“If you had a little faith, almost everything would change, and if you had a little humility, the Grace of God would be with you.

Even when one has faith, this faith is rendered inactive if he also has pride.”

- St Paisios V 5 Passions and Virtues pg 289.

Reflection: 

Do we trust in God? Are we deeply confident that He will reveal what is best for us as we continue to do our part? 

While we may have faith in God and know He is with us, sometimes we are prideful and think that we accomplish things on our own. Our pride tells us that our success is only because of our efforts, forgetting that Christ our savior and creator is responsible for all of our abilities and potential to succeed.    

When we think with pride, we end up like the Pharisee in the parable(1), thanking ourselves in prayer (praying to ourselves!) for what we have accomplished, instead of recognizing our dependence on God: asking for His help, His mercy, and thanking Him for all He has revealed to us.

Let us build our confidence in God by asking Him for humility to recognize that we cannot fully succeed on our own and the revelation of His Will in everything we do.

Resources:

1) Luke 18:9-14 Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee 

“Heroic deeds are done by the brave; the bighearted - not the big-framed - who are determined to sacrifice themselves.” - St Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, pg 241. 

Reflection: 

Do we wonder if we make a difference in the lives of others? Who do you consider to be brave?  

As St Paisios reminds us, one can be as strong and “powerful” as humanly possible, but if this person has not love, he/she is nothing.(1)   

“God will help us in our difficulties.  But for God to provide divine power, man must offer whatever little he has and can give.”(2)  We must do our part with the intelligence and abilities that God has given us, and He will fill in whatever is lacking.   

In order to become “bighearted”, let us completely trust in the Lord as we assist and sacrifice for those around us.  God will reveal our purpose along the way, and we will do heroic deeds while humbly unaware of their magnitude. 

We will become the light of the world.(3)

Resources:

1) St Paul 1 Corinthians 13

2) St Paisios, Spiritual Awakening, pg 256. 

3)  Matthew 5:13-15

“Rather than thinking in terms of putting Christ into our Christmas, think in terms of putting ourselves, our Christmas, into Christ.  Jesus Christ is at the center of the universe, and we need to find ourselves in our relation to Him, not the other way around.”

-Mother Raphaela, Growing in Christ, pg 35. 

Reflection: 

Non-stop holiday parties, hectic shopping, Christmas cookies and twinkling lights - while Christmases past were full of merriment and fun, how often were our holidays centered on Christ? Mother Raphaela challenges us to reframe our Christmas season, to make Christ the focus, the starting point of all that we do especially during our Christmas celebrations.  Currently we find ourselves with the rare opportunity to refocus, since festivities as they used to be are not possible this year. 

This year, we have the opportunity to put ourselves and our Christmas into Christ with all the time we have to spend with our family, to reflect, pray, attend Church services, give to the poor, and check in on the isolated. 

Our Christmas celebrations will honor all the ways in which Christ gives us life, gives us everything we have, and brings us together.  We celebrate the love of our Heavenly Father, our Salvation. We decorate in order to welcome God into our homes on Christmas day. 

In years past we made ourselves too busy to put our Christmas into Who Christ is.  Now that we have the time, let us not miss this opportunity to fully refocus ourselves and reshape our celebrations on Christ.