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Dear Parish Faithful,
A very insightful commentary from Alexis Callender ... For those who may not have, or be aware of, the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim, I have attached a copy with some explanation*. It is meant to be used in the home as well as in the church.
Fr. Steven
* Webmaster's Note: The Prayer of St Ephraim in PDF format can be found on our Great Lent page. Scroll towards the bottom and the SPECIAL FEATURES section.
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Good Morning Fr. Steven,
Father bless,
I would like to share with you some further thoughts on the Seven Secular Challenges Facing 21st-Century Catholics. (Obviously, we can easily replace "Catholics" with "Orthodox" - Fr. Steven). In my humble opinion, we as Orthodox Christians must be prepared to respond to each of these seven challenges. This is indeed essential and critical. Although we are not “of the world”, we are “in the world” and therefore must be armed for the battle against such vices. They are all in direct contradiction with the Orthodox Way…the Way of Christ. They are the anti-thesis of our lives as Christians.
When we pray, “O Heavenly King, The Comforter and Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere and fillest all things, come and abide in us and cleanse us from very impurity and save our souls O Good One”, we are asking to be protected from the worldly ways, which are sadly, “ever present” and “fill all things” in the secular society in which we live. While these challenges are very real and very much present in our daily life, God gives us the shield and armor to protect ourselves “from every evil and adverse work of the Devil”.
While contemplating further on this list, the beautiful and powerful prayer of St. Ephraim came to mind. This prayer in its profound meaning clearly guides us to beseech the “Lord and Master” of our lives to take from us “the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk”, which directly correlate with the secular challenges outlined by the author.
• Lack of respect for authority – lust of power and sloth
• Cynicism – idle talk , lust of power, judging our brethren
• Uncritical openness – idle talk
• Ideology – which can breed despair in our longing for what we want or desire or feel should be.
• Learned helplessness – sloth
• Anti-intellectualism – idle talk
• Political correctness – idle talk
• Although not part of the list from the book, we may consider adding desensitization or indifference and possibly hopelessness to the list of challenges, all which can breed despair and slothfulness.
Further in the prayer of St. Ephraim, we ask God to grant to us “the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love” to His servants. These virtues can be our response to the challenges we face as Christians living in the world. They are the weapons against the *seven deadly passions. (*An interesting parallel to these seven challenges.)
The world teaches us to be self-centered and focused on how I can glorify myself so that others will glorify me. These seven challenges, which are fed by the seven passions play right into that line of thinking. But, through Christ and His Holy Church we are taught to be Christ-centric and focused on how I can glorify God so other others may glorify Him. Through prayer, fasting, “humility, patience and love”, we stay on course. Not considered a popular path by the worldly, but truly, there is no other way. “…I would rather be a doorkeeper in house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” – Ps.84:10
Thanks be to God for His infinite mercy which He bestows upon His children, for the wisdom and teachings of the Holy Church Fathers through which God nourishes us, and for the protection of Christ and His Holy Church as we continue our “spiritual warfare.”
In Christ,
Alexis
