part 1 of a 3 part blog series on the teachings of Frederica Mathewes-Green

TUNE YOUR HEART TO GOD

2019 Fall Retreat: Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, Beaverton Oregon

It was a great honor to host Frederica at our fall retreat this year.

Friday evening she told her story, “East West East: A Personal Spiritual Journey”.

As a young person, Frederica was raised as a nominal Catholic, then vehemently rejected Christianity, mocking Christians and exploring a variety of other faiths. 

One reason she has noticed people moving away from the church they have grown up in, is that they have been taught a child-sized verson of Christianity as children. When they become adults, they discover the grown-up version of other faiths, which seem more attractive and mature.

But after her hippie wedding to Father Gregory, now an Orthodox priest, they were traveling on a shoestring in Europe, when she encountered Christ in a church in Dublin. He spoke to her through an interior voice that told her, “I am your Life.” This changed everything. With this experience, and trust in her husband’s firm conviction to join the Orthodox church, she followed the path to chrismation, and fell in love with Orthodoxy on the day she was chrismated.

We are all called to be saints, Frederica says, somebody that the Light shines through like a stained glass window. God calls, but it is up to us to be light-bearing saints. There are so many saints that have never been recognized. Worldly success doesn’t matter. What matters is faithfulness to what God is calling us to do. 

Frederica reminds us to pray for people when in their presence. “Every conversion is an inside job,” since the Holy Spirit dwells inside us. People have a hunger for the supernatural. We need to tell more stories about miracles, large and small. Write them down, and remember...

Saturday’s topic: “Three Classic Spiritual Disciplines: Prayer, Fasting and Charity”

God is Light, and in early centuries, before electricity, Christians had great respect for fire. It was dangerous and inspired a holy fear. Hebrews 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire,” and in John 8:12 Christ says, “I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the Light of life.” 

Frederica explained how light is life as it transforms plants through photosynthesis. So in a way, we are all feeding on second-hand light, eating these plants and the animals who eat them.

In another way, we can all be partakers of the divine nature through theosis. Just as the destiny of coal is to burn, our destiny of theosis can be seen as that lump of coal being filled with fire, with light. Rather than merely copying Christ (WWJD?) we can be light-bearers, filled with Christ!

Prayer

“Pray constantly,” Saint Paul said to four of his communities. So he must know it to be possible, practicing ceaseless prayer himself. We can shoot arrow prayers to God, short cries for help, that bring us to a place of habitual humility. Spiritual discipline is not effortless - it is a struggle.

We often think the head represents reason, and the heart represents human emotion. But as we learn to pray the Jesus Prayer more consistently, our minds can descend into the heart, as the Holy Spirit opens our hearts to begin to feel God’s presence there. In this way, the mind and body can come into sync with each other. 

How can we tell if we’ve been praying in the right ways? Not in the moment, but as we gradually become a more loving person. When you say your prayers even if you don’t feel like it, this is a sacrifice of praise.

The Jesus Prayer helps us gain control over our thoughts 24 hours a day. The devil may throw evil thoughts at us, but as we push those to the side, as we deny access to bad thoughts and memories, we become interiorly cleansed, shaping our will to conform to the will of God. T

Fasting

Asceticism is like athleticism. As the athlete challenges himself to compete, fasting is designed to strenghten us to resist sin. Sin is like air pollution, we contribute to it and we suffer from it. The sin of each of us empowers the Evil One, who gets to see us tormented by innocent suffering.

Fasting is an ancient Christian tradition. The Didache, written in 80 AD, is part of the huge volume of writing that is “orthodox”, but not written by an apostle, so not included in the Bible. The Didache speaks of ways to live a daily Christian life, like saying the Lord’s Prayer three times a day, and fasting on wednesdays and fridays.

When we fast, we strengthen ourselves through self-control. This kind of strength can translate into practical matters, like not becoming angry at someone who may cut us off in traffic, and other daily temptations.

Do we sometimes feel luke warm? Fasting helps us to see how sick and weak we are, and to understand that our Father sent His Son on a rescue mission. God always wants more. He wants all of us. Fasting is a crucial way to offer our whole selves to God. 

Almsgiving

“Caritas” is the Latin word for charity, or love. “Tithe” is an old english word for giving 10% to the church, as Frederica and her husband have done since they joined. This can be accomplished gradually over time, and is one more way to turn yourself into a sheep, not a goat!

C.S. Lewis says that if you see someone in their final state, the are either radiant, or a monster. Loving our enemies is a spiritual discipline. Imagine a judge’s seat in a courtroom. DO NOT SIT THERE. Instead, act as a friend of the accused. We should see ourselves as equally sinful, recognizing and naming sin generally, without judging.

Vengence is as bad as sex or violence in movies. Forgiveness addresses only the past, it does not mean the same thing as trust. At the same time, establishing victimhood as our core identity poisons us. Frederica told the story of Saint Nicholai, who was tortured in the Dachau concentration camp, yet was known for his beautiful prayer, “Lord, Bless my Enemies.” Remember the words said again and again by Saint John the Evangelist, “Little children, love one another.”

Discussions

Participants also enjoyed the two lively breakout sessions, where we discussed the questions:

“Have you tried praying the Jesus Prayer? What about it has been beneficial, and what has been challenging?” 

“Who is in your ‘bundle’? Which of them seem to be specifically chosen for your growth?”

part 1 in a 3 part mini-series of frederica mathewes-green's' words. 

for more information on frederica mathewes-green, visit her website:  http://frederica.com

'taste and read' ... taste and see that the Lord is good; 

blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. (psalm 34:8)