The Byzantine Sexual Revolution

Many years back my wife and I attended a couples retreat. During one of the talks a woman shared that she feels closest to God after she has sex with her husband. After she said this, I thought that she was a real pervert. However, I was the pervert. Like so many other Christians, I was taught that sex was just for making children and as bonus it causes intimacy with your spouse. It had nothing to do with God other than the fact that occasionally God might infuse a soul into the results. Later I would learn that this way of thinking is a complete contradiction to scripture. Unfortunately, it seems like this contradiction is all the Church has to offer.

When God is separated from sex it causes moral problems. The fruit of this is all around us. Concerning the problems Christians often come up short in how to respond. Most often they try to make uncompelling arguments based on the bible or church teaching. They know how to tell people what’s wrong but fail to give a good answer why.  Saying that “God says so” doesn’t work anymore. In fact, those that practice sexual immorality often have a better argument. As long as Christians understand sex as just some regulated human activity, like going to the bathroom or driving an automobile, we will lose the moral argument.

For the most part, the Church has failed in its call to redeem human sexuality. Its no secret that many of the fathers were horrified of sex. For example, it was St. Jerome who said it was a sin to have sex if you don’t do it for children. Woe to those poor people in his church who were married and could not have kids!!! Some fathers even went further in their disdain for sex and debated if even women had souls. If it were not for Fathers like St. John Chrysostom, I doubt that the Church would even been celebrating marriage as a sacrament. He was in a sense one of the pioneers of a Byzantine sexual revolution. He championed the cause of marriages within the Church. He also understood that Christian marriage was the only way to fulfill God’s plan for sexuality.

The modern Catechism of the Catholic Church has adopted some of Chrysostom’s teachings. Its now taught that sex is ok for unitive purposes and not just to have kids, but the Catechism fails to adopt the vision of the Saint. You won’t find in the Catechism that sex in a Christian marriage is a revelation of God. Nor will you find teachings about the practice of chastity in marriage with the goal of making the sexual act a holy encounter within God. When we hear the word “chastity” it often comes with the understanding of, “no sex”. Chastity is actually the purification of our sexuality. For a celibate that means one thing but for those that are married another. With both kinds of people, the goal is a revelation of God.

When God made us, God created us in the divine image, male and female as the scriptures teach. It’s no accident that the Woman in scripture was created from Man just before the advent of the 7thday.  The language used to describe Adams sleep in the creation of Eve is the same language of ecstasy. The language of sex. It’s also the same language of the glory that is revealed of the 7thday. The day of the covenant. The day of human and divine union. The union of man and woman reveals God in creation.  Sexuality was never something that was to be separated from God. Sexuality achieves its purpose as a revelation of what God is.

We are created in God’s image and likeness. Likeness implies our role in accomplishing God’s purpose. Unfortunately, we don’t even know what we are anymore. Sex being reduced to just reproduction or pleasure has created a society of people who don’t know what they are. In our world you can now change your sexuality and there are many ways to find your sexual pleasure. There is no divine meaning to sex. It seems like the devil has been successful in destroying the image of God in this world. Without our sexuality there is no image of God. Don’t be deceived! Our sexuality is the most sacred part about us. Its no accident that a whole book in the bible ‘Song of Songs’ is about sex. Its time for us to redeem our sexuality! Its time to continue the work of our holy father St. John Chrysostom. To continue the Byzantine sexual revolution.

A Byzantine Gospel Tract

Several years ago, the Melkite Patriarch expressed the need for us to communicate the gospel in an uncomplicated way. He understood how complex our faith could be and recognized that other religions have an advantage over us in this regard. Over the years, I have thought about what he said and have tried to discover ways that we Byzantines can communicate our faith effectively. The following Gospel tract (trifold) is one of those ways. I took the following three points that we emphasize in our tradition:(incarnation, the victory over death, partaking of the divine nature) and presented them in a simplistic way. The tract is geared toward the unchurched person, so I tried to avoid any inclusive church language. Typically, in our culture people recognize that Christians use the bible as an authoritative source, so I reference the bible in that fashion. I presented the points in the tract so that the person reading can make a decision to accept what Christ has done for them.  However, unlike what is seen in most protestant tracts there is no prayer to accept Jesus as the savior. Saying that kind of prayer might be a good start, but I truly believe that God communicates the fullness of his love only through the Church, so I make the final point about seeking membership in a Catholic Church. This tract I hope can be a good guide for a brief presentation of our faith. You never know who might pick it up and start the journey of faith. Its fully editable if you want to change the content. I am using them for my parish so you might want to change the back if you are going to use them for yours. I know there are better ways to do this but if you can use this feel free to download t pdf  version (here).

The OLD Evangelization

     This is what I see many Catholics doing so far with Blessed John Paul the Great's teachings on the New Evangelization: Teachings about New Evangelism + a new evangelization committee=more on the New Evangelization+ more new committees=nothing getting done. It seems to me that there have been more committees formed for evangelization and people writing about the New Evangelization than there have been people actually getting in touch with Jesus Christ. Heck, on Google alone there over 2,540,000 hits on writings on the subject. Could you imagine if these were actual people that had a living experience of Jesus Christ? To put all that effort used in our committees and writings into the life of a real person? If I could speak on behalf of our blessed father I think he would wish us to stop writing and forming committees and start evangelizing. Maybe its time we go back to the Old Evangelization and to restore the notion of a whole church as the means of evangelization instead of the committee.
    Many years ago when Blessed John Paul the Great introduced the Church to the concept of a New Evangelization. He wanted to challenge the Church to continually find new ways to help others discover Jesus Christ. In addition, in his writings about the New Evangelization we find the Holy Father to some degree warning Catholics about a temptation to neglect the missionary aspect of the Church. To some degree he exposes a weakness that we commonly see in our churches. I know in my experience we find it all too easy to talk about traditions amongst oursleves then to really reach out to others with the love of Christ. For example, the church and its traditions become the object of spiritual identity rather than a missoionary ferver to share a living, loving, and real encounter with Jesus Christ with others.Consequently, the only church growth we see comes from births, migration, or marriages and nothing by the way of leading others into a living encounter with Jesus Christ.
     In this regard, sometimes I meet people that share stories of why they joined my Byzantine Catholic church. Among these stories it's rare that I hear anything about encountering Jesus Christ.They usually explain the problems of the church that they belonged to before. The conversation then turns to how well our liturgy is preformed or some particular aspects of the Byzantine tradition . There is nothing to indicate that have been properly introduced to my tradition, which is a tradition that does not speak of itself but about a real experience of the love of God. Recently, when I had this conversation with a new friend of mine I had to remind him that my church is about loving and experiencing Jesus Christ. If someone becomes Byzantine for any other reason you still have yet to experience what we are all about.
     Sometimes we form our committees or write our papers to show others that we have a desire to evangelize. However, the reality might be that we have never evangelized a day in our life nor do we have a real desire to. If we find ourselves faced with this we should know that we are not alone. Not even the apostles who received the first Eucharist from the hands of Lord at the last supper were properly equipped with a desire to share their faith. Like many Catholics who have received the sacraments we find the same experience our Blessed Father says about the apostles, "Despite their love for him and their generous response to his call, they proved to be incapable of understanding his words and reluctant to follow him along the path of suffering and humiliation". Just Like the apostles some of us still need something more from God to produce a real desire to evangelize.
     It was only when the apostles encountered the Holy Spirit for the first time at Pentecost  that we see a real burning desire to evangelize. As our Blessed Father also says "The Spirit transformed them into courageous witnesses to Christ and enlightened heralds of his word. ". This same power is offered to us in the sacraments but it is not automatic.We may have been Catholic our whole life, gotten degrees in theology and somehow never tapped into the power that produces the desire to evangelize. For what ever reason the power is dormant and the evidence is that there is no real desire to evangelize. In this I would challenge you to examine if you have any real desire to evangelize. To understand that it's not a natural desire and it must come as a gift. To be willing to ask God to give you this desire and to ask for the full power of the Holy Spirit.
     If we become open to the request that I put before us I guarantee you that things will change. Blessed John Paul the Great said that those who want to evangelize, "feel Christ's burning love for souls, and love the Church as Christ did". If we do not have this all we need to do is seek God in humility and He will give it to us. As St. Symeon the New theologian said concerning this power, "come, bow and fall down together with me and do not rise until you have received the gift of God, as I, who am unworthy, have received this gift of grace". Its important to note that our father Symeon said this to people that lived in a monastery and who perhaps were members of the Church all their lives. If they missed this power so could we. However, as he demonstrated God wants to give it to us. We just need to be willing to ask.



Quotes are from Blessed John Paul the Great's (REDEMPTORIS MISSIO)

Simply Byzantine

     We as Byzantines celebrate our faith in some of the most profound ways. However, sometimes in expressing what we have to others we lose the simplicity of our faith. So much so that we often find ourselves at a loss when we want communicate what we believe. As a result, sharing our faith is often reduced to a come and see our church method. This method of itself can be beneficial but without a real substantial communication of our faith the results are often less than life changing. Sharing our faith should not be a task where we hope that others will find our faith when they visit our churches. Rather, at that moment of sharing our faith we should "always be ready to explain"(1peter 3:15)" what we believe. This is only possible by discovering the simplicity that makes our Byzantine tradition great.
     The Melkite Patriarch recently expressed the need for us to discover our simplicity. He spoke of how our faith is beautiful but we have made it difficult at times to communicate. He points out the following as compared to other religions: "The proclamation of the faith in Islam can be summarized by this dual witness: “There is no other god but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet". For the Jews, the substance of the Faith is expressed by the double commandment: “I am your God! You have no other but me. You will love your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself!”Our beautiful Christian faith is too complicated: the terms, their content and their explanation. We bathe in an ensemble of dogmas, of mysteries: the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, Redemption, the Sacraments (called mysteries by the Greeks)". He goes on to express the need for a more simple message by saying, "These dogmas must be interpreted in a form capable of touching upon daily life, human aspirations, happiness and prosperity, the daily realities of our faithful". What his Beatitude expresses is serious for us to consider if we want to be effective in reaching others with our faith.
     When Christ sent his Apostles out with His message it was simple. In fact, it was so simple that the apostolic preaching was considered "foolishness"(1cor.1:18) by some. In addition, it was so simple that the Apostles took their message and adapted it to whatever situation they found themselves in. You can even say that the diversity that we have in our churches today is built upon this adaption along with everything that we hold dear. For it is in this same diversity that we Byzantines have inherited our simple message. The message that many of our Fathers like St. Athanasius have proclaimed time and time again , "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God."A message that is still foolishness for many but to us it is the power of God. It is in this simple message that all of what we celebrate as Byzantines finds a foundation, which would include even our most 'complex' traditions.
     In addition to the statements from the Patriarch that I mentioned he also shared the need to "create a concise, precise and clear text on our Faith". A need I think that we have the answer to in the proclamation that I shared from our Fathers, which is something we should all become more familiar with. It should be the basis for the proclamation of our faith and the foundation for the formation of those involved in our churches. It is so simple a child could understand and at the same time allows for a more complex understanding. As I stated everything that we have as Byzantines has its foundation in it. For example, because God gives Himself freely to us: the sacraments give us the power to become what God is, in prayer we can become what He is, in reading scripture we can become what He is, and when we share our faith with others we give them the same chance we have. The list goes on and on.
     Sharing our faith should be as simple as talking about our favorite sports team. By telling someone that God became one of us so that we could become what He is we find one of the most simplest presentations of our tradition. It is simple and at the same time open to how we choose to present it. Also, for us it shows the rich intimacy that God has for us. He hides nothing of Himself from us and has designed us for all of what He is. In no way has He made access to Him complex. Children, the infirm, the Impaired, all have the chance to share in what He is. It is up to us to know this and to help all experince this gift.

The full text of the Patriarch's statements can be found (here)

An "Activity" of God

     There was a person that I met once and I felt that I should talk to them about my faith. Not knowing what to say I started to talk to them about certain spiritual things. In doing this I was nervous, fearful, and even stumbled in my speech. However, to my surprise the person almost began to weep and shared with me their struggles with God. What I found amazing was the fact that nothing that I shared with them had anything to do with what they were sharing. It was as if they were just waiting and ready to open their heart to the first experience of God that came along. I learned a valuable lesson in meeting this person, which is faith sharing is never one sided and ultimately is an "Activity" of God.
     The reference to an "Activity" of God originally came from Blessed Elder Sophrony. He used the term to described the name of our Lord. He says, "the Name transcends cosmic energies, emanating from the Divine sphere, it is not an invention of the human mind, although man has devised a word for it (His Life is Mine pg.108)".As he mentions the name of our Lord might be with human speech but it also transcended it being of itself an action or "Activity "of God. For the reason whenever we speak the name of our Lord we invoke all that He is. He is never at any point separated from His name and to speak it in faith makes possible Divine life in this world.
     Being united to Jesus Christ through our faith we also become an "Activity" of God. Just as human speech makes possible the power of God so does a life lived in faith. As the scriptures says we are "co-workers" with God in bringing Him into this world(1cor. 3:9).For this reason there is no such thing as failure in doing religious work, evangelization, or praying for others. In all these actions God is becoming one with human nature. Even if every attempt to reach out to others is rejected that which we have brought into their experience remains dormant but in us becomes a transformation. There is never a waist or failure because it is not a mere human effort but a manifestation of God Himself.
     God may use our actions to reach out to others but He at the same time is never dependent upon them. There is never a time when our skill leads others to conversion but rather it's our own experience of God. No matter how skilled we become in religious activities its ultimately an experience of God that leads a person to repentance(Rom. 2:4).It is this very experience that we need to learn to make our own. It takes an action of faith on our part to do this. Sometimes this expressed in trying to receive an education for ministry and other times simple trying to know Him the best way we can. No matter how we respond God will use our human effort to manifest his Divine power.
     When it comes to a being equipped for ministry there are many of us well trained. However, no matter how well we speak or even how poorly all that matters is the "Activity of God". You don’t have to be a professional when it comes to leading others to Christ. There are only really two things that he requires, which are your obedience and desire. From these two things you can guarantee that in sharing your faith others will never be the same. Like I shared in the beginning of this post you could even stumble with your words and speak of something that might not appear to have meaning. No matter how simple or foolish it may seem your effort to share your faith brings God into the world.

A New Byzantine Pentecost

     Pope Benedict XVI has on many occasions proclaimed that the mission of the Catholic Church is to evangelize. He has also proclaimed that in order for the Catholic Church to carry out this mission a new Pentecost must take place.Many of us Byzantines have responded well to the popes call to evangelize. On the other hand, some of our response has amounted mostly to pious words and little action. It would seem that many of us lack the power and desire to share our faith. This is why the pope called us to experience a new Pentecost. For just like the Apostles before the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost many of us lack that driving desire to proclaim Christ.
     No one could have known Christ better then the Apostles. Yet, we find them afraid and hiding after Christ went to the tomb. When Christ was raised seeing their fear he told them to wait for the power that he would send them after he ascended to the Father, which was the coming of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came into the Apostles on Pentecost the Apostles became consumed with a desire to share their faith with the world. Like the Apostles before the coming of the Holy Spirit we might have knowledge concerning Christ but lack that powerful desire to share him with others. However, unlike the Apsotles for some reason many of us have never connected to the Pentecostal experience.Consequently, we still have yet to realize the promise of Pentecost given to us through the sacraments. Without accessing this power we can't expect there to ever be any real desire for us to evangelize.
     It is not normal to have faith in Christ and lack a desire to share him with others. This desire of course is not something born out of normal human experience for it is a gift of the Holy Spirit. As I shared some of us have yet to experience this power from the Holy Spirit. St Symeon the New Theologian also recognized this as a problem in his day. He encouraged those who were even in the monastic life to discover the riches of the Pentecost experience. He said the following to his fellow monks, "come, bow and fall down together with me and do not rise until you have received the gift of God, as I, who am unworthy, have received this gift of grace (Catechesis 34 ) "You can bet if someone in a monastery could miss this profound gift there is no question that many of us can to. However, God is not hiding this encounter with the Holy Spirit and is waiting for us to seek it out.
     The Pentecost experience was not an event that was meant just for the Apostles. Neither is it just for an elite group of religious people or for only the Charismatic Roman Catholics. Concerning this St. Cyril of Jerusalem in his lectures taught, “The Holy Spirit is no respecter of persons, for He seeks not dignities, but piety of soul. Let neither the rich be puffed up nor the poor dejected, but only let each prepare himself for reception of the Heavenly gift.”The gift of receiving the experience of the Holy Spirit is for everyone. This is what the pope means when he calls us to a new Pentecost. Pentecost is an event continually open to the Church and as St Cyril says we need only prepare ourselves for this experience.
     Sometimes it takes humility but it is vital to ask ourselves if we have the same burning desire for sharing Christ that the Apostles had. When it came for the Apostles to receive this powerful desire they had to seek it out at the source, which was the Holy Spirit. Just like for the Apostles God is always ready to provide this gift of  experiencing the Holy Spirit if we seek it out. As St. Didymas once said, “The Holy Spirit is given to us providing we give occasion to receive him. For to obey God is optional, as is to believe. In those who have shared in the charismata, the Holy Spirit is given in proportion. In accord with this is ‘He will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (Commentary on Psalm 36:9)".As the saint demonstrates if we do not have the gift we need only ask and give occasion to receive him.
     Without a new Pentecost we will not see much change in the growth of some of our churches. A church exists to evangelize but without no real ongoing encounter with the Holy Spirit this is not possible. Evangelization is not a skill we acquire just by being a Byzantine. Rather, it is a manifestation of a desire we receive out of a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, some of us for various reasons have yet to encounter the Holy Spirit in the way the Apostles did. However, the power is there, even though dormant, since we have received the sacraments. God is not holding anything back if we wish to avail ourselves of this power. We need only seek him out and wait for the presence of the Holy Spirit to manifest himself. When this happens we will discover a burning desire to share our faith with others.

St. Nicodemos and Renewal

     One of the greatest contributors to our Byzantine tradition was St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain. His contribution was not necessarily in his wisdom but rather in his ability to translate the traditions of our Byzantine fathers into his modern time. Many of us are familiar with his greatest work the Philokalia, which remains 2nd to the bible as a source for Byzantine spirituality. Among many other works that we have today from the saint we see in his testimony an important aspect for spiritual renewal. The aspect that we see in him is the ability to communicate Jesus Christ in a way that people can respond to. He even had the following to say about reading the Philokalia, "Come all you who are participants in the Orthodox way, together, laymen, monks, all of you who seek to find the kingdom of God which is within you, as well as the treasure which is hidden in the field of your heart. And this is the sweet Christ".
     St. Nicodemos lived in a time when the Church of the East was under siege by the forces of an Islamic dominated society. There was no freedom of religion that we are used to and at times to stand up for what was right could mean the end of your life. It was under this context that we find St. Nicodemos trying to communicate Byzantine spirituality through his writings. It was essential that his brothers and sisters in Christ have immediate access to the message in his works because their lives might end soon. We may not be with these types of circumstance that the saint was in but it's vital that we to learn to communicate our spirituality effectively to others. If we take a quick glance at our own society the church seems to be under the domination of the secular forces that are slowly dismantling a culture that was once known as Christian. Those in our churches may not be losing their lives for their faith but the atmosphere that once nourished it is slowly being destroyed.
     The teachings of St. Nicodemos worked well in his time and his approach of making spirituality accessible to the common man is a pattern we should follow. Unfortunately, the saint lived over 200 years ago so what might have worked in his time might not in ours. It's a fact that if we handed out copies of the Philokalia to those in our churches most of them would have no clue at the message that it contains. Many of the teachings of St. Nicodemos are pretty much "greek" to the contemporary man and need to be translated into common understanding. The words do not need to change but rather it's the context that people are unfamiliar with. It's up to us to internalize his teachings and the teachings of our Byzantine spiritual tradition and communicate them in a way that a common person could grasp.
     What we find in the essence of St. Nicodemos and in the Byzantine tradition is the spirituality of Hesychasm. Hesychasm seems like a foreign concept to many Byzantine Catholics but this shouldn't be so. It's our own fault that we have failed to communicate this tradition properly by not teaching it in a way that people can understand. Basically, the word means to seek stillness in Jesus Christ. Stillness in this context means bringing your body and mind into a place where they can properly experience the presence of Jesus Christ. Being sinners we find that the body and the mind do not relate the way that they should to God. Hesychasm as a practice teaches the body and the mind to discover the gift of God's presence that is hidden within us.
     It is from the point of view of understanding Hesychasm that what we do as Byzantines begins to make sense. One example that I like to use in this regard is the Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete. A visitor seeing this tradition would be bewildered at the many prostrations that take place. However, a proper understanding of the tradition demonstrates that the body is being trained for the presence of Jesus Christ. In fact going through the Philokalia from this perspective we discover that its teachings show us various ways to train the body and mind to experience Christ. One way that many are acquainted with is the Jesus prayer. What is funny is that I have found many people using a prayer rope and practicing controlled breathing while saying the Jesus prayer without realizing what they're doing. It is in this Byzantine tradition as well as others that we find the body and mind  being trained for the presence of Jesus Christ.
     I believe if St. Nicodemos was among us today he would encourage us to learn how to communicate our traditions more effectively to others if we want to see renewal. The best way to start doing this is to learn to internalize what the spiritual fathers of our tradition have left us. We don't need to go around quoting the Philokalia we need to become a Philokalia. There are many riches that God wants to offer others from our tradition. It's up to us to make them accessible to others. The teachings of our fathers like St. Nicodemos are not difficult to grasp but we need to learn to speak them afresh in every generation.

Metropolitan William and Renewal

     At his recent enthronement Metropolitan William addressed an important question that he was asked. He was asked what is the most serious problem that his church faces. His response was the following:"We need to present Jesus Christ in a way that touches the lives of our people..in the same way our beautiful liturgy has been translated in the many languages of the people of many different countries we need a new method for teaching the faith that opens the mind to a deeper understanding of the spiritual life... God has not changed but..the world has radically changed....the cool things that we have received from technology have chilled and dulled our ability to see God" he then speaks about the his plans for renewal and states "the work begins today".
          The question we need ask ourselves now is how can we contribute to the work the Metropolitan spoke of. It is obvious that what might have worked in the past in our churches might not work in our modern time or in our current circumstances. Metropolitan William suggested looking for new ways to discover Christ and finding new methods in which to present him to others. Even though the gospel never changes our God is always presenting new ways for us to encounter him. It's up to us to look for these moments in which God makes himself known or even be open to him letting others discover him by our actions. The spirituality of our Byzantine tradition must be open and ready to speak to the experiences of the everyday man.
     Do to various circumstances and sin we tend to forget what our tradition is all about. This is why our new chief shepherd Metropolitan William has called for renewal. In his words you can hear what many other shepherds have been saying, which is a call to a New Evangelization of the Church. As Metropolitan William said "God has not changed " but pointed out that the world has. This why our shepherds refer to a "NEW" evangelization. It not new in content but its new its approach and application or methods. In this regard I have a few suggestions, which are based in Blessed John Paul the Great's teachings from Novo Millenno Ineunte.
     Before any Evangelization or Renewal takes place it's important that we first become honest with ourselves.Our Byzantine tradition teaches us that we are called to become everything that God is by grace and make this grace available to others. In many ways we often fall short of this call and even at times we have failed to make this call known to others. After an honest estimation of our spirituality we can then ask God for the help to change. In a prayer such as this you will find that God is more than eager to forgive us and give us not only the power to change but also the power to change the world.
      Even though we might take that first step of honesty we must expect that God wants actions. Desire and a simple prayer is not enough to change ourselves let alone our churches. God will respond to your desire but in turn he gives you power to facilitate an ongoing encounter with himself. In response, it's important that we set special times of each day aside, while learning to pray continuously, where we invoke God in more focused way. For some this daily experience is known as a prayer time or holy hour. Its during this time with God that a person develops in intimacy in a similar way that we do by spending individual time with a friend or a loved one.
     In addition to having a time in prayer each day its important to become acquainted with the mind of Christ. Many fathers of our Church have expressed in great detail that the only way to really known God's identity is by the Sacred Scriptures. As our Pope has been known for saying on many occasions echoing many other saints, "ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ". You don't have to be a bible scholar to understand some of the fundamental concepts of Holy Scripture. There are many translations and even bible studies that make knowing the fundamentals of Holy Scripture easy to grasp. Also, it's even possible to read with ease the scriptures that are used with our liturgical cycles that often have a special theme for each day. In studying the bible you will begin to see the identity of God and of his plans that he might have for you personally.
     Also, its important that if we really want to see changes that we learn to "reconnect with the mystical tradition of the Church". Blessed John Paul the Great shared this idea with the Church but when he first did this he only had the Latin tradition in mind naming a few saints of the West for sources. As someone knowledgeable with the Byzantine tradition I suggest the following four saints who I believe will facilitate the spiritual renewal that we are looking for. They are St. Seraphim or Sarov, St. Symeon the New Theologian, St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, and Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov).It is through these holy men of God that we will discover new ways to develop our spirituality and also the spirituality of our churches.
     Next, in utilizing all the wonderful resources that we have it's important to remember that submission to Jesus Christ is a continual action. In gospel the Lord teaches us the following "You can enter God's Kingdom only through the narrow gate.". There will never be a time when we can say that we finished. It takes continual effort to bring about change in our lives. It's in this effort that we establish a testimony for others to see God working in us. Holiness is a gift of God but it is a gift that shapes all our actions. It is this type of holiness that many are seeking for themselves. Those around us need to see that there is more to life than the daily grind. They need to see that they can have purpose and meaning and you might be the only one that can show it to them.
     Furthermore, we must realize that in establishing a testimony that the gift of holiness is not something just for ourselves. Its important that we become involved in our communities, workplaces, schools, and especially our parishes. Whatever circumstances that we find ourselves in we need to realize that we have a mission and this involves being open to personal relationships with others. Most often this fact is neglected at the level of the local church. The local church is place where Christian love needs to witness to the world.If this does not happen we miss out on a vital aspect of our spirituality. As the heathens used to say in the past, "look how they love each other". This love that we were known for in the past can only be recovered by learning to see the value of those in our churches.
     Finally, the most important aspect of any change that we wish to see is in our effort to proclaim the gospel. The proclamation of the gospel is not for a select few in the Church but is in essence the focal point of our identity as Christians. In the time of the foundation of the Church the apostles looked for every opportunity to share their faith with others. If they didn't' our churches would not exist. Likewise, we need to be open to the Holy Spirit giving us the same opportunity. This can be as simple as saying Jesus loves you or that you will be praying for that person. We don't have to go around quoting the bible or the priest's homily. We need to be real to the people that we encounter sharing with them our own experience of Jesus Christ. Likewise, we need to remember that those people who visit our parishes might be looking for a deeper experience with Christ. We need to learn to see this need and be ready to lead them deeper into Jesus Christ.God is looking to meet people and he wants to meet them through you.
     To conclude, I would like to express my gratitude in our new Metropolitan's vision. Under his leadership I hope to see a new spring time of the Byzantine Catholic church. As he said, "the work begins today". As for the future God is not waiting to work. Rather, he is waiting for each one of us to respond to his call for renewal. We need to work and we are each responsible for the direction of our churches and the future of them depends on our actions now.