Invitation
- Michael Haldas
- Jul 3, 2024
- 7 min read
“...God comes into our lives when we invite Him with all our being, opening the gates of our heart from the inside. He will not come uninvited... The moment you are willing to give over your whole self to God- surrendering your life, your loved ones, your health, your victories and defeats - He will come to you and help you in ways you never dreamed possible.” (Fr. Vojislav Dosenovich)
“The Lord earnestly desires us to “know Him,” for in Him is redemption, salvation, and eternal life. To this end, He invites us to follow Him as His disciples. By walking with Him down the dusty roads of the Holy Land, the twelve disciples came to know Him, though their understanding was imperfect. Even so, we learn of the Lord by walking down the paths of our lives with Him. He calls us to walk in His footsteps (1 Peter 2:21). In today’s reading, we find that these steps are His commandments. The more we follow them, the more we will get to know Him, and the more we get to know Him the more we will find joy in that knowledge.” (Fr. Basil)
“True faith in the Savior demands that we offer every aspect of our existence to Him for healing and transformation, holding nothing back. Even as He healed the sick and fed the hungry, the most obvious practices of faithfulness involve caring for people in their bodily weaknesses and infirmities. By showing tangible signs of care for our neighbors, we also touch the wounds of Christ, for He is present to us in everyone in need. In light of His resurrection, the bodily sufferings and struggles of others appear not as irrelevant distractions, but as invitations to manifest a foretaste of “the life of the world to come.” Regardless of any context or circumstance, to serve others in ways that ease their bodily struggles is to provide a sign of the fulfillment of God’s gracious purposes for all who bear His image and likeness. If we refuse to do so, then we live as though He were still in the tomb. Because “Christ is Risen!,” we must show our neighbors the care due those who are called to heavenly glory.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“So the wedding feast is starting, and I am invited. Why then don’t I put on the wedding garment? Because when it comes down to it, I don’t want to participate fully in the marriage that means union with God in Christ. I don’t wholeheartedly want what God wants for my life. I want my own way—I want somehow to combine faithfulness to God with the ability to protect myself, to keep my own vulnerability safely hidden. I seek connection and union, but at the same time, I want to protect my vulnerability. And my inability to be truly vulnerable when it gets too hard prevents the true intimacy I desire, causing me to turn to lesser, safer desires.” (Andrew Williams)
“The vocational failure of sinful humans manifested itself as humans coming to resemble the very beasts God had given them dominion over. We began behaving like beasts by becoming subject to our carnal appetites and passions; we even started looking like beasts by dressing in animal skins. But new creation offers the promise that we can rule over the animal within, transcending our beastly nature to become fully human. It invites us to turn from the lower impulse of behaving like beasts toward the higher possibility of becoming like God (deification and theosis). In this process, we become truly human again.” (Robin Phillips)
“We can know about God through nature, reading Scripture, listening to hymnology, or studying theological texts. The Prophet Job acknowledges this: “Surely, you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words” (Job 33:8). However, the goal is not to know about God, but to know God and be known by God. This means having an intimate relationship with God, being united to God. As Job says a little later: “I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5). Knowing God leads to our repentance as we come to know God is holy and that we are not even worthy to be in His presence. Nevertheless, God invites us into His presence (despite our being sinners) and embraces us with His love sharing the divine life and love with us – allowing us to know God.” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)
“Salvation is static in that it means that God has settled the ancient score once and for all. But it is also dynamic and active, a force of love invading the everyday and reclaiming the landscape of our bodies, our homes, our relationships, our minds, a power that both transforms and invites us to be part of the work that Love does in the world.” (Sarah Clarkson)
“…the spiritual life is an invitation for us to see our earthly life anew…we are invited to consider more closely the loving invitation of our Lord to grow in holiness. Following the example of the Saints, we are presented with the formidable task of contemplating the spiritual dimension of our humanity, of looking inward at our own hearts to contemplate the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, an exercise which draws us closer to our Heavenly Father and to one another.” (Robin Phillips, Archbishop Demetrios)
“There is One who stands at our door. But have we forgotten something– the most essential thing? Today, we consider who knocks at the entrance of our hearts…It is the Crucified and Risen Christ. He states in Revelation, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). But are we…neglecting to let Him in? Are we failing to answer his persistent knocking? Are we, perhaps so excited that He is there at the doorstep of our hearts that we neglect to invite Him to come in?” (Fr. Basil)
“ ‘When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but not finding any. Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ When it returns, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.” (Luke 11:24-25). The image of the house swept clean and put in order refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell.” (Net Bible, Luke 11:25)
“We live in a world where actions and choices have consequences. That is what it means to be human. Those saying that the cost of living in a world where such consequences are possible is too high a cost are really asking to live in a non-human world, a world of machines running on programs or animals running on instinct. But God made a world for men and women to live in, a world of consequences, a world full of invitations to joy.” (Fr. Lawrence Farley)
“Since God will not abide in man, or in our society against our will, we are permitted to live godlessly. It is His will that we invite Him under the roof of our soul, and into our cities - He will not barge in without an invitation…” (Fr. Vladimir Berzonsky)
“There are myriad things that can keep us in bondage but three are particularly strong and weapons of the strong man (Matthew 12:43-45) that we buy into all too readily. They are self-deception, being unteachable, and control… The strong man is the devil who tries to keep us all in bondage and we often make the mistake of fighting him on our own, fighting our sinful inclinations through will power alone instead of inviting the devil’s enemy, Christ, into our lives through the Holy Spirit and fighting through our union with God which is essentially to let God do the fighting…The image of the house empty, swept clean, and put in order [Matthew 12:43-45] refers to the life of the person from whom the demon departed. The key to the example appears to be that no one else has been invited in to dwell. If an exorcism occurs and there is no response to God, then the way is free for the demon to return.” (Sacramental Living Podcast, NET Bible, Matthew 12:44)
“God loves you, so He has set you free. He could have forced you to obey Him, but He didn’t. He could have damned you or saved you whether you wanted it or not, but He didn’t. He could have created us to be like robots who automatically do what is right. But He didn’t. He could have forced us to come to church. But He didn’t. He set us free…Love always sets you free. Someone who loves you does not force himself on you. Someone who loves you does not make you do anything. Someone who loves you invites and inspires you, hoping that you will respond to the invitation.” (Father Andrew Stephen Damick)
“No matter how dark things seem or feel, there is always hope. This hope is not a fool’s hope or wishful thinking. It is real. We see in the Bible people who were completely given over to darkness and despair being completely healed. Some of them even became saints. This hope is not a concept, nor can it be achieved through human effort alone. It is a person and can be realized only through union. The person of Christ is the uncreated light (John 14:6) in which no darkness is possible. It is through heartfelt prayer and persistence in seeking union with Him through all of the means the Church give us that we invite His light into our life to dispel our personnel darkness. It may take time and we may have many stumbles. We may even feel like the darkness will never end, but we have the promise of hope and His assurance that He is with us.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
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