By Abbot Tryphon, May 25, 2020
I am in Rogue River, Oregon, where I came to serve the Divine Liturgy for my dear friend and concelebrant, Archpriest Seraphim Cardoza. Father Seraphim has been dealing with very serious heart issues, having suffered two heart attacks during the past few weeks. Due to his declining health, he needed me to minister to his parishioners, and I was more than happy to do so.
On my seven hour drive from Vashon Island, to Rogue River, Oregon, I stopped into a convenience store at a gas station, to get a little bite for the road. While paying for the chips, the counter clerk asked if I was the pastor for the young man sitting in the van out front. When I told her I was not, she shared with me the young fellow was waiting for his pastor, and that he was going through some crisis.
As I left the store I glanced at the van, and witnessed the young man leaning against the steering wheel of his car, weeping. It took every ounce of strength for me to continue walking toward the gas pumps, and my own van. I wanted with all my soul to reach out to him, and offer help for whatever was troubling him, but knew he’d already called for his own pastor, so it was best to let him be.
A few days ago I read an article that pointed out the suicide rate for the nation is soaring, and is, in some regions, higher than the death rates of the Covid-19 virus. Both as a priest, and as a police chaplain, I’ve had to deal with more than my share of suicides, and it is never easy. Although ministering to people who’ve lost a loved one, helping people who have lost a close friend, or family member, to suicide, is always much more difficult.
With the millions who are now without jobs or income, and facing a bleak future of homelessness, much like the Great Depression, is it any wonder so many are choosing to end their lives, rather than endure the terrible losses they’ve endured because of this pandemic.
While delivering the homily for today (Southern Oregon is allowing limited numbers to return to church), I observed many young people, and little children, in the congregation. They reminded me of what my own life was like when I was their age, and how much I depended on the support that only kids my own age could give. Now, all across the nation, we are witnessing children and young people being forced into lockdown, deprived of the love and support of their friends.
Added to this sorrow, we are seeing countless adults of all ages going through the same separation. Is it any wonder we are witnessing large numbers of people on the verge of giving up all hope for future happiness?
Saint Mark the Ascetic said, “When tested by some trial you should try to find out not why or through whom it came, but only how to endure it gratefully, without distress or rancor.” It is so easy to seek out political parties, world leaders, or even nations, as places to lay the blame for the pandemic that has befallen us all. And, it is incredibly easy to surrender to the belief that things will only be getting worse, and that hope for a bright future is forever gone. But this is not true.
We humans have experienced numerous periods in our collective history, where things looked hopeless, but history has proved, time and again, that even periods that seemed hopeless, turned around for the good. As Christians, we know all the more so, the truth of this. There is hope, and the hope we have is in none other than our faith in Christ. He is our hope and our salvation, and we need only to put our trust in Him. Our suffering, no matter how horrid it may seem in the moment, is but a speck in the sand when we compare it to eternity.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
~The Morning Offering, https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/morningoffering/2020/05/do-not-weep/
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