The reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (17:12-19)
Our reading today is a familiar one from the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The evangelist St. John says at the end of his gospel that if all the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ were written down, that not even the whole world could contain the books that would be written. I mention this because as Christians who hear the word of God, hopefully on a daily basis, we may find ourselves taking for granted the many miracles of Christ. They happen so often within the gospels that we barely notice them.
In today’s gospel reading we see Our Master encountering ten lepers. They stood at a distance because of their leprosy and the way that others had treated them due to their leprosy. After all, having leprosy was a serious disease. It was in fact considered something like a death sentence. When one was found with leprosy he was immediately forced to separate himself or herself from the rest of the healthy community because this disease was contagious. His life changed so dramatically. He was ostracized from the community, from all those he knew and loved, and who also loved him. He was either left to fend for himself or to become part of a new community that would embrace and accept him. But the only ones who would embrace such a one was naturally, a group of lepers.
So this is how we get ten lepers who are all together and standing at a distance from the people. We are told that they lifted up their voices. This makes sense because they tried to keep a healthy distance from others so as not to scare them or infect them. And as they raised their voices they cried out “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” You know there is great power and beauty to these words and to words that are similar to these. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us” or “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” What is that great power that is available in these words? It is the power of a broken and humble heart that is crying out to God and is open to receive God’s grace. It is also the power found in the very name of Jesus. These prayers are in fact so powerful that we teach people to say them daily because the practice of repeating them will soften the heart and cause a change within us. If we are not yet broken and humble, the prayer by God’s grace will transform us.
You can say these prayers, like the Jesus prayer, very easily at any time, day or night. The prayers can be said with a prayer rope or without a prayer rope although using a rope is good for keeping track and not drifting away from the focus of prayer. When you have a prayer rope it should be mostly for private use or used quietly while in the church. For instance if you have a prayer rope of beads, that might be better for home use because it makes noise and brings attention to you whereas a prayer rope with wool or cloth knots will be silent. Also, we should note that prayer ropes are not really a form of jewelry or decoration, so we shouldn’t stack many around our wrists. One small prayer rope is enough. It should be very inconspicuous and not easily visible to others. This follows the principle of how the Lord Jesus taught us to fast and do our works in a private and quiet way, and not to be seen by others.
Great power is found in the Jesus prayer as we see from today’s gospel reading. Many volumes of writings of the saints have been dedicated to this one spiritual practice alone. It is easy and accessible to anyone who has the desire to grow in Christ. Let me share a couple of the sayings of the saints regarding this prayer:
St. Nikiphoros also writing in the Philokalia taught saying “(the intellect) should constantly repeat and meditate on the prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me’, and should never stop doing this. For this prayer protects the intellect from distraction, renders it impregnable to diabolic attacks, and every day increases its love and desire for God.”
The modern saint Sophrony of Essex was a great teacher of prayer and he gives us some of the following advice:
“We try to stand before God with the whole of our being. Invocation of the Name of God the Savior, uttered in the fear of God, together with a constant effort to live in accordance with the commandments, little by little leads to a blessed fusion of all our powers. We must never seek to hurry in our ascetic striving. It is essential to discard any idea of achieving the maximum in the shortest possible time. God does not force us but neither can we compel Him to anything whatsoever…..In the atmosphere of the world today prayer requires super human courage. The whole ensemble of natural energies is in opposition. To hold on to prayer without distraction signals victory on every level of existence. The way is long and thorny but there comes a moment when a heavenly ray pierces the dark obscurity, to make an opening through which can be glimpsed the source of the eternal Divine Light.”
He continues saying, ““The way of the fathers requires firm faith and long patience”, whereas our contemporaries want to seize every spiritual gift, including even direct contemplation of the Absolute God, by force and speedily, and will often draw a parallel between prayer in the Name of Jesus and yoga or transcendental meditation and the like. I must stress the danger of such errors-the danger of looking upon prayer as one of the simplest and easiest ‘technical’ means leading to immediate unity with God.”
Finally the saintly man tells us, “There is no ascetic feat more difficult, more painful, than the effort to draw close to God, who is Love (cf. i John 4.8, 16).
This is our task in emulation of the ten lepers. This is the work of our lives, to cry out to God with our whole hearts, with faith that Jesus Christ will heal the leprosy of our souls just as He did heal the physical afflictions of those who cried out to Him. But let us also take a word of caution from the Holy Gospel. When we begin to receive healing let us remember to turn back regularly and give gratitude to the Lord who alone has made such healing possible by His grace. Glory be to God forever AMEN.
Source: Sermons