3RD Sunday OF MATTHEW

If the “spiritual” eyes are not healthy – 3rd Sunday of Matthew

“The eye is the lamp of the body”. If the eye is good, it is as though the whole body sees. If, however, the eye is not good, that much more will the rest of the body –which is not an eye –be in darkness. The human eye is, in a certain sense, borrowing its light from other sources. On its own, the eye does not have light, but rather is an instrument with the ability to see, provided there is light. We are able to see with our eyes only if the object upon which we are gazing is illumined by some source of light –whether by the sun or even an artificial light. Our human eyes are not able to see on their own. And yet, no matter how bright the light might be, if the eyes are not healthy they will be unable to see. God gave man both the nous, and the logic. He fashioned him like this in order for man to see, to judge, and to understand. No other creature on earth is fashioned in this way. And what is more, everything that applies to the bodily eyes, applies also to the nous and the logic, which are man’s spiritual eyes. And so in this way, man’s nous and his logic are unable to see, unable to fudge, or to properly assess if not illumined by light. And in the following instance, this light is Christ. “I am the light of the world”. How unfounded we are when it comes to ourselves. And how often we are mistaken –and necessarily so –when we think we see, judge, and assess properly without being illumined by the light of God. This is the great evil of humanity.

About Hope

St. John of Sinai, The Ladder
Archim. Lazarus Moore Harper & Brothers, 1959, p.129

The power of love is hope, because by it we await the reward of love.
Hope is a wealth of hidden riches.
Hope is a treasure of assurance of the treasure in store for us.
It is a rest from labors; it is the door of love; it is the annulment of despair; it is an image of what is absent.
The failing of hope is the disappearance of love. Toils are bound by it. Labors depend
on it. Mercy encircles it.
Experience of the Lord’s gift engenders hope; he who is without experience remains
in doubt.
Anger destroys hope, because “hope does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:5), but “an angry
man is not noble” (Prov.15:25).

Those that Suffer

St. Maximus the Confessor,
Four Hundred Chapters on Love, 3,47

“The world has many poor in spirit, but not in the right way; and many who mourn, but over money matters and loss of children; and many who are meek, but in the face of impure passions; and many who hunger and thirst, but to rob another's goods and to profit unjustly. And there are many who are merciful, but to the body and to its comforts; and clean of heart, but out of vanity; and peacemakers, but who subject the soul to the flesh; and many who suffer persecution, but because they are disorderly; many who are reproached, but for shameful sins. Instead, only those are blessed who do and suffer these things for Christ and following his example. For what reason ? "Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and "they shall see God," and so forth. It is not because they do and suffer these things that they are blessed (since those just mentioned do the same), but because they do and suffer them for Christ and following his example.”