Commemoration of the First Six Ecumenical Councils, Tone 6; Our Venerable Mother Macrina, Sister of Saint Basil the Great (379); Our Venerable Father Dios (c. 431)
Hebrews 13:7-16; John 17:1-13
Read Hebrews 13:7-16
Today we celebrate the memory of the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils. We remember these Fathers came together to respond to the pastoral need of unity within the Church, to protect us, the faithful from lies which lead only to death. In a world of noise, only amplified by the power of social media and the political polarization we often experience, we need Fathers to remind us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever.”
Have you ever paid attention right at the beginning of a symphony to the tuning of the instruments? The oboe plays an “A” note and all the other instruments tune to it. Without that note, the other instruments would be out of tune with each other. They might make beautiful music on their own, but when they will only make noise together with other instruments which have been properly tuned. What makes the oboe so trustworthy when it comes to the “A” note? It’s because it’s hard to retune. It’s not a matter of simply twisting a tuning peg-like on a violin, you have to open it up and change the reeds inside. It’s a stubborn instrument, and because of that, it is a trustworthy instrument.
During this time of fear due to COVID and the social unrest we hear about around the world we need to trust the tuning we receive from Christ, and especially through the oboes that He has established in the orchestra of the Church, namely, our Fathers the Bishops. They are imperfect sinners (as are we all), but they have been called by the Lord and commissioned by Him to provide that stubborn love necessary to maintain the tuning of the Orchestra. Without their (sometimes imperfect) leadership the Church will not be the Orchestra our Lord instituted but just a collection of individual noise-makers. Let us truly develop our ears for discerning the tuning note and have the humility to be willing to change our pitch to the Lord’s tuning in our lives.