Humor

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 30:
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“Fire! The house across the street is on fire! Quick come and look out the window.” Young Anna ran from her bedroom to the front room of the house and stared out into the street. No smoke, no flames. And then, in a devilish manner her father proclaimed, “April Fools!”

It was a dirty trick to play on a young kid, especially my mother. But all is fair in love, in war and on April Fools’ Day. My mother remembers that prank to this day. And though she might have missed a heart beat on that day, now, 70 years later, she tells the story of the prank with a big smile on her face. In fact, it’s now become part of the family folklore to play the “Grandpa April Fools’ Prank” on the First.

April Fools is a lighthearted “feast.” Obviously, there’s no holiday or national mandate to celebrate it, but in many cultures people stop to have a mischievous go at fooling people. In fact, companies even get into the spirit with pranks that are sometimes so believable they attract a following. For instance, in 1998 Burger King published a full page ad in USA Today announcing a new item on their menu: The Left-Handed Whopper. They claimed it was designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. The twist? The burger included all the same ingredients as the original Whopper but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees! Thousands of customers went into restaurants to request the new sandwich, while many others requested the “right handed” version!

As a kid, when I thought of my grandfather playing the fire-trick on my mom as well as his entire family, I never really understood how could a grown man do this? After all, this was grandpa and pranks are for kids. But as I grew older, I was more intrigued that he engaged in this type of humor considering he was a genocide survivor. Only 20 years earlier, he had seen the devastation of his country, family and home. He built a new life on the ashes of devastation, hardship and despair. And yet… when it came time to play, he could play with the best. He smiled and laughed. As a kid, I remember his contagious laugh as I sat in his lap and watched the 3 Stooges on TV.

Humor is so important to a healthy lifestyle and a necessary ingredient to healing. Sometimes our hardships are so great that we think we may never laugh or smile again. I think of the generations which witnessed the most absurd and heinous of all crimes, genocide, and yet they are able to rebound with a smile and a laugh. In that humor they found a new beginning – the possibility to hope and dream again.

Children come into this world believing and hoping. It is for this reason they smile and laugh. Today is the day to connect to that primal hope and faith. Don’t look too far, it’s inside of you. No matter how bad things get, find some time to smile and laugh. And if you can, laugh out loud!

Today’s mediation is on humor. Think of anything that makes you smile or makes you laugh. If it’s difficult, close your eyes and revert to a good time in your life. Perhaps you can remember the first time you met your child and tears came down your face because of joy! Think of a play or a movie, let it be primitively absurd, slapstick, or sophisticatedly jocular, witty. Let it induce a smile on your face. Now hold it right there. Hold the thought and your smile. Did you feel that? For that moment, as brief as it was, nothing else really mattered. Now understand that the change was your doing. You decided and you brought about an end to your pain and a joy to your heart.

This is Fr. Vazken, assuring you that today’s message was not an April Fools’ joke, and to be certain, join me again tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Wave Frequency

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 29:
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It was only a few weeks ago that we began our Lenten Journey. We began in a hospital room, listening to the news describe a faith-healer who had lost his life to a poisonous snake. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. His prayers were for a healing and yet he died.

Does God hear our prayers? It is a common question. What prompts us to ask this question is that our wishes – our requests – have not been answered to our liking. That is, we pray to God with certain expectations and when we don’t receive the answer we were hoping for, we believe that our prayers are not being heard.

In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus speaks about prayer in this manner, “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases … for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

If this is the case, then there is something wrong in our definition of a prayer. Traditionally we’ve been told that prayer is a conversation with God. Conversation implies speaking and listening. There is no such thing as a one-way conversation. You give and receive. But Jesus says that our Father knows what our wants are before we ask! Therefore, there is another function to prayer and that is that it is also a prayer with the self! God knows our wants and our needs, but many times we do not know them! As strange as that sounds, it’s true. Prayer means speaking and listening and in listening the inner self is awakened to its needs.

During this Road to Healing, we’ve been engaged in prayer and meditation. The reason for this practice is so that our inner self is tuned into its needs and its growth. Think of the hundreds and thousands of radio signals that are travelling through the airwaves right now – some are captured by your radio and played through speakers, others are captured by your phone, your neighbor’s phone, your friend’s phone and heard in the earpiece. Other signals are heard on the police band or on airplane frequency. So when you tune-in a radio to a certain frequency, what you’re really doing is tuning-out all the other frequencies. Imagine what a mess it would be if a radio didn’t have a dial and picked up every radio wave that was traveling through the air! It would be chaotic! In the same manner, when we tune-in to our needs and our desires, we’re really filtering-out all the things that are not our concern, that are not pertinent to our own situation.

To use our healing metaphor, if you go into a hospital to have your right leg operated on, you certainly don’t expect the surgeon to cut up your left leg! If you have a tummy-ache, you don’t need to look at remedies for itchy-scalp. When your marriage is on the rocks, X-raying your teeth is unnecessary. In other words, our prayer life is not about telling God what our needs are – but telling our self that our remedy is on a frequency that we need to tune-in to and hear.

The healing that we are looking for is from within and without. This week we begin a new cycle on this Road. Be prepared.

Let us pray,
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done,on earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. Amen.

This is Fr. Vazken inviting you to join me again tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.  

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
Photo: Sequoia Flower (c)2002 Fr. Vazken Movsesian
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Prayer & Fasting

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 27:
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They thought they could do it. They were charged by Jesus to heal the sick, so when a man

brought his son to the Disciples for a healing it was just a matter of following procedures. But this time, something was off. They were unable to heal the boy.

The story is picked up in the Gospel of Matthew (in chapter 17). The man brought his son to Jesus for a healing complaining that the Disciples were unable to remove the evil from his son. Jesus heals the boy by extracting the disease and illness from his body. The Disciples had tried but failed. They wanted to know why they were unable to expel the disease from the boy?

Jesus explains, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

It is to the two conditions of faith – the catalysts of the faith in action, so to speak – prayer and fasting on which we focus today.

We have the power within us to bring about the changes necessary to move mountains, that is, to make the seemingly impossible truly possible. Healing disease and illness, amending our lifestyle, altering our course and direction, mending the holes in our relationships and living in harmony are all attainable. The mustard seed is of such small size and proportion. When faith is there, it’s there. The quality control on faith, so to speak, is governed by prayer and fasting.

The parable of the “Unrighteous Judge” in the Gospel of Luke (chapter 18) is a rather bizarre story of a powerless woman who brings down the politically potent and ruthless magistrate by being persistent. The story is so off that it warrants a note of intention by the author so that there’s no misunderstanding by the reader: “And Jesus spoke this parable about their need to always pray and not to lose heart.”

Faith is yours. You have it. You’re on this journey, aren’t you? The need for prayer and fasting are matters of discipline. They are the necessary tools by which faith stays alive, that is, faith does not stay dormant and useless, but alive and active. It might be easy to think of it in scientific terms of potential and kinetic energy. Our faith is stored (potential), waiting to move the mountains in our life. When we pray and fast, the energy is pushed into motion, so that it manifests in the actions of our life.

Prayer is the conversation you have with God and yourself. Fasting is the cleansing and the discipline of body so that mind and soul find a place within the whole. The seemingly impossible is made possible because faith is now activated in your life.

We pray today,
Lord, open my heart to your love. Open my mind to your wisdom. Open my body to your healing. I acknowledge the faith that is planted in my spirit. Push it to the brink of my soul so that it moves into every part of my body to become the action of my life, to bring about complete recovery of my ills, peace and harmony to my spirit and the world. Amen.

This is Fr. Vazken inviting you to join me again tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.

Photo: Soul (c) 2011 Fr. Vazken Movsesian
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for https://epostle.net

Torkom

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 27:
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Like every other 13 year old, I was bored during religion class. We were forced to endure a one-

hour lesson once-a-week inside the church sanctuary, where the priest would talk above our head about things that didn’t matter. Until one day, a very special priest invited us to fast. That’s right – to eat nothing. I don’t know what it was, but that one lesson caught my attention and turned me on to a practice that I would carry with me throughout my life.

It was the late 1960’s. The President had been shot a few years earlier. In one year both Civil Rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and then the President’s brother, Robert Kennedy were both shot dead. There was a war in Viet Nam and back in America there was distrust for the government. Shut-ins, walk-outs and sit-ins were the way people expressed their disappointment with the establishment, while drugs of the psychedelic variety were another type of experiment against the system. The Beatles had returned from India with Transcendental Meditation and groups like The Cream were defining the improvisational Rock & Roll. So to sit through a was religion class listening to stories about dead people was an opportunity to either snooze or goof-off with friends. But when this priest spoke, I was listening.

His name was Torkom Saraydarian. I was a student at the Holy Martyrs Ferrahian Armenian Day School in Encino California, where he was the priest. I found his lessons fascinating because he was inviting. He engaged us – at least me – in a practical manner, in my faith. Of all the lessons, the one I remember specifically was the one on fasting. He stood before the altar and explained the joys of fasting – the experience of cleaning the body and the soul through this practice. He spoke of healing and at that young age I was actually understanding that body, soul and mind needed to function in harmony for a healthy life.

Many years later, after I was ordained a priest, I set out looking to find Torkom. He was teaching in Sadona, Arizona. I packed up our young family and we head out to the desert, only to be disappointed to learn the Teacher had passed away only a few months before we arrived. I was truly looking forward to meeting with him. I had followed only peripherally his teachings but knew that we were kindred spirits. A few years after our trip to Sedona I connected with his daughter Gita who was keeping Torkom’s legacy alive through the publication of his books and lessons in Ageless Wisdom.*

In his lifetime, Torkom had authored many books and touched many lives with his wisdom and teaching. One of his many volumes is titled “Healing.” I wish to share with you a few excerpts from the first chapter of the book, called “Striving Toward Perfection.”

The Ageless Wisdom teaches us that the major foundation of health is striving toward perfection… There are three stages of perfection. The first is called Transfiguration. The second is called Mastery. The third one is called Resurrection.

All branches of the Ageless Wisdom – religions, traditions, legends, myths, etc. – have one major goal: to bring to the people of the world all the laws, rules, principles, ideas and the teachings which will make them healthy physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Of course health, in turn, brings happiness, prosperity and success.

To be healthy means to be healthy in all your personality vehicles – the physical, emotional, and mental bodies. Unless these bodies are healthy, you cannot be considered a healthy person. And these three bodies must unfold and develop simultaneously until they reach a high degree of integration in which they cooperate with maximum efficiency and without hindering each other’s growth.

I wish to leave you to contemplate these thoughts from Torkom Saraydarian on this 27th Day on the Road to Healing. Keep in mind that we stepped foot on this road only twenty seven days ago, but the true journey – the one filled with inquiries, answers, growth and completeness, is one we have been on all our life. I look forward to continuing with you tomorrow.

* For more on Ageless Wisdom and Torkom Saraydarian: http://www.tsgfoundation.org/
Photo: At Saraydarian Center, Arizona with In His Shoes Group 2003
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for https://epostle.net

Chains

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 26:
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Ever since he was a kid he loved the sea. Garry grew up in a small town over the hill from the ocean. The fog would roll in on the summer mornings, stirring his imagination to some of the most picturesque shores in the South Sea. His family was of modest means; they lived well, but little left to indulge in some of the luxuries of life. He never verbalized it, but everyone knew, Garry wanted to be on a boat. Not a small boat, but something that he could take out and ride to the places he dreamed about.

So it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when on his 26th birthday he withdrew his entire savings and a small loan to purchase a 2008 Carver Voyager with twin Volvo D9 diesel engines. His dream had come true. He had worked hard for this yacht and he knew he would enjoy all 52 feet of this vessel. He was going to explore, play, see, find and experience his love of the sea from the deck of his own ship. This was his. He had worked hard since graduating high school, sometimes working double shifts to get the money to buy this yacht. He knew all the businesses in the marina and was on a first-name basis with all the owners. The boat owners were all sincerely happy to hear Garry was making this dream come true. He had tried once before to purchase a boat, but it was small and he knew it was for the best that the financing didn’t work on that deal. This was the ship he would now enjoy. And who knows where it would lead him? A young man, with the sea in his hair, he might even find the love of his life to cruise the seas together.

He found a space in the harbor over the hill where he would park his yacht while in town. He had two large chains that he had actually acquired years before the boat. The chains kept his ambition before his mind. He’d look at the chains whenever he’d get discouraged and remember that he was working for a reason – to have this boat. Each chain was made of the highest test materials. They were definitely overkill; they could have held the Queen Mary at bay. But for Garry’s purposes, strong they were, but they weren’t long enough to tie the ship to the dock. He took the chains over to his friend Mike who welded them together, making a large chain to be used to tie the boat to the dock and to go down with the anchor while parked at sea.

Garry was ready to set sail in a week. Once his affairs were in order the open horizon was where he was headed. But his dream would soon be shattered when on the first night he had parked his boat, the chain broke causing this massive yacht to float toward the breakwater, and somehow make it to the edge of the harbor and be kicked out to sea. It was at the dawn of the next day that they discovered the wreckage of the boat, out on the rocks of a nearby island. Back in the harbor the chain was fastened to the dock, but broken at the point of the weld. It was a faulty job.

There is a saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Dreams, with all good intentions, can be quickly shattered and lost when that weakest link is broken. Much like Garry’s story, our lives are filled with details, some very minute and precise, but each of those details depends on the health and strength of the other details. We look for healing of the body or the soul, but equally important are our “chains” – those support and structures in our lives that keep us at bay. Those could be things, they could be people, they could be relationships, they are definitely our wellbeing. We are only as strong as our weakest link. It’s necessary to not let ambition rule our actions, where we miss the minute details and allow the chain to break.

Let us pay attention to the details of the minute matters, those links that hold us in place and hold us together. Ask yourself, in my life where are my strong links and where is the weakest link? People? Places? Things? What would I lose if that weak link should snap? When we first started this journey, we might have answered this question by pointing to our illness or disease as the weakest link in our system. I believe today we may find other places to look.

We pray the prayer of St. Nersess Shnorhali,

O Christ, the guardian of all, let Your Right Hand guard and shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while sleeping and while awake, that I may never fall. Have mercy upon Your Creatures and upon me, a great sinner. Amen.

This is Fr. Vazken looking forward to continuing the Road to Healing with you tomorrow.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Forgotten Ego

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 25:
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Yesterday we had a preliminary dose of one of St. Gregory of Narek’s prayer. It might have gone misunderstood had we not been on the journey for over three weeks when we encountered it. The meditation was intended to bring us to a new platform today, where the ego is slighted as a prerequisite to healing.

The struggle we have with our ego is a difficult one. On the first hand, we are here, on this journey, precisely because of the ego. That is, we hurt. We have had several life experiences that have contributed to our pain and suffering. As we inspect and examine ourselves and the underlying reasons for our illness, addictions, broken relationships or disease, we find our ego is tightly and intricately intertwined with our ails.

Who knows you better than anyone else on this planet? Better than your mother, better than your father? Better than your spouse, sister or brother? Better than your lover or your best friend? Who knows you better than anyone else? You do. Sure, you have close friends, maybe even a soul-mate, but only you know all of your ambitions, your desires, your inner struggles and feelings. Therefore, responsibility for your welfare ultimately resides with you. Pure and simple.

But in this thought process, it’s very easy to convince yourself that that is all that matters. When we read a prayer or mediation such as the works of Narekatsi, we immediately understand that there is something greater than the self in the life process. That is, the ego is diminished in size and capacity when we acknowledge something greater than the self. There are many ways of understanding that greater-than-self entity. It can be called the Truth, the Universe, the All, the Force or Power, Father, Mother, God or very simply Love. In all cases, in acknowledging the greater-than-self we understand that our healing, and ultimately our health, is a combination of body and soul, heaven and earth, self and God.

Praising and praying are one way of acknowledging the greater presence and letting the ego have a break.

Let us pray a prayer of St. Nersess Shnorhali,

Searcher of secrets, I have sinned against You willingly and unwillingly, knowingly and unknowingly, grant me —a great sinner— forgiveness, for since I was born of the holy font until this day I have sinned before You, by my senses, and by all the members of my body. Have mercy upon Your Creatures and upon me, a great sinner. Amen.

Think of this prayer, meditate on the words and the thought of asking someone for something as eloquent, as beautiful, as simple and as great as forgiveness. Where does your ego stand in this relationship?

This is Fr. Vazken inviting you to join us tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Narek

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 24:
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Yesterday I left you with verses from a prayer by St. Gregory of Narek. Narekatsi, as he is called, was monk of the Church at the turn of the first millennium. The monastery of Narek was near Lake Van, in one of the most scenic and serene areas surrounding the holy Mt. Ararat. He was a mystic, a monk, a priest, a poet and a man. He wrote prayers and lead mediations, focusing on the plight of humanity as understood through his suffering, and found a healing joy by humbling himself in the awesome presence of God.

Narekatsi’s prayers are known to have healing powers. Next to the Gospels, Narekatsi’s writings are the most revered by the Armenian people and have been translated into several languages.

I wish to continue today on our Road to Healing with another excerpt from the saint’s sacred poetry. The prayer is recited within the Church with an introductory statement, “From the depth of my heart, a conversation with God.” As I read these lines today meditate not only on the words, but on a possible conversation you would have with the Creator, with Infinite Love. What might that conversation contain? Would it be a shopping list of spiritual ointments and sanctified medicines? Or something else? If your conversation with God begins from your heart, there is only one way it can travel. Give yourself a chance to listen, absorb and then engage in that conversation yourself.

From St. Gregory of Narek,

Lord, my Lord, grantor of gifts, root of goodness,
ruler of all equally, creator of all from nothing,
glorified, awesome, awe inspiring,
beyond understanding,
dreadful, mighty, stern,
unbearable, unapproachable, incomprehensible,
inconceivable,
ineffable, invisible, unexaminable,
untouchable, unsearchable,
without beginning, outside of time,
unclouded knowledge, bold vision,
true being, exalted and humble,
blessed existence, shadowless dawn,
ray shining upon all, light professing to all,
unwavering assurance, undisturbable calm,
indelible seal, infinite image, witnessed name,
taste of sweetness, cup of bliss,
soul-nourishing bread, love in dark exile,
unambiguous promise,
covering most desirable, garment most protective,
cloak most worthy, ornament most glorious,
great help, trustworthy refuge,
undiminishing grace, inexhaustible treasure,
pure rain, glittering dew,
universal cure, free healing,
health restored, sublime spur,
undeceiving call, good news for all,
king who lifts up the slave,
defender who loves the poor,
giver of endless wealth,
safe harbor, unyielding command,
hope without bounds,
long in vision, unsparing in generosity,
just right hand that dispenses to all,
impartial eye, voice of comfort, consoling tidings,
harbinger of bliss,
living name, finger of foresight,
unstumbling start, sincere course,
life-giving will, candid advice, unenvying honor,
broad possibility, narrow restriction,
track without trace, path without markers,
image indescribable, quantity immeasurable,
model inimitable,
unparalleled compassion, inexhaustible mercy,
humility celebrated, kiss of salvation.

And more than these worthy epithets,
dedicated to your Godliness,
you who are blessed, praised, lauded,
preached, evangelized,
proclaimed, exalted, recounted, sought with
unflagging desire,
whatever your streams of sweetness bring us,
shall be illustrated in these image-filled psalms,
showing you joyful in my salvation, blessed Lord,
as if a ravenous hunger had been relieved by a
sumptuous feast,
for you are glorified not because of some
vain song of mine,
but because you may accept these modest prayers
as justification for granting your great salvation.

This is Fr. Vazken, inviting you to join us tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.

Narekatsi translation by Thomas J. Samuelian
Visit http://www.stgregoryofnarek.am/ to learn more.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Chinese Trees & Forests

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 23:
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A large envelope arrived in the mail yesterday. It was marked with the writing of a child. It was addressed to “Hopar,” an endearing term for uncle, from my six-year-old nephew Vartan. He was excited to share his lesson about Martin Luther King, Jr. with me. On a large card made out of construction paper, was his rendition of the Civil Rights Leader along with his narrative, written with thick marker pens.

At the bottom of the note, he had two marking. They had nothing to do with the story of King, but everything to do with our journey. They were combination of lines – a vertical and horizontal line drawn perpendicular to one another, and two lines shooting out of the cross-point at 45 degree angles on each side. Underneath the symbol was written, “Wood symbol in Chinese.” Next to this figure was two of the same figure with the inscription, “Forest in Chinese.”

The Chinese logograms appeared as a bonus message on my nephew’s letter, but their arrival on this day of our Journey – the day after we took our eyes off of the horizon – was more than a fluke. It is the caveat to yesterday’s message and the theme for today: Can’t see the forest for the trees.

Yesterday we moved our attention from the abstract and unseen reality beyond the horizon to the road below our feet, to the immediate functions of life. In so doing it might be easy to concentrate so much on the little things that we fail to notice, and subsequently we fail to understand, the intertwining of all of life’s realities. We can’t see the forest for the trees.

When we are too close to a situation we need to step back and get a better perspective. It is easy to be over obsessed and consumed with our life-situations, especially if they are troubling and causing us hardship. Illness and disease are overwhelming, as are love-lost and hurtful-pasts. It is even comforting to bask in misery because it’s close by and familiar. Meanwhile, the possibility of the unknown – the healing – and the risk involved to get there can be frightening. It means risking and opening ourselves to vulnerability. With this narrow outlook, we miss opportunities to connect with other life experiences and people to build the bigger reality of life.

The happy medium is between our steps below our feet and the horizon in the distance. It’s there that healing becomes possible as we move from self-absorption to self-respect. We understand the possibilities within our reach.

If you follow the road signs on the highway you’re pretty much assured to get in close proximity of your destination, give or take a few addresses, blocks or miles. On this journey we’ve been twisting and turning in a rather adventurous spirit. So I doubt that the direction we received today, from the “hands of babes” was purely chance. When you find synchronicity with the signs, roads and compass directions as we have today, it becomes more of a confirmation of being on the right path and for us, a confirmation that healing is in front of us.

We reach to St. Gregory of Narek (Narekatsi) for today’s prayer and meditation. This is merely an excerpt from a longer proclamation for healing. Narekatsi’s words are overwhelming as a forest, yet each word expresses the beauty and wonder of the simple tree. Meditate on the words, mediate on the whole:

Lord, my Lord, grantor of gifts, root of goodness,
ruler of all equally, creator of all from nothing,
glorified, awesome, awe inspiring,
beyond understanding…
blessed existence, shadowless dawn,
ray shining upon all, light professing to all,
unwavering assurance, undisturbable calm,
taste of sweetness, cup of bliss,
love in dark exile,
great help, trustworthy refuge,
undiminishing grace, inexhaustible treasure
, pure rain, glittering dew,
universal cure, free healing,
health restored, sublime spur,
defender who loves the poor,
unparalleled compassion, inexhaustible mer
cy, humility celebrated, kiss of salvation.

We will continue on this road tomorrow, until then this is Fr. Vazken inviting you to join us then, on this Lenten Journey.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Horizon

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 22:
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March 24 – “On a clear day you can see forever” is the title of a book and a song. This is a conditional statement, that is, the depth of vision is dependent on the clarity of the day.

As we travel on this 22nd day of our journey we can look out fairly far in the distance, in fact we see the horizon and our imagination can take us beyond it. How necessary is to know what lies beyond the horizon? How necessary is the concept of forever? Far more important is the concept of clarity, the condition which makes forever possible. What exists at the horizon or beyond it is of no use for us today. We are traveling forward and therefore the placement of the horizon changes every day.

A journey is a celebration of newness. It’s tempting to stretch our glance out to the horizon, but when we do that we miss the beauty of the flowers in the foreground. Every day we have opportunities to find new adventure. If we take those opportunities, then the horizon is expanded. If we stay still, the horizon remains the same.

On a clear day you can see forever, and it is tempting to look out far, especially if clarity is there. But illness itself (remember we’re talking about physical and emotional) means that there is little or no clarity. The clouds are near and low. The atmosphere is foggy and perhaps smoggy as well. Today, the horizon isn’t visible, but even with our vision impaired we’re finding ways to enjoy the opportunities that are presented. We have the ability to look close by and become more concerned with issues that are today.

Reaching for distant horizons or long-term goals can have side effects that are not conducive to the process of healing. Doing so prevents us from observing the issues that are under our immediate control and detour us from new avenues with new potentials. Living for the day curbs ambition and allows for healthier recovery, because we see the obstacles directly in front of us.

Channel the imagination to the point you’re at now, and see how the position of the horizon changes. Overcome the challenges of the day and jump the hurdles before you and you will rise above the clouds so that you can see forever. It’s not the forever you thought it was.

Here is today’s meditation and prayer by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. It challenges us to take control of the immediate and trust for things in the future.

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

This is Fr. Vazken, inviting you to join us again tomorrow as we continue on the Road to Healing.

Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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Between East & West

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Road to Healing – Lenten Journey 2014
Day 21:
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Since returning home after surgery, I have been using our living room space as the headquarters for my program of recovery. It is there that I meet with friends and family and practice the daily rituals of prayer and meditation. Thoughts are introduced and processed here, some forever lost, while others hit me so profoundly, that they become prescriptions scribbled on pads of electrons.

I am surrounded by two icons. On the Northern wall is an icon of the Resurrection of Christ and on the Southern side, against the window is a depiction of the Medicine Buddha. My dear friend Gregory Beylerian is the artist who created these images. By sitting between them, I am literally between North and South and spiritually between East & West. (I use these terms in the broad sense; for me, it’s a question of being between East and further East.)

Positioning myself here is part of my personal journey of healing. The Medicine Buddha, sometimes referred to as the Healing Buddha, is the granter of perfect health, and in that perfect health we understand body and soul, for the Medicine Buddha light is one that leads to enlightenment. The image is painted in a dark deep blue. The indigo color is associated with the brow chakra (this is one of the centers of spiritual power in the body) – where we find discernment, clarity, vision and seeing beyond illusion.

So where are we today? Are we at the midpoint of our journey where East meets West? I sit between North and South, I find a fusion of East and West. You’ll find that our Road to Healing has been one of discernment, to find clarity, vision and focus beyond the illusion. Because beyond our ills, problems, addictions, incompatibilities, misunderstandings and failures, there is the pure self that has the potential of complete healing.

Yesterday we met the Medicine Buddha when we heard the question, “Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven? Or to say rise and walk?” Is this not the hand off between the physical and the spiritual? Jesus, in the Parable of the Dishonest Steward, reminds us that the children of this existence are, in this generation, wiser than the children of light. Today is not only a meeting of East and West, it’s the meeting of Heaven and Earth. Today we find that we are beings of physical and spiritual certainty and the completeness of our life is enjoyed only in the harmony between the two. Heaven and Earth meet as a prototype of our body and soul meeting, leading us to complete renewal and peace.

I am surrounded by two icons. On one side of me the Medicine Buddha, extends his arm and hand toward the holy Earth while on my other side the Christ extends his hand up to heaven, I realize my place between them is unique. I have an opportunity as no other in time, to open myself to the healing that envelopes me, coming from all sides, from above and below, from within and without.

We pray a simple prayer of St. Nersess Shnorhali:

I plead to you, loving Lord, heal me.
Be life in my death.
Be light in my darkness
Take away my pain. Amen.

This is Fr. Vazken looking forward to meeting with you again tomorrow as we continue on this Road to Healing.

Images: Medicine Buddha & Rise! by Gregory Beylerian
Produced by Suzie Shatarevyan for epostle.net
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