Post-feast of Theophany. Our Venerable Father Theodosius, Founder of the Cenoebitic Monastic Life (529).
Polyeleos Feast.
2 Corinthians 4:6-15. Matthew 11:27-30.
Read Matthew 11:27-30
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
One of the most alluring ideas in our lives is the notion of control. We believe that if we have the right plan, and if we do all the right things, we can expect a certain predictable outcome. If we get good grades we can go to the best schools, and get the best education, so that we can get the best jobs, so that we can make enough money that we don’t have to struggle. If we take the right medicines and eat the right foods – we will avoid sickness, and so on. Our goal is often to achieve a kind of peace and freedom, knowing that everything is “under control”.
However, as we often experience, this notion of being in control is somewhat inadequate when it actually comes to living our lives. A good job can be impacted by economic factors and industry downturns. We take all our medicines, but we still get sick. We get into a car accident we had no way of knowing about and our health is adversely affected. Real-life resists our attempts to impose control upon it – which causes us to lose peace.
In Today’s Gospel reading, we are paradoxically asked to give up our sense of control and allow ourselves to be guided by another: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Christ desires to guide us down the right path, the straight and narrow path that leads to life and true peace (cf Matthew 7:14). The Holy Fathers also call this the royal path – and they see in it nothing else than the communal, ascetical, and liturgical life that we live in the Church. Holy Tradition is the yoke we are encouraged to take on, this is what guides us and ensures that we are on the same path, living the same life as those saints who have run the race before us and now rest with Christ.
This rest implies, not just physical rest, but transformation, a true healing from slavery to the passions which constantly wage an exhausting war against us. This transformation is only possible by staying on the royal path. Without Christ’s direction and guidance, we are stuck wandering, being dragged in many different directions as we try to figure it out on our own. This is why the Church’s ascetical tradition opposes following the Holy Tradition to living in delusion (πλάνη) – the word in Greek means ‘wandering’.
If we strive to trust in Christ and allow ourselves to be guided, through the tradition of the Church, we will find great peace for our souls. As St. Isaac the Syrian writes, “In all the paths upon which men journey in this world, they will find no peace until they draw nigh to hope in God. The heart finds no peace from toil and from stumbling blocks, until hope enters it, makes it peaceful, and pours joy into it. That worshipful and all-holy mouth spoke of this when it said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Draw nigh, He says, and hope in Me, and find rest from labour and fear. (Homily 51 from the Ascetical Homilies)