A Spiritual Moment

A Spiritual Moment 

1/15/25

After His baptism, Jesus was preaching repentance that so many people needed to change from their old sinful ways to find the Light of God, a life that's full of love, prayer, protection, and forgiveness. Darkness means ungodliness, and spiritual ignorance. 

As we all know, many people today suffer from spiritual ineptness, for many people don’t even bother to read their Bibles or have any knowledge of the church fathers. Every time we talk about extremism, we usually think of negative people or things. I heard people say to others, “don’t be so extreme in your political views.” However, I challenge you today to be an extremist for Christ! 

Extremism can be very dangerous as we have seen in the past with cults and other organizations, and yet, if we become an extremist for God, extreme in true divine love, extreme for truth and justice, extreme in sacrifice and service, then we may be following the paths of the saints of our church. This week, may we all reflect upon such “good” extremism, and see where each of us stands! 

Of course, I thought St. John the Baptist had extremist qualities as he was preaching repentance at the River Jordan screaming and shouting, “Repent of your sins, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” But in my opinion, he was a “good extremist.”

If we carefully look throughout the Bible, and read the lives of the saints whom we honor every day in the Church, we see a host of men and women with “extreme faith.” We see people who turned away from the darkness of the world, and allowed the Divine Light of Christ to shine deeply and richly in their souls. This is what the Gospel infers today when it says, “People who sat in darkness have seen a great light… and the Light has dawned.” This is what we need today, be a good and kind extremist for Christ. We need today more saints than ever. The world is struggling! 

Christ said in the Gospel, “turn from sin, and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Do to us what you will and we will still love you.” He even said “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” Isn’t that a little different for many people, maybe an extreme view? What a change He brought to others in those days especially when there was so much skepticism and disbelief about government and religion.

When we struggle for what is right, for what is true, and for what is good, it’s usually not an easy path. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Yet when we work for what is right and true, we walk in the path of the prophets and the saints who became extreme, despite all the consequences, in imitating the life of Christ! 

We never really look at ourselves as extremists, but in a way we are! Many in the world today don’t follow God’s laws, God’s love, or do anything that's religious and good. They do what they feel like doing. But not us, we are different, we live in this world but yet we are not of this world.

Was not St. Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel when he said, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus?” Believe it or not, when St. John the Baptist was preaching and screaming repentance at the River Jordan, many thought he was an extremist. He was, and he truly believed in what he was saying, and so yes, he was an extremist, but a good one because the world needed to know who the true light was! 

I think the problem with so many of us is that we don’t take God seriously. It's really not part of our lives and some of us don’t really believe it or live it as we say we do. I think so many of us look at the church as a weak and powerless place, where we just come and say a few prayers and leave. Some view the church as only a place of social contact. It's much more than that! It's a place of action, it's a place for change, it's a place where God dwells and is amongst us!

When we struggle for what is right, for what is true, for what is good, let's face it, it's usually not an easy path. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Yet when we work for what is right and true, we walk in the path of the prophets and the saints who became extreme, despite all the consequences, in imitating the life of Christ! Many didn’t like them and appreciate them, but that wasn’t their goal. Their goal was to imitate the "Love of God.”

So, let's be a “good extremist,” follow the light, and live a biblical life. You will

be rewarded when your life on earth is over. Amen!

 In Christ's Love, 

Fr. Paul Bebis