A Heart of Mirth and Thanksgiving

“All things around us are droplets of the love of God…. They are little loves through which we attain to the great Love that is Christ . . . Give glory for all beautiful things so that you experience Him who alone is comely in beauty” ~ St. Porphyrios

There was once a mole and rat. Now, the mention of a mole and rat might not bring you good feelings. But this mole and rat were particular lovely. They were the kind and polite type, and loved to live life. It was a sunny afternoon. Rat sprawled out on the grass, while his excited friend laid out a tablecloth, and emptied the contents of his picnic basket: “He took out all the mysterious packets one by one and arranged their contents in due order, still gasping. ‘O my! O my!’ at each fresh revelation” (Kenneth Grahame, The Wind and the Willow).

How do we feel when we sit down to enjoy the banquet God has given us? The sumptuous feast is a theme woven throughout the Scriptures. The wedding banquet, celebration, sabbath, the sharing of mirth and delight: these are symbols of God’s people in paradise. As we prepare for the holy feasts of the Church, we are handed an invitation by God: “Delight with me and give thanks.” In the end, there are two types of people, and remains to us to choose which we will be: those who say in the hearts, ‘bah humbug,’ and those who breathe in every breath, “Glory to God!”

“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day . . . You shall not do any ordinary work . . . There shall be a solemn rest . . . [You shall take] the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God . . . You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord” (Leviticus 23).

From the earliest days, God’s covenant with man carved out time for feasting. The phrase, ‘solemn rest,’ comes from the Hebrew, ‘Shab-baw-thone’ — a sabbatical; a complete sabbath. On the significance of Sabbath, Rabbi Abraham Heschel says this: “The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else. Six days a week we seek to dominate the world, on the seventh day we try to dominate the self.”

“Shabbat comes with its own holiness; we enter not simply a day, but an atmosphere . . . We anticipate a messianic era that will be a Sabbath, and each Shabbat prepares us for that experience: ‘Unless one learns how to relish the taste of Sabbath … one will be unable to enjoy the taste of eternity in the world to come’.”

We have living the messianic era. The feast days of the Christian year especially plunge us into this reality, the eternal rest. To feast, to take Sabbath, to delight and give praise is the essence of our religion.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come” (Matthew 22:1-3).

Our Lord loves most to depict the Kingdom of God with a feast. The wedding is ready. The banquet is rich. “Who will come?” the servant cries out. This question poses an eternal challenge to us. Will we join in the feast? While one might think to feast would be the most natural action in the world, it is not? The master’s friends declined. They remained home. They had business to do, matters of seriousness. “We cannot join the feast,” they said. “We cannot rest. We have responsibilities, the grown up types of things.”

“Nothing is as hard to suppress as the will to be a slave to one’s own pettiness. Gallantly, ceaselessly, quietly, man must fight for inner liberty . . . “Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you” (Exodus 31:14). ‘The Sabbath adds holiness to Israel’” (Heschel).

The Israelites were captives in Egypt for four hundred years. For four hundred years they marched to the beat of the drums of consumerism and productivity. No wonder God stressed the Sabbath so insistently. Are we slaves to the world as they were? Do we allow our business to swallow us up as the whale swallowed Jonah, or do we celebrate the sabbath, the high and holy days with mirth and joy?

St. Paisios mourned the influence of secularism in the lives of modern people. Our ‘fear of missing out’, our frenzied rush, our refusal to rest, most of all characterizes the secular soul, and defies the freedom Christ paid for with his blood. St. Paisios urged the faithful to fight this tyrannical spirit — how? — by celebrating the holy days and delighting in God.

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, with His great love and joy which fill the souls of the faithful during His holy feast days, exalts us spiritually and truly resurrects us. All we need to do is participate in these feasts and celebrate them with a spiritual appetite; for once we taste the heavenly wine to which the Saints will treat us, we will become drunk in spirit.”

We must abstain from all work [on these days] . . . We must keep our minds focused on the holy days themselves and not on the work that we have to do to prepare for them. We should think about the events of each holy day (Christmas, Theophany, Pascha and so on) and say the Jesus Prayer glorifying God in our heart. This way we will celebrate with reverence every feast day of the Church”

What a religion! What a God, who asks his people to rest; who lays out a banquet table and invites us to feast. This is our faith.

Each and every holy day is unique and shines in the grace of God. In these moments, the Church gives us a task: prepare for the feast. Keep the candle lit. Sing the carols of the Church. Savor festive meals with loved ones. Christ came to set us free. We are free to set aside the shackles of secularism and learn to take Christian rest.

“He came into the country about Jordan, preaching . . . Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:1-6).

Our flesh shall see God. How? He appears to us in the breaking of bread. “In your presence is the fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord” (Psalm 134:1). "Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4).

“O my! O my!” the mole exclaimed as he took out each item from his picnic basket, shaking with glee and excitement. “O my!” This is the heart of a true Christian who delights in God’s gifts. Our Lord has laid out a banquet table for us to enjoy and give thanks. May He also open our hearts to savor each and every gift, one by one, and discover within us wonder and adoration.

Glory to God!