…has to do with looking outward, remembering the other! The Philokalía teaches, "Blessed is the one who rejoices in his salvation, but even more blessed is the one who rejoices in the salvation of the other."Our Triune God has a love and vision for all. In the Old Testament, we may remember how God chose a certain people as His prized possession, but we often forget why He chose them. When God called Abram in Genesis, He said, "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great, SO THAT you will be a blessing… And all the families of the earth shall find blessing in you."
Jesus Christ, the supreme example in the New Testament, made abundantly clear that no boundaries could limit His unconditional love for all people. Whether it was a heretical Samaritan, a Roman centurion, a foreign Syro-Phoenician woman, a corrupt tax collector, or an immoral adulteress, Christ saw each and every person as a beloved child of His. He fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, "Although a mother may forget her child, I can never forget you. I have carved you on the palm of My hand."
Saint John Chrysostom said… "I do not believe in the salvation of anyone who does not try to save others."Our Church Fathers cultivated a truly ecumenical, universal and missionary spirit that we need to practice today.
We must recover the life of asceticism and self-sacrifice. We must make every effort to flee from our self-centered wills, and enter into the "mind of Christ".
Excerpted from the article, The Universe is Our Parish, by Fr. Luke Veronis, OCMC magazine, Spring 2007 issue.
Father Luke Veronis and one of his kids visiting a housebound woman in Tirana, Albania
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