Some saints wear blue jeans...

by Fr Haralampos Livyos Papadopoulos

Let's allow God to surprise us, let him overturn our sense of what is reasonable--drive us crazy. I've written many times and I've mentioned just as often in talks that in our days, modern Christians have a very limited conception of holiness. They've narrow what is so wide and spacious, open and loving toward man, the embrace of the presence of God. When you believe that the only saints are the ascetics, monks with unkempt beards and hair, you exclude from holiness so many souls that live and breathe the grace of God, then you destroy the most important thing in life--the sense of surprise and reversal.

No, saints aren't only those monks and priests with long beards, tattered robes and austere comportment. There are also saints who are crucified but full of joy, with hearts full of love for man and these saints live in our parishes, in our villages and our cities--there in the room next door in our apartment complex, the hospital, the jail or even the mental hospital.

There is no greater sin and simultaneously invalidation of life's beauty than to limit with your religious narrowmindedness the various and even strange ways of God. Paradise is an incredibly beautiful surprise but you want it to be a yawn that never ends.  God's presence is what we could have never expected but you prefer what you've been waiting for. But God won't do you the favor [of accomodating you]. God will remain unpredictable and stubborn before our logic.

Because God, however much we want to imprison Him in our ideas, doesn't shrink to fit our limited understanding, He isn't boxed in by the smallness of our hearts. Always and forever He eludes us. The moment we think we've found Him, He is lost and the second we think that we know Him He becomes unknown. When you say that He is "yours," He will become a stranger and when you think you've gained Him, He make Himself absent.

And I say all of these things because recently I met a clergyman  who didn't have a long beard or long hair. He wasn't slender and "ascetic" in appearance. But believe me, he had such a loving and merciful heart, such humility and love, such balance and harmony in a way I hadn't encountered in many years.

Yet again God had suprised me. His Grace had made it clear to me that it breathes and resides where it wishes and does not give reasons. I understood again that spiritual life, the experience of life in Christ is not lived by those who use it to build up their own reputation and profile, but by those who having stripped and broken themselves  to the point of death, allowed God to conquer them. Because the secret of the spiritual life will always remain the same--to allow God to conquer us with His love.

Let's open our eyes, let's broaden our souls, so that we can see that among us there are holy people, everyday, simple people with simple daily routines. Who live without causing any fuss, they exude the miracle of humanity, the joy and lovingkindness of God.

The saints of the future won't live only in monasteries, nor will they even be wearing cassocks. They will be simple souls that we would never expect, innocent and full of love who live in the apartment to ours in the middle of the city. They will live their damnation without losing hope of paradise. And it is those who will taste paradise and the Grace of God because not even once did they believe they were worthy of it. And remember, they may even wear blue jeans...

(Source)

A note from the translator: Father Haralampos Livyos Papadopoulos is a popular homilist and writer of books about the spiritual life from Crete. His work has the grace of being simultaneously deep while remaining approachable. Like the best of the current generation of Greek clergy and theologians, he is very concerned with shattering the hold of the Protestant moralism and pietism that gripped the Greek Church for much of the 20th century and in general shaking us "religious folk" from the self-satisfied complacency that we all tend toward. I hope this blogpost that I've translated here conveys what has gained him so many followers in the Greek speaking world.