22/9/98 BIBLE STUDY : LUKE 5 : 1 - 11

• The Lord, through this homily and miracle, perfectly unites the spiritual and bodily nourishment. In this extract from the Gospel of the first Sunday of Luke, He reveals the miraculous results of a person’s obedience to the word of God; firstly through his homily from the boat of Simon Peter and secondly through the miraculous catch of fish.
• It reveals that the Philanthropic Lord is interested in the spiritual and material nourishment of man. It also proves that He is the Ruler of the world and the Ruler of the boat and our lives. This extract proves that the Lord, during His life on earth, always spread the word of God to the souls of man. On the mount, in the desert, in the synagogues, at various homes, on the road, at the sea, He used everything as His pulpit.

13/10/98 BIBLE STUDY : ON ST LUKE’S FEAST DAY

• We should never attribute our good works or great achievements simply to our own actions or our own power because without God, we can do nothing. All our good qualities, talents and acts are gifts from God. When we attribute our achievements to God and live according to His Will, then our names will be written in the Book of Life. We should not rejoice in our good works but rather, we should rejoice if our names are written in the Book of Life, the Kingdom of Heaven.
• We should never cease thanking God for every good work and great achievement in our lives.

20/10/98 SIXTH SUNDAY OF LUKE : THE DEMONIAC OF GADARENE

• The demoniac who met Christ upon his arrival at Gadara was living in the tombs of the cemetery. The unclean spirits who possessed him preferred to abide in unclean places. The evil spirits lead people to their spiritual death.
• The evil one often speaks through possessed people and often states truths, however his only intention is to gain people’s trust and make them believe what he says. The evil one is the master of deceit. However his power is minimal before the Lord. The Lord cleanses and frees people from evil and grants salvation.

27/10/98 FIFTH SUNDAY OF LUKE : THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS

• In this passage, the Lord gives us a great deal of information about life after death. We see clearly that Heaven and Hell exist, that they are two separate states of being, separated by a “great gulf”, meaning that nobody can pass from one state to the other. This shows us that there is no repentance after death. Whatever we do, we must do as long as we are alive and struggle to achieve our salvation, through repentance and good deeds and the grace of God. After we are dead, it will be too late. Death terminates our spiritual progress.

10/11/98 EIGHTH SUNDAY OF LUKE : THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN

• Christ, once again in this passage, uses a parable to indicate a great truth regarding the salvation of mankind. The Lord, in this parable tells of a man who was going on a journey from Jerusalem to Jericho, just as every human being goes through the journey of life. He was ambushed by thieves and left half dead by the road side, just as mankind was tricked by the evil one into sin, so that we were left “half dead” spiritually. A priest passed by on that same road on which the injured man lay. He saw the man, but passed on, doing nothing to help him. The same thing happened when a Levite, a man who served in the temple passed by. The priest and the Levite represent the priesthood of the Old Testament. Thus, we see that the priesthood of the Old Testament was unable to raise mankind’s fallen nature or save them from sin. But then, along the same road passed a Samaritan, who, seeing the injured man, stopped, attended to his wounds using wine and oil, took him to an inn and gave the innkeeper money to take care of the injured man, telling him that if He used up any more money, He would pay him when He came back. The good Samaritan is our Lord who came and tended to our wounds of sin. The wine and oil represent His holy mysteries, especially confession and Holy Communion. The inn is the Church, in which all sinners are healed and the two denaria represent the two Testaments, the Old and the New through which we are guided to salvation.
• This parable teaches us that any human being is our neighbour.

By S. V.