The Reading from the Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. (6:16-7:1) and the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:26-39)

We begin today’s readings with St. Paul’s words to the church at Corinth. He reminds them of the extreme honor and glory bestowed upon each of them as children of God. He says to them “Brethren, we are the temple of the living God.”

I found that this was an amazing juxtaposition to the gospel reading appointed for today. In this reading we hear about the Lord Jesus Christ travelling to the country of the Gadarenes, to visit a man whom we are told “had demons.” Meaning that he was demon possessed. Now as I looked at these two readings it became clear that the Church is trying to teach us something very valuable. She is trying to give us a glimpse into a hidden spiritual reality, something that we cannot see with our eyes. She tells us that every man, woman and child is a spiritual vessel. Each of us is like a container. Each of us is like a house with inhabitants. Either we are inhabited by the Holy Spirit or else we are open to being inhabited by other spirits, fallen spirits, demons.

Either the Holy Spirit is energized and active in our lives, or we are susceptible to the spiritual activity that does not build up and purify and edify us. When the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, it doesn’t mean that everything will be perfect. Saints and holy people can suffer tremendously. However, those who have the Holy Spirit dwelling richly within them are like fire to the adversaries. The Holy Spirit is not a material but a spiritual fire.

As Christians we should be convinced that the spiritual battle is great. Actually everything you see around you is part of a spiritual battle. The battle is fought in and for hearts and minds. The territory that is trying to be conquered is the life and soul of man. Each and every day that the Lord wakes you up to a new day, He does so with an intention. His intention is that we should fight this spiritual battle with renewed strength. We should wake up every day and prepare to go to war in the way that a soldier does when he is deployed. One day you will rest from your labors, but until that day, you struggle to make sure that your heart is not turned away from the living God.

St. Paul writes about this spiritual warfare in the epistle to the Ephesians when he says.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Eph 6:10-18 

So this is truly our task my friends. We are called to take up our armor every day. There are no off days during warfare. We have every advantage and edge in this battle if we have been baptized and Chrismated and regularly receive the gifts offered to us by the Church of God. She loves us like a tender mother and she prepares us to face the challenges and difficulties of the world by strengthening us and equipping us for the battle. She gives us what we were never even worthy to receive.

St, Theophan the recluse writing about the great grace that we’ve received said,

“In order that you may move your will more easily to this one desire, in everything—to please (God and to work for His glory alone—remind yourself’ often, that He has granted you many favours in the past and has shown you His love. He has created you out of nothing in His own likeness and image, and has made all other creatures your servants; He has delivered you from your slavery to the devil, sending down not one of the angels but His Only-begotten Son to redeem you, not at the price of corruptible gold and silver, but by His priceless blood and His most painful and degrading death. Having done all this He protects you, every hour and every moment, from your enemies; He fights your battles by His divine grace; in His immaculate Mysteries He prepares the Body and Blood of His beloved Son for your food and protection. All this is a sign of God’s great favour and love for you; a favour so great that it is inconceivable how the great Lord of hosts could grant such favours to our nothingness and worthlessness.”

Let us rejoice in this and embrace it. Don’t take it for granted because whether we struggle actively or become lazy, the enemy never even sleeps. May God grant us courage and grace to receive the spoils of spiritual victory with the saints.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (8:5-15)

The God who created the whole universe loves us. He loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to us, to live among us, to speak with us, to teach us, to suffer with us and to die with us. This son and Lord Jesus Christ often taught us in stories or parables. These parables are not given to entertain the people. They are not given to make the people fearful. They are given to us out of love for us. Our Lord is trying to reach each of us. The parables that were spoken 2000 years ago are not meant to sit in a book unread, gathering dust on your shelves. The word of the Lord is meant to enter deep into your hearts to bring you back to life. Glory to God for sharing His love with us through these beautiful words.

Today we hear the familiar story of the sower who went out to sow his seed. He is a good farmer. He casts the seed everywhere. He desires that everyone should have this seed and that this seed should one day bear fruit. He is a good farmer. His seed is also good. But there is one more component to the equation. What makes the difference between whether the seed will bear fruit or fail to produce? The difference boils down to the quality of the soil. And that is where each of us comes in. The Lord in speaking this parable reminds us that we have a part to play in our own salvation. St. Paul writes about this in Philippians 2:12 when he says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” St. Paul would never say such a thing if your salvation was guaranteed. Why would he write such things to a Christian community unless he knew that they needed to hear and be reminded of it?

The meaning is reinforced in this parable of our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks of the seed that fell on rocky ground. This rocky ground is a symbol of those who receive the word with joy and believe for a short while but then in times of temptation and trouble, they fall away because they have no roots. Most of us who are here in this room will not fall into the category of the first soil that is mentioned, the seed that fell among the path. Because we have believe and we are here. So it leaves us with only three possibilities, either the soil of our hearts is rocky, or covered in thorns or it is good soil that is able to bring forth fruitfully.

What can we as Christians do to prepare the soil of our hearts to receive the seed, to receive the word of God? And what is the word of God? Some think the word of God is a reference to the Bible. But in actuality the word of God is really a reference to Jesus Christ Himself. He is the word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life,^a and the life was the light of men….He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own,^b and his own people^c did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son^d from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

So it’s clear that Jesus is the word. And what must I do to prepare the soil of my heart to receive Him fully? What does a farmer do? In the beginning he tills the soil. He breaks up the clumps and the hard earth. Likewise, we do this through our own repentance. We take time daily to reflect and ask God to forgive us of all our sins. When we really do this we make the soil soft and ready to receive the word. Those of you that are Orthodox Christians should make plans to come to confession every so often. His Eminence Metropolitan Saba asks that we confess about 2-4 times a year. It’s not much but it is the difference between thriving spiritual life and just going through the motions. The sins you are covering and failing to confess, are the sins that are your master and they keep you from growing deeper roots in Christ. Confession is a bit painful. It brings up our shame. But confession releases us from the bondage of the shame and the courageous act of humility breaks open the heart so that the grace of the Holy Spirit can enter and effect powerful change within us. This is how we break up the hardened soil of the heart. This allows the Word of God to dwell deeply within us.

So we’ve spoken briefly of repentance, confession. Let’s continue talking about how we nourish the soil of our hearts with the sacrament of Eucharist or Holy Communion. For an Orthodox Christian, one of the ultimate spiritual weapons in our warfare is Holy Communion. We believe that the Holy Spirit transforms the offering of bread and wine into something much more. Into the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. The bread and wine continue to have the properties of bread and wine. Yet the are changed in a spiritual manner into the mystical body and blood of Christ. When all else fails as a Christian, the sacrament of the eucharist won’t fail us if we approach with a humble and faithful heart.

Listen to the words of St. Cyril of Alexandria,

“If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste.”

In essence, St. Cyril says that the sacrament will give you whatever you are lacking in your spiritual struggle. So don’t neglect this part of your walk with Christ.

This my friends, is our path if we want the Lord to consider that we are good rather than bad soil. This is our path if we want to find a place to keep the word of God in our hearts. This is our path if we want to travel the narrow path that leads to life everlasting. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (7:11-16)

Today we see something very interesting. I’ve read and heard this gospel passage countless times over the years and yet only yesterday did I notice a feature of this passage that was always right in front of my eyes. Our Lord Jesus Christ was traveling and went to a city called Nain. We are told that He was accompanied by His disciples and a great crowd.

At this exact time as they are entering the city, near the gate, they encounter another large crowd that had gathered. Although it was right in front of me I never noticed that it was an encounter between two large crowds at that very moment. It gives us the sense that something big is happening, that society itself is about to be changed. There are two large tribes here and each is symbolic.

It seems to me that this is indicative of the church vs the world. The church is the disciples and those who follow after Christ wherever He leads them, and what is it the world is doing? They are mourning the death of one of their own. The focus of the one group was the man who laid lifeless in the casket. The focus of the other group was the man who offered the power of God in His words and deeds.

This is indicative of the societies around us. Some live their lives from day to day while following Christ with hope. Some live their lives day to day with no hope but an overwhelming sense of dread at the coming of death. In fact St. Paul speaks about this is in the letter to the Romans. He writes “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” The fear of death affects us and causes us to sin. Father John Romanides writes “The power of death in the universe has brought with it the will for self-preservation, fear, and anxiety, which in turn are the root causes of self-assertion, egoism, hatred, envy and the like.” He continues saying “Man does not die because he is guilty for the sin of Adam. He becomes a sinner because he is yoked to the power of the devil through death and its consequences.”

As I said, some live their lives day to day with no hope but an overwhelming sense of dread at the coming of death. But some live their lives from day to day while following Christ with hope. It is for us as Christians, who have living faith in God belong to the second group rather than the first.

At this very moment in history, in a small town in Judea, these two groups met symbolically. Life and death collided. They could not share the same space together. It was a small skirmish before the final battle and a foretaste of things to come. When death encountered life, death was vanquished. When this man encountered Our Lord Jesus Christ, the death that was in him departed as darkness is dispersed by light. Christ gave this man life, precisely because Christ is our life and the life of the world. He gave life to man who was just dust at the beginning. He again gave this man life before he would be turned back into dust. In giving him life, He also offered new life to his mother who was a suffering widow. In offering resurrection to the man, He offered resurrection to all of those who mourned without consolation. He offered hope to the hopeless. He changed many lives that day, not simply one or two.

In this beautiful act we are reminded that Christ’s love never leaves us. We can never get lost or separated from His love for us. St. Paul writes “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8.

Nothing can separate us from His love my brothers and sisters. If Christ had to descend Himself to recover us from Hades, He would do it. In fact, He did do it!

All of these miracles were small glimpses into the truth of the person of Jesus Christ, the life of the world and the resurrection of all men. It is given to each of us to believe in this Lord Jesus and to live lives that witness to the truth of His resurrection and also our own personal resurrections. Each of us has been at times like this dead man. Perhaps we were alive in body but dead in our souls, dead in our ability to seek after God and to love others. Yet through His grace you have all been healed. In your baptism the old man was buried and the new man was born to new life. This is our inheritance as children of God.

I leave you with a beautiful quote from St. Nikolai of Zicha, who said “It is not fitting to call those dead for whom Christ, in His love, suffered and died. They are alive in the living Lord. We shall all know this clearly when the Lord visits the graveyard of this world for the last time, and the trumpets sound. A mother’s love cannot separate her dead children from those living. Still less can Christ’s love.” 

May we enter into this love! AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (8:34-9:1)

This reading is given to us on the Sunday after the feast of the cross, which we celebrated yesterday. The Church wants us to linger on this feast a bit longer. Not to rush away from it. For in the mystery of the cross is the crucifixion and the crucifixion is our whole life as a Christian. The cross that was certain death for Our Lord Jesus Christ, has become our guarantee of life and a guarantee that God loves us immeasurably. So the Church lingers here and reminds us with the words of our Lord, that we must each carry our cross. “The Lord said, “If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?”

St. Innocent of Alaska speaking about carrying the cross said this,

“When you bear your cross, “It is then that you will feel an indescribable delight, a wonderful inner peace and joy such as you have never experienced before, and at the same time you will feel an influx of spiritual strength; prayer will become easier and your faith stronger.”

But someone might ask, “what does it mean to carry your cross?” So let me try to explain. To carry the cross means to do the thing that is difficult to do in your life because it is well pleasing to God. Typically this is something that is painful and feels like a kind of death. If it were something easy it would not be called a cross, it would be called a luxury or a pleasure. But to fail to carry it requires you to break the commandments and to fall into sin. So this is part of the equation in carrying your crosses, a complete obedience to Christ. If we are successful in carrying our crosses then it will indeed be suffering, but it will bring us to purification and sanctification and it will give life to us and to those all around us.

What are examples of carrying one’s cross? An example of carrying a cross might be a difficult marriage that you choose to stay in so as not to fall into sin. Please note that I said difficult, but I did not say abusive. Carrying the cross might be caring for a spouse or a child that is very sick and needs assistance 24-7. Carrying the cross might be dealing with a difficult co-worker or fellow student or even a difficult teacher. Carrying a cross might be learning to live with a sickness or disease that causes you great pain every day. The world might offer solutions, might tell you to call Dr. Kevorkian. But we have to reject those whispers because they are veiled in compassion but underneath the veil it is something from the father of lies.

But mostly, it seems that we carry the cross of our sinfulness and sinful desires. We carry the cross by struggling against these desires and bringing them before Christ daily. One example of this might be the man or woman with same sex attraction. You can acknowledge this desire as real and powerful but you can also accept that following this desire is not good for you, that it damages your soul, that it puts up a great wall between you and God. It might seem like the most painful thing to live with such desires but have no outlet for them. It seems like the unfulfilled desire might even kill you. Now you understand the meaning of carrying the cross. Yet we carry it with faith.

Because we are fleshly people, our desires are often for things of this world, pleasures of life, but the Lord has told us that we could have the whole world, yet we would lose our soul and our life in the process. So if someone can offer you the whole world on a platter, you have to understand that they will not offer it for free. They will certainly exact a toll and it could be that the toll that will be taken is the cost of your precious soul.

So we are forced daily to ask ourselves: “What can a man give in return for his soul?” “What is my soul worth?” “What am I willing to sell out for?” The ultimate sellout is the one who gives away the gifts that he didn’t earn but gained by the grace of God. Don’t be a sellout and don’t be a coward. Christians, you can’t be afraid to struggle. You can’t be afraid of pain. Did Jesus Christ our Lord not struggle? Did He not feel pain? He accepted these things as a pure offering that He offered up to His Father on our behalf. Let us boldly do the same with our struggles.

Say to God, “Lord, you know my life and you know my struggles better than I know myself, help me to be brave and give me strength to carry the cross that you have given me, for I am convinced that you chose this cross for my salvation.”

St. Nikolai Velimirovich once preached, “What does it mean to take up your cross? I means the willing acceptance, at the hand of Providence, of every means of healing, bitter though it may be, that is offered….Suffer it all with patience, cleaving to God in your heart, as Job did.” + St. Nikolai Velimirovich, Homilies, Vol. 1

May we do this and may we come to know true joy and riches that surpass everything we could hope for or possible imagine. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. John. (3:13-17)

Joy of the feast my brothers and sisters in Christ. As many of you know today we celebrate the first of the great feasts of the church calendar, the feast of the nativity of the Mother of God. Most of you know about the great feasts but lately we have many new faces among us and so I thought it would make sense to share a little bit about the great feasts with you and especially this feast that we are celebrating today.

According to Jewish custom, some days were considered more special and holy than other days. These are days that were designated as feast days. Days when we should particularly celebrate the saving activity of God among His people. Likewise, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church there are days that we should celebrate, especially the 12 feasts which are considered to be great feasts. You might think that it is conveniently one per month, but that is not the case. Some months have no great feasts, and other months can have multiple. Each of the great feasts centers around an event from the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ, or His mother, the ever virgin Mary. There is one exception to this which is the next feast we will celebrate on Saturday Sept 14. That is the elevation of the cross. This feast alone does not celebrate or commemorate an event from the life of Christ but it focuses on a critical piece of the story of His crucifixion, and that is the wooden cross itself.

The twelve feasts in order beginning with our feast today are as follows: Nativity of the Mother of God, Elevation of the cross, Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, The Nativity of Christ, Holy Theophany (Epiphany), The presentation of the Lord in the Temple, The annunciation, the entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Ascension of our Lord, Pentecost, Transfiguration and the dormition of the Mother of God. That’s all of them.

Those of you who are paying close attention will realize that a couple of really important events are not listed among the 12. The first of those events is the crucifixion of our Lord. This is the most solemn day on the church’s calendar. But it is not called a feast day. Lastly we have not mentioned the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which the Church calls Pascha. This is not numbered among the great feasts because it is seen as surpassing all of the feasts. The Church calls Pascha the feast of feasts! It is the resurrection that is the common theme and celebration of all of our Sunday liturgies.

Now each of these feasts is celebrated in a similar fashion beginning with the divine liturgy. Why? As one hieromonk noted “The Liturgy is found at the very center of life, experience and understanding of the Orthodox Catholic Church of God and consequently at the center of Orthodox Theology. For the being and life itself of the Orthodox Church consists of the Liturgy, because the very being of the Church of Christ is liturgical and Her very life eucharistic.” Hieromonk Athanasije Jevtic

If you are really listening to these words, they will inform and change your life or your understanding of life. Our life is liturgical. So when we celebrate a feast of the Church it has to begin with Liturgy. For instance, let us imagine that Christmas (the nativity of Christ) happens to fall on a Monday. This would mean that we would typically celebrate a festal liturgy that morning or the night before. But some might say, “well, we just celebrated a liturgy on Sunday morning, so there is no need to go back to the church again, we can just stay home and celebrate.” No, my brothers and sisters. That means our life is out of balance. We can’t celebrate the feasts without the liturgy because as we just said, our life is liturgical and eucharistic. The feast is meant to celebrate our life in Christ, so you can’t stay home and party when you haven’t first come to worship the God whom you are claiming to celebrate. That is the very foundation of our joy together.

Today we celebrate the birth of the Mother of God, the holy virgin Mary. Fr. Thomas Hopko tells us that “The record of the birth of Mary is not found in the Bible. The traditional account of the event is taken from the apocryphal writings which are not part of the New Testament scriptures. The traditional teaching which is celebrated in the hymns and verses of the festal liturgy is that Joachim and Anna were a pious Jewish couple who were among the small and faithful remnant—“the poor and the needy”—who were awaiting the promised messiah. The couple was old and childless. They prayed earnestly to the Lord for a child, since among the Jews barrenness was a sign of God’s disfavor. In answer to their prayers, and as the reward of their unwavering fidelity to God, the elderly couple was blessed with the child who was destined, because of her own personal goodness and holiness, to become the Mother of the Messiah-Christ.”

He continues saying, “There had to be one born of human flesh and blood who would be spiritually capable of being the Mother of Christ, and she herself had to be born into the world of persons who were spiritually capable of being her parents. The feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, therefore, is a glorification of Mary’s birth, of Mary herself and of her righteous parents. It is a celebration as well of the very first preparation of the salvation of the world. For the “Vessel of Light,” the “Book of the Word of Life,” the “Door to the Orient,” the “Throne of Wisdom” is being prepared on earth by God Himself in the birth of the holy girl-child Mary.” (The Orthodox Faith Vol. II)

This is the cause of our celebration today. And I want to tell you that one of the secrets to growing in the Orthodox Christian faith is hidden right in front of you whenever you are in the Church and especially on days like today. That is, the shortcut to growing in Christ is to cultivate a relationship with His Mother. We don’t always do that. We think that perhaps it is unnecessary, but the life of the Church teaches us that it is necessary, right and good because we are entering into the family of God, a community. You aren’t becoming an island all by yourself. You have to know your roots, both physical and spiritual. You can’t love Jesus and despise His Mother. Because we have put on Christ, she becomes mother to us. She worries and prays for her children as all good mothers do. Let us draw near to her heart in supplication. When you ask her to pray for you, she will gladly do it. When you invite her into your life, she will become a part of your life and she will speak to her beloved Son on your behalf in the way that only a mother can do. Through the prayers of the holy Mother of God, may the Lord bless you all. AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (4:16-22)

In the time of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s earthy ministry, people worshipped God communally in one of two places. At certain times and seasons they would go up to the temple in Jerusalem. This temple was destroyed in 70 ad by the Romans. Now most of the year they would focus on worship at their local synagogue. This was particularly important on Saturday, the day of the Sabbath rest. We note that in our day, living as people of the new covenant when we come to the church we in fact are participating in worship that is a hybrid of both temple and synagogue worship.

It is said that before the end of the world the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and someone will enter that temple to receive worship. This will no doubt be an anti-Christ or The AntiChrist. But as Christians we are reminded that we have no need of a temple since we as Christians become the temple of the Holy Spirit. God dwells within our human fleshly temples because He is the God who created all of the material world and who Himself took flesh and lived as perfect God and perfect man.

Nevertheless it is important to note that the Lord was submissive to the religious customs of the day. He was a good and observant Jew. He wasn’t arrogant or aloof from the synagogue or it’s leaders. He is truly the only person who knew every sermon before it was preached. He was in fact the greatest preacher who ever lived. Yet, He did what was expected of Him because He wanted to properly observe the Sabbath and He did not want to be opened up to accusations of being faithless or rebellious. But most of all, He went to the synagogue weekly because He loved God His Father, and this was one of the ways that He drew near to God.

Now on this particular day, it seems that it was the Lord’s turn to stand up and read from the holy Scriptures. And the book that was handed to Our Lord was the prophet Isaiah. Something very special was about to happen and this thing set in motion or rather, it indicated to us that events were in motion that would forever change our understanding of the world, of God and of life itself. The Lord Jesus found a particular text in Isaiah and He began to read these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor and to heal the broken hearted. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Do you know what this passage is about? It is a proclamation of the gospel. Our Lord is sharing the beginning of the good news with us. He is telling us that He sees our broken hearts. He recognizes the captives. He notices the blind. He takes note of those who are oppressed. He sees them all. He sees all of us. At some point in our lives, each and every one of us falls into one or more of these categories. Above and beyond the normal ways that we each struggle, our Lord is dialing in on the true source of our misery and difficulties in life. He is focused on our enslavement to sin, to evil and to death, the greatest of all the enemies of mankind. And He tells us that all of these troubles are coming to an end.

How so? How do we enter into this victory? We enter into it by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ was victorious and conquered sin and death through His life, His crucifixion and His resurrection from the dead. And the One who sees us welcomes us in to participate in His victory. The Lord says to us, “Come my brother and my sister, because I am victorious, you shall also be victorious with me!” Yet, some of you might still be thinking “how do we participate in this victory?” So let me share a few words that might help you.

As we’ve been studying St. Sophrony’s work “His Life is Mine” during our weekly gatherings, we came across these beautiful words recently. He wrote, “All of us are today in vital need of a firm faith in Christ’s eternal victory, that we, too, may become spiritually invincible. A very great deal depends on ourselves—to remember, for instance, that at the baptismal font we received new birth from on High, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Those who are baptized ‘with the Holy Ghost and with fire’ (Luke 3.16) perceive in their prayer that every given moment of our life is enveloped in Divine eternity. At all times and in all places we are held in the invisible Hand of our Heavenly Father.”

He continues on a little while later with these words… “from the moment we turn to God, resolved to follow His commandments, a process of basic healing begins.” Finally he ends by saying “If any of my readers is suffering from some psychological wound occasioned by failure in life, he can attain to a regal freedom of spirit and radically change his whole life if he turns to God every day with a personal prayer…”

So St. Sophrony, one of our great modern teachers tells us that first we need to remind ourselves of who we are in Christ. We need to be reminded of our royal lineage and the victory of our King. Next he mentions that we begin to embrace this faith through embracing the commandments of God. Clinging to these commandments and teaching of the Lord with our whole being. He tells us that this begins the path of healing. Finally he mentions that deep healing, even on the psychological level, will occur when we make profound personal contact with God in authentic heartfelt prayer.

Most of this probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to you. You have heard these things before. There is a reason for that. We repeat these thing because they are true and they don’t change from day to day or week to week. So even though we know these things we need to have them repeated to us and we try to find new ways to motivate ourselves into meaningful action.

It seems to me that this reading is given to us today, on the first day of the ecclesiastical new year, in order to remind us of these things. We are encouraged to bring everything to Christ every single day of our lives and especially on this first day when we ask Christ’s blessings on us and on the rest of the year. We do this with confidence that Christ has already achieved this victory and that He offers the faithful and pious a share in this glorious inheritance. Glory be to God forever AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. (3:9-17)

Whenever we receive someone into the Church that is done typically in one of two possible ways.  The first way is to bring someone into the Church of Christ through baptism.  And not just any baptism, it is to be a baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and this baptism must be done in water.  So you can’t be baptized in the name of Mother Earth or in the name of Buddha.  And you can’t be baptized in rose petals or mud or anything other than water.  This baptism has to be done correctly because it is much more than a symbol. It is a new life in Christ, made possible through Our Lord’s own baptism, death and resurrection.  And it is the Lord Himself who taught Nicodemus and who teaches us that “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5)

Oftentimes we have people who come to the Orthodox Church from other Christian denominations.  Denominations where they were already baptized properly.  When this happens then there are two approaches or strategies for bringing them into the Orthodox Church.  In some corners of the Orthodox world a very strict approach is taken and everyone is rebaptized.   In most of the Orthodox Churches in North America, the bishops of the various jurisdictions have been in general agreement that the proper theological, historical and canonical method for receiving someone who is already properly baptized into the Church, is through the sacrament of Chrismation.  This is in order to respect the theological teaching of the apostles as found in St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians ch. 4 where St. Paul writes “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”  So it means that there should not be two baptisms, just one is enough.

Now the issue is that baptism alone does not impart the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is certainly working in our lives and inspiring us and leading us, but the teaching is that we don’t become temples of the Holy Spirit until we receive a special anointing with a special oil called Chrism.  Please note that this is in line with the New Testament teaching that one did not receive the Holy Spirit through baptism alone.  We see this in Acts 8, where it is written: 

“Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 8:14–17)

Before the Apostles died, the teaching of the Orthodox Church is that they passed on the holy tradition of this sacrament of chrism. Chrism (also known as myron) is a special oil of anointing that was blessed by the Apostles. In modern times, it is blessed only by the patriarchs or heads of the various Orthodox churches at specifically appointed times. It is likely that St. John the Evangelist is alluding to this sacrament in his first general epistle when he writes, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (1 John 2:20). A few verses later he also writes: “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him…”

This anointing is spoken of throughout the early centuries of Christianity. The early Christian priest St. Hippolytus of Rome (170–235), writes:  “The neophytes are anointed by the presbyter from the oil consecrated by the bishop. He says, ‘I anoint you with holy oil in the name of Jesus Christ.’” (Apostolic Tradition 21–22)

St. Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem (313–386), writes:  “And to you in like manner, after you had come up from the pool of the sacred streams, there was given an Unction, the anti-type of that wherewith Christ was anointed; and this is the Holy Spirit.” (Catechetical Lecture 21:1)

St. Basil, Bishop of Caeserea (330–379), one of the greatest figures of Christian history said,

“We also bless the water of baptism, the oil of anointing, and even the baptized themselves. By virtue of what writings? Is it not by virtue of the protected, secret, and hidden tradition? Indeed! Even the oil of anointing, what written word has taught about that? The triple immersion, from where does it come? And everything that surrounds baptism: the renunciation of Satan and his angels—from what scripture does that come? Is it not from that teaching held private and secret, which our fathers kept in silence….” (On the Holy Spirit 15, 35)

It is clear then that we become a temple of the Holy Spirit through the sacrament of Chrismation.  We become temples of the Holy Spirit so that Christ may continue His work of redemption and healing in us through the Holy Spirit becoming an intimate part of us.  Through the work of the Holy Spirit we become divine by grace.  We partake of both natures, Christ’s human nature (which was with us from conception) and His divine nature (which is given to us through baptism and Chrismation).

My brothers and sisters, work to safeguard and energize this sacred gift that has been given to you as Orthodox Christians.  Love God and serve Him as if your life depends on it.   Keep the commandments and teachings of Christ as if your life depends on it.   Our Lord doesn’t ask you to sacrifice to God in a temple, rather He has made you the temple and you sacrifice to God through the offering of your whole life, your thoughts, your words, your actions, even your sufferings.  In this we imitate Christ our savior and become well pleasing to our heavenly Father. Glory be to God forever, AMEN.    

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (9:27-35)

This world we live in has trained us to view everything through a scientific lens. What is true and factual is whatever can be observed and repeated in a controlled environment. We are taught that in order to know something we have to see it, to observe it. Our eyes have to grasp it in order to verify it.

Yet the evangelist St. Matthew brings us face to face with a powerful spiritual reality in today’s gospel reading. One doesn’t need to see God with his eyes in order to know Him and to have faith in Him. In fact, the evangelist pushes this further by telling us that one does not even need working eyes at all in order to recognize Jesus as the Lord and savior. You can be blind as these two men were blind.

In their blindness they did not complain and grumble against God. They did not wallow in self-pity about their situation. Instead they used what senses they did have to orient themselves to following after Christ. Sometimes we find ourselves in times of great difficulty. Sometimes these difficulties are self-inflicted, caused by our own life of sin. Like the blind men we might feel that we are in great darkness. We may feel that we don’t have the information or knowledge that is necessary to move one step forward in life. We are afraid that the next step that we take might be treacherous or dangerous. In these moments the lesson of this gospel reading is all the more powerful. Cry out to Jesus Christ. When you have nothing left to give, give it all to the One who alone can give you everything in abundance.

Frequently in the life of the Church, in our worship, you will hear us repeat the words “have mercy on us O God”, or “Lord have mercy”. Why do we do this? Why do we repeat these words over and over and over throughout the days and weeks and months and years? Is it because the Orthodox Church is boring and unoriginal and can’t find new material? No, my brothers and sisters. It is because the original material revealed by the Holy Spirit cannot be improved upon.

The Church is anything but boring because she is the body of Christ, the image of the kingdom of God. We also call the Church our mother and as any good mother does, she trains up her children in the fundamental skills of life. She teaches her children survival skills. She passes on her wisdom to her children and her children become wise. She doesn’t constantly invent new prayers and new music and new worship to fit with the times and seasons. She doesn’t give anything new because there is nothing new under the sun. So what the Church does is teach her children the authentic way to live, the way to drink from the waters of life. This way is found through an open heart and a disposition that learns to cry out to the living God with these words “Have mercy on us!” or “Lord have mercy!”

All of the liturgical prayers of the Church seek to impart this gift to us. The gift is humble faith. But how do we obtain this gift if we don’t first have faith? According to some of the fathers we begin with our words and our hearts will follow naturally. It’s one of the reasons why we should be careful about the type of music we listen to and the lyrics that we repeat mindlessly. They affect us and imprint on us. They change us with enough exposure.

Our prayers also change us. Our words and our actions help to mold our hearts. So the Church takes advantage of our human nature and calls us to become who we are meant to be in Christ. To learn to cry out to God and to address Him as one who is able to grant us mercy. And if you pay close attention you see that in fact the blind men followed this example since they followed Jesus to His house, which is a symbol of the Church, the place where Christ dwells. This is further demonstrated in that Christ shows them mercy and heals them in His house. Where do we find God? Where do we know that He will be waiting for us? In His house.

But it is really important to remember that in order for Christ to help and to heal you, you have to draw near to Him as if you are blind! You have to see yourself as blind and in need of outside help. This is especially true in your prayers. You don’t own or control God. You also don’t see God. Orthodox theology says that we can know God through His energies but never in His essence. So we have to approach God humbly, with our prayers, as the blind men did, and we have to do it with faith that He will hear us and reach out His healing hands to us in the midst of our blindness. After all, it is the Lord’s good pleasure to give you good things, because you are His child.

But pray as if your life depends on it, because it most certainly does! St. Mark the Ascetic teaches that “Nothing is stronger than prayer in its action, nothing more effective in winning God’s favor.” This is the favor that two blind men found through their heartfelt prayer of just a few words, “Have mercy on us!” AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (9:1-8)

Our Lord Jesus Christ was in a boat, traveling. Once He reached His destination, which we are told was “His own city.” We are then told that people came to him seeking healing for one of their own who was a paralytic. This means that the person who came to the Lord was carried there by others since he himself was paralyzed. This selfless act required great love. It is not easy to carry someone for a long distance even if they are being carried by 4 others. It really requires an act of love and great faith. The people did not necessarily believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. But they believed that He was a great prophet whom God was using in a powerful way. So we should be quite impressed and humbled by the faith of these people to carry their beloved to Christ. We who are here believe that Jesus is the Son of God but perhaps our actions don’t demonstrate this deep kind of faith that we hear about today.

As soon as the Lord looked upon this paralyzed man and looked upon the faith of those who brought Him, He immediately said to the man “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.” Have more beautiful words ever been uttered? The Lord knew everything about this sick man. He knew everything including his worst moments, his failings and his sins. The Lord knew all of the things that this man probably tried to hide from the rest of the world. And here we see a true demonstration of the love and mercy of God towards mankind. Our Lord knew all of these things and He still took compassion upon this man. Its one thing when someone loves you but doesn’t know the worst things about you or your deepest and darkest moments. It is something else, when they know those things and love you all the more. We find that Our Lord Jesus loved the man and He comforts him saying “Take heart”.

If you spend precious quiet time with the Lord, in prayer, you will be surprised that the Lord will often come to you (rather, you will sense His presence) and He speak quietly into our hearts and say “Take heart, my son.” “Take heart, my daughter.” “Have courage, be at peace, I am with you always.” Just as the Lord knew the troubles that this man had faced in his life, He also knows each of us intimately. He knows every aspect of our lives. He understands you even when you think that no one else understands you. He knows you intimately because He created you and He dwells in you through baptism and Holy Communion. And even when you aren’t quiet and don’t listen for the voice of the Lord, you can still be greatly encouraged through the study of the gospels and by reading and praying the psalms. The psalms are the prayer book of the Church. They are filled with words of comfort that increase our faith. In fact it is the psalmist who writes, “Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you.” Ps 55:22 Bring all of your troubles to God in prayer. Pour them out and leave them at the feet of Christ, who alone has the strength to carry them.

After the Lord said “take heart,” he continues saying, “my son”. God looks at us as His sons and daughters, with extreme love for us. Even the one who grew up as an orphan can know and feel like they are part of a glorious family through this intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, who sees in us not merely a follower, but His very child, His son or daughter.

Now we come to the words that are most important of all, “Your sins are forgiven.” We are reminded that God created the universe by the power of His Word. He said “let their be light” and it was so. Christ Himself is the Word of God. By the word of the Word, all things are done and accomplished. So He created the universe by His word and He recreates each of us by His word. He offers us healing and reunites our faculties, our bodies, souls and minds. He takes away the great burdens that weigh us down.  These powerful words help to refashion men and to turn them from broken sinners into sane, whole, and saintly human beings who are truly growing in the likeness of God. Nothing is a greater burden in our lives then our own sins. They often haunt us and we wonder whether or not we can ever be free of them and of the damage that our sins cause. Most importantly we wonder if we can ever have a restored relationship with God and have the peace that comes through communion with Him. But my brothers and sisters, everything is possible in Christ. Because Christ became a man, took flesh and was crucified in order to open the doors of the kingdom to us through the forgiveness of our sins.

By the Cross, the Son of God having become man, accomplished our salvation. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross (Phil. 2:8). Having stretched out His hands upon the Cross, the Savior with them, as it were, embraced the world, and by His blood shed on it, like a king with red ink, He signed the forgiveness of the human race.

Now this very same gift of forgiveness is offered through the Holy Priesthood as it was instituted by Our Lord Himself who said to the disciples “Receive the Holy Spirit, those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, and those whose sins you retain, they are retained.” Jn 20:23 This gift is received through repentance and the sacrament of Confession. It transforms and heal us.

How often should one confess? It depends. In most cases, it will be about 4 times a year. Of course, some people will need to confess more often based on their personal struggles or if they happen to fall into serious sins. Yet others may confess more often because their conscience is troubling them. But in general you should speak with your priest about this. The sacrament is not magic. We shouldn’t take it for granted and misuse it. But we do need heartfelt repentance before we come so that Christ can truly unburden our souls and heal us. He wants this for us because He hates sin and He hates to see us paralyzed or destroyed by sin.

St. Nikolai Velimirovich writes, “The Lord is mighty and willing. No one, except Him, is able to cleanse the soul of man from sin and, by cleansing, to whiten it…..our soul cannot become white, no matter how often we cleanse it by our own effort and labor even with the help of all legal means of the law until we, at last, bring it beneath the feet of God, spread out and opened wide so that the light of God illumines it and whitens it.”

For those who come with courage and with humility they will also hear the comforting and life giving words of Christ “Take heart my child, your sins are forgiven.” AMEN.

Source: Sermons

The Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. (6:18-23) and the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (8:5-13)

In today’s epistle we hear the Apostle Paul’s words to the Christians at Rome. St. Paul would write these letters to the churches for many reasons. Sometimes he wrote to correct issues that were brewing. Sometimes he wrote to put the church in good order. Sometimes he wrote to teach or to clarify the teaching that these churches had received. Sometimes he wrote in order to check on the churches that he himself had planted. But above all else, he writes from a place of godly love, and concern for the people of these communities.

St. Paul in this 6^th chapter of Romans uses the language of freedom and slavery. He uses it very naturally because the people lived in a time when such realities were quite natural. Slavery was common. Yet, as many of the great saints demonstrate to us, the Apostle Paul takes an earthly reality and he uses it to bring to light an even greater spiritual reality. He uses this language of freedom and slavery with a completely different purpose. In particular he speaks of being “set free from sin.”

In our world everyone seems to be fighting for a cause. People fight for freedom universally. Political freedom, freedom of expression, freedom of speech etc. Yet every earthly freedom is according to a Christian, a bit of a mirage. It masks a deeper and higher reality. The reality of our freedom is found in Christ. You don’t receive freedom in Christ until you are baptized. But once you are baptized it is as if someone paid off your debt. You weren’t freed to do whatever you please (although you may choose that path). You were bought at a price by Christ in order to be freed to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with your whole soul, mind, heart and strength.

St. Paul tells us that we are never actually free (not in the sense that we understand). We are always slaves but for the lack of a better word we “choose” our form of slavery. Sometimes people will want to come and talk about things they are dealing with, temptations they are having. They are sometimes irritated that the thing they are fascinated by or the activity they desire is not supported by the teaching of Christ and the Church. We have to realize that neither Christ nor the Church can stop you from choosing to go down a different path. God is love and because this is true, He gives us the freedom to choose a path. Even if we choose the path of destruction, Christ will allow us to go down that path. He will certainly try to find ways to correct us along the way and help us to repent and amend our way of live but ultimately, if we are firm in our desire for rebellion and if we choose a path that destroys our souls, the Lord will let us do so because He loves us completely. He cannot force us to love Him or to choose a particular path of life. Sometimes people so desperately desire this illusion of freedom that they chase it to their own peril. They run full speed ahead towards the edge of the cliff.

St. Paul writes, “When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” Meaning, they felt that they were free to do as they pleased with no consequences. They did not feel obligated to a moral way of life. Yet he continues, “But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.”

The members of the Roman church had once lived as pagans. They knew the life of prodigality and “freedom.” Yet at the end of that path they found that they were not only miserable but ashamed of what they had done and what they had become. In their love for personal freedom they found themselves completely enslaved and lacking the power to free themselves from their distorted way of life. They were stuck in lives that were fruitless and shallow and the only possible return from such a life was death, especially the death of the soul. Why? Because they lived a life apart from the love of God. To sin is to be distanced from God. To continue down a path of sin without repentance is to run away from life Himself.

Many are under the mistaken assumption that God punishes us, that He caused Adam and Eve to die. No my brothers and sisters. God warned them and He warns us of the consequences of choosing a path apart from Him. He warns us of choosing a life without Him. It won’t end well. It can’t end well. He knows this because He is the author of life and the author of us.

But St. Paul reminds the Christians that while they were slaves, they are now truly free with the freedom that only God can buy for you. He writes, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is true freedom, to love God and serve Him with joy. But this freedom while it was free for each of us, was received as grace from God. It was not free for the Lord. He paid a very high price for us. He loved us so much that He died upon the cross for us, an innocent man condemned as a criminal. That was the price of our freedom. The Lord paid this with joy because He is the lover of mankind. He went along this path with joy out of His overwhelming love for you. Embrace this love as God has embraced you in His heart.

I will end with a quote from St. John of San Francisco who writes,

“…the Son of God came to earth and became man that He might lead man into heaven and make him once again a citizen of Paradise, returning to him his original state of sinlessness and wholeness and uniting him unto Himself.

This is accomplished by the action of Divine grace grated through the Church, but man’s effort is also required. God saves His fallen creature by His own love for him, but man’s love for his Creator is also necessary; without it he cannot by saved. Striving towards God and cleaving unto the Lord by its humble love, the human soul obtains power to cleanse itself from sin and to strengthen itself for the struggle to complete victory over sin.” + St. John the Wonderworker

May your freedom become an opportunity for complete victory to the glory of God. AMEN.

Source: Sermons