The Holy Martyrs Sabinus and Papas (284-305)
Great Fast Day 30
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 40:18-31; Vespers – Genesis 15:1-15; Proverbs 15:7-19
According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Isaiah 40:18-31
Analogies can be a useful tool to help others understand a particular concept, but when it comes to understanding God, all analogies fail to do God justice.
We strive in this life to grow in a relationship with God so that we can know Him. We read catechetical and theological books, participate in the sacramental life of the Church, communicate with Him in our personal prayer, and see His face in our neighbour whom we encounter and serve.
In his Second Theological Oration, St. Gregory the Theologian reminds us that “The divine nature cannot be comprehended by human reason…We cannot even represent to ourselves all its greatness…In my opinion, it will be discovered when that within us which is godlike and divine – I mean our mind and reason – will have mingled with its like and the image will have ascended to the archetype.”
While we cannot fully comprehend or know God in this life, this should not discourage us. He is not a concept that can be fully grasped and understood through scientific methods. He opens to us a greater knowledge of Himself the more we seek to grow in relationship with Him. Knowledge of God is not something we attain but rather something God gives to us as a gift. This gift has innumerable layers to it which cannot be exhausted in this world but only in the next world when God Himself will open for those in perfect communion with Him.