June 30, 2025
Fully Human Monthly Newsletter
Presvytera Melanie’s Monthly Message
June 30, 2025
“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4)
At times when we hear the Gospel narratives, we may wonder why Jesus healed physical and mental disabilities, cured grave illnesses, and even raised the dead back to life, and yet we who believe in Him do not receive the same.
People who are physically disabled may wonder why they do not receive the ability to walk through personal, fervent prayers and those of their friends and families, just as many who were paralyzed did through Christ.
Parents whose children self-harm for a variety of reasons, including frustration arising from pain or the inability to communicate needs and wishes in ways others can understand and respond to, may prayerfully cry out to Christ as did the father of the son who threw himself into the fire and water, “I believe, Lord! Help my unbelief!” And still, our children and families continue to face heart-wrenching self- and extra-injurious behaviors and the unrelenting anxiety that is born from the constant vigilance needed to prevent or at least reduce harm.
Such experiences can lead to a loss of hope and a distancing from the love of God that we all so desperately need to fight the good fight of faithful living as God’s children in this world. Such experiences can lead to misunderstandings of who God is and how He wishes to walk with us in all the particulars of our life journeys. Such experiences can lead to misunderstandings about who we are as human beings, hardening our hearts and wholly blaming ourselves for the pain we endure, or our spouses, parents, siblings, children, society, the church, and even God — whomever and whatever seems the most likely culprit.
Unless we go a little deeper.
During one of Simon Peter’s first encounters with the Lord, he and others had been fishing all night long, desperate for a catch, but none was to be had. They labored physically for that day’s “bread,” and they were patient, using the tools they had at their disposal to provide sustenance for their families — working so hard, trying everything they knew to try. And as every hour passed without success, imagine their prayers increasing, their expectations waning, their hearts begging, “Please, Lord, just enough to get us by, our families only want to live. Is that so much to ask?…”
But there was no catch to be had, no reward for the aching toil, or so it seemed, until Jesus entered their midst.
Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch, the Lord assuredly directed his new disciple. Exhausted enough that his pride could no longer urge his soul to rely on his own strength, and with just a mustard seed of faith, Peter takes the risk of obedience to a Master so gentle, good, and so entirely “other” to anyone he’d ever known.” Going deep” led to bursting nets and abundant sustenance, and even more importantly, to love and humility as Peter fell to Christ’s knees in awe and gratitude.
That day, a new life was born as he came to know the Lord’s true essence and his own limitations more deeply. Peter’s launch into the ocean of God’s love was not the end of his earthly struggles, as we know the apostle continued to labor physically, spiritually, mentally, in beatings, persecutions, imprisonments, and ultimately a martyr’s end. But it was the beginning of a more intentional reliance, a deepening personal relationship with the living God, and an increase of trust in the One whose beauty and mercy brought him to his knees.
Let us learn to dive deeper into the meanings of the gospel miracles of Christ. Like Peter, we can grow in trust and personal reliance on Jesus Christ to help us endure difficulties, to provide for us, and to enter into our sufferings, losses, and disability experiences. Let us not fear searching Him out in the depths of our inner hearts; let us not think we can find all the answers on the surface of cognitive knowledge, or that, because we may not be graced with physical cures, we are likewise bereft of spiritual healing.
Our Lord is always ready to venture with us into the depths of our souls’ darkest crevices to shoulder what we cannot and empower us to fulfill His purposes for us, one daily task at a time.
Read or listen to Christ’s healing miracles with a renewed mindset. Ask Him to give you the particular message your heart needs for whatever you are experiencing. Set aside preconceived notions and be open to the Truth that is found when we recognize He is God Almighty, who wishes to use our struggles to grow us into truer human beings.
On this Holy Feast of the Apostles, let us imitate the Apostle Peter’s submission to the Lord’s call into the depths of our hearts where He wishes to dwell and converse with us, and to direct us to what is most needed and beneficial for our souls.
With Hope in our Lord’s depth of compassion, Pres. Melanie
June Fully Human Resource Recap
The graphic has a light blue and tan background. Four Saints who are known for having disabilities or interceding for disabilities are pictured arching over the top of the graphic. These are St. Matrona of Moscow the Wonderworker who was blind from birth St. Sergius of Radonezh who had difficulty learning to read as a child St. Paraskevi who was blinded in persecution and is known for healing sight-related ailments St. John Maximovitch The Wonderworker of San Francisco who had a severe speech impediment. The words fully human are under the bust images of the four saints and the text of a saint or scripture quote is included and changes fore each reflection.
Graphic Text: “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.” (Acts 2:1-3)
Reflection: The New Testament Greek word ὁμοθυμαδόν translates to “one spirit,” or “one mind,” in other words, one purpose, thought, emotion, and will. The first followers of Jesus Christ were gathered in one place and with one accord: to pray and wait for the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus Himself promised to send them. And when the Holy Spirit arrived as a rushing mighty wind, He distributed gifts to each as symbolized by the tongues of fire alighting upon those gathered.
The celebration of Pentecost is often referred to as the official “birthday” of the Church. And each of us, having been Chrismated, has experienced his/her personal Pentecost, receiving the common fire from the One energy of God to fuel our unique and diverse gifts, and to unite us in devotion to Christ our God and His plan of salvation.
One could argue that we have the potential to experience Pentecost at every worship service, as we call upon the Holy Spirit to transform the Holy Gifts into Christ’s Body and Blood, and in receiving them, to transform us and enliven our natural talents and virtues for the good of all God’s people.
But, there is a reality for people with disabilities that it is often difficult and at times impossible to access the one place where the people of God assemble in prayer. Older church buildings are not always wheelchair accessible, nor are the routes into and through spaces designed for manageable movement of those who use canes, walkers, or are blind. Others may not be able to join corporate worship or stay for very long due to a lack of an available, quiet, “away space” to help regulate and calm bodies with sensory processing differences, or lack of a family bathroom with adult changing stations.
Even if, by the good will of proactive communities, physical accommodations do exist, we are left with a harder and even more critical question: how can we make the Grace and love of God available to work through us in our actions and attitudes toward one another? How do we strive to be of one accord as the original disciples did so that the Holy Spirit finds souls and bodies that will kindle His flame of love rather than dampen it?
This is a high calling, and one I personally fall short of. Nevertheless, we have an ideal in the first established Church members to strive toward: to provide gathering spaces that welcome and accommodate a variety of bodily needs so that every child of God has access to the nourishing and enlivening power of God’s grace, and to prepare our hearts to become singular in our devotion to Jesus Christ and His will, and His love, and His prayer that we love one another even as He loved us.
During this week following the celebration of Pentecost and the Feast of the Holy Spirit, take some time to pray about:
– One small step you personally will take to become more fully of one accord with the Way of Jesus Christ.
– One small step your community will take to create one place that is accessible to all of God’s people.
A blue background supports images of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Logo of a Byzantine Cross and a microphone graphic. In the lower right corner of the image is a graphic of a cell phone which has on its face a photo of Fr Dean Panagos Presvytera Melanie DiStefano and Kevin Deutsch. The title of the graphic reads fully human podcast.
Graphic above reads: “Fully Human Podcast with Fr. Dean Panagos Episode 200: A Clergyman’s Call to Feed All of Christ’s Sheep”
Description: This Father’s Day Edition (and our 200th episode!) features a conversation with Fr. Dean Panagos of St. John’s Greek Orthodox Church in Blue Point, NY. Father Dean shares honestly about his initial reluctance for his community to apply to become a pilot parish in the GOARCH Initiative, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. On Behalf Of All: Toward an Accessible Divine Liturgy for Children with Disabilities; and, how attending the Gathered As One Body Conference in May opened his heart to see what he had not seen before in decades of ministry.
He recognized the painful isolation disabled people experienced when they were not welcomed or valued in their communities, and alternatively, the joy they experienced when they were met with respect and friendship in their church families. For him, a bigger picture became clearer: intentions toward removing barriers for people with disabilities answer Christ’s salvific call to us toward oneness as members of His Body.