Over the past several years in talking to people about their growing faith, I have been asked this question countless times: “Does it get any easier once we are baptized/chrismated?” My response is always the same: “No…it gets even harder…and the crosses get heavier…but through the Church we are given the strength to bear them so that they don’t crush us.” 

This past week, the Cross of Christ, the symbol of God’s love, is still in the center of Orthodox Churches throughout the world. At the Festal Great Vespers for the Exaltation of the Cross, before we brought the cross out to the center of the Church, we read from the Old Testament about the journey that was taken by the people of God out of Egypt in the book of Exodus.  We remember how God led His people through the Red Sea, and then closed the sea upon the charging Egyptians who were seeking their destruction.  After the sea closed in on the Egyptian armies, all of the enemies of God’s people had been destroyed. Israel was led out of slavery and into freedom.  From the opposite shore of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang praises and glorified God for their deliverance and their salvation.  

What does this have to do with our struggle to live a Holy Life? One of the reasons it’s so important for us to read and understand the Old Testament, is because it offers so many teaching moments for what our own relationship with God is, and what it should be. 

This entire period from the book of Exodus is really an accurate depiction of our lives as Christians.  When we are born into this world, we are surrounded by enemies…demons, satan, sorrow, and death….all enemies that the world has no solution for.   How does our Lord deliver us from these enemies? 

 Our journey begins like the Israelites journey…through the sea…through the waters of baptism so that we can come out the other side and begin life anew!  For this new transformation….this new birth…we glorify God just as the Israelites did!  How long do you think that joy lasted, before they realized that despite being delivered from their enemies…they still had to live in the midst of the wilderness? 3 days was all it took for them to complain and forget all that God had delivered them from. 

This is our experience after baptism, and yes, even after a good confession.  After this long journey battling with our sins in the catechumenate, once we are baptized, or for the rest of us, once we have renewed our baptism through absolution, we go out of the Church that day and realize that we are still living in the midst of a fallen world.  There is still war.  Our friends didn’t stop bothering us about saints and icons. Our president is still tweeting.  There is still death.  There is still sin.  

For the Israelites, after their salvation from their enemies had been handed to them, it only took those 3 days to forget the power of God that stood behind them.  They came to the waters of Marah, and wanted to drink from them to be nourished, but when they tasted the water, it was bitter.  So, God directed Moses to cut down a tree and to throw it into the waters…and as soon as the wood hit it, the bitter waters were made into sweet and life-giving water. 

God promised His people that day: “If you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is pleasing in his sight, give ear to His commandments, and keep His ordinances, I will put none of the diseases on you that I brought on the Egyptians: for I am the Lord your God who heals you.”

This is the Christian Life my dearest brothers and sisters in Christ.  Yes, we are all made new in the waters of baptism…and we receive the descent of the Holy Spirit through Chrismation…but that doesn’t mean that our journey is complete. What it does rather, is give us a strength and power we did not have before while living in the midst of the fallen world.

God gives us the Holy Mysteries, which the catechumens will spend this entire semester learning about, with which to continue our battle. We are given confession as a renewal of our baptism through tears of repentance.  We are strengthened by the Holy Eucharist, like manna from the wilderness.  And, from time to time throughout the Liturgical year, the Church brings out the cross from the Holy Altar, and throws it into the midst of the bitter waters of life, so that they can be made sweet once again…encouraging us to do what our Lord commanded of us in the Gospel today:

“Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

May we all be inspired and strengthened by the power of the precious and life-giving cross…Amen

“The Cross is the guardian of the whole world.  The Cross is the beauty of the Church.  The Cross is the might of kings.  The Cross is the confirmation of the faithful.  The cross is the glory of the angels…and the wounding of demons”.   

The Cross is everything for us!  We bring it out to the center of the Church.  We decorate it with beautiful and fragrant flowers.  We bow down low before the life-giving wood.  In all of these external movements, we give Glory to God for the Cross!   

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is one that is unknown to many in the modern Christian world, because you will not find it anywhere in Holy Scripture.  It is found rather through Holy Tradition, in the history books, and in the hymnography and poetry of the Ancient Church.

When our Lord was taken down from the Cross, the instrument of His death remained on Golgotha for some time before it was eventually thrown down into the trash heap near the spot of the crucifixion.  A few decades later, after the city of Jerusalem was destroyed, Emperor Hadrian gave orders to build a temple over the land where the cross was buried to the Roman Goddess Venus, who was the Goddess of fornication, lust, and desire. 

So imagine if you will, for several hundred years, on the very spot that the True God gave His life for the human race, He had to watch from above as His own creation offered sacrifices to the Goddess of the Passions, just a few meters above the Cross of Christ! 

When we come into an Orthodox Church, we see the cross of Christ depicted literally everywhere.  It is on the Altar table, on the top of the Royal doors, even on the fabric of the icon stands.  Many of our Churches are even designed to be constructed in the shape of the cross, leaving the faithful to worship in the very center of it!  The Cross is everywhere!  It is raised! It is prominent!  It is exalted! 

And Yet…How much is the cross exalted within us?  How often do we think about it?  Are we constantly putting it on ourselves outside of Church? Does our Lord’s love take precedent in our own lives, above everything else in this world?  Or is it sometimes buried, neglected, and “thrown into the trash heap” as we occupy ourselves with earthly concerns?   

After Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which stopped the persecution of Christians throughout the empire, he sent his elderly mother St. Helen to Jerusalem to find the Holy Places that had been decimated and buried by the Pagans.  After years of searching, she met with an elderly Hebrew man named Jude, who told her that Golgotha was buried beneath the temple of Venus.  

St. Helen had the temple demolished and the land excavated, and it was there that they found three crosses, a board with the inscription “King of the Jews”, and four nails that were used to put our Lord to death.  To determine which of the crosses was that of Christ’s, the Patriarch of Jerusalem ordered that a corpse be brought to the site.  They laid a dead man on the three crosses, and when he was laid on the cross of our Lord, his eyes opened as he came to life.  The entire world celebrated and rejoiced at the finding of the true cross!  It was lifted up and exalted on high! 

One year later, Emperor Constantine ordered that the area surrounding Golgotha and the Empty Tomb be enclosed in a massive Church that was finished 9 years after the finding of the Cross.  The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, although it has been rebuilt several times throughout history, still stands today over those sacred sites, welcoming Christian pilgrims from around the world!

 Since those early days of the 4th century…for almost 1700 years, the Church has remembered and celebrated the finding and elevating of the Cross of Christ. At the Divine Liturgy for the feast, we celebrate and rededicate ourselves to Christ and His Cross. At Vespers, we will bring out the precious cross from the altar, adorned in flowers, and place it in the center of the Church while we sing:

“O Lord Save Thy People and Bless Thine Inheritance.  Grant victories to the Orthodox Christians over their adversaries, and by virtue of the cross, preserve Thy Habitation”

Then we will all bow down low to the cross…the instrument of our salvation. We will be reminded of the sweetness it brings our embittered lives…the strength and stability it offers us throughout our fight with the passions…and the hope and promise it brings to those who keep it elevated in their lives. 

By the power of the precious and life-giving Cross, O Lord, have mercy on us and save us!

With the beginning of the Liturgical Year, which took place on September 1st, we begin the Major Feasts of the Year with this joyous celebration of Mary’s miraculous birth from her barren parents, Joachim and Anna.  Why does the Church keep this day sacred, special, and a holy celebration?   

Take just a moment, and step into the time and situation that the world had found itself in during the time of the Virgin’s birth.  Mankind was languishing in darkness.  What once was a natural and powerful connection between earth and God had been broken millennia before by the fall of our ancestors Adam and Eve.  Indeed, the words that we sing during the “Lord I Call” verses from the psalm, were being sung in the hearts of the entire human race:  “Bring my soul out of prison…”

The human race was waiting to be brought out of this spiritual darkness which had taken possession of the world…so much so that our lives as human beings had indeed become like prisons.  Through the writings of the prophets, and the prefigurements and miracles from the Old Testament, there were whispers of a coming Light…One who would come, and Who would erase and destroy the power of sin and death.  

Why do we celebrate this feast?  Because as the hymns so beautifully point out to us, if we turn our heads to the east, there is a faint light beginning to grow brighter…just below the horizon.  And what appears first in the midst of the dark sky?  The morning star, which heralds the coming of the Sun of Righteousness.

The Theotokos is our morning star dear ones.  It is through her womb that the darkness of the world would be dispelled. The universe had waited millenia for this chosen vessel to be born, so that the dawn of a new day in the life of mankind could begin.  The coming of the light is a cause for remembrance and celebration!

“This is the day of the Lord, Rejoice O you people, for behold the bridal chamber of the Light, the book of the Word of Life, comes forth from the womb!  The gate that faces the east is born and awaits the entry of the Great Priest.  She alone admits Christ into the world, for the salvation of our souls!”

Jesus begins his final days by confronting the hard-hearted scribes and pharisees.  He enters into the temple and flips the tables of the corrupt money changers.  Anyone that was not there in worship of God, He drives out with a whip.  “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it into a den of thieves” Jesus says, quoting the scripture.

A day later, Jesus enters into Temple again, and is asked by the chief priests: “Who’s authority are You doing these things?  And who gave you this authority?”  Jesus didn’t answer them…He was done with them and their blindness.  He rebuked them as hypocrites and children of hell. Jesus said to them that the people they despise most, the tax collectors and the harlots, would inherit the Kingdom of God first.  He then offered the parable that we hear in Matthew 21: 33-42.

I offer this small review from the Gospel of Matthew this morning as both a reminder and a warning.  Yes, Jesus offers these words in condemnation for God’s chosen people …but dear ones, these words should offer a humbling reminder to us this morning, now sitting as members of the Church 2,000 years later.

A certain landowner planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower.  He then leased it to the vinedressers and went into a faraway country.  We should ask ourselves:  Who is this land owner?  What is this vineyard?

If you look up into the dome of our Church in Fenton, you see the icon of Christ blessing His people. Around the outside of the icon are words from the psalms:

“Look down from Heaven O God and behold, and visit this vine which Thou hast planted with Thy Right hand, and establish it!”

When we enter into the Church, we stand in the center of the vineyard which our Lord established! We are the vine which was planted in the midst of the Holy Orthodox Church.  Jesus has placed a hedge around His Holy Church as a protection from the fallenness of the world.  To quote from the prophecy of Zachariah: “I have placed around you, as a hedge, a wall of fire, and my Glory will be in your midst!

What does it mean to be Orthodox?  It means that we are fruit bearing vines in the midst of this Holy Vineyard.  To be a member of the Church is to be cared for by the landowner, God Himself…Who covers us with Light, and hedges us in with His Love.  His Glory permeates the very centers of our lives.  He builds a winepress and a tower in the center of the Church…a picture of the Holy Eucharist and the other Holy Mysteries, to nourish us!

What does God, Who has done all of these things for us, except in return?  For us to be a fruitful vine.  This was the expectation of the Chosen People, the Jews of the Old Testament, who were called by God to work in the vineyard.  Yet when God sent forth His servants, the prophets, to collect the fruit, they were met with hostility and death!  God had done everything for them!  He cultivated their lives!  He protected them in the desert. He gave them land on which to live. He used them as instruments of His mighty hand in the world.  He leased out this life…this beautiful life…and he expected a return.  This is what the Jewish Elite didn’t see. But we, who have the blessing of looking back at their bad example…this is something that we must realize in our lives as Orthodox Christians. 

We are living in the vineyard.  God has invested deeply in us.  Look at what He has given us!  Do we take for granted this Love? This Church? How much fruit have we, as members of this Holy Vineyard, produced and offered back to God?   Have we offered enough praise from our lips?  Have we offered service to others?  Love? Holiness?  This is our fruit! How much have we been able to gather as a parish family?

One of the early lessons I teach the catechumens is that we don’t come to the vineyard to take.  This is not a sacrament factory…we don’t come to receive, but rather to give.  How have we done?

With that question in mind, I offer this small self-reflection that we should all ask ourselves this morning. It is one that I heard Fr. Josiah Trenham offer to his faithful, but I think it fits rather nicely for our parish here in Fenton as well:

“If Father Gabriel took me and cloned me….If he were to take my level of fruit bearing, my level of worship, the amount of time I spend in Church and in prayer, the amount of effort I put into ministry and serving the Church, would this parish family…this vineyard…be stronger, or weaker? 

If you come once a month, it’s not hard to answer this question. 

If the only time you think, say, or hear the word of God is during these hours on Sunday morning and not any other day…it’s not hard to answer this question.

If you participate in no ministry…have not given to the Church and to those in need…if you have only received, and have done nothing to grow in our love for God and for one another…it’s not hard to answer this question. 

If this is us, then may the words we have said so many times so far today in the Liturgy echo for eternity…. “Lord Have mercy on us.”

While it was too late for the scribes and the pharisees Who Jesus was preaching to in this parable, it is not too late for us dear ones.  Let us not take God’s loving care for granted.  While we are surrounded by His Glory, let us till the ground…and work hard in this vineyard…so that we may not only offer our own fruit to God, but also show to our children, by our own example, what it means to live a life of service and love for the betterment of the Kingdom.  Amen

The Transfiguration wasn’t just some small miracle or a footnote in the earthly ministry of our Lord.  It is, rather, the very center of our salvation.  In this feast, our future is revealed to us and our destiny as Christians is shown to us.  That common future that all those who are moving towards Christ are called to share, is revealed on Mt. Tabor. 

One of the truly beautiful teachings in Holy Orthodoxy, is that this Glory…this Kingdom of Heaven…is something that we can experience in this life.  Even today, it is possible with us, to reflect and be engulfed by what many Fathers and Mothers of the Church call “The Light of Tabor”; the Energies of God entering into our very being, bringing indescribable heavenly joy. 

Personal Transfiguration, reflecting the Glory of God, isn’t some fairytale that we read to our children.  It is a reality.  We see it so often when reading the lives the saints! I cannot tell you how many real examples we have of people that witnessed this same Divine Light emanating from Holy Men and Women while they were in prayer. 

Perhaps one of the more famous ones that many of you have read in classes with me, is the story of Motovilov, sitting in the woods and having a conversation with St. Seraphim of Sarov, who while He was praying, became too bright for Motovilov to look at Him!  The Divine Light shone all around the forest where they were sitting, and enveloped both the Saint and Motovilov.  They just sat in the midst of the snow, basking in the Glorious Energies of God.

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like for Peter, James, and John on Mt Tabor to be surrounded by Christ’s Light ? When St. Seraphim asked Motovilov how he felt when being surrounded by the Uncreated Light, he responded with words like: “indescribably calm…extraordinary sweetness…extraordinary joy….extraordinary warmth…and the smell, like nothing on earth that could match this fragrance.”  Those of you who have been in the presence of Holiness at a weeping Icon know what smell this is!

St. Seraphim is but one example.  Saint Paisios, a wonderful Saint of our own lifetimes, called these moments: “Sweet Candies from God’s Pastry Shop!”  There is a wonderful story written by a young man who travelled the world looking for answers to deep spiritual questions.  His travels once took him into the presence of Saint Paisios, who showed him firsthand what holiness feels like: 

“As we reached the gate, I was again in a spiritual state of watchful inebriation.  Looking down at me from his yard, the Elder started making jokes about “God’s Pastry Shop.”  I felt so joyful…it was even embarrassing.  I didn’t want to leave his presence…

The elder then placed his hands on my head and momentarily lifted up his eyes to heaven.  I was flooded by a spiritual torrent. I felt such a fullness of light and life…of peace and joy…that it took my breath away.  Words are insufficient to express what I felt…it was beyond all measurement and comparison…”.

 The question for us today dear ones, is how to do we get there?

I think that sometimes, we fall into this trap of thinking that living our faith and developing a relationship with Christ is something that is external and intellectual.  We try to cram all of this knowledge in our brains about the faith and watch apologetical conversations on youtube.   We make sure we are checking labels on food items to see if they are fasting foods or not. We stand in front of our icon corners in the morning and at night, not to pray, but rather to fulfill some kind of external obligation.  In some cases, we see our orthodox faith through the lens of some kind of western moralism:  “Do the Right thing, don’t sin…maybe show up occasionally to Church…and you will get to a place called heaven where we can finally put our feet up.” 

This isn’t Holy Orthodoxy.  This isn’t how we get to Tabor…or how we grow in a relationship with Christ.  As Orthodox Christians, especially with this recent surge coming into the Church, we have to start setting the example that our faith goes SO MUCH DEEPER than that. 

The joys of the Kingdom, reflecting the Glorious Energies of God within our life is something that is available to us right here and right now, if we only decide, not just to practice our faith…but to live it. 

Fr. Silviu Bunta of our diocese once beautifully said that: Holy Orthodoxy is not some kind of system.  It is internal, inherited, informal, natural, ascetical, simple, therapeutic, and soteriological.  It comes down to living, both in this world and in the world to come, the life which God has given us through his revelations from the beginning of time all the way to today...God has not simply taught our ancestors things, shown them ways, and given them commandments and liturgy, but in all these things, He has given them His own being and His own life.    

Our faith, dear ones, is life itself. 

Until we get to that moment…until we can get out of our heads and start fully living and internalizing a life like Christ…may we all continue to be inspired by both the Lives of the Saints, and by the Holy Feasts like Transfiguration, which are there to remind us that we too are destined for indescribable Joy that can only be found when we start to live our faith in God. 

To answer to all of these questions, we don’t need to go find homilies from the 4th or 5th century saints, nor do we even need to look at early Christian books like the protoevangelium of James. We simply need to look at the Gospels themselves. In the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear the narrative of the Annunciation.  Archangel Gabriel comes to an unsuspecting 13-year-old girl, and says to her: “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you:  Blessed are you among women!” To my knowledge, and throughout all of Holy Scripture, I cannot think of one other instance where an Archangel is greeting someone like that!  He uses the word “Charitou”, meaning “full of Grace”, and proceeds to tell her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her!   

In the next verses, Mary then proceeds to visit her cousin Elizabeth, now pregnant with John the Baptist.  St. Luke recounts how as soon as Mary’s voice is heard by St. John the Baptist, he leaps in the womb of his mother out of joy! The next words come from Elizabeth herself, exalting the Mother of God!

“Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”

Mary’s response?

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior. For he has regarded the lowly estate of His maidservant: For behold, henceforth, all generations (until around 18th century) will call me blessed!” 

Fast forward in Luke to when Christ is presented to the temple, 40 days after His birth.  He is taken into the arms of the righteous Simeon, who not only offers a prophecy about Christ, but also an important one about His Mother!

“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”.

St. Simeon describes a unique relationship that Mary the Theotokos will have as the Mother of God.  She will participate in the crucifixion in a way that no one else can measure…as Who could more fully feel the pain of a Child than that of His Mother? 

In the Gospel of John, we hear the narrative of Christ’s first public miracle.  He is invited to a wedding feast where they run out of wine.  Keep in mind, no public miracles have occurred.  Jesus has lived a relatively secluded and quiet life for 30 years.  The only person that truly knows Who He is, and What He has come here to do is His Mother.  She tells her Son: “They have no wine”. 

Jesus answers her:  “Woman…”.  This term is not an insult like we would hear it in modern ways, but was rather a word used to convey respect.  “Woman…What is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” Jesus is looking at His mother, the one who knows Who He is, and says: “it’s not time…this doesn’t have to begin yet.”

Mary doesn’t respond to Jesus, but rather turns to the servants and says: “Do whatever He tells you”, and we know the rest of the story.  From that moment, Christ begins a path to Golgotha and to the Tomb. Right next to Him the entire way, awaiting the piercing of her own heart as St. Simeon had Prophesied, is His Mother

 When we look at the Holy Scripture’s witness to the Theotokos, especially as it relates to our own personal relationship with her, we have to ask ourselves:

How can we not venerate the one who’s voice John the Baptist greeted with a leap of joy in the womb, because it was that voice that heralded the presence of Christ in his midst?

How can we not echo the words of the Archangel in recognizing her as one that is full of Grace…and that she will be called blessed by all generations?

How can we call ourselves Christian and weep for our sins before the Crucified Christ, while ignoring the soul-pierced Mother? 

Dear ones, all of us have an earthly mother from whom we learn about and experience love.  During the first weeks of August, the Church calls for this period of fasting and reflection on the relationship we have with our heavenly mother…the ultimate example of what it truly means to love God. May we spend these days, not just reading about her, but rather by imitating Christ in developing a unique and personal relationship with a woman, who unlike her ancestor Eve, said “Yes” to God.  Let us spend these days remembering the one who is “More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim.”  Through the witness of the Orthodox Church, may the entire world more fully embrace a relationship with She Who God chose to be the instrument which would combine the flesh of mankind to His Divinity. 

Through the Prayers of the Theotokos, Have Mercy on Us and Save us

When the paralytic was brought before Christ, no-where in the Gospels does it say that a verbal request was made of our Lord for healing.  In all of the Gospels, it simply says: “Jesus saw their faith” and raised him from his bed. 

The well-respected scribes also didn’t utter a word.  They simply stood there…thinking “This man is a blasphemer!”, but not saying anything out loud in protest!  Our Lord looked up at them and revealed something that I think we all forget from time to time:  God is omnipotent.  He can peer into our hearts and uncover our innermost thoughts!  So rather than replying to words, Jesus responded to the scribe’s interior state by saying: “Why do you think evil in your hearts?!” 

One of the truly frightening reminders that we get from this gospel, and elsewhere in Jesus’s teaching, is that within each and every one of us, there are two distinct sides that often do not work in conjunction with each other.  The first one is our public side, this positive outward perception that we try to show others.  There are times when we as Christians act differently in public (or maybe even at Church) than what is truly going on within the interior of our hearts. 

During Holy week, we are given a frightful Gospel lesson that is read aloud in the Church, that shows Christ confronting the scribes and the pharisees about this very notion when he says:  

“Woe to you, scribes, pharisees, hypocrites!  You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and uncleanness.  On the outside, you appear to people to be righteous, but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  (Matthew 23:27-27)

Dear ones, when we take a moment to humble ourselves this morning, we can easily see this notion in ourselves and in the way that we live our lives.  We tend to focus so much of our attention to our public image, because we think it is the only part of us that can be seen…yet we forget the All-Seeing Eye of our Lord, Who intimately knows the depths of our hearts.

Let me offer a personal example that I think every one of us has had in this room from time to time.  I had been made aware of a situation involving someone who had left Orthodoxy and was leading others astray online. Although I am not really on facebook and do not have an account, I did sneak online to see what all of the fuss was about, and I was deeply tempted by the thought of leaving a public comment on a thread to call this person out in their actions and ask them to repent. How many of you have done this on a public forum?  Where you type out a comment to get your point across, and then hold your hand over the mouse for a moment, deciding whether you should send it?

Two questions came to my mind:

1.)     Should I be doing this under my wife’s name on facebook? 

2.)     What was my internal motivation for leaving a public comment and calling someone to the carpet?  Was I passing judgment on this person, so I can be publicly justified in my comment for all to see? Or was I rather offering a correction out of love and concern for this person and their salvation?

On Sundays and during weekday Liturgies, we also have a small battle with the internal and external when we approach the Holy Chalice. Externally, we will all cross our hands over of our hearts, cross ourselves, and prepare to take God’s very Body and Blood within ourselves.  Yet what is the inner position of our souls in those moments?  Where is our focus? On the tremendous and dread mystery that awaits us in the chalice…or on the world?  Do we truly know and believe what the Eucharist can do for us…or are we following the person in front of us in line without paying any attention to what we are about to partake and the transformation that awaits us at the chalice?  Are we focused on our outward piety, or on the inner state of our being?

If we want to learn how to align our whole being, we need to look no further than the example of Christ Himself.  The Love that He showed, and continues to show the world, is not just something that is on the surface.  He didn’t heal people in order to gain popularity or to boost his public image. He healed the sick because of His tremendous love for Mankind.   Christ didn’t walk on water, fast in the desert, or transfigure Himself on Mount Tabor so people could be in awe…but rather He did so to show that He is “He Who Is”…the God Who Created all things. Jesus didn’t offer Himself on the Cross and destroy death by the Resurrection to have a cult following for 2,000 years…He did it out of love, to free mankind from the prison of death it created for itself.

Dear ones, let mindful of both the inward and outward parts of our being.  Through prayer, the sacraments, and through learning and following after the example of Christ Himself, may we strive to not be simple “whitewashed tombs” …but rather men and women who are filled with the glory and love of God, especially in the way that we interact with one another. 

One of the more enjoyable evenings of last week was watching the children get excited about the USA’s World Cup Soccer Match.  Throughout both halves, the kids would randomly start the “USA chants”.  Despite half of them not knowing the first thing about soccer, they would scream and hug each other in jubilation after the team scored a goal!  All of them were united and stood behind a team that they all had in common.

Those precious moments served as a beautiful image to me of what happens when citizens of our nation set aside our differences, look past all that divide us, and focuses on the one thing that unites us…that we are all proud Americans. Whether we will find ourselves in November riding on the back of a Republican Elephant or on the back of a Democratic Donkey, the celebrations of the 250th birthday of our country were an opportunity for all of us to be united in our love, and (more importantly) in our giving thanks to God for the gift of the United States of America.

Now that the celebrations, the fireworks, and the excitement of the past few days of celebration are completed, all of us should be taking a moment to reflect on what we have done with this gift of a country that God has given us.  While it is the job of the president and civil leaders to build up and highlight the accomplishments, its often the job of the priests and spiritual leaders to help us sober up and open our eyes to the work that we have yet to accomplish. 

Let me start off by saying the obvious.  Whether you like the President or current Government or not, we are absolutely BLESSED to live in the United States.  Anyone who says otherwise has never been to, lived, or experienced life outside of our borders.  That being said, what have we done with the blessings we have received?

We live in the wealthiest country in the world (at least until our government causes us all to go broke with overspending).  Even our poorest citizens would be considered wealthy by international standards.  God has given us all the opportunity to use our wealth to help others.  Have we as a country, and individually, done all that we can to take care of our neighbor as ourself?

We are blessed to live in a place with tremendous cultural variety.  Everyone comes from a different backgrounds and experience.  I look at our own Orthodox Church in America as a microcosm of this “melting pot” American experience.  In our own parish, we have second and third generation Romanians, Serbians, Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians, Syrians…and many other kinds of nationalities that end in “ians”.  All of us have our own little quirks and ways in which we like to experience various Liturgical practices and customs.  We all have different personalities and ways in which we handle disagreements.  Yet through it all, we remember that before all of the nationalities, we are Orthodox Christians, made in the image and likeness of God.  And like those children watching the USA soccer match, we focus on what unites us rather than what makes us different.   Can we say that we do the same to those who are not like us on the street?

Perhaps the greatest gift we have been given as a nation, is one that coincides with the greatest gift that God gave mankind when He created us…our freedom. Today (and yes, I use the word “today” after experiencing government overreach during COVID), without any fear or government persecution, we are free to attend an Orthodox Liturgy.  We all have the freedom to write an article for the newspaper, with our name on it, to criticize our elected officials without fear of reprisal or imprisonment.  We have the freedom to go to the ballot boxes in November and select the leaders we feel most represent our family, our values, and our faith.  Have we used that great gift of freedom during these last 250 years to bear fruits worthy of God?

 I think our Holy Synod of Bishops said it best in their statement for the celebrations of this weekend:

“250 years is a span of time sufficient to accumulate both great achievements, and grave failures.  This nation, like all nations under God, has known the heights of generosity, and the depths of injustice; the nobility of aspiration, and the tragedy of betrayal.  The Church does not pretend otherwise, nor would it serve this nation’s good or her to do so.  We bear witness to a God before Whom no nation and no person stand without need of mercy….

 It is in this spirit that we call all of the faithful in the Orthodox Church in America, and through our witness, this nation to repentance…Repentance for injustices past and present; for the idols of wealth, comfort and power that seduces every generation; for the divisions and enmities that tear at the fabric of common life; and for the ways in which we have failed to love our neighbors as ourselves…

…A true commemoration of our nation’s founding is not merely a self-congratulation, but rather a moment of sober examination, of honest confession, and of a renewed dependance upon God.” 

Thank God for our Holy Synod of Bishops in the Orthodox Church in America! While it would have been socially acceptable to write a statement praising our great country and touting all of its accomplishments, we have shepherds who also remind us to sober up and humble ourselves in our celebrations…looking to all of the ways in which we have squandered the gift of the United States of America. 

Now that the celebrations are over, let’s begin our preparations as individuals, and as a nation, for the next 250 years.  With great gifts come great responsibilities (see the parable of the talents).  May God grant us the ability to guide ourselves and our elected officials in the way of peace.  May He grant us, and our leaders, especially our President and Members of Congress, the spirit of Humility and Charity.  And may God continue to trust us with His Divine Gifts as we continue to cultivate and produce fruits worthy of our country in the decades to come. 

Money, possessions, mammon, treasures…these are all words that have a significant impact in each and every one of our lives. It doesn't matter if you have a lot of it, or just a few pennies to your name, how we react to our own wealth (or a lack thereof) has a significant impact on the way that we live our lives as Christians.  So I thought I would offer this morning 3 important points our Lord makes this morning when it comes to money. 

First, Christ speaks to us, living in the richest nation in the world (where even our poor are considered rich by much of the world’s standards) and says: “The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.”

The “eye” Christ is speaking about is another word for attitude.  Put another way, He is saying that your attitude towards wealth will either bring you tremendous light or tremendous darkness.

 What is our attitude towards wealth? Do we give thanks to God for what we have? Or are we always seeking something that we do not have?  A good eye…a good attitude towards wealth…is one of gratitude and generosity. This is how we as Christians need to live out our lives, not seeking after what others have, but rather glorifying God for what He has already given us.

The second thing our Lord tells us, is that the acquisition of wealth can be an addiction.  He is not talking about gambling addictions or dreaming of hitting the lottery…but rather is pointing out how we cannot serve both an addiction and God at the same time.  This truly goes for all addictions…whether it’s money, pornography, alcohol, marijuana/drugs, gluttony…whatever the addiction, we become slaves to it.

“No one is able to serve as slave to two lords; for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will give his attention to one and despise the other.  You are not able to serve both God and Mammon (the Hebrew word for wealth)”

When it comes to our wealth, we have to be careful dear ones, of what it is we are seeking in this life.  Power? Wealth? Influence? Comfort? Or are we seeking first the Kingdom of God…and freedom from the slavery that an addiction to wealth can create.

Finally, Christ points to a realization which should make all of us breathe a little easier.

I was reading from the works of Bishop Augoustinos of Greece this past week, who was commenting on one of St. Paul’s Epistles, where he says that “God is rich…(not with billions of dollars) with mercy. “ His Grace said:

“Certainly, God is very rich.  He is the only one who could be called rich.  But O how different He is from the “rich” of this world!  Everything He made, He didn’t make for Himself, but for mankind.  And he made it all in abundance, so that nothing would be lacking!”

In other words, God pours forth his riches upon all of creation, giving every living thing everything they need in this life. 

Are you hungry?  Here is fruit from the trees, bread from the field, milk from the cows, fish from the river, and meat from the animals. 

Are you Thirsty?  Here is water from the sky, filtered by the reeds, and filling the rivers and the lakes.  Drink and be satisfied!

Are you cold?  Here is cotton from the fields, and wool from the sheep to make clothing, to protect yourself from the harshness of the weather.

Are you sick?  Here are herbs from the earth and medicines to cool the fever.

Are you bored?  Look around and gaze at the beauty of the world.  Gaze at the stars and wonder at the grandeur of the heavens.  Listen to the music of the birds, and the movement of the ocean waves.

Are you sad or experiencing one of life’s many trials? I give you the Church, acting as a blanket to comfort you and to pull you through your losses.

Not only do we have the ability to taste food, see the sky, smell the flowers, and feel the grass beneath our feet, but God has also given us a brain to think and to judge with.  We were given a conscience to decipher what is right and wrong.  We were given the riches of freedom to choose good or evil.  We were given wealth through the Holy Scripture and the church, to illuminate our paths so that we don’t get lost!

When we look at our lives with clear eyes, and with true 20/20 vision, each and every one of us in this room…whether we drive a Corvette or a Pinto…live in an 8 bedroom mansion or a small home…whether we have 2 million dollars in a 401k or have not even a penny to our name…all of us by virtue of being made in the image and likeness of God…are truly rich in the only things that matters. 

Our Lord ends his short discourse on wealth in the sermon on the mount by answering the question: What does it mean to be rich?  To be rich, is to fully participate and be in communion with something we already are rich with…the mercies of God, who has given us EVERYTHING we need to draw closer to Him. 

May our Lord continue to enrich our lives in this way, and in this way only…now and forever, Amen

There is an image I want to share with you in this reflection that comes from a vision in the book of Ezekiel.  The prophet is brought to the door of outer door of the temple, and saw a small spring gushing from temple and going out in a line of water towards the east.  A man went out and stood in the stream and noticed that it came up to about his ankles.  He continued to the follow the flow of the water about 1,000 meters and stood in it again and noticed it reached up to his knees.  The man, surprised by the depth, went another 1,000 meters to see what would happen to this water that was coming from the temple.  He stood in it and it had reached his waist, and was becoming a little harder to stand in due to the current.  He went 1,000 meters further, and the river had risen so much and ran with such a force that it was impossible go in and see just how deep it was. 

The man looked up and further down river, and saw how the waters continued to rise and rush with incredible force.  On each side of this rushing river stood fruit bearing trees that gave a special beauty to the place. In the waters, he started to notice a great number of fish that now had water deep enough to swim in.  Then he saw people to the right and to the left that freely ate from the ripe fruit of the trees, caught and ate the fish, drank the never-ending stream of life-giving water, and lived in happiness.

This vision of Ezekiel made manifest, is what we celebrate today on the Feast of Pentecost! The Grace of the Holy Spirit started to run like a river, as it came down from Heaven onto the Disciples in the upper room. That day, at the newfound power of St. Peter’s preaching, 3,000 souls joined the Church of Christ. After a few days, that number came to 5,000, then 10,000, then 20,000…on and on we see the life-giving waters increase within the Church. 

The Holy Spirit reached so many that no one, not even the devil himself, could stop the flood…although God knows he has tried.  In those early days, he sent persecutors like Nero and Diocletian, who despite their best efforts couldn’t stop the flow of the life giving waters to God’s people. In more recent decades, the devil tried to stop the flow by getting into the hearts of people like Joseph Stalin and Nicolae Ceausescu…who did everything they could to dam the river…and it drowned both of them and their worldly governments. 

The devil said, enough of these weak politicians, I’m going to send a global pandemic to try and destroy the people…and destroy the faith.  Through sickness and paranoia, people were forced into their homes and were temporarily separated from their churches and the life-giving sacraments.  The devil’s efforts, as they have been countless times before, have been foiled by the life-giving waters of the Holy Spirit…as we are seeing such growth in the Holy Orthodox Church as we have ever seen in our short lifetimes. 

On the feast of Pentecost, like the man who followed the flow of the river, we have seen throughout history how powerful the work of the Holy Spirit within the Church has become, and today we take a moment to look around and give thanks to God. 

Ezekiel, when he stood by the river, saw it surrounded by fruit trees which offered nourishment to those who lived near the stream. How much more are we nourished in life when we maintain our ties to the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit?

Ezekiel saw an abundance of fish in the river that the inhabitants caught and ate for protein and strength.  How much more strength are we given when we partake of God Himself within the Eucharist?  Fr. Lev and I often say to one another on Wednesday morning Liturgies…right after taking the communion, almost every time, we look at one another and say: “Is there any better way to start the day?”

We can be assured of one thing today, we have not reached the end of the Raging Waters of the Holy Spirit.  They continue to grow, as is seen with the catechumens and converts that have recently come into the Church.

Very soon, despite our recent expansion, the waters will begin to overflow the banks of this parish community. If we have learned one thing from history, it is that if we try to stand in the way of the river, we are going to be knocked over…which is why I have asked our parish council to start the process of developing a master plan which would pay off our mortgage, and use the funds we would save in a mortgage payment to begin to fund a mission parish to the south of us over the coming years.  It’s coming dear ones…and I ask you to keep that mission goal in your prayers and your hearts, as we celebrate the incredible gift of the Holy Spirit, of which we are so unworthy of.

May our Lord continue to bless us, and shine the light of His countenance upon us, and have mercy on us, Amen!

In Antioch, the growth of the faithful had progressed so much, that they Apostles decided to send Barnabas there to help instruct them. It was here that the scripture says he gave one admonition to those first Christians in Antioch: “τῇπροθέσει τῆς καρδίας προσμένειν τῷ Κυρίῳ.” (“With purpose of Heart, continue to cleave unto the Lord”)

When we hear from the Gospels and Epistles,  we are meant to all enter into them…to put ourselves within its pages and direct the words and lessons from Christ and the Apostles towards our own ears.  Just like in Antioch, the Orthodox Church today is receiving so many fish into her net.  The Holy Spirit is working within so many people and leading them towards Christ. St. Barnabas comes to us all this morning and tells all of our catechumens, our inquirers, and yes, even those who have been in the Church since birth: “Continue to dedicate your heart and to cleave to Christ to the end.” 

St. Barnabas said this to the new Christians in Antioch, and he says it to us this morning. He knew that there are many who begin to walk on God’s road willingly and with excitement.  Yet as soon as the first obstacles appear, we often get discouraged and fall back into our old and sinful ways.  I am willing to bet that many of the people that heard these words of St. Barnabas didn’t heed them, and when the first threat was made against them, or the first passion was inflamed within them, they turned their back on Christ.  Perhaps some denied Him…or cursed Him…or worse yet, simply ignored His Love and impact in their lives.   

No matter what the fallen world throws at you: “Remain dedicated, with all of your hearts, to Christ.” 

A great example of what this looks like is found in the woman who encountered Christ at the well, St. Photini.  After thirsting for so long, she was offered life-giving water from our Lord to which she would never thirst again.  Her encounter with Christ changed her heart in such a way, that she continued to be nourished by Him, long after the crucifixion and resurrection. 

History tells us how after St. Photini left her water pot behind, she made it her mission in life to awaken others to this new path with Christ.  She started with bringing this life-giving water to her 5 sisters, as well as her 2 sons from her 5 illicit relationships.  Her entire family eventually became incredible witnesses to Christ throughout the world.

After her son converted one of the military commanders in Carthage to Christianity, St. Photini was arrested, along with her family, and ended up in the company of Emperor Nero (one of the worst persecutors of Christians in history).  During their time in captivity, the family was bribed, tortured, and imprisoned.  Despite all of this, St. Photini did as St. Barnabas had suggested…and remained dedicated to Christ.  It was that dedication…that fire…that bravery and holiness, that led to the daughter of the emperor himself Domnina, to be converted to Christianity and take the name Anthousa, which means “flower”.

What a beautiful image for us from the life of St. Photini! She remained so steadfast in her faith, that she was able to take that life giving water she had received from Christ, and nourish the ground in such a way that it brought forth so many flowers within the field…including that of the emperor’s daughter.  This is what we too are called to do dear ones. 

We find ourselves in the midst of the “Life Giving Well of the Church”.  God has brought all of us to the well, and has called all of us to remain near to it…to draw from it when we thirst…to protect it when the enemy seeks to destroy it…and to offer it to a world that is thirsting for something more.  May we all take this sacred responsibility seriously, as we continue with all of our hearts, to cleave unto the Lord our God!

“Do you want to be healed?”

 The answer of this man, who had been paralyzed for 38 years…who had laid there hoping and praying that someone would have compassion on him…was “I have no man to help me…”.

Our Lord, in His compassion towards this man, told Him: “take up your bed and walk.”  Later, after He was healed, Christ gave a warning to Him saying “You have been made well…go and sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”

I mentioned this past week at our class on the biblical odes, how when we read from the Holy Scripture is not meant to be read as a “feel good” story that happened long ago. It isn’t written as a historical account for scholars to dissect dates or political movements. It wasn’t written as a justification for war in the Middle East. It was written for us to enter into it! We discover the depth of scripture by placing ourselves within its pages and within its Holy Words. Christ doesn’t speak to and heal people 2,000 years ago…He’s talking and healing us directly right now in the year 2026!

This is how the worship of the Church has understood the scriptures and the feast days for 2,000 years!  On Christmas Day, we sing and say “Today, the Virgin gives birth to the transcendent One…”. Right now, in this paschal season, we say “Christ is risen” not, “Christ was risen!”  In that same manner, as we enter into the feasts, we also enter the scriptures themselves, and watch as they take on an entirely different meaning for our own spiritual lives.

Today, Christ comes to us, who are sitting today in the Church, in the hospital for sinners, and asks us that same question: “Do you (insert your name here) want to be made well?”

What is our response to Christ, as he asks us this question today? 

“Yes, Lord, but I don’t think I can find healing from you. I’d rather find it elsewhere…perhaps in the corner bar…maybe at the local smoke shop...I’ll relieve my symptoms that way.”

This is the response of those who try to find healing anywhere else besides Christ…and the world is indeed full of lies of how you can make yourself feel better.  These lies lead to nothing but fog and despair…a life of desolation, loneliness, depression, and anxiety.  Being deceived by that lie will lead us to absolute destruction.

Perhaps another more popular response, and even a more dangerous one that the first, is when our Lord asks us: “Do you want to be made well?”

We respond: “From what? I’m fine…and have no paralysis”

 This is another lie we often tell ourselves…in that we either don’t want to admit, or have simply ignored our paralysis.  We might compare ourselves to others and say to ourselves “at least I’m not as paralyzed as that person over there”.  We continue on as if things are ok…and we ultimately leave our Lord hanging with His arm outstretched to us…moving onto something else. 

 Dear ones, we won’t find healing or fulfillment in political parties, substances, our hobbies…indeed we won’t find it anywhere in the world.  The only true and everlasting cure for us in this life is found in the outstretched arms of Christ.  It is found where we are sitting today, in the kingdom of heaven on earth, where there is no sickness, sorrow, or sighing…where death has been destroyed, and we all find ourselves in the loving embrace of Christ Himself.

Perhaps this is why our Orthodox communities have seen such an uptick in visitors, inquirers, and catechumens, especially from those coming from no background in faith.  They enter into the Church and experience a holiness and a presence that we, who have been in this warm embrace for a while, often to take for granted…and perhaps that’s something that we should reflect on…and truly be inspired by…as we welcome more people into our parish family. 

Our Lord asks us today: “Do you (insert names here) want to be made well?”  Let us prayerfully and carefully weigh our responses to Him, showing Christ our willingness to reach out and grasp His outstretched hand, so that He can pull us up to heights that the fallen world could only dream of reaching.

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:18)

This is a verse taken from the Gospel we read from St. John on Holy Thursday evening, where our Lord is speaking about “the world”.  “The world” is a term constantly referred to in Holy Scripture, and also constantly spoken about by the Saints and theologians, and priests during their homilies.  It doesn’t always refer to God’s glorious and beautiful creation like we hear in Genesis.  In many places, like in the excerpt I just read, it refers to anything that is in rebellion against God. 

Jesus often taught and spoke about how we are to be “not of the world”.  All of us are called to be different.  We are called to think different, to act different, and to be transformed from what “the world” would normally expect. Being different…living in the world but not “of the world”…this is the way of a true Christian. 

There is a very wonderful quote from St. Philaret of Moscow who uses the example of a fish swimming up-river as an image of the struggles that Christians have in the midst of an increasingly sin filled world.  He says:

“A fish that is alive, always swims against the flow of water…while one that is dead, floats in the water and is carried downstream. A true Christian is one that goes against the current of a sinful age.  A false one, is one that is swept away by its swiftness.”

During the three years of our Lord’s public ministry in the midst of the “world”, how many times did He do or say things contrary to “worldly thinking”?...telling people to swim upstream against the world’s current?  In a few weeks we remember St. Photini, the Samaritan woman at the well.  The disciples will ask Jesus:

“Why are you talking to this samaritan woman who is a sinner?”

“Why Lord, are you letting the kids surround you?”

“Why do you eat with tax collectors and harlots?”

“Why do you forgive sins when only God can do that?

“Why are you washing our feet?”

“You mean I have to forgive those who hurt me?”

“Wait, you are going to Jerusalem to die?  Are you crazy?”

“Why don’t you answer the charges put against you?”

Our Lord taught us through each of these examples, and so many more, how we are meant to live, think, and act differently than what is expected in “the world”. 

What better example do we have than the women who are presented by the Church 2 weeks after Pascha, in the Holy Myrrhbearers.  The Theotokos, Mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Cleopas, Joanna, Salome, Mary and Martha…these women could care less about “worldly thinking”. They had no fear whatsoever of what society might think of them.  They followed and ministered to Jesus from the very beginning!  They showed no fear to stand at the foot of the cross and show their love and devotion to Christ.  They showed no fear of going in the dark to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. 

The Holy Myrrhbearers were different.  They had an unwavering dedication to Christ…and they were rewarded for it.  Did God bestow the greatest news the entire universe had ever known to the disciples first?  No! They ran, scattered, and hid behind closed doors for fear of the Jews…for fear of “the World!” 

Yet for those who fearlessly followed after Christ with all of their heart, upon them was bestowed the blessing to hear those three sweet words that will continue to strengthen us for the rest of our lives: “Christ is Risen”.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ…Be different.  The winds of change in “the world”, even in our own country, are constantly howling.  Right will become wrongs, and wrongs will be made right.  St. Anthony the Great once said: “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying: ‘You are mad; you are not like us.”

Let those prophetic words of St. Anthony reign true in our own lives dear ones. Let the fallen world say:  “You are not like us”…as we take our examples from the Myrrhbearers, From St. Joseph of Arimathea, from St. Nicodemus, and all of the Saints who came after them, and be different…living our lives not “of this world”…but rather in accordance with Christ, who has conquered “the world”

“No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down Myself…I have the power to take it again.” (John 10:18)

Indeed, Christ’s power was made manifest on Pascha, and we celebrated that reality as a parish family in what was the largest Orthodox Pascha Celebration this city has ever seen.  It wasn’t just another Holy Day, it was an experience of JOY!

It is about the joy of Pascha that I want to offer a short reflection on.  Pascha truly is meant to bring about a special jolt of joy in all of us…one that can only be brought about when we celebrate God rising from the dead!  The beautiful thing about this joy, is that the opportunity to experience the “Joy of Pascha” doesn’t just end after the celebration concludes at 6:30 AM on Pascha morning.  

We often hear the first Sunday after Pascha being called “St. Thomas Sunday”, but there is also another name you will see on the calendars: “Antipascha”.  Unlike when we begin words with “anti”, like Antichrist, Antisocial, or Antibiotic, Antipascha does not mean “opposed to Pascha”.  It rather means “in place of Pascha”.  Why?  Because dear ones…every Sunday is Pascha. 

Every Saturday night at vigil, the service which begins the Liturgical Day of Sunday, we hear from one of the accounts of the Resurrection in the Gospels.  We sing the same hymns we sang for Holy Saturday that begins “Blessed art Thou O Lord” and speaks of the Myrrh bearing women coming to the empty tomb.  The priest and deacon come out and do a full censing of the Church with a lit candle, just as we lit the candle at Midnight on Pascha and brought the light from the altar out into the midst of the people. It is at that point in the service that the lights go on and the entire Church is illuminated once again with the Resurrectional Light. At the end of Sunday Liturgy, the priest begins the dismissal prayer with: “May He who rose from the dead…”   

In a very real way dear ones, when we miss a Sunday, we miss the joy of Pascha!  We deprive ourselves of Christ’s joyful presence in our lives!  We deny ourselves the Holy Eucharist…Christ Himself!  We deny ourselves the inner change that comes from the descent of the Holy Spirit.  We reject the peace that can only be found within the walls of the Church and in the presence of Christ…in favor of a war torn, broken, and confused world, that has no answers. 

Our reaction to the joy of Pascha, and the joy of Divine Liturgy on Sundays, has real and eternal meaning for us as Christians.  I was inspired this week by a homily offered by St. Onuphry of Kursk, who was speaking about the day when Paschal joy will be constant.

“Indeed, beloved, everything changes in this life:  Sorrow gives way to joy, and joy is followed by sorrow.  But the time will come, beloved, when joy will be constant, when Pascha week will last forever in the future life.  There will be eternal Pascha, and no leave-taking.  There will be eternal joy…”

But then St. Onuphry offers a warning, and says that this eternal joy won’t be for everyone, but rather only those who are faithful and virtuous.  

“How do we know this?” He asks.  “From our disposition during this Pachal Week.  While believers experience joy and peace and a special spiritual sweetness during and after Holy Pascha, unbelievers experience it as just an ordinary week like any other.  They are gloomy and spiritually empty, while believers are filled with spiritual joy.”

St. Onuphry is pointing to the reality, that this present earthly life is a foretaste of eternal life.  How we live now, the joy and disposition we have towards Pascha, and towards Sunday Divine Liturgies, the emphasis we place on joy that comes from a relationship with God…these are but a shadow to the eternal joy which is to come. 

As Christians, we are all called to cultivate the joy of the Resurrection in the midst of a sorrowful world.  We do this not just by saying “Christ is Risen”, but rather by living in that joyful reality.  For us, this can’t just happen on Pascha Night. It doesn’t end when the 40 days of singing it in the Church concludes. That joy has to extend to every fiber of our being.

As St. Thomas learned in the Gospel this morning, when we miss one Sunday, we miss the joy of Christ’s real and tangible presence in our lives.  Don’t allow the world to deny you Christ’s Grace! Don’t allow the world to deny you the Joy of Pascha.

May the Lord Grant all of us the eternal, unceasing joy of communion with Him, not only in this life, but in the life to come.  Amen

We now are just one week away from Holy Week.  One week away from experiencing what that “Gate of Life” has done for us.  On the last Sunday of Great Lent, we are presented in the Church with the life of St. Mary of Egypt.  We are given the example of a woman who, as we heard in the hymn above, was at the brink of destruction.  She spent her early life as a harlot that would put even the worst of them to shame, but our Lord worked a miracle in her life that awoke her conscience and her soul.  St. Mary went from living in darkness to (as the church so eloquently says in the matins service) “a woman who has become godlike through her holy actions”. 

We have so many lives of the saints that we celebrate throughout the year in the Orthodox Church, which led to an interesting question that was posed to me this past week:  “Why does St. Mary of Egypt get so much attention paid to her on this 5th Sunday of Great Lent?” Why is she called “a shining star from Egypt” in the hymns, and is regarded as one who truly stands out as unique among the saints?”

There is a very ancient prayer from the 4th century that has become the most recognizable prayer for Orthodox Christians during Great Lent called the prayer of St. Ephraim.  It describes and directs us on what we are to focus on as we enter the Great Fast:   

“O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk.  But give rather the spirit of chastity…humility…patience…and love of Thy Servant.  Yea O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto the ages of ages, amen.” 

St. Mary was one who not only gained and lived the virtues that we so desperately seek after in this prayer…she performed all of them to the extreme!

Humility:  Even the way that we read her life, we don’t even know that it is about her until a quarter of the way through!  The story begins with St. Zosima who is searching for someone to teach him what it means to live a Holy Life!  When he finally meets St. Mary in the desert, he sees this woman who levitated when she prayed.  He comes face to face with a woman who knew details about Zosima despite never meeting him before.  He saw with his own eyes someone who walked on the Jordan river like Christ.  Despite all of these incredible things, we see the humility of St. Mary in her very first encounter with a human soul in 47 years!  She fell down before Zosima, and continued to ask him to “bless her” over and over! 

Patience:  St. Mary spent 47 years in the dessert waiting for St. Zosima to come and to receive the Divine Mysteries of God!  47 years fighting internal demons like wild beasts!  47 years without seeing another human soul!  47 years learning what repentance and patience truly look like!

Love:  She would not have gone to such great lengths to purify herself if she did not have a love for God, a love for the blessed Mother, a love for the Saints, and a love for others…as she continually prayed for all of them while in the dessert.

These are all easy virtues to explain with St. Mary’s life, but the one I want to speak the most on is what St. Ephraim calls “chastity”.  It is a common mistake, especially when thinking of the repentance of St. Mary of Egypt, to think that chastity refers to “sexual purity”.  It goes so much further beyond that! The Greek word used in St. Ephraim’s prayer is “Sophrosini, which takes on the connotation of “sanity” or “sobriety”.  When we read the prayer, we are asking God for the spirit of sanity!  For our minds to be made whole!  To live a sober life and to not be “insane”!

 St. Mary of Egypt, before her repentance, even by today’s crude moral standards lived a completely insane life.  What kind of healthy person would do the kind of things that she did and for the reasons that she did them?  In her own words she described her early life by saying:

“I had an insatiable desire and an irrepressible passion for lying in filth.  This was life to me!  Every kind of abuse of nature I regarded as life…and this is how I lived……how the earth did not open up its jaws, and how it was that hell did not swallow me alive, when I had entangled so many souls into my net.”

Mary tried to find happiness and fulfilment in her own passions and came so close to the gates of destruction.  But when she tried to come into the presence of Holiness…into the presence of God through His Life-Giving cross in Jerusalem…she “came to herself”.  She snapped out of her insanity and began to think clearly for the first time!  She changed her life in such an extreme way, that she is now held as an example to the entire world on what it means to be sane!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if you are to take one thing from this reflection, it is this:  True and full happiness and satisfaction cannot be found in the world…but only in the love of God.  To think otherwise is insanity. 

Holy Week begins later this week dear ones!  May our Lord help us to approach it, not just with repentance, not just with humility, not just with patience, not just with love, but with the thing that all of those virtues lead us to:  “Saintly Sanity.”

In order to truly appreciate the image St. John offers us this morning, the first thing we must do is define what a ladder actually does for us.  We have many different devices in this life that help us in reaching a higher level.  Our iconographer has been using scaffolding to reach the heights of the Church.  When he goes to other churches that don’t have a basement and can hold the weight, he uses an automatic lift to reach the heights that are necessary to begin his work. 

Our lives as Christians also require us to ascend to new heights and not remain stagnant in our relationship with God.  There are some, perhaps even that are reading this article, that see they journey to Christ and their lives as an Orthodox Christian as riding up that automatic lift.

“All I need to do is get on…come on Sunday morning…receive the Eucharist…and I will comfortably be taken to my destination.”

It feels safe, smooth, and doesn’t require any effort on your part except to simply get on.  But, as Fr. Barnabas Powell in our retreat these past few days pointed out, it’s an illusion.  If you are a “Sunday only Orthodox Christian”, you are deluding yourself into thinking that this journey through life, and into a real and meaningful relationship with God Himself, only requires you to sacrifice 2 hours on a Sunday morning to come to the Divine Liturgy.

To be “Orthodox on purpose”, and not just an automatic lift riding “Sunday Only Christian”, requires us to make a sincere effort to climb the ladder to a relationship with God.  We come to services during the week.  We pray at home. We should be reading from the Divine Scriptures every single day. We plan and pattern our life and events around the feasts, around the Lenten Services, and around Saturday Vigil and Sunday Divine Liturgies. These are the minimum steps that are necessary to simply begin our ascent…and that’s not to even speak of the other steps that are further up in our climb like fasting, generosity, stillness, and sobriety of the mind and heart.  

15 years ago, when I was in much better shape than I am in right now, I took part in a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House Charity.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t a chicken nugget eating contest…of which I would have been much better prepared!  No, for some reason, this fundraiser required lovers of Mcdonalds to “tackle the tower” by climbing Terminal Tower…42 flights of stairs in order to get to the observation deck up at the top.

Thinking I was in much better shape, I vividly remember a sense of excitement at the beginning of this race, while I was waiting for my turn to go up the flight of steps.  As soon as that volunteer said “go”, I shot up those steps like “the flash”, even skipping steps as I began my ascent. My dear Mother in Law, a veteran of this event, immediately tried to warn me to slow down, or I would never make it to the top, and in her experienced wisdom, she was right.  I went about 5 flights before I realized that if I didn’t slow down, the name of the tower “terminal” was going to be describing me before I get to the top. By the time I got up to the top, I wasn’t met with a cool sip of water, but rather with paramedics who had to do an EKG on me to make sure I was going to be ok. 

I share my tackle the tower story for those who are not “Sunday Only Orthodoxy”, but rather to those who have recently converted, or are on their way to becoming Orthodox. When inquirers come into a Church for the first time. They see this ladder that is placed in front of them that is leading them to where they have always wanted to go in their relationship with God.  With great emotion, zeal, and enthusiasm, they try to shoot up the ladder as quickly as they can:

 “I’m going to fast like the desert fathers and eat locusts and wild honey in honor of St. John the Baptist”

“I’m going to pray for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening”

“Behold, I’m going to sell my home, give it to the poor, and buy a tent so I can camp out on the front lawn of the Church to be near Christ”

To try and shoot up the ladder of Divine Ascent with emotion and zeal alone, will lead to absolute ruin. You will, without a doubt, completely burn out, and fall flat on your face. For every person on the icon that is ascending the ladder, there is an equal (if not more) people who are stumbling and falling off of it.

I put these two images of how not to approach your relationship with God, in the hopes that we will find a sober way to do so in our own life. If you are a Sunday Only Christian, and only give these 2 hours of your life to God, start coming to Vigil on Saturday and add an extra hour and a half to your weekly relationship with Him. If you don’t pray at home, start each day with making the sign of the cross and going through the Trisagion prayers.  End each day with going one time around your prayer rope with the words” O Lord Jesus Christ, Have Mercy on Me, The Sinner” after each knot. If you don’t read the scriptures, dust off your bible and read one chapter a day before you go to bed.

Yet, if you are new inquirer or convert, filled with tremendous zeal and wanting to use your excitement to move too quickly…One step at a time dear ones. Put one foot in front of the other…and allow the Church to guide you in your walk to Christ. 

Today, on this St. John Climascus Sunday, let us all take a moment to meditate on where we are at in our own ascent to God.  If you have begun to climb the ladder, keep going. If you have been skipping up the steps at a breakneck speed, slow down. If you have not yet begun your journey…sober up and ask “what is standing in the way of my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…He Who loves me like no one else can…He Who has destroyed my only enemy…death itself.”

In her infinite wisdom, as her children are experiencing wearied and tired, the Orthodox Church around the world brings our attention and focus to the precious wood of the cross. We bring it down to the center of the Church, arrayed in flowers, and we bow down before this instrument of God’s love. We do this so that our difficult journey towards Great and Holy Pascha might be sweetened., because the Cross is a reminder to us that despite the many times we feel like giving up…or we lose faith…or we begin to grumble against God…despite all of these things, the cross is a reminder to us that mankind is still lovable. 

Our march through this period of Lent, and indeed through life itself, is not unlike the journey that the Israelites took with Moses after they entered into the wilderness of Sin. We remember from Exodus, how Moses delivered Israel out of the hands of Pharoah after decades of harsh slavery.  They plundered Egypt and made their way out into the desert, only to have Pharoah change his mind, and send his armies to slaughter the people.

Despite seeing all that God had done for them, the people began give up and to doubt God: “Are there no graves in Egypt? Is that why you have taken us way to die in the desert?”

Yet, in the midst of their grumbling, God told Moses to stretch out his wooden rod over the sea, and through that wood, God blocked Pharoah’s armies with a pillar of fire, and opened the sea for Israel to escape. Once they were safely across, Pharoah’s armies chased after them until God told Moses to once again stretch out his rod over the sea, and the waters crushed the enemies of God’s people in one swift blow. 

The people shouted a hymn of praise from the shoreline after seeing God’s power and love for them.  “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorified in holiness, marvelous in praises, doing wonders?”

One would think that after seeing a miracle like this, Israel would be strengthened and have an unwavering faith towards God! Yet that faith and trust lasted only 3 days.  The people, thirsting in the desert, came a place called Marah and saw that the water that was there was too bitter to drink.  The scriptures say that they complained again, until God told Moses to take a tree (another piece of wood) and to throw it into the waters.  As soon as the wood hit the water, it became sweet, and Israel’s thirst was quenched.

This is a pattern that continues throughout the entire Old Testament!  The people ran out of water again, and complained again: “Why is it that you brought us here to Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our cattle with thirst?” So God sends Moses to a rock and tells him to use his wooden rod to smack it, causing life giving water came from the lifeless rock. By this time, Moses had been fed up with all of the complaining that God’s people had done, that he called that place “Temptation and Abuse” because of all the abusive language the people had used and because they tempted the Lord saying: “Is the Lord among us or not?!” If you were to keep reading in your Orthodox Study Bible through the first 5 books, you see every few subheadings the title: “The People Grumble”

 All of this I bring to our attention, not to be judgmental or accusatory, but rather to point out that over the past 4,000 years…nothing has changed when it comes to the human race. It has been this way since the very beginning, when Adam fell by disobeying God’s commandments and turning His back on our Lord’s Love for him. We can look at our own lives and the many miracles that God has worked for us, ( indeed they are numerous) yet how often do we grumble against Him when things don’t go the way we want them to?  How often do we lose faith, or forget about the works of God when we look at the suffering of the world? 

This is why we give Glory to God for the Cross in the middle of Great Lent. It was a wooden rod that God used to spread the Red Sea and to conquer the enemies of His People. It was through a wooden rod that God made water appear out of a lifeless rock. It was the wood of the tree that sweetened the bitter waters of Marah and allowed God’s people to be nourished. Today, it is the wood of the cross that now sweetens the waters of our Lenten Journey.  This wood that stands before us is a reminder that despite how often we turn our backs on Him, or spit in His face by not making our relationship with Him a priority…and despite all of the times that we grumble against Him, we have a God who continually embraces us.

Somehow through it all, mankind is still lovable. 

We look to the cross and we see Christ’s arms stretched out, waiting for us to turn back towards Him.  Let us continue to find the strength to deny our fallen impulses, to complete the course of the fast, and to enter into the joy of our Lord’s triumph over death at Holy Pascha.

When I was there a few months ago, one of the things that struck me was how small the alley ways in between these houses were.  They were maybe 2 people wide, and the homes were tightly packed together. It comes as no surprise to hear in the Gospel of just how tightly packed the house where our Lord was preaching was, and how it easily spilled out into those ally ways, offering no one, most especially a paralytic, an opportunity to get anywhere close. 

For many of us sitting here today, this is an image of our own relationship with God.  We know He is nearby… “everywhere present and filling all things”, yet we place so many barriers between us and Him, that He feels almost inaccessible at times.  Instead of trusting in Him, we trust in man-made institutions and ideas.  Rather than making our relationship with Him a priority, we focus on our careers, our possessions, our comforts and entertainments.  Instead of repentance from sin, we would rather remain paralyzed by what sin does to us and to the rest of the world.

This morning, we hear of one man who refused to remain in His condition. He allowed himself to be carried like a helpless child on a pallet by four friends. So often, when we hear commentaries on this miracle, the faith of the friends is pointed to as the reason for this healing. St. Gregory Palamas however, points out that it was the faith and repentance of the paralytic that ultimately led to His healing.  The man was in his right mind and would not have been forced onto a pallet to be thrust into this throng of people if he didn’t want to overcome the barriers placed between Him and God. 

This is where our path to repentance starts dear ones.  It is where we started this Lenten Journey over a month ago, when we read about Zacchaeus in the Sycamore Tree, with a true desire to see the Lord.  Do we want to see Him? Do we want a relationship with Him? Do we want to be healed? If this is truly the case, then there would be nothing that would stand in our way!

This certainly was the case with the paralytic. He allowed his four friends, who were no doubt bolstered by his desire to see Christ, to carry his dead weight above the crowd and onto the roof of one of the small houses.  They removed the roof and lowered Him in front of our Lord, and the Gospel says that Jesus saw the faith of the paralytic and that of the four men, who allowed absolutely nothing to stand in their way from coming into the presence of God. 

Jesus said these beautiful words: “Son”. This is a term of endearment. It is a term you use with someone you love. “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

St. Gregory Palamas, who we celebrate today on this Second Sunday of Lent, gives a beautiful commentary on this entire passage, equating this scene to our own fallen condition.  He says:

 “Anyone who is addicted to sensual pleasures is paralyzed in his soul and lying in a bed of voluptuousness, with its deceptive bodily ease. Once, however, he has been won over by the exhortations in the Gospel, he confesses his sins and triumphs over them!  He is taken up and brough to the Lord by these four:  Self-condemnation, confession of former sins, promising to renounce evil ways from now on, and prayer to God.”

St. Gregory reminds us how indeed, all of us are paralyzed by sin. All of us, regardless of our desire to be with God, have put up barriers toward being healed.  What is required of us is humility, confession, a desire to repent, and prayer/conversation with God.

“These alone, however, bring him near to God without uncovering the roof, scattering the tiles, earth, and other building material.  Our roof is the reasoning part of the soul, which is set above everything else within us.  But it has a large quantity of building materials, in its connection with the passions and earthly matters, lying on top of it.  Once this connection has been loosed and shaken off by means of the four things we have mentioned, then we can really be let down, that is, humbled, fall down before the Lord, draw near to Him, and ask and receive His healing”.

Dear ones, we are now in the second week of our Lenten struggle, the time of year where we focus all of our efforts and attention to removing the barriers that keep us away from the presence of God.  We fast to train ourselves to say “no” to our bodily desires. We come to all the services so that we can hear the words of God. We go to confession and begin our turn towards repentance so we don’t remain paralyzed by sin.  All of these barriers we break down so that we can hear those same sweet words from our Lord and Savior: 

“Son/Daughter…I love you…your sins are rorgiven you.”

If you did not have a cause worthy of a blessing and did not attend one Clean Week service this past week, you have some real work and catching up to do! St. Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews likens our life in Christ to a great race, and there are many reading this now that lined up at the starting line with the rest of us, but when he gun went off, tripped and fell flat on their face. If this describes you, I say this with love: “Don’t delay!”.   If you were at the canon this week, you would have heard: “My Soul My Soul arise, why are you sleeping?”  The Church is literally telling you to wake up!  The good news for you, is that even if you stumbled out of the gate, the Church offers you another opportunity to consecrate these days to God with more weekday services, and more opportunities for you to pray, to give, and to fast. Do not waste them dear ones!   

After the lifesaving services of clean week, we come to the first Sunday of Great Lent where we celebrate “The Triumph of Orthodoxy”.  In order to understand what the Church is celebrating today, I want to draw your attention to the beginning of the newest additions to our iconography here at the parish.  In the next few weeks, you will see the completion these two trees which tower up the walls next to the iconostasis.  On my right, you will soon see the tree of Jesse, of which comes the earthly lineage of the Christ. On my left, you will see an icon called “Christ the True Vine”, and on its branches the 12 Apostles. 

I want you to imagine with me what this icon of “Christ the True Vine” would look like if we were able to finish it to scale.  In order to do so, we would need a Church the size of 100 Hagia Sophias in Constantinople, so that we could continue the branches throughout the history of the Church.  You would see that from the apostles came the branches of the Apostolic Fathers, then the early saints of the Church, then the modern day Saints of the Church.  Finally, at the tip of the tree, in the branches near the dome of this massive Church, you would find us! We would be at the very top as the newest Orthodox Christians, who are not yet wearing halos, but who can still trace our roots all of the way back to Christ Himself.

Dear ones, every time you enter into the Church, I want you to look at the trees near the iconostasis, and remember what a true joy it is to be a branch on that tree of the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ.  Many of you come from different faith backgrounds, and all had different reasons for searching out the Church and wanting to grafted to those deep roots.  Yet perhaps the one reason that comes out the most in conversations with many of you is how this tree of Orthodoxy does not change.  It is so deeply rooted, that there are no weekly changes in the services to try and make them more relevant or popular.  There are no changes in morality, or how we should live, to try and fit the ebbs and flows of a fallen world.  There are no changes to this way of life.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”, and it is on this day, this glorious day of Orthodoxy Sunday, that we celebrate the triumph of this deeply rooted faith over the storms of heresy that have tried to alter and change it throughout history. 

Throughout history, and indeed in our own day and age, there are many storms that come and seek to rip our branches down to the ground.  There was the heresy of iconoclasm, which still exists today over a millennia later in Islam and even in some Christian Churches.  Iconoclasm threatened to rip apart the Church in the 8thcentury.  Despite the strong winds of persecution that blasted the tree of Christ for over a century, The Holy Spirit triumphed, and icons were restored to their former glory.  The Church survived because of its deep and unchanging roots.

Centuries before that, heretics like Arius, Nestorius, Apollinaris sought to apply fallen human logic to explain the inner works of the Holy Trinity and of Jesus Christ Himself.  Despite the persecutions, once again, the Church survived because of its deep and unchanging roots.

Fast forward to today, and the many storms that we have that seek to destroy uproot the Church of Christ. We live in a world where society is trying to convince us that sin isn’t a sin, where so called Christian communities change and distort the Gospel and teachings of Christ to embrace societal norms or to justify a particular political movement, or to justify genocide.  Satan indeed uses many tactics to try and destroy the Tree of Christ, and in many instances and many christian communities, he has succeeded.

But do you want to have a cause of great joy this morning? As Orthodox Christians who have been grafted onto the Tree of the Church. no matter how loud and strong the winds of the fallen world will howl, the gates of hell will never prevail and knock down the Holy Orthodox Church and it’s deep roots anchored in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This is a cause for rejoicing!  It is a cause for celebration!

As Orthodox Christians, we don’t change the tree to fit one of life’s fallen narratives, rather it is the tree that changes us. To be a branch that is connected to Christ Himself, means we live in a constant state of repentance.  It means we don’t get caught up in the winds of the storm, but rather look to the strength that is found at our root…and that strength that is found in our ever-growing relationship with God.

Glory. be to Jesus Christ!

I remind all our faithful parish family today, as well as all incoming catechumens and inquirers to the faith, that to be “pro-choice” is not compatible with being an Orthodox Christian.  If anyone struggles to hear these words, my office is open, and I will be more than happy to sit with you over coffee and explain exactly why this is the case without exception.

Our life as Christians is one of “giving thanks”.  We give thanks to God for life he has given us.  We give thanks to God for our successes and our failures.  We give thanks to God for our country and for our family.  The Eucharist that we will receive today is literally translated as “Thanksgiving”…yet access to abortion allows a human being turn its back on God’s greatest gift…not just to say “no thank you”, but to rather destroy the greatest gift that God has given to mankind…life itself.

All life is sacred. All life is sanctified. Life is not a right, it is a gift, and for all gifts of life, we are called to give thanks to God. 

Along with the 65 million children we weep for today, we also remember all the Holy Innocents who have lost their lives in the womb, not due to any choice of the parents, but rather because of the effects of the fallen world.  Anyone who has ever suffered through this unique kind of pain knows just how dark and numb the world feels when life is prematurely taken away. Yet despite those difficult moments, the Church still calls for us to be at peace, and to “Thank God”.

Thank God?  For What?  How are we supposed to give thanks to God for a gift that was never completely realized in life?  How are we supposed to find peace in these moments of tragedy? It’s hard for us to fully fathom this calling, yet the Church teaches us through its Divine Experience, how we are to approach a beginning to answering these questions: With Gratitude…Faith…and Hope.

The first one is the hardest, and that is having Gratitude to God. We give thanks that the author of life allowed a soul…a life, from the moment of it’s conception, to come into the world.  Although the mothers and fathers of the unborn never had the chance to interact with their young child, they are still known to them in their hopes, and their dreams.  God gave those parents a gift of life.  He chose loving parents with which to bring a soul, and yes, bring a life into the world…even if it’s one that we won’t be able to physically interact with until the second coming.  In this we say: “Glory to God for All Things.”

The second way we approach the loss of a child is with faith.  We approach this pain with faith that Christ is Risen from the dead.  With this knowledge planted directly in our hearts, death loses its sting and hell relinquishes its victory.  It is our faith in the resurrection that allows us to look past grief and see the glory that stands within the path that is before us: The knowledge that all innocent children who have fallen asleep in the womb are not consigned to oblivion, but rather will be with us again. 

Yes dear mothers and fathers who have lost a child, there will be a time where you will be able to physically offer kisses, hugs, and love to that sweet baby boy or girl…those moments were not taken away from you, but simply delayed for a short time.

Finally, we approach these moments of difficulty with hope.  We do not grieve like those who have no hope (as St. Paul says).

We have indeed lost many children in the womb within our parish family, and throughout the world…but our Hope is in the knowledge that their lives are not destroyed…but rather changed for the better.  They who we love are not hidden in the ground, but as the icon depicts for us, they are literally embraced by their Creator. 

Instead of baths in the tub, they are being bathed in Christ’s light.  Instead of needing to feed, they are constantly being nourished by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Instead of weeping and tears in the middle of the night, their cries are directed towards the presence of God, interceding and praying for the only people who they ever knew in this world…their mother and father.

Gratitude, Faith, and Hope…today as we all remember the Holy Innocents, these are the virtues that are needed to wipe away our tears…reminding us that all we need to do is wait a little while longer, and we will once again be with them in paradise.