Bishop of Corfu, Mr. Nektarios: “When Christ is with us, we fear nothing”
His Eminence, the Bishop of Corfu, Paxos and the Diapontian Islands, Mr. Nektarios, did the Divine Liturgy at the celebrating parish of Ascension in Cannon, Corfu, on the morning of Thursday, May 28, 2020.
Addressing the faithful, Mr. Nektarios stressed that the ignorance of the teaching of our Church about the great events of our faith leads us to deviate from the faith. We humans do not believe in the threefold face of a God who created us, who suffered for us, who resurrected our nature and took it with Him, resurrected and incorruptible to all of us in heaven. Insisting on our fallen nature, on our own reasoning, our mind becomes either beastly or demonic. Christ called us and calls us to freedom in the mystery of the divine economy. He called us to the heavenly state, to the path of holiness. Thus, with His Ascension, Christ united the earthly with the heavenly.
So he cries out to those who love Him, “I am with you and no one with you.” Christ loves everyone. But there are also people who do not love Him. They do not want to express their faith and devotion, just as those who think and meditate on their lives are far from Christ. When Christ is with us, no one has the power to defeat us. Temptation and the devil are crushed before the power of Christ. Man should not capitulate to lies, temptation, deception, lust, to man’s compromises, and they give so much to temptation. But he who loves God lets the grace of God enter his heart and makes Christ dwell in him. This is what the saints did.
Do not be afraid when Christ is in our hearts. We need to fight in Christ to stay true to our faith. This struggle makes sense when we share the body and blood of Christ!
