Ever since we have come back into the Church after the renovations, I often catch myself and others walking in and immediately looking up into the dome. This is especially true with the little ones, who often are the first gaze upwards at the image of Christ looking down upon them. They point to the images of the angels who are serving the Lord in the Heavenly Liturgy that we are plugging into this morning. They look at the loving images of their ancestors in Christ…the Prophets and the Saints who spent their earthly ministry unveiling to the human race what was shown to them by God.
There is a reason, dear ones, why the Great Artificer, when He was creating mankind, chose to put our eyes towards the top of our bodies. It is because we as human beings have a natural tendency to gaze upwards towards the heavens. Whether it is on a dark and starry night, or catching a beautiful sunrise, or even to let our minds wander while staring at the clouds, we are perhaps the only creatures on this planet who turn our gazes to the heavens in deep wonder and thought.
While pondering on “heavenly gazes” this week, I came across a story of a Russian Soldier, who prior to his entry into the second world war, was like a majority of the Soviet Population…atheistic and worldly. His eyes never gazed upwards, nor wondered about the presence of God, but was rather fixated on the world below…a world that at that time was descending into the chaos of war.
There was a moment in this young man’s life where he found himself in the middle of a battlefield, charging towards the enemy. He was struck with a bullet…his body went into shock…and he became disoriented, falling to the ground and laying on his back as the chaos raged around him. It was there, in the middle of that field, that for the first time in a long time, he found himself staring up at the cloudless, deep blue sky. Something changed within him in those moments, and for the first time in a long time, this young atheist, while staring up into the heavens, began to pray:
“Lord, if you are there, help me. If somehow, I survive, I will dedicate my life to you.”
We have seen this story play out before. How often, in a time of need and difficulty, do we look up into the heavens and reach out to God in prayer…perhaps even pledging to become better Christians if he would only grant us whatever we needed in those moments? Then what happens? Life goes back to normal, and our gaze goes from the heavens, back down to the things of the earth…and we continue on until we are tested again.
In this instance, the soldier fulfilled the promise that He had made to God. In a national environment that made it exceedingly difficult to do so, he obtained a theological education and eventually became a priest. He managed to go to a secluded area of the country where there were no Churches and built one in his home dedicated to St. Nicholas. For several decades, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy, and converted many people to the faith. None of this would have been made possible, without this young man first learning to turn his gaze towards the heaven in order to seek the blessings of God Himself.
Dear ones, this is indeed what we are called to do on these holy days in between Pascha and Pentecost. Today, like the Disciples, and all the Fathers of the Ecumenical Councils who we remember today, we look towards the heavens as we await the coming of the Holy Spirit. We do this, however, with the reminder of what happened to the disciples as they watched our Lord Ascend. Two Angels appeared next to them and said:
“Why are you standing there gazing into heaven! This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come so in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven!”
What a striking line from the angels! Men of Galilee! Why are you just standing there gazing into heaven?! Jesus will come again! Didn’t you hear what he said just before he left? Go, and prepare yourself for the coming of the Holy Spirit!
And so we wait, my dearest brothers and sisters in Christ. We follow the examples of the Disciples today, and worship Him with Great Joy, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit…the Holy Spirit which has manifested Himself in these two new warriors for Christ in Holy Chrismation this morning…the same Holy Spirit that fills with the presence of God those who turn their gaze away from the things of the earth, and fixates it on the things from above.