The True Christ

WORST ILLNESS – BEST REMEDY

     We all suffer from various ailments from time to time, but there is one illness that is the worst illness  of all and which also becomes the cause of other illnesses of  soul and body. Man is body soul and spirit and we are all somewhat familiar with bodily illnesses and perhaps with  their treatment, but the most severe illness of all is the illness of the soul, sometimes severe but always curable but it should be the first thing needing cure. Belief in God is most essential to treatment of the soul and belief and trust is found only in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Some ailments of the soul are more severe but all ailments respond to the same treatment, humbling ourselves, sincere repentance, confession and receiving Holy Communion.

      God created us endowing us with freedom of decision and action, and His divine law for us to respect and obey but iy drrmd that we all have all disobeyed the law of God which introduces suffering and misery into our souls and bodies. The best and only remedy is prescribed by Jesus Christ, which is, sincere repentance from the depths of our souls with thorough confession to an Orthodox Priest who is authorized to forgive our sins through the mercy and compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ, followed by the partaking of Holy Communion. 

     We may not be familiar with the ailments of our souls, but they are brought about by the things we do against the law of God and our conscience. There are times when they often cause us much unhappiness and  misery  preventing lasting joy in our souls. 

     If any unconfessed sins remain in our souls doing their evil work this must be rooted out.  After sincere repentance and complete confession and Holy Communion,  joy will immediately arrive and delight  our souls for the cure is in now taking effect. We will not be judged by God for illnesses of the body, but we will be judged for unconfessed sins and iniquities which afflict our souls.  But thank our Lord Jesus Christ, who through His sacrifice on the Cross made it cure possible. He is worthy of all praise and adoration for He is good and the only Lover of man.

    Sickness of the soul, due to wrong choices are always our responsibility being more severe and in need of treatment more than ailments of the body. Among theses sins are lying, stealing, cheating, swearing, arrogance, unreasonable anger, fornication, adultery, gluttony and drunkenness. These are just a few of our soul’s many sins and we need to rid ourselves of all of  them through repentance and confession, followed by receiving  the Body and Blood of Christ. Lasting joy and jubilation will come into our hearts and fill us with continual thanks and love for God, overflowing our souls with happiness each day of our life. The former burden of our souls will be lifted and realizing Christ’s forgiveness will remain imprinted in our souls forever. Things that used to bring us unhappiness will now be the cause of much joy. Misery will be gone never to return. The soul’s cure is always treated and cyured by  repentance, confession and holy Communion.

     A new life awaits all who are sick and sinful  in their souls when they respond to Christ’s treatment and are cured. Experiencing the joyous effect of the miraculous cure in our souls we will have a strong desire to share this with as many others as possible, for the delight cannot be adequately  described, so it takes our action toward others.

     With humility and kindness we will enter into communication with those who have not been cured, many of them have never repented and confessed. Some people will  claim that they are Orthodox Christians and go to Church and even to Holy Communion, but they may never have repented. To commune without sincere repentance and confession can become extremely serious, for the Lord makes it clear that whoever eats His Body and drinks His blood must examine himself first and not go without proper preparation. 

     It is important that the virtue of sincerity and humility arise in a person’s inner being, for genuine repentance requires a humble, sincere and contrite soul. One of the important aspects of our Holy Faith is that everyone, bishop, priest, or layman all seek to spread this knowledge of salvation  to many others for this leads to happiness and eternal life. We who have the true Orthodox faith must be always be true to that Faith  by always remembering that there is nothing more important in our lives than our pure Faith.

     As we progress in spiritual life we must always remember that we are repentant sinners, and though we may have stopped sinning, and though we have repented we remain as the worst of sinners, for we are not superior to anyone. This is declared in A Prayer before receiving Holy Communion which begins: “I believe O Lord and I confess, that you are the Christ, Son of the Living God, who came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the first!”