Take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness.
The Savior only took a few of His closest, most dedicated disciples—Peter, James, and John—up Mount Tabor for the revelation of His Divine, Uncreated Light. This shows us that it's not enough to simply call ourselves "Christian." If we want to be fully illumined in the Light of Christ, we need to truly focus our life on Christ. There are many lights in this world to dazzle us, to distract us and lead us away from the Light of Christ. No wonder so many people are disillusioned! And thank God for disillusionment! Unless we become disillusioned with the false lights flashing all around us, we can never really approach the Light of Christ.
Dissatisfaction. Depression. Despondency. Dejection. Desolation—all come from following the delusive lights of this world. But we can turn to Christ so that He will give us the ability to use all these to really wake up: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:14) Self-hate, the urge to harm ourselves or others, and unbridled hedonism (gluttony, sexual promiscuity, all forms of aberrant behavior) come from following the delusive lights of this world. “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) To avoid being deceived by this dark light, we must immerse ourselves in the sacramental life of the Church, where we absorb “as by osmosis” the discernment known as the Orthodox phronema—the mind of Christ.
Count us also worthy of this splendor, O Lord!
✢ Father Menas and the Brethren with me
Our monastery: saintpaulsmonastery.org
Our icon work: saintpaulsicons.com
