A MODEL FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

We live, my beloved, in a troubled era. Models have disappeared. Every single thing which was respected throughout the ages is now seen as an unhealthy and dangerous establishment which must be torn down… This is the precise reason our era has lost its orientation and is searching.

It is searching – in all fields: How society will live better; how man will express himself through art better; how he will philosophize most precisely; how he will use science for his benefit. It is searching – it is searching everywhere. This is why, in all his attempts to move away from classicism, one sees that both his art and his life are a caricature. This is how it is, if one lives the classic things a little, he feels he is in a state of decline. If we say that it is our era that is experiencing this decline, our era will answer us: “No, we are not on the decline. We have denied the past and we are searching for something new; it is a time of transition; we are searching for something else…” But what does the era seek? Beloved, what does this era seek… It seeks the true measures that will make man man.

But it is known that the man regresses in his life, and that this his regression is an interim phenomenon. When he holds the truth and leaves it to go seek the truth, an oxymoron. He begins to think that he is not holding the truth (or the truth bores him, or he gets tired of the truth) and goes looking for something else, and this other thing he is looking for he wants to be the truth. But truth is not fragmented. This is the precise reason man is regressing today in every area of his life, both as peoples and as individuals.

It is as if the man always arrives back where he started; he simply enters into an adventure, an adventure which troubles him and frazzles him. He returns to the truth, but a reasonable man might say: “Why live this adventure? Because if he lives this adventure it makes him (and this is fashionable, very fashionable) …“a person on the go”, “a supposedly deep person” (because if I have to stay with what I know to be true, I have no value, I live on the surface; but if I deny what I have, then I become deep because I am… “searching”).

My beloved… this is snobbery (if I may use the word and the characterization). In other words, the man in fact loses himself when he seeks something he wants to find; he tires himself out, and in the end he gets into trouble. Why should depth be lacking if we keep what we already have? Please, why will we not have what is deep if we keep what we have? If this moment I stay within one square meter, why should I have to make regressions here and there when I have an unlimited depth in which I can be?

So, beloved, that which is offered we must cultivate, to make deeper, and that which is offered is offered from heaven. Listen to this, my beloved, an immortal passage, about a way of life that has no ups and downs and adventures which wear a man out and make him a wreck thrown on the sidewalk from drugs and negligence, losing himself from these, making his situation pitiable, a pitiable man, prey of demons. It is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, which we heard in today’s apostolic reading. An immortal passage:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is respectable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is beloved, whatever is reputable, if there is any virtue, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, and all that you have learned and received from me, and all that I said and did which you observed in me, put these things into practice, and the God of peace will be with you.

First of all, if you look at the entire 4^th chapter from Philippians, you will see that the Apostle writes with an inexpressible peace, a grace not encountered in this world, but which is from heaven. Taking this short quotation, let us see what the Apostle can tell us.

“WHATEVER IS TRUE,” he says, “think about these things.” Which things are true? Maybe you have heard the expression, “I lived a fake life” a few times. Is there such a thing as real and fake life? Or do we characterize life itself as fake? Or do we say about a person that “his life is a lie” (not that he tells lies, but what he chose to experience was not real, was not correct, was not the real thing). If you like, this is precisely what defines the man as he comes from the hands of God; it is that which makes the man a communicant of heaven, without which, everything is fake. Thus, a man, if he lives his sinful life, the life of pleasures and the senses, ends up saying: “Fake life, how quickly you passed!”

Does God make fake things for you to make such exclamations about your life, the life He gave you as a costly and unique gift? Fake things? God makes fake things, you say? You have lived the lie, the falsehood, the deception, that for which the wise Solomon said: “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc. 1:2). The wise Solomon says this after he had tried whatever there is on earth for a man to try, from wisdom to the pleasures of the senses – he had tried everything! – and he ended up saying, deeply disappointed: “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” And yet, my beloved, nothing is vanity. To the contrary, God told us to turn our eyes away from vanity. What God creates is not vanity. Why, then, does man exclaim “all is vanity”? Because he has lived, and lives, a fake life.

So now the Apostle says: “Whatever is true…” Whatever is real. For example, we say, “Man is a metaphysical being”, which is not correct. Now I will say it correctly: Man is a theological being, which means that He is a being that cannot live without God. This is the truth. If he would desire to live without God, this is not a real life. This is the fake life. This is precisely what the Apostle Paul wants to say. Whatever is true, live these things.

“WHATEVER IS RESPECTABLE” – externally (because he will say something later about what is internal). Many things are respectable in this world. If, my beloved, we say there is nothing respectable in this world (and what is an elderly man, and what is a priest and what is a church, and so on…), then let us trample on everything, let us tear everything down. This precisely is what reveals the decadent man (the decadent man is a demonized man; the devil loves the destruction of man, his decadence). But when a man respects, he respects everything, (allow me to say) even a flower. When he passes it by on a mountain or on a path, he respects it; he does not step on it. But if he picks it, he will pick it to examine it. He will smell it, he will study it well, he will give glory to God, and he will put it in a vase at his house. He will not do what we do. You have seen how many times how we bend down and pick it with impudence (in the creation before us it is impudence), we pick a flower, put it to our nose, and quickly toss it aside with disdain. Man, why don’t you respect what God has created all around you? The man who respects respects everything, even a small child – not just a flower – even a small child. He will not talk down to a small child. He respects it. He does not have age as a criterion, nor smarts. He simply has before him the criterion that they are God’s creations. He respects everything. So, whatever is respectable, think about these things.

“WHATEVER IS JUST” Whatever belongs to your relationship, man, with God, with your fellow man, and with yourself. The just relationship is a great thing. The just relationship between employer and employee is not limited to the issue of salary, to money. This is a very narrow understanding. It is this too, but not only this; it is something far deeper, something far more broad.

What belongs to God? I will give it to Him.

The same with my neighbor. Even the quiet I must keep at noon [during siesta] is a matter of justice. Did you hear? It is a matter of justice when I understand that I must keep quiet, in order not to disturb the other person, but it is also justice toward myself. I will render to him whatever is proper.

Many times you hear people say: “I do whatever I want. I sin as I please. I don’t wrong anyone. Who do I bother?” Fine, let’s assume for now that you don’t wrong anyone. But aren’t you doing wrong to yourself? And shouldn’t justice also be rendered to yourself? Doesn’t the commandment say: “Love your neighbor as yourself”? (Lev. 19:18; Mt. 19:19; Mk. 12:31; Lk. 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; Jas. 2:8) What is the criterion? Your own self. The criterion is yourself, both in love and in justice. If you have not learned to render love and justice to yourself, how will you render it to others? How will you render it to God? If you yourself are your closest neighbor and you ignore him and despise him and do him wrong, how will you be able to render justice to others? Your criterion is missing. Your measure is missing. How, then, will you measure since you yourself are a mess?

So you see, then, my beloved, it is a great thing to be just. Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues of the ancient Greeks. And as the Fathers say, justice is shared among the other three. In patristic terminology, it is what we call discernment. It is how one virtue is connected to another. This is justice. It is a great thing. It is broad, something deep.

“WHATEVER IS PURE” If respect is something external, purity is something internal. It is whatever refers to the motives and intentions of man, all of which must be undefiled, pure. We say: “He is pure.” What does this mean? That he has pure intentions, his motives are pure. He is not the crooked man. His “yes” means “yes” and His “no” means “no”, what the Lord said: “Let your “yes” be “yes” and your “no” be “no”. This is precisely how he is. He is the guileless man, he is the pure man. Many times we say about a man: “He is a pure man, a pure compatriot”. What does this mean? It means that no external elements will enter in and influence his motives, decision-making or actions – a pure man. A beautiful thing. A pure man – in a broad sense, of course. In the narrow sense, in an ethical sense, someone is called pure if he does not commit immoral acts, the one who is continent.

“WHATEVER IS BELOVED” And what are the things that are beloved? Whatever is beloved to God, first of all. We say: “Is it pleasing to God?”; “Lord, if I do this will You be pleased?” It is also what is beloved to the people. Of course, people can like many things, but they may also be dirty. “He was pleased very much,” it says, “with Salome’s dancing” (Mk. 6:22; Mt. 14:6), when she danced in front of… (that completely corrupt and immoral girl) when she danced in front of her father Herod and the officials of the province. He liked it. Is this what is beloved?

The criterion of what is beloved is not determined by people; the criterion is what is pleasing to God. When something is beloved to God, it is beloved to the people, to pure people, to undefiled people. Would you like to know something more? It is also beloved to those who are dirty. It is not possible that what is respectable, good, beautiful and beloved should not be liked by corrupt people. You will tell me: “They make fun of it…” But this is the proof that they like it! You will say to me, “The proof is when they make fun of it?” Of course! This reaction means: I make fun of what I don’t have because I cannot reach it.

“They are sour”, the fox said about the grapes.1 Whatever the other does not have, he makes fun of. So if the corrupt person makes fun of you because you do what is beloved, it is proof that he cannot reach it. Deep down he wants it. If he had any humility, he would shake your hand and say “well done”.

“WHATEVER IS REPUTABLE,” because there are things which obviously do not have a good reputation. We must, then, always follow what has a good reputation. Not only whatever it is reputable, but also whatever appears reputable.

Pay attention to this. The Apostle Paul says: “Do what is perceived as good by all” (Rom 12:17). Let us be mindful to have a good reputation, not motivated by vainglory, but motivated that God might be glorified before all men, and not cursed and blasphemed (and when he says “all men” he also means those who are not Christians). It means I will do something in such a way that I do not scandalize anyone. Whatever I do, it will be reputable. So then, not what I believe, but also how I appear. This is very important.

There is an old proverb which says: “The emperor’s wife does not have to be honorable but she must appear honorable.” Because someone may say: “I am pure, and if I act as I want and something bad is put into someone else’s head, what is that to me? I am pure.” It is not enough. No, it is not enough. However you are, you must also appear, so that you don’t show off, so that you don’t say: “Do you know that I am this or I am that…” Simply, let your actions be such that they appear reputable and glorify God. This is why the Lord Himself says: “…that they may behold your good works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens” (Mt. 5:16; cf. 1Pet. 2:12). Do you see? The glorification of God must be at the end. “Whatever is of good repute, think about this.

“WHATEVER IS VIRTUOUS AND WHATEVER IS WORTHY OF PRAISE, KEEP THIS IN MIND”
To summarize, in order not to lengthen his list, what does the Apostle say? “Whatever is virtuous and whatever is worthy of praise, keep this in mind.” Today we do not pursue the virtuous and praiseworthy things, but their opposites, in order to show off. It is not fashionable for us (as I told you at the beginning) to live a life of virtue today.

Beloved, pay attention to this. What the apostle Paul says to us here is a teaching of Christian perfection, of the spiritual life – not simply keeping some commandments, not this only; the commandments are presupposed. What is it then? After we live the commandments, the commandments will begin to emit “a fragrance”.3 This, then, is what the Apostle refers to here: the fragrance of the commandments – it is not just the commandments themselves, but their fragrance. Many people keep the commandments, but a fragrance does not emit. We could interpret the verses as follows: Whatever is scented from virtues and praiseworthy things, these, he says, keep in your mind, and try by all means to live them and to appear with them.

“AND AS YOU HAVE LEARNED AND RECEIVED AND HEARD AND SEEN IN ME, THESE DO”
Here he makes two pairs. “Those things which you have learned and received…” From whom? From me. “…and those things which you have heard and seen in me, do these.” Beyond these theoretical things which he said, my beloved, the Apostle now gives them a practical plan of action. Don’t say that this is arrogance on Paul’s part. This entire verse is an expansion of another verse, where he said: “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Do not say that Paul is vainglorious, that he is proud. Let us not say this. Paul presents himself for imitation. And what does he say? “The things which you have learned and received, do these.” He said this to the Philippians as a teaching: The things which you have seen and heard from me which you saw while I was in your city, and those things which you heard about me when I was not in your city but were reported to you, do these things.

Why might the Apostle Paul say this? Because he wants to present, my beloved, a model man. Paul is very humble – he is very very humble, but he fears all the examples which were being offered in his day. Christianity is making its debut in the world, and he wants to present a model. So he is speaking here about models, and it is known that Paul is not the only model. Everyone who lives a Christian life is a model. All the saints are models. So we could put it simply: In addition to counsels, you also have models. Our era is tearing down the models, whoever they may be. We must have models, models of God’s grace, the artworks of God’s grace, and these are the Saints. They will be our models.

Then he says: If you have the teaching and models of the saints and do all these things, “and if you apply them, then (pay attention) the God of peace will be with you.” Why does he call God, “the God of peace?” Because he really is the God of peace. God is true peace. “Then the God of peace will be with you.” You will be at rest within. Then you will find meaning in life; then you will say: “Nothing is vain in this world. Everything is sanctified. Everything is under the grace of God.” You will have inexpressible joy and peace within, the kind the world seeks to find but does not find, because it does not have Christ. All of these are treasures of Christ, the hidden treasures of Christ, which, when one believes in His person, little by little, he begins to discover Him and resemble Him.

THE END – GLORY TO THE HOLY AND TRIUNE GOD

Footnotes

1. “One hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. ‘Just the thing to quench my thirst,’ quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.” (“The Fox and the Grapes”, Aesop’s Fables, Eliot/Jacobs version: https://fablesofaesop.com/the-fox-and-the-grapes.html#more-622)