Question: The Lord gave us the ability to borrow his authority i.e "In the name of Jesus". Could we borrow the Lord’s authority to command our mortal bodies to remain in him forever like "By the precious blood of our holy Lord I command my heart and consciousness to remain in his glory forevermore"?
The answer of Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok to the question:
If you are speaking about yourself, perhaps you can say things like that. In those tough, even dramatic, moments in life, you can of course declare: “I receive Christ. Christ lives in me. His blood runs in me. And I want to overcome my old self.” That can be said, yes.
Yet, speaking like that about anyone else is risky. It is just unwise. Who are we, after all? We can — we must — find peace within ourselves before we can help anybody. For our loved ones, near and far, to be saved, we need to gain that peace. And when hard moments come — and they do come — we should remember that Christ lives in us. That will be, I think, great help to us: that I want to live with God, and “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Yet balance is key here — for there is boldness, and there is brazen talk. Within us lies a genuine impulse — to help someone, to offer advice, to share the joy we carry. But forcing it on them is another matter altogether. Everyone lives in their own world, with a completely different way of seeing things. And you suddenly turn to them and say: “Listen, Christ is risen! Why are you frowning?” And what will you hear back? “Are you ill? Leave me alone. What do you want from me?”
So good judgement matters — who you speak to, and what language you use — so you do not end up doing any damage. If someone does not speak Chinese, what is the point of me talking to them in it? Or if I go to China without knowing a word of the language, I will not have a clue what is going on — so I simply will not go. Should I want to visit, I must learn Chinese, which is hard work. If I truly want to connect with another, I must learn their language, feel for them, sympathise. Then they will understand me. And then, perhaps, there will be true communication: a conversation where we do no harm to them, or to ourselves. You see, people can make up all sorts of things and let their minds run wild, but your actual, current state remains. When we know ourselves — “know yourself, and that’s enough for you” — we work out what we must do today, where to direct our efforts, and what needs fixing.
Each of us has their own struggles and ailments. If we labour over these faithfully, then “he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much.” But what happens if we just talk about everything in vague terms, with nice words, fine phrases? We come out with some beautiful prayer, sure. But do we believe it? Do we believe a miracle will happen? Do we trust God to the very end? Not always, I think.
