Father Gavril Galev: The Miracle of Raising the Widow’s Son.
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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
In this Gospel reading and Gospel event, described in the Holy Gospel according to Luke, the greatness and glory of God are revealed: God is the Only Lord of life and of death, as well as of everything else. The widow, who mourned her son and ‘gathered’ many people at the funeral, is a testimony to her social status: rich, famous, and respected. But that did not help her prevent the death of her beloved and only child. Neither all the people that were gathered nor the wealth she possessed could help her in this instance. The only One who can do that is God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having compassion on her, He stops the procession and resurrects the boy. In order to glorify the name of God and for people to recognise the true God, He brings him back from death to life, giving him the opportunity for salvation.
Death in fact is not really the end, death is a passage. The end is, if we lose God, that is, if we leave Him, if we do not believe in Him and if we do not do the works of God.
Death will be a passage if we live a Divine life, as the Apostle Paul says: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” We crucified ourselves for Christ, together with Him, and our life is Christ’s life, Divine life. This is evident through the content and dignity of our life. That is why we should become instruments of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and thus be bearers of the eternal life, which does not cease with death, but passes to the other side which the Holy Fathers of the Church call the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, which is forever and ever.
According to the ascetic-hesychastic interpretation of this Gospel, the woman, the mother, is our soul and our heart. The Son, the deceased one, the dead one, is our mind. Those who carry the open coffin of the deceased one are the demons, and the coffin is the passions.
If we do not pay attention to our lives, if we do not control our thoughts and allow bad, unclean thoughts to rule over us, then our minds die and our hearts become alienated from God. That way we inherit the ending of our lives which I talked about earlier. Thus only God, that is; first the living faith in Him, and then the invocation of the name of God: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner – and participation in the Sacred Mysteries of the Church, and above all the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist, gives us eternal life and our soul becomes alive.
Beloved, let us be careful what kind of thoughts we accept. Because the type of thoughts we accept, determine our life and such will be our psycho-spiritual state. That is, it will be bright and enlightened if we receive bright and enlightened thoughts, and thus we will be bearers of life, or, gloomy and darkened, that is, we will be bearers of death.
That is why I say unto you take heed – whatever happens in our life, let us always accept good, positive, gentle and loving thoughts, which fulfil our body, which is a temple, and it fulfils and underlines our life. One father has said that; according to the contents of the pot, the pot itself acts. If we receive poison in it, it eats away the vessel from within and it disintegrates over time. However, if we put a fragrant myrrh in it, then the vessel itself puts forth a fragrant smell and draws everyone.
In this way let us make our lives fragrant, and, with our lives let us glorify God, and thus let us establish that eternal union, which does not cease and which is conveyed to the Kingdom of God, which is here and in the ages to come. Amen.
25.10.2015 Rocklin
Fr. Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
