Беседа 6

About our walk by faith in this life 1. Remember, beloved brethren, what the apostle says: “Being at home in the body, we are cut off from the Lord, for we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:6-7). And our Lord Jesus Christ, Who said: I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6), wanted us to be directed in our walk through Him and to Him. Where should we go if not along the path? And where to go if not to truth and life? Indeed, in comparison with the present, transitory life that we live now, this latter is death - there are so many changes in it, so little constancy, and it is limited to such a short time. No wonder the Lord told the rich man who asked Him: “Good Teacher! What good thing can I do to have eternal life?” - answered: “If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:16-17). He, the rich man, was in some kind of life, since the Lord spoke not to a corpse, although still not to a living person. But since he asked about inheriting eternal life, the Lord did not say to him: “If you want to enter into eternal life,” but: “If you want to enter into life... keep the commandments,” making it clear, of course, that life that is not eternal should not be called life, because true life cannot be anything other than eternal. Hence the apostle, when he exhorts the rich to be merciful, commands “that they (the rich) do good, be rich in good works, be generous and social, laying up for themselves treasure, a good foundation for the future, so that they may attain eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:18-19). What kind of life did he call true, if not eternal life, which alone can be called life, because it alone is blessed life? After all, in any case, those rich people, whom, according to him, should be exhorted to achieve eternal life, enjoyed the present life in abundance of wealth. If, however, the apostle considered it to be true life, he would not have said: “laying up for himself treasure, a good foundation for the future, in order to achieve eternal (veram) life,” thereby making it known that the present life is untrue, the life of the rich, the life that fools consider not only the true, but even the blessed life. But how can a life that is not true be blessed? So, there is no blessed life, except only eternal, which the rich do not yet possess, no matter how joyfully they spend their present life, and therefore they are exhorted to achieve it through works of mercy, so that they can hear at the last judgment the words of the Lord: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food.” And that this kingdom is eternal life, a little later the Lord shows, saying: “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:34–35,46). 2. Until we reach this life, “we are cut off from the Lord.” “For we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:6-7). “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6), says the Lord. In faith He is our way, in vision He is truth and life. “Now we see as if through a glass darkly” - this is faith; “then face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12) - this is a vision. In the same way, the apostle says: “may He grant you... in the inner man, through faith, Christ to dwell in your hearts” - this is the path where we know in part. Then, a little later, he adds: “so that you... may... understand the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16-19) - this will be a vision, since in that fullness, when perfection is achieved, the state in which we know in part will cease. Further, the apostle also says: “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” - this is faith; and then he continues: “When Christ your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4), - this will be a vision. And St. John says: “Beloved! We are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be” - this is faith. Then he adds: “We only know that when it is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2) - this will be a vision. Therefore, the Lord Himself, Who calls Himself the way, the truth and the life, says, directing His speech to the Jews, among whom were those who believed in Him, turning specifically to these latter: “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They already believed in Him, because the evangelist says this: “Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him: If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). They already believed and walked, as it were, along the path in Christ, and He convinces them in such a way that, remaining on this path, they strive further. What did they strive for if not for what He points to when He says: “and the truth will make you free”? What kind of liberation is this if not liberation from all vanity, from all damage of death? This is true life, eternal life, which we have not yet achieved while we are “cut off from the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:6), but we will achieve it over time, because we walk in the Lord Himself by faith, if we continue firmly in His word. After all, according to the words “if you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples”; and according to the words, truth and life (John 14:6), - he also says: “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” In this journey along the path indicated by Christ, in this faith, how will I affirm you, if not in the words of the apostle: “Having therefore, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1). Those who want to achieve that light of the purest and unchangeable truth, apart from faith, although one cannot look at Him otherwise than with a heart purified by faith, because “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8), are like blind people who first want to see this material light in order to be healed of blindness, although they cannot see it until they are healed. You might be interested in: