WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

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Glory to God. Today is the commemoration of the

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recent saint, the saint of our time, St. Paisios

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of the Holy Mountain, who reposed only in 1994.

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He obviously knew the way of life that we experience,

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and the distractions and the noise. He was well

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aware of that. He was always speaking about prayer.

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He was always speaking about patience. He was

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always speaking about the trust in God, which

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is good because these are themes that we, especially

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now, need to be active. Our souls, our minds,

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our hands, our lips active in pursuing God's

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patience, the peace of heart, true prayer. I'd

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like to say a few words about this gospel, and

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I need prayer to do that. I need your prayers.

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Let's begin, then, with a word from St. Paisius

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about prayer. The soul must be constantly ready

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and alert. and always in contact with the spiritual

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headquarters, that is God. See, Paisios was a

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radio operator during the Civil War in Greece,

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and he was known for his bravery under the most

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intense combat situations, operating his radio.

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Only then, being in contact with the spiritual

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headquarters and God, will the soul feel secure,

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full of hope and joy. When I was in the Army,

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During the war, I was a radio operator. I noticed

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that we felt secure only when we communicated

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with the Army Division on an hourly basis. When

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our little communication was limited to every

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two hours, we felt a little bit insecure. Sometimes

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when we could only be in touch with them twice

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a day, we felt uncomfortable, lonely, and lost.

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The same thing happens and applies to prayer.

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The more we pray, the more secure we feel on

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a spiritual basis, of course. We should constantly,

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he says, and unceasingly repeat the Jesus prayer.

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Only the name of Christ must remain in our heart

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and mind. Only the name. There's many other things

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that want to come into our heart. Be watchful,

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he says. Ready and alert. When we neglect prayer,

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which is our communication with God, then the

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devil finds the chance to confuse us with negative

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thoughts. Thus we end up not knowing what we

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want, what to do, or what to say. We read an

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account today on this fifth Sunday after Pentecost

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of Christ having been on the Sea of Galilee,

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and a terrible storm occurred, and the boat was

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being swamped by waves, and Christ was asleep.

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And the apostles were yelling, wake up, wake

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up, wake up, we're perishing, and Christ has

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owed you a little faith. And incredibly, the

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sea immediately is calmed. Now, that doesn't

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happen. And the winds stop. The waves stop. The

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wind can stop at the ocean and the waves are

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going to continue for quite some time. With Christ,

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he has command over nature. Last week, we saw

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that he restored the enemy, the centurion and

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his servant. And he has command over illness.

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Today, we're going to see that he has command

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over those that he has come to destroy. That

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is the devil who held the might of death. says

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St. Paul in Hebrews. Again, once again, the themes

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that we are dealing with in these weeks, right

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after Pentecost, is trust in the Lord, his authority

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over all things, his glory, his care for us,

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and our neglect Of him and prayer. Instead we

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have anxiety. So we read this account. Of these

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two. Perhaps we think they're crazy. Mentally

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ill homeless men. Yelling and screaming. And

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they have superhuman strength. This is not something

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we see every day. Unless you go to certain parts

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of town. In the city. This account of the exorcism.

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is from the ancient world. It's from 2 ,000 years

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ago. But don't assume that people then couldn't

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tell the difference between someone who was mentally

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ill and someone who was possessed. They weren't

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stupid. People had categories and understanding

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for that. The Lord came up to these men on the

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road. And they knew who he was. Have you come

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to torment us before the time, meaning the judgment

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day? For Gentiles, those who were not Jews, and

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this was Gentile territory, these two men may

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well have been seen by the local people as touched

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by the gods, uttering prophecies, some kind of

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shamans, oracles, warnings, good luck, bad luck.

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from this or that god, about that town. Not uncommon

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in the ancient world, in temples dedicated to

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pagan gods. And Jesus encountered these men and

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cast out the demons. And then what happened?

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He was asked to leave. He was asked to leave.

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The people lost their uniqueness. They lost their

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oracles. Now the lessons for me are more than

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that. The lessons for me are this. First, he

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destroyed him that held the power of death, that

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is the devil. He has power over all evil. He

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has power over all sin. He has power over all

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that is broken and corrupt. Because he is the

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creator of all that is good, of all that is true,

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of all that is noble and beautiful and healthy.

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So St. Paisios says, abandon yourselves to God.

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Abandon yourselves to Christ. He says, as long

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as we cannot trust in God and abandon ourselves

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to Christ, we will go on suffering. We will go

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on with anxiety. The most important thing is

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to put one's total trust in God. Total trust.

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Not partial, but total. Though our time is difficult

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and our time is dangerous, he says, Jesus Christ

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will triumph in the end. So let's not despair,

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he says. But rather, we struggle through our

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life with hope. We ask God for humility to bear

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what comes to us. We ask him for philotimo, which

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is a Greek word. Very difficult to translate,

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they say. It's awareness in the heart. Self -sacrifice

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and love for others. The love of honor, philotimo.

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Respect of others and hospitality. It means all

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these things. We should have these. And gradually,

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he says, our passions will be driven away by

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the grace of God. And like the gloominess, he

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says, of bad weather, Does not cover the sky

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forever, but passes. And the sun appears. Hope

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with patience drives away godly hope with godly

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patience. Drives away the winter and the cold

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and brings spring's good weather, he says, which

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warms the earth with sunshine and covers it with

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greenery. We just celebrated Pentecost. We're

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celebrating saints, all saints. all saints of

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America, all saints of all land. This is the

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hope and the new life, the greenery which he

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talks about, the sunshine. But we've got our

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heads down and we can't see what God is giving

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us. We must not expect spiritual spring, he says,

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unless we first pass through spiritual winter

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in order that the spiritual parasites that are

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within us must die. We must not expect the divine

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to blossom within us if the purely human does

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not die first. That's the first thing this gospel

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tells me. Trust in Christ and trust with patience.

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He has power. He has power. This whole chapter

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8 is about the Evangelium, the gospel, the good

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news. Christ coming here to this man. Christ

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coming to the blind man. Christ coming to the

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leper. Christ coming to the centurion. Christ

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stopping the waves of the sea. Christ coming

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to the demonic powers which rule. How do they

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rule? Listen to the prayer, or the words, not

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the prayer, the words we say when we receive

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a catechumen. We're addressing the evil one.

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Acknowledge the vainness of thy might, which

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does not even have power over pigs. Remember

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him who at thy request commanded thee to enter

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into the herd of swine. Jesus is taking back

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what is his. This is the good news of our life.

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Live in the light of the good news. Not in the

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light of the news of Fox, CNN, CBSN. or YouTube,

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or anything else. It's not enlightening our souls.

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Secondly, we ask God to come into our lives,

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don't we? We need the Lord. We ask for His mercy

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constantly. Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy,

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12 times, 3 times, 40 times. And suddenly, As

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we examine our lives, we discover that God is

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not coming to us in the way in which we want

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him to be. Think of the people in that town.

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They told Jesus to leave. Pigs had been drowned,

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and the two men, the oracles on the road, or

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whatever they were, were demon -possessed men,

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were healed. They asked Christ to leave. We are

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frustrated with God so often. Think of it. We're

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frustrated that he is not coming into our lives

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simply to order things according to our view,

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to get us back on the track we think we need.

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But he transforms the dead orderliness or the

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dead chaos of our life in what seems to be like

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more chaos, but the Lord is just redirecting

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us. He's taking something down and he's rebuilding

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it. Let's not be resistant to his grace. It may

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turn out we don't want his grace quite yet. What

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we want is something else. Maybe life without

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problems. Life without suffering. Which has been

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promised to us if we're Christians. We want life

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without maturing. Here's what the elder says.

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The only way to avoid temptations, the only way

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to avoid temptations is make an alliance with

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the devil. He says, why are you smiling? You

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don't like the solution? Look, let me explain,

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he says. As long as someone is struggling, there

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will be temptations and difficulties. And the

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more one tries to avoid temptation, the more

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contrary the evil one gets. But through temptations,

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if we use them correctly, we are given the opportunity

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to make our life, which sometimes, he says, is

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anti -evangelical, evangelical, to make it spiritually

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mature. He was asked once, is the devil the ruler

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of this world? He said, oh my child, don't say

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that. The devil's not the ruler of this world.

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He has certain prerogatives only. It's like this.

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And this comes from someone else. I put a $100

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bill on a table outside downtown. Does that $100

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bill have any power whatsoever sitting on the

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table? It's quite useless on the table. It has

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zero currency. But two men who love money. I

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don't mean a poor person. I mean somebody who

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loves money. Would fight over that money and

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perhaps kill the other person to have it. That's

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how the devil works. Temptation pulls at our

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heart when we do not have the word near us. What

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does St. Paul say? We don't need to go up into

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heaven. We don't need to go into the lower regions

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and to death. but the word of God is near us,

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even in our heart. But we live on the outside,

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not on the inside. The townspeople, let me close,

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in this gospel account, asked Christ to leave

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because he healed their demon -possessed local

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psychics and fortune -tellers and turned the

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life of that town upside down. That's the good

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news. turns our life upside down, like a gardener

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getting the spade and turning that soil over

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so the plants will grow. Let us not be impatient

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with God. Let us be patient. Let us not be ashamed

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that we follow the crucified Lord, nor be ashamed

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to make the sign of the cross in public. Let's

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not be afraid to talk to people about our faith,

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about the good news. the Evangelium, sharing

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what is good that Christ has done for us, for

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you and for me, perhaps a miracle that you know

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of, your hope for eternal life in the heavenly

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kingdom. Trusting in Christ, let's ask for prayer

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of the great elder and saint, Paisius of the

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Holy Mountain, the friend of the Lord.