It will be no surprise to learn that most people seek out the help of
spiritual council at times they are in real need. The Church recognizes
the sickness of sin and death in the world, and the Lord gives His
Church to be the world’s spiritual hospital. Just like a hospital
dedicated to healing physical illness, it makes good sense when those
who are spiritually sick (which includes all of us) seek the therapy and
medicine where it can be found. For the Church, this medicine is
particularly to found in the Holy Mysteries of Communion and Confession.
For those who seek the advice of a doctor to treat their cancer, it
would seem strange indeed to reject medical advice. We go to see a
doctor because we are confident that the doctor has everything to offer
us that his or her particular hospital can give for our sickness. For
example, if cancer were so serious that it called for a strict regime of
chemotherapy, radiation, and a special diet, we would not expect to see
beneficial results merely by sitting at home in front of the
television, or by devising our own method of treatment. If we plan in
the first place to devise our own method, it would make no sense to
consult the physicians. Why would we waste everyone’s time?
In the case of the spiritual hospital that is the Church, the grace
of the Holy Spirit actively works through the Holy Mysteries which are
conveyed to us in the priesthood. Unlike a physician of our bodies, the
human “qualifications” do not stand in the way of our obtaining
sufficient medicine for the healing of our souls. The grace of the
priesthood allows the grace of God to work, such that the spiritual
guidance given in Holy Confession is sufficient for our spiritual
health. While spiritual “specialists” exist in the form of holy elders,
we can benefit from Christ’s spiritual medicine in the Holy Mystery of
Confession with any priest.
Do we in fact approach Confession this way, if we approach it at
all? Do we consider ourselves to be better spiritual advisors than the
priest, who does not give his own “advice”, but in fact, speaks the
words given by grace? Many fathers testify that the words they speak in
Holy Confession are not the words they intend to say to their spiritual
child; many even leave hours of Confession wondering where the words
come from! Of course, we know the real answer: the real physician is the
Great Physician, Who leaves the priesthood dependant not on itself, on
its seminary education, on psychology courses or counseling training,
but on His Grace.
If we accept the reality of the grace of the priesthood and the Holy
Mysteries of Communion and Confession, we have no choice but to accept
in total the word which the Lord gives us through the Holy Mysteries.
All Orthodox Christians – even priest and bishops – must take this
critical step each time they place their head beneath the priestly stole
seeking the absolution of their sins. Each time we do this, we will to
accept the Lord’s medicine, and to strive as much as it is in our power
to take the medicine as it is prescribed, not second guessing the
spiritual prescription, or forgetting about it, or neglecting to check
back with the spiritual physician on a regular basis, usually once every
month or so.
To approach the Holy Mysteries with any other attitude is not simply
blasphemous against the grace of the Holy Spirit – it is spiritual
suicide. In rejecting the Holy Mysteries, we reject the only thing that
can truly make us well, from the inside out. To reject them is to lose
the greatest chance for a healthy life of soul and body.
To reject them is, in essence, to say “No thanks, Doc”, not to an earthly physician, but to the Great Physician Himself.
Source: www.asna.ca
