Monday of the Third Week of Holy Lent

The Gospel according to St. Luke (11:33 – 36)

    “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.”“

* «The lamp of the body is the eye»

    We “know that the Son of God has come and given us insight(understanding)” (1 John 5:20), which is the greatest gift. He instilled in us an eye of a luminous tone, which is our new creation with baptism, which is the enlightenment. So therefore it was described as a simple eye…Eliminating and luminous together.

    If we use it in our life, the whole body will be a good . But if we follow our old, fallen nature, the evil eye makes the whole body dark.

    “So look then.” This is how the Lord said, “Lest the light in you be dark.” Keep your eyes simple and pure with The Grace that is in you. “Blessed are the pure of the heart, because they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). The purity of the heart is the enlightenment to see God in everything and in every person. If the heart loses its purity, insight and vision is absent.

    Beware of all that disturbs the heart, from the lack of love, pride, gossip, mistrust, deviant tendencies, love of the world, love of ownership, false glory  and anger... Etc. All these defile man and make him lose the purity of the heart.

    The eye is the lamp of the body.. Save it from looking at vanity . Say: The Lord is my light. And ask Him every time, ”Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;“ Psalms 13:3.

    If then we protect the eye of the body and are afraid of it getting ruined and guard it as the most precious thing in the body, how much more then, the inner eye, the real light in us, you need to care for it and guard it so much more.

    Preserving your outer eye Holy and seeing all that is good, ensures the safety of your inner eye. Rather, make the eye of your heart lead your way and adjust your outer gaze.

    The light of the eye is the gospel. ”Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.“ Psalms 119:105.

    The light of the eye is the commandments. ”The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;” Psalms 19:8.

    + This chapter of the Gospel was placed by the fathers immediately after Temptation Sunday . Perhaps it indicates that insight and enlightement are necessary and essential for us to get through temptations. As we are more tempted by the enemy, we really need desertion as the fathers called it so that we are not defeated by the devil.

    The enlightened eye is not fooled, it can distinguish right from wrong and good from bad, and the straight ways and the twisted. Rather, we should consider the lead officer in the wars of the soul and the temptations of the enemy because he is a cheater who covers things with an attractive cover and beautifies evils and lusts contrary to their true nature. We need insight to expose his tricks and expose his traps.

fr. Louka Sidarous

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