On this Sunday, a week after Pentecost, the Church remembers all of the known and unknown men and women throughout the centuries that have achieved the one and only goal of the Christian Life. This goal is spelled out nicely for us in that wonderful text by St. Seraphim of Sarov, who’s priestly vestments lie on our tomb in the Church. He reminds us all that “Acquiring the Holy Spirit of God is the true aim of the Christian Life.”
All of the Saints who we remember today practiced certain virtues for which they became famous. St. Anthony the great gave all of his possessions to the poor and lived a life of chastity and patience. St. John the Faster was known for a tremendous love of self-denial for Christ. St. Mary Magdalene was known for her courage and faith. All of the Saints put into practice virtues which allowed them to Acquire the Holy Spirit of God…but there was one virtue that every single one of them had in common, which makes up our parish theme of the month of June: Humility.
St. John Climacus, in his 25th step on the Ladder of Divine Ascent, tell us that “humility isn’t just another virtue. It is the virtue that makes all other virtues possible.” With those words, I wanted to speak upon the three ways St. John says that the Saints were able to gain humility.
1.) Saints are kept humble by comparing themselves not to other men, but to God.
We have the relics of St. Luke the Surgeon in the center of the Church today, one of the great Saints of the Russian Church during the persecutions under communism. This was a man who, despite it being a crime to practice your faith openly, saved thousands of people through his prayers, his homilies, and his god given surgical talents.
St. Luke’s miracles and talents began to gain notoriety during his life time…so much so that one of his Archpriest’s once tried to encourage him to seek out the senior position amongst the Russian Bishops. St Luke’s reply?
“To tell you the truth, I am a bit abashed by your excessively high opinion of me…there are persons among the synod who are much stronger than I am in faith, righteousness, Orthodoxy, and love; who possess the high more dignities which I lack.”
How many more Saints do we have who dismissed the praise of men? We have many who, after working a miracle in the name of Christ, would literally run away from the thanks and praise of people…like someone running from a poison snake. They ran away from the praise of men because Saints are those who compare themselves not to man…but to God. In that context, even Saints like Anthony the Great, Luke the Surgeon, and Seraphim of Sarov, who’s reflected the Holy Spirit better than any of us, still saw themselves as the worst of sinners when compared to God…unworthy of the praise of men.
2.) Saints are those who read or know the scriptures constantly, most especially the Holy Gospels, so that they can remember the passion of Christ…remembering that they are eternally in his debt for the Love He has placed on them.
Understanding and remembering the type of relationship we have with God is a tremendous blessing that we can have if we read the Holy Gospels the scriptures daily.
In his commentary on St. John’s Ladder of Divine Ascent, Vasillios Pappavasiliou tells us to imagine that a poor, ugly, stupid, and unpleasant woman, with no prospects of marriage, falls in love with the man of her dreams. He is handsome, intelligent, wealthy, noble, and virtuous. Somehow, this perfect man, despite all of her imperfections, mistakes, and wrong doings in life, and no matter how many times she is unfaithful to him, never ceases to love her, forgive her, and embrace her. This image is exactly what Holy Scripture, and the Gospels are all about. Despite our weaknesses, deficiencies, and sins…no matter how unfaithful we are…we have a God that never ceases to embrace us when we turn to Him. Reading and reminding ourselves of this reality on a daily basis is what drives us towards humility.
3.) Saints reflect daily on the ways in which they had failed throughout the day, striving in prayer to correct those wrongs the following day.
Finally, St. John tells us to have a daily confession with ourselves…reminding us of the ways in which we have failed to live up to our potential as true human beings. We have to be cautious in this last step however…and not fall into the trap of pretending we are more virtuous than others.
“I may have over eaten today, or snapped in anger at my children…but at least I didn’t murder anyone or publicly embarrass anyone!” Or perhaps my favorite in confession: “I haven’t been that bad recently…”. Lord have mercy! Let us not be like the pharisee to the publican…but rather beat our chest daily in humility…crying out “O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me!”
Dear ones, let us reflect on these words from St. John, who tells us exactly what happens to those who grow in this holiest of virtues:
“Where there is humility, there is no sign of hatred, no species of quarrelsomeness, no whiff of disobedience…As soon as a cluster of holy humility begins to flower within us, we come, after hard work, to hate all earthly praise and glory. We rid ourselves of rage and fury, and the more this queen of virtues spreads within our souls through spiritual growth, the more we begin to regard all good deeds as no consequence.”
The more we begin to cease to lead an earthly life through humility…the closer we become to leading a heavenly life with our Father.