Arise, take up thy bed, and go into thy house. Thus decisively does the Lord speak to the sick, not as the scribes, but as one who has authority. And just as He has the power to forgive the sins of the soul, so He also has the power to command the body to become healthy. But so that there would be no doubt about the healing of the sick man, the Lord commanded him to take his own bed, on which four brought him, and go to his house. And why does He command him to go to his house? Firstly, because the Lord, Himself rejoicing in the good of others, desires that the healed man come to his house as soon as possible, bring joy to the place where sorrow reigned for a long time, and rejoice all His household, who suffered with him during his illness. Secondly, to show the glory-loving scribes that everything He does, He does out of pure love for mankind, and not like them, waiting for people's praise. Just as it doesn't matter to a shepherd whether the sheep praise him or not, so it doesn't matter to Christ whether people praise Him. I do not receive glory from men, He said on another occasion (John 5:41), but here He wanted to show it.

The people, seeing this, were amazed and glorified God, Who had given such power to men. While the scribes blaspheme Christ in their hearts, the rest of the people, whose worldly vanity has not yet completely darkened their minds and poisoned their hearts, are amazed and glorify God for the unprecedented miracle that the Lord has wrought before their eyes. This people, so amazed and glorifying God, is much better than their stiff-necked scribes and much closer to goodness and truth than the Gadarene pagans, who, at the sight of the miracle, did not glorify God, but, taking pity on their pigs, expelled Christ the Lover of Mankind from their borders. But all the same, this people did not understand the Divine power of Christ the Savior. He glorified God, who gave such power to men. This people do not see and do not recognize our Lord Jesus Christ as the Only-begotten Son of God.

But that which all the people of that time did not see and did not acknowledge, let us see and acknowledge, who through the Church have received the grace to see and acknowledge the truth. Let us learn to rejoice in good, for all good is from God; and in this way we will learn to rejoice in God, the Life-giving Source of eternal joy. As the God-inspired prophet says: "I will rejoice and rejoice in Thee, I will sing to Thy name, O Most High" (Psalm 9:3). And this joy will open our eyes to the contemplation of all the fullness of truth in our Lord Jesus Christ; and He will loose the bonds of our tongue, so that we may acknowledge and glorify Him as the Son of God, the only Savior of men and the only Lover of mankind. To Him is due honor and glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to the Trinity, One-in-Essence and Indivisible, now and ever, at all times and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. The Gospel of the Healed and Incurable Blind

Matt. 33 rec., 9:27-35.

The first-created man lived, like the angels, by the vision of God; his descendants after the Fall lived by faith in God. Those to whom vision is closed, and faith is not open, cannot be considered alive, because they have no connection with Life; What should they live on, then?

One lake, open to the sky, receives water from a height, fills up and does not dry up. Another lake, closed to the sky, receives water from the ground, from mountain springs, fills up and does not dry up. But the third lake, closed to the sky and cut off from underground waters, cannot but be empty and dry up.

Can a lake without water be called a lake? No, but rather a dry abyss.

Can a person who does not carry God within himself be called a man? No, but rather a dry grave.

Just as water is the main content of a lake, so God is the main content of man. Neither a lake without water is a lake, nor a man without God is not a man.

But how can a person receive God into himself if he is closed from God on all sides, like a dry lake from water, like a dark grave from light?

God is not a stone that was once thrown at a person, and he stays there and lies against the human will. God is a force finer and more powerful than light and air; a power that fills a person by the infinite mercy of God or leaves him, in accordance with the will of the person himself. Thus, even for two days, man is not filled with God in the same way. This depends, first of all, on his openness to God. If the human soul were completely open only to God (and this at the same time means closed to the world), then man would return to the original enjoyment of the contemplation of God. But since this is difficult to achieve in the perishable world, where the human soul resides, there remains only one gate through which man can enter into communion with God as the Source of Life, and that is faith. And faith means: first, remembrance of the lost original contemplation of God - remembrance that has remained imprinted in conscience and reason; secondly, the acceptance as truth of what God revealed to the clairvoyant prophets and saints who were vouchsafed to behold the Truth; and thirdly, the most important thing is the recognition of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the visible image of the invisible God (2 Corinthians 4:4). The third condition in itself is sufficient, embracing and fulfilling both the first and the second perfectly. This faith revives and saves. This is the greatest gate by which God enters into man, according to the measure of his desire and good will.

That is why our Lord Jesus Christ often asked the sick and suffering: Do you believe that I can do this? That is, "Wilt thou open the door unto Me that I may enter?" To believe is nothing else than to open the door of the soul and allow God to enter. "O God, cleanse me from me, and dwell in me Thyself!" - These words express the practical essence of faith.

And today's Gospel reading describes one of the many miracles that occur when a person opens himself by faith and lets God into himself. For God is the Wonderworker in all His works. Where He is, there is a miracle. From Him all laws, natural and human, flee like shadows from the sun, and only His power, wisdom and love remain - all that is precious, sweetest and most glorious.