January 11, 2015 - The uncovering of our self

January 11, 2015

The uncovering of our self

When someone gets sick, especially when one has to be examined by a doctor or has to be hospitalized and has to appear naked in front of others, he often feels ashamed. Thus did Adam and Eve feel ashamed before God after the Fall.  Why is this? Because one’s nakedness reveals  the imperfections of one’s real self. It reveals one’s condition after the Fall, in other words, one’s deadness. St. John Chrysostom says that it reveals one’s  “wet” (lucid) and unbounded, [loosed]” or “frozen” way of life. Man tries to cover the sad truth of his sickened human nature and his illogical and unreasonable life from himself and from others because he believes that he will not be accepted and, thus, wants to protect himself from the pain of being rejected. But what he forgets or does not know is that if he does not unclothe himself and allow his physician to examine him, he will not be cured.

The same takes place with our spiritual illnesses. If we do not uncover ourselves and allow our self and others to come to know our spiritual ailments; if we do not unload ourselves from the weight of our passions which bind us and immure us in a material world; if we do not change the direction of our life (i.e. if we do not repent); if we do not allow the Great Doctor of our souls and bodies to see us as we are, with all of our imperfections, then we will not allow Him to heal us and grant us the true life which is adorned with the bright vestment of His divine grace and philanthropy.  

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