{"id":6542,"date":"2020-07-05T17:01:23","date_gmt":"2020-07-05T07:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2020-07-05T17:04:55","modified_gmt":"2020-07-05T07:04:55","slug":"called-to-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/called-to-blessings\/","title":{"rendered":"Called to Blessings"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Called to Blessings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Augustinos Nada<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Passage\nLuke 6:27-38<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is expected\nfrom us as people of God? The Lord gives the sermon on the Mount as instructions\non how to live as Christians; how to live as the children of God. These may\nseem completely different to what the world teaches us. He is saying, \u201clove your enemies, do good to those who hate\nyou, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Human\nnature tells us that this is difficult to accomplish. It is difficult to love\nan enemy, to do good to those who do evil. The Lord is trying to give us an\nunderstanding that a person of God is different. We need to be different. If we\nwant to have a life in Christ, to love Christ and to love the church, there are\nhigher expectations placed. You have to shine differently to others. This is\nwhy He says, \u201cyou are the light of the\nworld\u201d <\/em>(Matthew 5:14). We may be living in the darkness of the world, but\nit is the duty of a Christian to take light from Christ and shine in a dark\nplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Christ\nis asking of us today is to go the second mile. To push harder when human\nnature tells us it is enough. It is not easy to love those who hate you, to\nbless those who curse you, to pray for those that spitefully use you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world\nteaches us to not associate with those that hate us, we should not love them,\nwe should not pray for them. St Charbel is a 19th<\/sup> century saint of\nthe Maronite church that many miracles are attributed to. He was a hermit monk\nthat lived in the mountains of Lebanon. The Turks were invading the country at\nthat time and they were persecuting many of the Christian monasteries. The Lebanese\nmonks were very strong and full of zeal for the faith. They decided to take\narms against the Turkish armies and defend their monastery. These monks went to\nSt Charbel wounded and hurt, seeking his advice. St Charbel was greatly\ndisturbed when he saw them and said, \u201cWhat\nare you doing? The Lord calls us and says, love your enemies, do good to those\nwho hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use\nyou, so you haven\u2019t done what the Lord has instructed you.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was from\nthat moment that the monks changed their approach to the persecution. They were\nnot loving the enemy but fighting them. It defeated the purpose of the\nChristian faith to hate your enemies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lord\ncontinues, \u201cto him who strikes you on the\none cheek, offer the other als<\/em>o. And\nfrom him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to\neveryone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask\nthem back.\u201d <\/em>Do we give to anyone that asks of us? Do we give the clothes on\nour back in addition to the clothes that were taken from us? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut if you love those who love you, what\ncredit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do\ngood to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners\ndo the same.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We love\nthose who love us because it is easy to do, but the Lord is telling us this is\nof no credit to us. He goes on to talk about specific characteristics of our\nChristian faith. You cannot reach these levels unless there is an internal\nchange. I have to be a certain person that understands the love of God and has\na strong relationship with my Lord. I must strive daily to build virtues of\nlove and forgiveness. It requires a person that has such great love for the\nLord that these difficult commands become second nature. If you live a life of\nsin, it is impossible to forgive your enemies. If you are living a distant life\nfrom God, there is no way you can pray for those that hate you. If you live a\nlukewarm life, you will not bless those that curse you, or pray for anyone that\nspitefully uses you. If you don\u2019t have a relationship to please God, these\nthings become impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my own\ninternal struggle, I must look within myself and see if I have any kind of\nhatred or animosity concealed within my heart. It\u2019s okay to stay away from them\nbut if they are near to me, do I retaliate? Do I seek revenge? Do I wish bad\nthings for them? For me to be a person that loves my enemies and does good to\nthose who hate and prays for those that spitefully use me, I need to be a\nchanged person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see this\nin many of the saints. St Moses the Strong was a thief and head of a gang that\nmurder, stole, committed adultery \u2013 an extremely violent person. He was the\nopposite of what the Lord commanded in the Sermon on the Mount. A man full of\nhate and of the world. What made him transform into a saint?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His\nrepentance. His life with God. His struggle to overcome wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may take\ntime, but if we have the willingness then the Lord will give us strength to\novercome.  Everything that the Lord tells\nus is a reflection of His character. If He tells us to love those who hate us,\nit is because He loves those who hate Him. If He tells us to do good, it is\nbecause His goodness does not depend on our deeds. He says bless those who\ncurse you, because He blesses those who curse Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All these\nqualities are exemplary of how the Lord deals with you and me. He will never\nhate you, no matter what you did against Him, He continues to do good. On the\ncontrary, He loves you even more. He shows boundless mercy, He tells us to\nforgive so that we may be forgiven. We know that He forgives us all, even on\nthe Cross, He says, \u201cFather forgive them for they know not what they do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\namazing forgiveness. He was suffering and in pain but His focus was on their\nforgiveness. This was the greatest act of forgiveness and when we look at\nChrist on the Cross, surely we can look within ourselves and see why I need to\nforgive, why I need to love those who hate me, why I need to pray for those who\nuse me, why I need to bless those who curse me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of\npeople will come and say, \u201cAbouna, it is hard to forgive those who hate me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the\nearly church fathers teach us the best way to overcome wrongdoing is to pray\nfor them by name. Sometimes it may be difficult at the start, but if you are\nencouraged enough to name that person in your prayers, do you not think that\nGod will hear you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That person\nwill change before you. Their evil will turn to good. Their hatred will be\ndispersed. And your heart will change toward them also. God will channel inner\npeace within you to accept the circumstance. When you feel the grace of God\nwithin your heart, nothing of this world can move you. The peace of God supersedes\nall your troubles on earth. The trick is to mention that person in your prayers\nby name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Lord, remember ____ make them a person\nthat I can love again. If they are at fault in any way, help me to forgive\nthem. Make them the person that You have called them to be.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we\nmention them by name, it breaks our pride. We stop thinking that we are owed an\napology. They may never apologise, but if this is what you truly need to\nforgive, it becomes more probable when you pray for them by name. They could\nchange toward you, and more importantly, you want good feelings toward them to\nflourish in your heart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With any\ndifficult instruction, there is always reward from our compassionate Lord. \u201cJudge not, and you shall not be judged.\nCondemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.\nGive, and it will be given to you\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you do good, good will come back to you. So often in our church, giving is the most powerful tool. We always see how God repays those who give. He can\u2019t help but give back to those who give in love. Practice giving and see how God will give to you. If God hasn\u2019t given back to you, remind Him of His promises. All of God\u2019s promises are justifiable before our eyes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2728 Full sermon<\/a> \u2728<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Called to Blessings Adapted from a sermon by Fr Augustinos Nada Passage Luke 6:27-38 What is expected from us as people of God? The Lord gives the sermon on the Mount as instructions on how to live as Christians; how to live as the children of God. These may seem completely different to what the … Continue reading “Called to Blessings”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[148,164,365,6,35,60,162],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-blessing","tag-goodness","tag-kindness","tag-love","tag-prayer","tag-service","tag-virtue"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6546,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions\/6546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stmark.com.au\/Blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}