable and to under-estimate the Hope (and may be the Faith as well). If not, at least there was an attempt to make the hope and Faith become certain abstraction or philosophical thing, a day-dream matter.
But, as The Lord holds my weak and unworthy hand, and He leads me from day to day, I start realize that Hope and Faith and Love in Him would never disappointing. This is not even our effort to believe phenomenal thing or a sophisticate matters. This is by his Grace! How could we understand anything if it is not God who makes us understand, and not only that, but even more so that we might be with Him eternally? By His Ultimate Love, He has been so near and encamped in our midst and drawn us to His Love. And this is great and beyond comprehension, though, Perfect God became Perfect Man and He understands us perfectly! He is so Humble and Gentle in His Majesty and Great Power. He has been very faithful and show His Greatness among his servants in the whole of my life.
And particularly these days, when I am strongly convinced: His servant's Love toward Him has strengthened my Faith and Hope in Him! And certainly where there is a seed of love sown, there will be another Love grows! And by these moments in my life, I am convinced that the Ultimate Hope for us is The Eternal Communion with God, Theosis.
And this is very touching when I reflect from this blog of Romanos: realizing we are but dust and ashes, but in His Greatness, Lord has given us life and really loves us! And another one from this podcast of ancient faith radio, which I quoted here:
How Great Thou art!
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!
As a little boy, I was convinced that anyhow there must be a hope, yet I feared to hope anything. I had to face many things in this life that made me scary and forced me to deal with the reality that were not acceptable and to under-estimate the Hope (and may be the Faith as well). If not, at least there was an attempt to make the hope and Faith become certain abstraction or philosophical thing, a day-dream matter.
But, as The Lord holds my weak and unworthy hand, and He leads me from day to day, I start realize that Hope and Faith and Love in Him would never disappointing. This is not even our effort to believe phenomenal thing or a sophisticate matters. This is by his Grace! How could we understand anything if it is not God who makes us understand, and not only that, but even more so that we might be with Him eternally? By His Ultimate Love, He has been so near and encamped in our midst and drawn us to His Love. And this is great and beyond comprehension, though, Perfect God became Perfect Man and He understands us perfectly! He is so Humble and Gentle in His Majesty and Great Power. He has been very faithful and show His Greatness among his servants in the whole of my life.
And particularly these days, when I am strongly convinced: His servant's Love toward Him has strengthened my Faith and Hope in Him! And certainly where there is a seed of love sown, there will be another Love grows! And by these moments in my life, I am convinced that the Ultimate Hope for us is The Eternal Communion with God, Theosis.
And this is very touching when I reflect from this blog of Romanos: realizing we are but dust and ashes, but in His Greatness, Lord has given us life and really loves us! And another one from this podcast of ancient faith radio, which I quoted here:
"But I believe the gospel because it gives hope beyond us and me. I believe the gospel because it does not deny the reality even the atheist clearly sees. I believe the gospel because in the end, if all we have is ourselves and human evil balanced by human kindness, the end is still ultimately a pointless existence ending in a meaningless death no matter how evil or kind someone is. I believe the gospel because God entered our world, God faced our reality and God did not give us platitudes and pep talks, He bore the lowest reaches of human depravity and declared after three days that no evil is omnipotent, no injustice is eternal, no existence is pointless and no death is meaningless. The darkness, in the end is not the end but brings forth the dawn and the promise of never ending day. I believe the gospel because I know, after looking hard at the world and what I have done in it, I have no true hope if it is not true."
How Great Thou art!
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner!
The whole quotation was very good, but this part especially spoke to me…
ReplyDelete"I believe the gospel because God entered our world, God faced our reality and God did not give us platitudes and pep talks, He bore the lowest reaches of human depravity and declared after three days that no evil is omnipotent, no injustice is eternal, no existence is pointless and no death is meaningless."
Buddha was born and gave platitudes and pep talks. Confucius did the same, and also Plato and Socrates.
This is not to devalue any of them: platitudes can be helpful, if we act on them.
Still, as we all find out, being "good" isn't enough to save us. Where we all fail, even Buddha and the others, there is Jesus Christ, the Theanthropos, the God-Man, to cover our actions with His Righteousness, and our sins with His Blood.
This mystery is something that Muhammad could not understand. This is something that Moses looked forward to, but missed.
When Christ Jesus descended into Hades, He emptied it of its dead, crying out, "Adam and all your descendants, come forth!" and so it was, and so it is. Only He alone could do this, because He is Theanthropos and Pantokrator.
Glory to You, O God, glory to You!
Christ is Ascended!
ReplyDeleteI have just been directed to your blog and have seen your other blogs in Indonesian where you are translating the works of the Fathers and the Prologue into Indonesian - God bless this wonderful work of yours.
Where are you located Yudhie - are you anywhere close to Jakarta?
His Eminence Metrpolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and Archbishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, of which diocese the Indonesian Orthodox Mission is also a part - is coming on a pastoral visitation to Indonesia from the 25th-29th June. We will be based at St Thomas's Church in Jakarta.
Is it possible for you to make your translations available for the Mission for possible publication in their monthly newsletter.
Please respond to me a kosovo_au@yahoo.com.au.
In Christ
Father Joachim
St John the Baptist Skete
Kentlyn NSW
That's why hope is always there when we're still alive, now matter how hard your life is. So, don't ever think to suicide! Look at this link about it:
ReplyDeletehttp://poenjagw.blogspot.com/2009/05/bunuh-diri.html