Metropolitan of Strumica Naum: If the light that is in you is darkness, then what will the darkness be?
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“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is pure, your whole body will be full of light; But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? “(Matthew 6, 22-23).
You know from the Holy Fathers of the Church that the mind is also called the eye of the soul. If the essence of the mind, in the heart, is pure, which means enlightened, then our soul and our body will be bright; but, if the essence of the mind is defiled and darkened, by the accepted and by deed conducted sinful (passionate) thoughts, then our soul and our body will be dark and weakened. The body is also a participant in the uncreated light of the transfiguration, or It is not – it depends on us.
So, by satisfying the passions, on one hand, the demon darkens peoples mind (and thus their reason) and their whole being, on the other hand, makes people his servants. That is why the God-Man Christ warns us: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon ”(Matthew 6:24).
We need to distinguish between the One who is always Master, both in eternity and in time, and the one who is master only when someone serves him, and only temporarily (in time). Our God – the Holy Trinity – the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, is the Master, regardless of whether we serve Him or not. The devil is a temporary master only of those who serve him by fulfilling his sinful passions due to excessive care for the corporal, otherwise, he is powerless and ridiculous.
What are the manifestations of the excessive care for the worldly things, which arises from the captivity of our heart from the passions? The most direct and recognizable manifestation is the fact that we have less and less time for prayer. The next indicator is our scattered prayer. Then, wasting time and energy in the fight with various thoughts and feelings or giving in to the fantasies. Then, non gratitude to God and constant dissatisfaction. Blaming others. It is already worrying when the struggle with thoughts turns into a milder and even more severe form of paranoia or, in other words, fear for the future of the satisfaction of our passions: vainglory, covetousness, and love for pleasures; being in fear for our own well-being.
Consequently, we even spread all this state of anxiety, fear and hopelessness among our neighbours: God does not say only “do not worry “, but also “do not speak”! “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6: 31-32).
The God-Man Christ set out, in His Annunciation, the exact order of the requirements: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
So, as we have seen, the order of our “requests” in prayer is very important. It is interesting that the most important “requests” in prayer can be met immediately, and the “small” requests for our daily needs may not be met at all; especially if they become our priority and hinder our spiritual growth. For example, we can receive the Lord immediately in prayer and enter into communion with Him (because no one can call Jesus the Lord except by the Holy Spirit! – 1 Cor. 12: 3). And if, instead of Him, we first seek money, happiness, health, success, tranquillity, spouse, etc., surely we will lose God – and without Him everything else – and find ourselves among the pagans.
Moreover, God does not say “find It first”, but “seek It first”. It is one thing to “find” and another to “seek”. He expects very, very little from us, as you can see, yet He gives plenty. If only this little dimension of God’s love for us was revealed to us, the tears of repentance would have easily flown from our own eyes.
Therefore, if it seems to us that we have received very little from God in our life, it is better to check our priorities, rather than to be ungrateful and to blaspheme against Him .
Most Holy Theotokos, save us!
Metropolitan of Strumica Naum
(10.07.2021)
