This is Life!: Revolutions Around the Cruciform Axis

The Sunday of the Blind Man

Sunday was a different sort of day. Welcome to late spring/academic summer.

Sofie has learned to stand up on her own. Although she has frequently pulled herself up--using mom and dad, various items of furniture--and then let go, balancing precariously for a few seconds--she has only once or twice actually stood up on her own, and that only in her mom's presence. Sunday, daddy and daughter went to church together, leaving momma at home to rest. Within only a few moments from the start of the service, Sofie, on all fours, planted her feet on the carpet, hiked her fanny in the air, squatted a bit, raised her hands . . . and stood right up. She wobbled like boiled spaghetti, arms akimbo, then, fell. Within moments, she was doing it again. By the end of service, having done this now more than a dozen times, she was grabbing toys in one hand, standing up and waving the toy around. (She was also clapping and cheering herself, which she's learned from mommy and daddy when they applaud her for doing cute things--like standing up on her own.)

During the afternoon, I continued doing some of the honey-do items from Saturday's first annual "Healy Work Day"--namely anchoring bookshelves to the wall, so the now-standing-on-her-own Sofie won't pull them over on herself. The three of us went outside for a little bit in the late afternoon to play with the neighbor kids, and I caught up some more on my St. Theophan Group reading.

Finally, at the men's St. Theophan Group, where we've been reading through St. Theophan the Recluse's The Spiritual Life and How to be Attuned to It, we discussed the passions. It's a struggle that is part and parcel of the Christian life for all of this earthly life. We discussed how easily we give up in the struggle, and I opined that sometimes it's not a matter of self-pity so much as one of despair. Well, one gentlemen noted that when it comes to the struggle, he keeps in mind that God is more than worth the struggle. Ouch. That stung so much it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Later, one of the group moderators and I spoke. In relation to the gifts Orthodox can take advantage of with regard to the struggle with the passions--Holy Eucharist and Confession, for example, I mentioned to him that I was the only non-Orthodox in the group, and it seemed to me that the struggle was that much harder. He understood what I was getting at, but pooh-poohed the statement. "You're Orthodox," he said. "You just haven't been chrismated yet." He also noted that God is not bound by the formal necessities surrouding Holy Eucharist and the other Mysteries. He can provide me the strength I need in the current state I find myself in.

I was much encouraged.