ProLIS Day 5. The Power of Presence

Throughout the ProLIS youth formation camp, Bishop Bryan Bayda, Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Youth of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy each day. These liturgies became a unique spiritual experience for the participants, while the bishop's homilies invited young people to reflect more deeply on faith, freedom, vocation, and living the Gospel in everyday life.

We are pleased to share Bishop Bryan Bayda's homilies that accompanied our young people throughout the camp.

 ― If we took a moment to stare into the eyes of another person, we might feel uncomfortable. It depends if we know the person or not.

We know there is a comfort zone between people when we speak with each other and that is a good thing. I am not telling you anything new, but we are aware of this comfort zone.

But what happens when we enter inside the comfort zone? We likely get nervous and say inside our minds,

“This is too close!”,

“What does the person want from me standing this close?”

“What are they actually thinking of right now?”

“Wow, I didn’t know their eyes were that colour!”

“Look at the wrinkles they have around their eyes!”

“I am uncomfortable and want to stop this!”

When we speak with others, we clearly have a choice about how close to stand to them. If we are too close, we naturally become defensive.

The other choice we have is to be completely trusting, perhaps the way we feel when we gaze into the eyes of the face of this baby. Look into the baby’s eyes and you likely do not feel defensive about anything. Imagine yourself kissing its cheeks and nose and staring into its eyes!

Ultimately, we can choose to look into the eyes of the Mother of God, the Theotokos, defensively with not trust or to stare into Her eyes and let Her stare into our eyes with complete trust.

ICON of Mother Of Perpetual Help

Let us stare into Her eyes and let Her stare into our eyes. Tell Her about your day and let Her share what some of Her days were like when She was raising Jesus.

Tell Her about your fears, your problems and let Her share with you some of the memories She has of being afraid.

Tell Her about the difficulty you have forgiving someone and then allow Her to share with you the difficulty She had forgiving those who were torturing Her Son Jesus and who crucified Him.

Tell Her about your health, your youth, significant moments in your life, raising children, friendships with others, etc., and let Her share with you so many similar stories. Perhaps you can be silent long enough to simply listen to Her.

This is the Mother that raised Jesus. Jesus was familiar with how She looked at Him, peered into His soul, listened to all He had to share with Her and then She replied with wisdom, love and compassion. This was the experience Jesus was used to having when She was totally present to Him.

Now recall the story of when Jesus visits Martha and Mary.

Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus was aware of how Mary was present. She, like His own mother, the Theotokos, was totally present to Him. Meanwhile, Martha was preoccupied with the traditional tasks of welcome and preparation for a guest. Martha had very good intentions, yet Jesus knew she was only aware He was in the room but was not present to Him. She was present with Him but not present to Him. There is a huge difference since Mary was so caught up in what she wanted to do, she, in fact, was telling Jesus what to do. She told Jesus to tell Mary to help out.

Jesus said that what Mary had chosen to do, that is, be present TO JESUS, was not going to be taken away from her.

SO when we pray to Jesus through an icon, or to the Theotokos through an icon or directly in the eye of our mind, we may choose to be defensive... or trustful.

It may take a lot of effort over many years, but the objective is to always come before Jesus or the Theotokos, before an icon or come before their invisible presence, and drop all distractions. After sharing all of our distractions, concerns and needs, petitions for those at war in Ukraine, the health of family and friends, in the end, may we strive to NOT be Martha and more like Mary.

When we ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to truly be present to Jesus, and truly be present to the Theotokos, like each Person of the Trinity is fully present to the other, may we be present to those in our families in a similar fashion.

May we hear Jesus speak to us again and again like He spoke to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

May the Holy Spirit give us the grace to be present to the Theotokos, gazing into Her eyes and into Her soul with complete trust as we would gaze into the eyes and heart of a baby. May we gaze into the eyes and heart of Jesus as Martha’s sister Mary was present to Him and as the Theotokos was present to Him. Then, more and more, may we look upon those in our families and friendships in the same way.