Come To Your Senses In Time
2nd Sunday of Great Lent
Hebrews 1;10-14;2;1-3; Mark 2:1-12
When a person is in a serious, physically incurable state with a disease such as cancer, for example, doctors may say: It's too late. If this disease had been detected a year or two ago, it could have been cured...
From time to time we encounter news in the periodical press and on television, of serious cases such as, for example: A person in madness shoots his children, his wife (or others in his domain); sometimes he himself commits suicide. Such cases are grave tragedies.
Would it be possible to prevent those tragedies and murders from happening?
-- Indisputably, but it would have been necessary for someone to help at the beginning, at the outset, when serious problems arose. However, in order for someone close by to be able to help, it is necessary for a person not to keep all turmoil or conflicts within himself or between himself and another, but to share and consult with friends, good acquaintances, with his clergyman.
Although in the first case the cause of death is a physical illness, and in the second, a serious mental condition, they have in common that although a person feels some distress, he has not experienced great pain (physical or mental) and, therefore, does not turn to those who could heal either bodily diseases or diseases of the soul.
Initially, a man who might have had problems in his relationship with his wife might have thought that he would take care of himself, it was his concern only. Perhaps he was with the Church, but he did not try to consult with its spiritual leaders. And then, when the problems had already deepened, when he was overwrought and in a state of agitation he could no longer bear, then the man went on to kill the people closest to him, and commit suicide.
The Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father, established the Sacrament of Repentance, so that in it, through sincere confession of sins, through the advice and dispensation of clergymen, individuals would lighten their souls, rid themselves of mental burdens, find peace of mind and unite with their Heavenly Father through His Son -- Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Christ’s instruction to His disciples (and their successors) mandated that:
"If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (John 20,23).
Christ more than once, when people asked Him for physical healing, first healed them spiritually. This is what He did in the example we have read about today, when a bedridden man was brought to him and lowered from above, through the dismantled ceiling, on a stretcher: "Son, your sins are forgiven you! " (Mark 2.5).
The Holy Fathers of the Church established that this gospel story about mental and physical healing be read on the second Sunday of Great Lent. In this way, the Church reminds us that we should think not only about physical infirmities, but also about mental infirmities, and to consider whether our physical illnesses are connected with our mental troubles.
We must also make sure that hatred or envy is not set alight in our souls, and that we forgive our transgressors (which was discussed more amply last Sunday), that we also come to the spiritual counter of our Church and try to recognize and rid ourselves of our sins, which we sometimes do not feel and do not see, but see only in our neighbors...
Esteemed clerics of the Church of Christ advise us that even before going to Confession, we should examine ourselves and our state of mind using the measure of our conscience.
Conscience is a sensitive mental instrument; it is the radar of our soul. We can escape from the guardians of state or public law, but we will never escape from our conscience. Our conscience will never deceive us, but we should also examine and test our feelings, for we must, as Apostle John states, test the spirits (John 4:1). For that reason, even though we may examine ourselves before our conscience, the priest is there for that reason: he helps us to be aware of our sinfulness, to give us appropriate advice, instructions in the name of the Lord and in the name of Christ, so that our sins and transgressions are forgiven us.
In the Sacrament of Repentance, we must rid ourselves of mental burdens so that nothing oppresses our souls. In the Orthodox Church, we should recognize that there are no problems that cannot be solved with God's help, and, thus, Orthodox Christians should never despair, never lose hope for God's mercy and help.
God often bestows His help precisely through people, affecting their feelings and actions.
I happened once to come across a strange description in an old death register – the cause of death (Lepine, Saskatchewan); the priest wrote: "She died of rage." Perhaps, the priest was mistaken. But doctors tell us, and we are convinced by perceiving the facts of life, that many physical diseases are caused by grief and stressful burdens.
Therefore, let us not neglect ourselves, so that in our case too, someone does not conclude: "It's too late." Throughout Great Lent, certainly there are the greatest number of confessors. But when we are bearing a burden or experiencing mental unease, we should not wait until Great Lent, for Confession can be made at any time, on any day. The Lord is always near to comfort and reassure us:
"Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - said the Lord Jesus Christ.(Matthew 11:28)
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.