TAKE HEART AND RISE

Fr. Luke A Veronis

“Have you ever felt stuck—spiritually paralyzed, emotionally exhausted, unsure how to take the next step forward? Today’s Gospel story, the Prophet Elijah, and a scandalous modern saint all bring us the same divine encouragement: ‘Take heart and rise.’”

Let’s begin with the Gospel reading today. Friends bring a man paralyzed, someone unable to move and utterly dependent on others, to the feet of Jesus. Yet, He doesn’t simply see the man’s physical condition, but He looks in the man’s heart and sees his faith. “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven… Rise, take up your bed, and go home.”

“Take Heart and Rise.” Christ restores the man, frees him from his paralysis, and gives him new life.

This Gospel message takes on added significance when we think about the two figures we celebrate today in our church calendar - Elijah, the great Prophet of Israel from 3000 years ago and Saint Maria Skobtsova of Paris, a recently canonized saint.

These three figures - the paralyzed man from the Gospel story, the fiery prophet of the Old Testament, and the radically unusual nun—offer different examples of Christ’s command to “Take Heart and Rise.” And we can learn from each of them for our own lives to take heart and rise from whatever paralyzes us, and to walk in the Divine Love that heals the world.

Now, let’s turn to the Prophet Elijah, one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament. He was the mighty prophet of fire who found himself spiritually paralyzed after winning an unbelievable spiritual battle. He confronts King Ahab along with his 400 false priests of Baal, who have misled the people of Israel away from the one true God. Elijah calls a contest between the priests of Baal and himself, calling down fire from heaven and performing an amazing miracle. Yet, Queen Jeezebel rejects his miracle and threatens his life. Elijah flees into the wilderness. “I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” (1 Kings 19:10)

He is overwhelmed—burned out, disillusioned, and broken. He thought that he alone had remained faithful in all of Israel and all others had forgotten the Lord. Yet, what does God do? He doesn’t scold him. He doesn’t condemn him. He comforts him. He feeds him. He allows him to rest. And then He speaks to Elijah—not through fire or earthquake, but through a still, small voice.

God gently lifts Elijah and says “Take Heart and Rise.” He then sends the Prophet back—not just to do more miracles, but to continue God’s work of love and justice, helping others to take heart and rise.

Elijah receives help, just like the paralyzed man in the Gospel. Instead of remaining helpless, the paralyzed man in the Gospel story turns to his community of faith – his friends – who carry him to the Great Healer and Physician of our souls and bodies, Jesus Christ. And our Lord heals his sins and his body, telling him to “Pick up your bed and walk.”

Jesus doesn’t address simply the man’s physical mobility. It’s about dignity, about restoring someone to full personhood. It’s about empowering him to stand, walk, live, and love again. “Take Heart and Rise.”

Finally, that brings us to the witness of St. Maria Skobtsova of Paris—a woman who scandalized many in the Church yet became one of the most Christ-like figures of the 20th century.

She was a chain-smoking, beer-drinking, twice-divorced revolutionary-turned-nun who sometimes would skip her monastic services to scour the streets of Paris looking for food to feed the poor and marginalized who came to her home of hospitality. Her monastic robes might be tattered and stained, not from neglect but from lifting up the poor, the marginalized, immigrant, the outcast.

“I see the face of Christ as much in the broken alcoholic on the streets,” she would say, “as in the icons I paint in church.”

Mother Maria embodied today’s Gospel. She spent her life lifting up those who were paralyzed—not just physically, but emotionally, spiritually, socially. The hungry, the addicted, the mentally ill, the suicidal refugee, the homeless, the unwanted—she carried them to Christ by being Christ to them.

Like the friends in the Gospel who brought the paralytic to Christ, she did the same to all those in need. And in the process, she challenged the hypocrisy she saw in the Church. She called out those who admired the beauty of Christ in icons, yet refused to see Him in defaced human icons of the prisoner, the addicted, and the rejected.

“At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises. I shall be asked, Did I feed the hungry? Clothe the naked? Visit the sick and imprisoned? That is all I shall be asked… To think that Christ puts an equal sign between himself and anyone in need…. I always knew it, but now it has somehow penetrated to my sinews. It fills me with awe.”

And in the end, just as Christ said to the paralytic “Take heart and rise,” St. Maria walked freely and boldly into danger. She not only helped the poor but after the Nazi invasion she helped the Jews. And as a result, got caught and sent to the gas chamber at Ravensbrück concentration camp, where she would freely give her life in place of another.

So, in conclusion, let us ask ourselves, “What Paralyzes Us?”

• Fear that we aren’t good enough?
• Shame for some past action?
• Addictions we can’t shake?
• Bitterness or trauma from the past?
• Faith that has grown cold?
• A self-focused, egocentric faith that forgets our neighbor?

And yet, Christ says “Take Heart and RISE,” just like he told the paralytic. He calls to us with His still, small voice—just like the Prophet Elijah. And then he challenges us to become His ambassador, like Mother Maria, helping others take heart and rise!

Saint Maria once wrote, “Communing with the outcast, the homeless, the refugee, the marginalized—this is communion with Christ Himself.” And that is what true Orthodox Christianity is all about. Taking heart and rising up to become who we are meant to be: Icons of Christ, servants of love, healers of the paralyzed.

“Let us not simply admire these stories. Let us enter them. Be the friend who carries the hurting. Be the prophet who listens in silence. Be the saint who dares to love scandalously. And above all, hear Christ’s voice speaking to you—today—‘Take heart, and rise.’”