The Ascension of the Lord and Mercy – Fr. Pimen Vlad

Listen to a beautiful message from Father Pimen Vlad, who draws a connection between the Ascension of the Lord, mercy, and the sorrow that is hidden within this event.

Enjoy!

My dear ones, here we are again! It’s a beautiful, sunny day. In fact, every day is beautiful, but now it’s a little sunnier. There were one or two days with rain, but today is a warm day. The birds also rejoice. There is still a little noise because we are working on a wall, a little further down, and some concrete is just being poured and an engine is heard. Even if I came to the orchard, it can still be heard, but it’s a sign of living, there is life.

Yes, my dear ones, what else can I tell you about? I’ve told you so much over time, I’m going to try a combination of several things, as the Mother of God will enlighten me. I think this video will happen right on the Ascension of the Lord, because you know that I always do it a few days in advance, maybe a week, so that there is time to prepare it.

What shall we say about the Ascension of the Lord? We see that, after the Resurrection, the Savior appeared so many times: to the disciples, to the Mother of God, to the myrrh-bearing women. He constantly showed Himself, encouraged them, told them “Do not be afraid!”, told them “Rejoice!” So two basic things: not to be afraid, because we have God with us, and to rejoice. Did you hear, my dear ones? Let’s rejoice in everything around us, let’s rejoice in nature, in birds, animals, people, in everything around us, let’s rejoice beautifully, let’s not do evil, let’s put evil aside and do good, let’s choose the good. Do you understand?

By doing good, we do ourselves good, here, on Earth, and in eternity. And as it says in the Gospel at the Ascension of the Lord, the Savior took the disciples somewhere close to Bethany and He talked to them, encouraged them, and stayed a little longer with them. Why? Because He was going to ascend to heaven and in order to strengthen them, to encourage them, to be visibly present longer, in their midst. And while He was talking to them, He ascended into heaven. Yes, He ascended! So He was not raised up by someone, like St. Elijah, who did not ascend, but God took him. And how did He ascend to heaven, because He was always there, in heaven, next to God, the Father – in the Holy Trinity, but He ascended to heaven with our body, this human body, which He took from the Mother of God. So He deified it, He took it to heaven, that is, He blotted out all our sins, the ancestral sin, cleansed us, reconciled us with God. 

Those of you who have been to Jerusalem, you have seen somewhere there, on the Mount of Olives, is the place of the Ascension. It was exactly on that place that the Ascension of the Savior into heaven began, and it is said in tradition that He did not rise suddenly, just like that, upwards, but He rose slightly, so that He would still be present with them. At the Eleon monastery is “the footprint of the Mother of God.” It is said that, when He began to ascend slowly, the Mother of God embraced Him, when she saw that her Son was ascending, going to heaven. He was ascending slowly so as not to sadden the Mother of God even more. In this way He rose gently from Her hands. It is said that there, at Eleon, the Mother of God stood on the tip of one foot to reach as high as possible to embrace His feet, to hold the Savior a little longer, who was ascending and thus the footprint of the foot of the Mother of God was imprinted in stone. That’s why it’s called the footprint of the Mother of God. The love of a mother – even though She knew that He was God and He was going to Heaven and would help more – she could not bear to let Him go, rather wanted to have Him present for as long possible, especially since she had gone through great suffering at the Crucifixion, and then through the joy of the Resurrection. She is a mother, she is our mother, of all of us.

Christ ascended to heaven, and the apostles were grieved. Normally, they should have rejoiced that the Savior had gone to Heaven and would help them permanently. But He was their teacher, He was their friend, He was their God, there was still a separation. When a loved one leaves home for a while, you know they’re coming back, but you’re sad that they’re leaving, even though you know you’ll see them again. It was the same with the Savior and the Mother of God. And He rose until He was no longer seen, but they stared at the sky in case they might see Him a little longer. And two angels appeared in white robes and said to them: “…why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Understand?

Besides what the Savior had told them, that He would not leave them orphans, that He would send the Holy Spirit, the Comforter… here the angels told them: He “…will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” When? …. At the Judgement. To separate the sheep from the goats…one from the other. Those who listened to His commandments, those who followed His teaching those who have done what they had to do, struggling on the path to God, they will go out to meet Him. They will be lifted up from the ground with the Divine Power. On the other hand, those who loved the earth, who clung to this earth, who were able to do all the wickedness to acquire a bit of this earth, will remain attached to the earth, on their own. At the judgment they will separate from each other.

Those who have used this land only for their needs, who have done good from the fruits of the earth, they all go to meet the Savior. Let’s be a little careful, let’s try to be among those who will be picked up, at least a little, not sticking to the earth. Yes, dear ones? This means not being too attached. Let’s not be capable of doing all the evil to acquire this earth. We see how many emperors, how many great men fought and killed themselves for it, and the earth remained where it is. They couldn’t move it. How weak we are! The earth remains and it even covers us at the end. We fight for it and it doesn’t go anywhere. We should remain stable too, where God placed us, in our land. Let us take care of it, because it gives us its fruits, let’s respect it and from these fruits to give to others as well. But let’s take care of our land. Let’s not sell it or make a mockery of it. Let’s preserve it and take care of it. Yes, dear ones?

What else can I tell you? Sometimes we can get joy from small things. A gesture, a smile, a kind word said to someone, a little help, you can’t even imagine how much it’s worth. Let me tell you something I remembered now: once, in Thessaloniki, going out with a father to some chores, we met a family from Romania, people who love to watch the videos, they will know [it’s about them]. I went with them to St. Demetrius, to the church, after which I think we talked for a while, drank a coffee together, and we were walking down the street, it was this winter, towards spring, but in any case it was cold out, foggy, and it was drizzling. It was pretty cold and we were dressed warm. At one point, as we were walking slowly down the street, there was an elderly woman coming towards us, I saw her from about 10 m away.  She was wearing house slippers, a robe, and just a coat on her shoulders, and on her head she had scarf. You could see that she came out of the house quite unkempt. Where was she going I wonder? She walked down the street lost, by that I mean miserable and sad. There were people, they were going up the street, but she didn’t see any of them. She walked slowly, shuffling her feet.

She was about 80 years old, maybe she was alone at home, didn’t have someone, she had no strength to change, she only put a coat on her shoulders. Maybe she went out to get a loaf of bread, maybe she didn’t even have money for bread. She was going to the church of St. Demetrius, maybe she was going there to say a prayer to help her. We don’t know the situation. Maybe she was abandoned by her children, gone abroad or maybe even driven away by her children. We don’t know. There are so many things in this world.

When I saw her, as she was… I have another habit when I walk on the street: to take a photo of different people, so that their memory somehow remains imprinted on me. When I see these poor people…. The first gesture, as she was coming, was to put my hand in my pocket, to take out the phone, to take a photo of her. As I was walking with the father and this family, I slowed down and hung back a little bit, and I just moved my hand to my pocket, to take a picture of the elderly woman, but at that moment a thought came to me: “Maybe this old woman didn’t eat today, who knows what she’s carrying in pain, in the sadness on her face and I take a picture of her?” Then immediately my hand went to another pocket and I took out 10 euros.

When I met her, I didn’t come out right in front of her, I went next to her and put my hand on her shoulder, calmly, slowly, and I said, “Grandma, take some money” and I put 5-10 euros in her hand. And do you know, from all her sadness, from where she didn’t see anything [around her], she suddenly looked up at me and her face lit up. Suddenly she changed totally and said: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, may God help you!” I gently stroked her back, squeezed her hand, and I turned and she left. I felt her gaze for a few seconds and then she went on her way. It was a small gesture, nothing [special]. These happen all the time. What do I want to say here? The elderly woman was in pain. I don’t think that those 10 euros that I gave her [made her happy], but the gesture, she felt that I did it with love, I simply caressed her back, grabbed her hand, gave her the money and squeezed her hand, so for her this gesture… If she had been driven away by all, this simple gesture took her out of that state, it illuminated her, her face shone. Maybe later she got back into her original state. But those moments are not forgotten and I know that that old woman, unknown, will not forget me. That I stopped for a few seconds to be by her side.

You see how simple these gestures are, but when you do them when you should and where you should, you don’t even realize how much value they have, and they go directly to God. When that old woman smiled in suffering, I think the angels smiled then too. Do this. I didn’t tell it to say that I did some great thing. No. It was something natural, I would say, but it has value in front of God. How many similar cases there are in this world. Walk the street, don’t just be deep in your own, in your troubles, in your affairs. See what is happening around you, take a look at a person in suffering, smile at them, give them courage, help them with something. These are never lost, they go and we find them in Heaven. 

What else can I tell you? You know from Fr. Cleopas, he would tell it often, about the widow Anastasia, an old woman. When the Emperor Nicephorus built a large, beautiful church… I will say it briefly, in a couple of words. … and he came to rejoice before the consecration, to see with his advisor, who had been in charge of the construction, he showed him the inscription “I, Emperor Nicephorus, made this church at my own expense…”. The church was very beautiful and everything was ready and the emperor rejoiced. It was getting close to the consecration. People had come from all over the kingdom. For months and months the date of the consecration of the church had been announced.

Somewhere, outside the town, there lived a widow, Anastasia, miserable, poor, she really had nothing. She gathered a few ears of corn behind the reapers, because it was the custom that the reapers always left some ears behind, not to collect everything, to leave something for the poor, for the birds. She would grind it… The old woman gathered a little wheat… to have something to live off of. For a day’s work she would spin wool for people. Everyone had died, she was alone, she had no one left. No children, nothing. They had all gone to the Lord. She was old.

When she heard that the church was being consecrated, she saw the carriages with people bringing of what they had, they all brought something… with many people, consumption was high. The poor woman [thought], “What should I bring? I have nothing.” She had a sickle which she used to reap where she went. Then she thought, “So many people are passing by, with oxen and things, why don’t I cut some grass from this border that belongs to nobody, and nobody uses?” She tied it up and started on the road. At the church she saw some oxen, pulled aside, which had nothing to eat and she said, “Lord, receive my labor, even if it is not from my field, I reaped it, I carried it here, and I will give it to these oxen, at least this, because I have nothing else.” After that she entered the church and worshipped. She stood before the icon, and she began to pray:

“Lord, forgive me, for I have nothing to bring You. I brought You nothing. I brought that grass, but I don’t have anything else. Forgive me for my sins, I have nothing, I am poor. But thank you, Lord, that at least you allowed me to bring that grass and you welcomed me here too. Everyone else brought wealthy things, I am like the widow from the Gospel.”

And she was praying there as she knew how, and she was waiting for her departure to the Lord. When the consecration began, suddenly everyone saw that where the inscription was, the writing had changed. An unseen hand erased it and written something else: “I, the widow Anastasia, built this church.” Do you understand? It was no longer Nicephorus, the emperor. Everyone was amazed when they saw that writing had disappeared. A more courageous one went and told the counselor, who then showed it to the emperor. “Emperor come; remember the inscription you saw at the entrance? Look what it says now.”

He marveled when he saw this mystery of God and understood that the widow had done something pleasing to the Lord, above him, so that, although he had paid for the building of the church, she nevertheless received the church in her name. So he sent people to search… I won’t go into more details, as Fr. Cleopas used to tell it so beautifully. But in a few words… Finally, from man to man, some widows, found out who the widow Anastasia was and where she was in the church. Then the emperor said, “Bring her, but without scaring her, tell her we are giving gifts to the widows so she should come.” And they brought her forward. He said, “Grandma, what have you done for this church?” She said, “Emperor, I have not done anything, because I have nothing, I have brought nothing.” “No, you have done something. Let me read you what the angel of the Lord has written here. Look: ‘I, the widow Anastasia, have built this church.’ So God gave it to you. You did do something.” And she said, “I don’t know if it counts for anything that I did this, I brought a bundle of grass reaped from a border.” “Yes, but before God, that bundle was considered more valuable than everything I have done, and this church belongs to you from now on, it is in your name.”

Do you see how God honored her? For a bundle of grass brought out of love? That’s all she could do, an old woman; to carry a bundle of grass. It was a toil. She prayed that even that toil would be counted, and God did indeed count it. It is said that when she died, the old woman was buried in the church. The emperor commanded thus, that she should be given due honor, if God honored her.

Do you see, dear ones, how much difference there is between the honor that people give us and the honor that God gives us? Let us not run after the glory of men, because God will give us glory, He knows how. Yes, dear ones? Let’s do good with all our hearts, because God never remains in debt, and the Mother of God constantly intercedes for us, she is with us all the time.

Dear ones, may the good God and the Mother of God help us, and cover us with Her holy grace. May God help us!

You see I came here in the orchard… how much beauty there is in this greenery, even with the noise, you can hear how they are pouring concrete, working, it’s all part of all that is here. Alright. May the Mother of God help us! Lord help us!

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