Elko, Nicholas T.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 54 | Number 3 Article 5August 1987From the Episcopal Advisor: God's Limitations onCreaturesNicholas T. ElkoFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationElko, Nicholas T. (1987) "From the Episcopal Advisor: God's Limitations on Creatures," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 54 : No. 3 , Article5.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol54/iss3/51rom the Episcopal Advisor God's Limitations on Creatures Archbishop Nicholas T. Elko Dr. Gale, the renowned American physician, an expert on bone and marrow, went to Russia after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster to aid the countless number of victims. He viewed the apparent hopelessness of the situation, according to reports . Evidently the nuclear rays penetrated so deeply that his labors were limited . A physician isn't greater than Moses. And even Moses was told by the Lord that he could only go so far toward the promised land and not any further. God puts limitations on all men , including doctors , that the Creator be respected by the creature. When you have striven feverishly to attain a cure, and you have only succeeded in giving temporary relief, you realize you have gone the distance. It is like being painted in a corner with no escape. When you combat the revolting physiology of the body against abuse, however, and see the physical decadence as a bully standing defiant against treatment, you still accept the challenging condition. Don't you think that the Creator is pleased that the physician, to whom He has given unique talents, is using them to the utmost with grim determination to reap results? , We are impressed reading Dr. Gale's comments which, paraphrased, say that when physical power is the only standard and the spiritual is not considered, we are nearing the end of civilization. At a nuclear physicists' conference, an archbishop was called upon to open the discussions with a prayer. Apologetically he was told they never before had an invocation. He accepted the invitation and intoned longer than usual , making up for the past and alerting the members to the apprehension of the future. The opening speaker commented , "We need prayers. We have discovered something which we cannot control." It pleased the archbishop. Today, people are looking up at the skies, wondering if nuclear bombs will drop. This apprehension can be mitigated if we mentally look beyond the clouds, beyond the physical realm, to that invisible realm not only where power is created but where it originates. August, 1987 II During several visits behind the I ron Curtain , your writer was deeply impressed that medical students, running nimble fingers over a skeletal cadaver, expressed openly that the human body was not made by sheer chance. Similarly one is impressed how there is a visible display offaith even by soldiers visiting the churches now opened only as museums and , in the orthodox manner, kissing the icons even though it is forbidden. In the same university, one can spy a bible. When inquiring one is told that creation referred to in Genesis is ridiculed as a fable. However, the very logic from which Marxists run away , leaves some students making their own visible conclusions. One can still find certain Sunday papers with the day marked , VOSKRESENJE , which means, "Resurrection Day." Other publications use the word , "Nedilja", taken from the third commandment , meaning, "Do not labor on Sunday." Lately, we have seen on TV no one other than the head of the English government , Margaret Thatcher, attending church and lighting a candle before the picture of the Blessed Virgin. Perhaps Mr. Gorbachev's "Glasnost", openness, is open ing eyes to the very words of Dr. Gale, concluding that while physical nuclear force brings destruction to civili7.ation, spiritual force will preserve it. I nterestingly , the town next to Chernobyl where the disaster occurred, is called Pripravoc. This word, Priprav, in Russian means, "prepare". Is Russia preparing hopefully for nuclear disarmament , a wakened to the fact that we must ack nowledge human limitations and think of higher powers? Seventy years of atheism have not extinguished the faith of Russian people, especia lly the ever popular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every town I vis ited had its special icon. Sometimes it was hidden in the folds of draperies, but at night displayed for private prayer. Our Lady of Fat ima must know what she is talking about when she predicts Russia's conversion through prayer and penapce . Yes , hope comes when man stops trusting only himself and turns to God . When you next visit Vienna, please notice that the sign over the building, "Atomic World Commission", borders on Maria HilfStrasse-Mary, Our Helper Street. 12 Linacre Quarterly 

From the Episcopal Advisor: God\u27s Limitations on Creatures

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From the Episcopal Advisor: God\u27s Limitations on Creatures

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