Pints With Aquinas - What is THE BLESSING OF FIRST FRUITS?! | Mthr. Natalia

Episode Date: August 11, 2024

Mother describes a her prayer surrounding "First Fruits". She talks about the Blessing of First Fruits done in the Eastern Church on The Feast of the Transfiguration. 🤝 💸 Support the Channel: https://mattfradd.locals.com 🎧 Mother's Podcast: https://whatgodisnot.com/ 🖥️ Website: https://pintswithaquinas.com/ 🟢 Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/pintswithaquinas 👕 Merch: https://shop.pintswithaquinas.com 🚫 FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/matt 🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd  

Glory to Jesus Christ. I'm Mother Natalia, a Byzantine Catholic nun from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery, and this is Pines with Aquinas. For those of us who are on either the Gregorian or the Revised Julian calendar, this past week we celebrated the feast of the transfiguration of our Lord, the feast where he goes up onto Mount Tabor with Peter, James, and John, and he's transfigured. They see him in his glory. They fall out of the ground. You probably know the story. If you don't, you can look it up and yeah, read the passage. But this is one of my favorite feasts of the year. And I think part of that is just because of my love for the mountains. But part of it is just ways that the Lord has

spoken very particularly to me through this feast. So I want to share two things that I have been praying with this week regarding the feast. The first is that in the Eastern traditions, and I believe this used to be a tradition in the West as well. There is on the feast of the transfiguration, August 6th, again, if you're on the Gregorian or the Revised Julian calendar, we have the blessing of fruit at the Divine Liturgy. So in the church at the end of Liturgy, people bring baskets of the fruit from their gardens.

At this point, you know, people bring fruit from the store and that's fine too. And we have fruit blessed. And this is a very, very ancient tradition. So the oldest known, as far as I know, the oldest prayer for the blessing of fruit is from the fourth century. And then it was at the sixth ecumenical council

in Constantinople, which is seventh century, that it was prescribed that the new wheat and grapes were to be blessed in church on the feast of the Holy Transfiguration. So this was prescribed at this ecumenical council in the seventh century. So we've been doing it at least ever since then. And specifically it says, again in that prescription, it says the new wheat and grapes. So, and that's expanded to other kinds of fruit more than just grapes, but there's obviously the Eucharistic connection there

of the bread and the wine that become the body and blood of Christ, the wheat and the grapes. But there's also a connection to the harvest because this is the time of year that people are harvesting their land, harvesting their gardens. So that aspect of it, this aspect of bringing in fruit from the harvest,

the first fruits of the season, this aspect of bringing in fruit from the harvest, the first fruits of the season, this is what I've been, it's been what's been coming up in prayer for me this past week, this offering of our first fruits. So as monastics, and again I want to reference St. John Paul II's Orient Hallelumen and remind all of you that monastics are supposed to be the reference point for baptized Christians. As monastics, we have certain times that are prescribed for silence.

And one of these times in our community is we're in silence after complin, which is the last prayer service that we have of the day. So that's, we finish Compline at about 9.30 p.m. After Compline until 10 a.m. the next morning, we have silence. And we do have matins, we have morning prayer in there, but as far as like chit chat amongst one another

and things like that, we don't have that from 9.30 p.m. until 10 a.m. And that from 9.30 p.m. until 10 a.m. And that includes technology. So we aren't answering emails in those times or even checking emails and things like that. And I was reflecting on, yeah, this concept of offering our first fruits to the Lord and how this applies to our silence

and our fasting from technology. And I realized part of the beauty of that for monastics is ideally when we're able to keep silence in this way, the last words that actually come out of my mouth of the day and the first words that come out of my mouth are words of praise. They're the words of Compline and of Matins. It's, oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise is the first prayer of Matins. I mean, we start with the opening blessing, but...and there's something obviously very beautiful about that, about the last words that I speak, especially as a Bride of Christ. Well, the last words that I speak of the day and the first words that

I speak are directed to the Lord. But I also try, I have a particular way of doing this in just my in my life in my routine, I really try to offer my last conscious thought of the day and my first conscious thought of the morning to the Lord. And I say conscious or intentional thought because our thoughts wander as we fall asleep, as we wake up, and things like that. But basically as soon as I have control of my thoughts, and until the last moment that I have control of my thoughts, I really try to intentionally direct that to the Lord. And I think this is a way that all of you, even if you're not monastic,

could see our monastic life as a reference point, because I think this is an important practice for everybody. Those of you who are married, Christ is still your bridegroom. And I think it would be really beautiful to try to have the practice, whether it's praying a psalm or just saying a certain prayer or something like that in your heart at the end of the day, at the beginning of the day, to really direct that you speak aloud are not to the Lord, I think that you can do that with your thoughts, and that's a beautiful way of offering first fruits to the Lord. I think especially there's something about in those last moments of the day, in the first moments of the day, there's something particularly tender about those moments. You know, when we're still tired, we're vulnerable,

our defenses are down, and to be able to encounter the Lord in that place of vulnerability, in that place of tiredness with the defenses down is just, I think, an opportunity for really a tender encounter with him. But I think the other aspect about first fruits is just to remember that

the idea of offering the first fruits of anything is really an act of trust. You're trusting that I'm giving what's come first in the trust, in the hope, in the confidence that I will still be provided for. That by giving away what first comes, I'm not now just going to be abandoned. And I think this abandoned. And I think this is something really important to keep in mind in our relationship with God. Are we offering Him the first fruits in the sense of are we offering Him not only from our excess? You know, and of course this applies to tithing. Are we giving the widows money? Or are we just waiting until we have an abundance

and then giving from what's left over? And I think we should all pray about that and allow the Lord to convict us in our tithing. But then it applies to our prayer as well. Are we only giving to him the prayer time that's convenient, that's excess, that's this abundance of time that we have? Is it just, well, I'm driving right now and so I can't be working, I can't be producing, so I'll use that time to pray? Or are we entrusting to Him times of our day that we could be doing something else? Are we entrusting to Him that if I give the Lord this time,

He's not then going to just abandon me and to trust that He will then provide the time and the space that we need to get done the things that we need to get done. And of course, I'm not suggesting imprudence here. Everyone needs to pray about this and discern this in the context of your vocation, your life. I'm not saying don't feed your children and just go pray

and the Lord will feed your children. That's not what I'm saying. But yeah, to just be honest with yourselves about are you only giving to the Lord from your excess? Or are you offering him the first fruits? Are you trusting that he will provide? I said there were two things I've been praying with this week from the Feast of the Transfiguration. So the other piece is this. Last year, I think it was last year, maybe two years ago, as I was praying with the Prologue of Oak Ridge, which is a collection of the lives of the saints that

we often use in our community, not always because some of the saints don't overlap with the Byzantine Catholics, but anyways, we use it for a lot of the saints. And I remember reading in the prologue last year or the year before, the question of, the author presents the question of, why did the Lord only take up three of His disciples? Why did He only take Peter, James, and John up the mountain? And when I read that question of why did he do this, I was like, yeah, why did he do that? Because I was given Natalia as a feminine of Nathaniel,

the apostle Nathaniel, because there doesn't really exist an English equivalent of Nathaniel for the feminine, so I was given Natalia. And so I was feeling a little salty, you know? I'm like, Nathaniel's left behind at the base of the mountain, and Peter, James, and John get to go up, and why is that? So the prologue asks this question,

and then the answer that's given in the prologue, and I wanna be very clear, I'm not saying that this is This is the complete answer to this question. I'm not saying that you shouldn't pray with this I'm not saying that we shouldn't read some of the different fathers about this, but this is one answer to that question the prologue says The reason that Jesus took up only three of the Apostles is because Judas would not have been able to behold his glory and was not worthy rest? And the answer given to that in the prologue of Okred is because the Lord did not want Judas to be able to have that as an excuse for his betrayal.

He didn't want Judas to be able to say, I only betrayed the Lord because I wasn't taken up and able to see his glory. So he left the other eight behind with Judas to not give Judas that excuse. So this year as I was praying with that again, that brought me a lot of consolation by the way last year as I finally had an answer to that question. An answer, not necessarily the answer. But this year as I was praying with it again, the question that came to my mind, again being named after Nathaniel,

one of the ones who was left behind, the question that came to mind is, do I have the humility to be used where and how and when the Lord wants to use me? And use isn't even the best way to work through me? Do I trust that I'm not just being left behind, that I'm not just being abandoned, that I'm not just unwanted, but that in this circumstance, in this life, in this day, somehow the Lord is wanting to work through me? Do you trust that He wants to work through you in your everyday life, even when it feels so much less glamorous than other people's lives?

If you work as a cashier in the grocery store, do you trust that the Lord wants to work through you in your work at the grocery store? Even though you're not a movie star in Hollywood. Do we trust that His love, His particular love, in His particular love, in His particular love, He knows our weaknesses and our strengths. So that's what I'm praying with. I'm not saying I have that humility

because I don't really have a lot of humility. But I'm asking the Lord for it and I would encourage you to do the same. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for the ways in which you desire to work through me, work through those who are listening to this on this very day. I ask that you grant us all a greater awareness. An awareness if it's good for us of how you're

working through us. But even more please grant us a trust in you that you're working even when we don't see it. Help us to not lose sight of what you're doing, to not be distracted by the bitterness, the resentment of feeling left out, feeling left behind, but instead being open to encounter with you exactly where we are. the bitterness, the resentment of feeling left out, feeling left behind, but instead being open to encounter with you exactly where we are. Allow us to be vessels of your love. Give all of us a spirit of discernment that we may know the ways in which

you're asking of us to give our first fruits to you. The first fruits of our work, the first fruits of our prayer. Grant us a greater trust, a greater surrender, and a greater love. I ask all of this and thank you for these things through the intercession of St. Nathaniel, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Peter, James, and John, St. Moses, and Elijah, the most holy Theotokos and all the saints, and through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen.