The only thing that certainly cannot be lost is an established personal relationship with God
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“For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.”
This sentence of Christ opens the question of whether we recognise the time when we are visited by Him, and, consequently, whether we behave correctly at that moment on a personal, family, social, and especially on a church level.
On a personal level, both the presence of grace and the absence of grace along with all the consequences: joy or sorrow, happiness or unhappiness, success or failure, health or sickness, etcetera, are His visitations. Whether we recognise these moments of visitation by God, and whether we act accordingly is crucial to our spiritual development.
One of the most important moments in our life is our attitude towards the monastic call – what will be our response to that call.
Correct behaviour on a personal level helps us to behave correctly on other levels as well. There is no better indicator of proper behaviour on a personal level towards God’s visitation than establishing a spiritually functional family or other close community – such as a monastery.
A spiritually functional, close, community is a true gift of God, because no matter how holy a person is, if there is no sincere desire for repentance and asceticism from the other members under his spiritual leadership, neither will there be any progress.
In order to lift the society in the right direction, great holiness is needed here; but again, it is questionable whether something can be done even then. If something is not achieved despite the presence of great holiness, then it will be a sign of great downfall.
The main indicator of the situation within the nation is the situation within the Church. The Church is a separate and long story, but for example, it would be very good if the people who lead the Church would also recognise the moment of the Lord’s visit and provide the Local Church with autocephaly, recognised and confirmed by all other Local Churches.
Favourable historical moments do not last long, if they are not used – they perish. The next offer is usually worse than the previous one; the next visit usually takes place in more complicated conditions and greater efforts and sacrifices will have to be made to achieve the goal. In the end, everything can be lost. The only thing that certainly cannot be lost is an established personal relationship with God.
Metropolitan of Strumica Nahum
01 / 03 / 2024
