“Most of us have times when our faith wavers…when we are unsteady in our life in Christ…we cannot have it both ways. We have the choice between the confusion that is born of inner conflict and the peace of mind that is a gift of God. We must decide between the wavering of mixed loyalties and the steadiness of a single commitment. It is either the insecurity of trusting in ourselves and our possessions or the security of trust in the goodness of our Heavenly Father. It is either lurching this way and that in doubt or resting in the calm of confident faith.” (Fr. Basil)
“When the inner person shows signs for a time of wavering between vice and virtue…You must never let suggestions of evil grow on you or a babel of disorder win strength in your breast. Kill the enemy while he is small, and, that you may not have a crop of tares, nip the evil in the bud.” (St. Jerome)
“The expression “to get your hopes up” implies confidence that one’s personal vision of the future will come to pass. The Apostle Paul links such commonplace hope with God’s uncommon promises, for these give birth to the unwavering hope which is a hallmark of authentic Christianity. Saint Paul utilizes the Patriarch Abraham’s steadfast hope in God to encourage us to place our hope “in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 13:24-25). The Apostle Paul’s abiding confidence and unwavering hope are presented to us in a straightforward manner. Hope springs to life inside us when we bow down before God and acknowledge Him as One who promises, for His integrity is absolute and His power is without limit to perform whatever He promises…If we trust in God’s promises, we take them as our operating assumptions for life. We glorify Him even when outward circumstances seem to contradict what He promised. Such is the nature of unwavering hope.” (Dynamis 6/30/2021)
“Pain isn’t suppressed and joy isn’t found by means of human inventiveness, imagination or even religiosity. Pain’s abolished and joy is revealed through our essential relationship with Christ as God and human person. He it is who’s the assuager of pain and the cause and source of joy. This is why at every wound, at every pain, at every storm of life, our gaze should be fixed firmly on Him; our absolute trust in His providence should be unwavering; and our recourse to His love should be the only path we take. And this not merely so that we can bear any unhappiness and pain but that ‘your sorrow will be turned into joy’ (John 16, 20).” (Metropolitan Ieronymos of Larisa and Tyrnavos)
“We hear in today’s Gospel passage [Luke 8:41-56] an account of two people coming to the Lord in desperation, each begging for His help in a totally hopeless situation…despite all evidence, and even in absolute defiance of simple common sense, neither of these two people despaired of the power of God to heal what no earthly skill or craft or knowledge could possibly heal. They each put their faith in Christ – and of course our all-merciful and all-compassionate Savior did not by any means turn them away…It is precisely such faith as this – “blind” faith, hope against all hope – that has always brought the people of God not merely to their deliverance, but to their deification. Never did faith in Christ seem more absurd than when He hung upon the Cross. Yet it was precisely through the Cross that “joy has come to all the world.” So when we ourselves are on the Cross let us neither weary nor waver, but rather remain steadfast in the knowledge that our salvation has never been nearer at hand, as we hear the voice of Christ saying to us once again the words of today’s Gospel: “Be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole.” Amen.” (Hieromonk Gabriel)