Pastor's Blog

Sanctifying One’s Work

By Fr. Luke | Published: October 31, 2007

Everyone should, by his life and prayers, sanctify his work and become holy. Additionally, if he is an employer and has responsibilities, he should help his employees spiritually. If he has a good inner state, he sanctifies his work. For example, when young people go to study under a craftsman to learn his trade, he should also teach them to live spiritually. This will benefit himself, his employees and his customers, for God will bless his work.

Every profession can be sanctified. A doctor, for example, shouldn’t forget that that which helps most in medicine is the Grace of God. Therefore, he should strive to become a receptacle of Divine Grace. A doctor who is a good Christian also helps the sick with his goodness and faith, because he encourages them to face their sickness with faith. To a patient with a very serious illness he can say: “Medicine has helped to this point—but remember from now on that there is God Who works miracles.” Read more →

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Love for Work

By Fr. Luke | Published: October 26, 2007

—Geronta, why do so many people feel bored at work?

—Maybe they don’t love their job? Or, maybe they work on the same thing continually? With some jobs—say at a factory where they make door and window frames—a laborer might do the same thing from morning till the time he leaves: glue, glue, glue. Another constantly handles windows; another, putty. They constantly do the same monotonous work; and their boss is always watching them—not for just one or two days, either. It is always the “same old, same old,” to the point of boredom. In the old days it wasn’t like that though. A contractor would be given four walls from the carpenters and was expected to present the owner with a finished house and the key. He would have built the floors, the door and window frames, and would even have set the windows with putty. Afterward he would have built spiral staircases, turned banisters; after that he would have painted, built the cupboards and the shelves—even the furniture! Even if he didn’t do all of it himself, he knew how to do it. In a pinch a contractor could even put the tiles on the roof. Read more →

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Stress and Work

By Fr. Luke | Published: October 17, 2007

—Geronta, many people return home from work stressed out.

—I suggest to men that if they can, they should find an open church after work, go in, light a candle and stay inside for ten to fifteen minutes. Or go sit in a park somewhere and read a small section of the Gospel, so as to quiet down a bit. Then they can go home in peace, smiling, instead of stressed out and ready to pick a fight. They shouldn’t bring work problems home with them—leave them at the door on the way out.

—But Geronta, some of them are justified, for their work responsibilities fill them with anxiety. Read more →

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Choosing a Profession

By Fr. Luke | Published: October 10, 2007

—Geronta, some parents try to steer their children towards their own professions, and often get very pushy at it.

—No, they don’t manage well. Parents shouldn’t pressure their children unwillingly to do that which they enjoy themselves. I knew one young man who wanted to study theology and become a priest, but his mother wouldn’t let him; she forced him to go into medicine. The young man had studied Byzantine music and chanted; had made his own musical instrument; had learned the tones on his own; and knew the music by heart. He had a gift. He wrote troparia and services. As soon as he finished high school he took the entrance exams and got into Theological School. His mother suffered nervous shock from her anxiety. She would come to me later and beg me: “Pray for me to get well, Father, and I’ll let my child do whatever he wants.” When she got well she again refused to let him do what he wanted. Later he abandoned it all and finally wasted away. Read more →

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Work is a Blessing

By Fr. Luke | Published: October 5, 2007

—Geronta, in the old days they would say, “Better to wear out your shoes rather than blankets.” What did they mean?

—They meant, “Better to wear out your shoes by working than to stay in bed and be lazy.” Work is a blessing, a gift of God. It gives energy to the body, refreshment to the nous. If God had not given us work, man would have become idle. Hard workers do not stop even in old age. If they stop working while they still have strength, they end up suffering from depression; this is death for them. I remember one little old man in Konitsa, almost ninety years old, who worked continuously. He finally died out in the fields, two hours from home. Read more →

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Temptations on Feast Days

By Fr. Luke | Published: September 26, 2007

—Geronta, why do temptations often occur on feast days?

—Don’t you know? On feast days, Christ, the Panagia, and the Saints are joyful. They treat people, giving blessings and spiritual gifts. If parents give gifts when their children celebrate their namedays and kings release prisoners when a prince is born, why shouldn’t the Saints care for us on special occasions, too? Certainly the joy they give greatly endures and our souls are greatly helped. Knowing this the devil creates temptations in order to deprive people of the Divine gifts: they neither rejoice nor benefit from the feast. Sometimes you even see when a family is preparing to commune on a feast day, that the devil will send them a temptation to fight and then not only do they not commune, but they don’t even go to church! That’s how the little demon does it, so as to be deprived of all Divine help. Read more →

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Relationships with Relatives and Friends

By Fr. Luke | Published: September 26, 2007

—Geronta, a certain woman asked what to do with her two cousins who have been freeloading off her for years.

—What does she want? To write a new Gospel now? God asks of her to help them and He will do whatever helps their souls.

—Geronta, when there is a misunderstanding between relatives, should someone say something to help the situation?

—Yes, something should be said to help because silence may do harm. If they misunderstand your intentions you should go to them again and say, “Forgive me for worrying you;” from then on leave them alone and pray for them. Read more →

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A Mother’s Love

By Fr. Luke | Published: September 20, 2007

Geronta, you once told us that with love, a person grows and matures.

—It’s not enough for someone to simply love another; he must love him more than he loves himself. A mother loves her children more than herself. She fasts so as to feed her children, yet she experiences more gratitude than they. The little children are fed bodily and the mother spiritually. They experience the pleasure of taste, while she spiritual rejoicing.

A young girl before marrying is able to sleep till ten in the morning and even asks her mother to get her milk. She is lazy about doing even the slightest chore. She wants everything ready-made; everyone to take care of her. Her mother calls for her, her father calls for her, but she only wants to whittle the day away. Although love exists within her nature, it does not develop because she continually accepts help and favors from her mother, her father and her siblings. However, from the moment she becomes a mother, she resembles a little engine which works as much as it is forced to, because love constantly works within her. Before, she would have hated touching anything dirty and immediately would have found aromatic soap to wash with. But after, when the child becomes dirty and she needs to wash him, she takes him and says…my sweetheart! She is not repulsed by it anymore. In the beginning, if you wake her, she yells, because she doesn’t want to be disturbed. But after, when the child cries, she stays up all night without difficulty. She cares for the baby and rejoices. Why? Because she is no longer a child. She has become a mother and with it has come sacrifice and love. Read more →

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Children and the Spiritual Life

By Fr. Luke | Published: September 20, 2007

—Geronta, if a mother gives holy water to her child and he spits it out, what should she do?

—She should pray for her child. Maybe the way in which she gives the holy water to her child causes a reaction. For the child to be on the path of God the parents must also live right spiritually. Some parents who are religious strive to help their children to become good, not because they are concerned for the salvation of their souls, but because they what to have good children. In other words, they are more worried about what people will say about their child instead of whether they might go to hell. So how can God help? The aim is not for children to go to church through compulsion, but to love the church; not to do good through compulsion, but to feel the need to do good. The holy lives of parents instruct the souls of their children and they naturally follow. In this way they grow up piously, with health of both soul and body and without spiritual injuries. If parents force their children out of fear of God, He helps and the child is benefited. If, however, they do it out of egoism, then God does not help. Children are often troubled because of their parent’s pride. Read more →

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The Spiritual Life of Spouses

By Fr. Luke | Published: September 11, 2007

—Geronta, when the husband doesn’t live spiritually, what should the wife do?

—Entrust this to Christ and pray that his heart would soften a little. Little by little Christ will descend into his heart and he will begin to be uneasy. As soon as his heart softens a little she can, for example, ask him to drive her to church. She shouldn’t say, “You should come into church too,” but rather, “Could you please take me to church?” If he takes her all the way there, she can then say, “Since we’re here, let’s go inside a minute and light a candle.” In this way, little by little, perhaps he will go a little further.

—Geronta, is the spiritual father of the wife able also to help the husband in some way? Read more →

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