{"id":2002,"date":"2017-06-01T22:18:18","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T04:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2002"},"modified":"2017-06-01T22:18:18","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T04:18:18","slug":"not-just-until-the-end-of-the-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svetisimeon.org\/en\/?p=2002","title":{"rendered":"Not just until the end of the age"},"content":{"rendered":"
He is not just everywhere, but also above all, not just in every age and time, but before them all. And, according to the promise, the Holy Spirit will not just be with us until the end of the age, but rather will stay with those who are worthy in the age to come, making them immortal and filling their bodies as well with eternal glory, as the Lord indicated by telling His disciples, \u201cI will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever\u201d (John 14:16)…<\/p>\n
Who are these heavenly people? Those who are steadfast and immovable in their faith, who always abound in the Lord\u2019s work and bear the image of the heavenly Adam through their obedience to Him. \u201cHe who does not obey the Son\u201d, says John, the Lord\u2019s Forerunner, through John the Evangelist, \u201cshall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him\u201d (John 3:36). Who can endure God\u2019s wrath? \u201cIt is a fearful thing\u201d, brothers, \u201cto fall into the hands of the living God\u201d (Heb. 10:31). If we fear the hands of our enemies, even though the Lord says, \u201cfear not them who kill the body\u201d (Matt. 10:28), who in his right mind will not fear God\u2019s hands raised in anger against the disobedient? For the wrath of God will be revealed against everyone who lives impurely and unjustly without repenting and holds the truth in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18).<\/p>\n
Let us flee from wrath and hasten through repentance to obtain the kindness and compassion of the divine Spirit. If anyone feels hatred towards another, let him be reconciled with him and restore love, lest his hatred and conflict with his brother should bear witness against him that he does not love God. \u201cFor if you do not love your brother whom you have seen, how can you love God Whom you have not seen?\u201d (cf. 1 John 4:20). When we love one another, let our love be unfeigned, and let us show it in deeds, by neither saying nor doing, nor even enduring to hear, anything insulting or harmful to our brothers. As Christ\u2019s beloved Theologian taught us, \u201clet us do not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth\u201d (cf. 1 John 3:18).<\/p>\n
Anyone who has fallen into fornication, adultery or any other such bodily impurity, should desist from this revolting filth and cleanse himself through confession, tears, fasting and the like. For God judges unrepentant fornicators and adulterers. He condemns them, dismisses them and consigns them to hell, unquenchable fire and other never-ending punishments, saying, \u201cLet the impure and accursed be taken away, lest they see and enjoy the glory of the Lord\u201d (cf. Isa. 26:10). Let thieves and all who are openly grasping and greedy stop stealing, defrauding and seizing what belongs to others, but also share their own possessions with those in need. In a word, if you desire life, to see good days, to be rescued from enemies both visible and invisible, the barbarians currently threatening us, and those punishments reserved for the prince of evil and his angels, depart from all evil and do good (Ps. 34:12,14). \u201cDo not be deceived\u201d, the Apostle tells the Corinthians, \u201cneither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, nor covetous, neither drunkards nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God\u201d (cf. 1Cor. 6:9-10). If someone has no inheritance with God he neither belongs to God nor has God as his Father.<\/p>\n
But let us, brothers, I beg you, abstain from deeds and words hateful to God, that we may boldly call God our Father. Let us truly return to Him, that He too may turn back to us, cleanse us from all sin and make us worthy of His divine grace…<\/p>\n
-St. Gregory Palamas, “Homily Twenty-Four: On How the Holy Spirit was Manifested and Shared Out at Pentecost”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He is not just everywhere, but also above all, not just in every age and time, but before them all. And, according to the promise, the Holy Spirit will not just be with us until the end of the age, but rather will stay with those who are worthy in the age to come, making […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-fathers-wisdom","category-sermons"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t
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He is not just everywhere, but also above all, not just in every age and time, but before them all. And, according to the promise, the Holy Spirit will not just be with us until the end of the age, but rather will stay with those who are worthy in the age to come, making them immortal and filling their bodies as well with eternal glory, as the Lord indicated by telling His disciples, \u201cI will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever\u201d (John 14:16)…<\/p>\n