In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to God. It may be a cliche, and people
quote it all the time, the words of the apostles
on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it is good
for us to be here. And it's good for us to be
here, more of us, than I've seen in church at
one time since March. That's a long time. That's
a long time to miss you and for us to miss being
together. We're not in the church, but keep in
mind what St. Maximus said, that each of us is
to be like a church. We all have our narthex.
We have the holy altar, which is our heart, the
holy place, which is our body, and we meet God
in the place of the heart. So this we strive
and we struggle to reach by God's grace in ourselves.
So while we may not be in the church building,
each one of you, what did St. Paul say? It's
the temple of the Holy Spirit. Each one of you
has been purchased by God through the cross and
the resurrection. Each one of you. It's to be
a reflection of Jesus Christ. Today I'd like
to speak a little bit about Father Jacob, St.
Jacob of Alaska, and a little bit about the epistle
to the Romans that you heard, the first epistle.
You heard four readings today. What a wealth,
what a banquet of consolation and hope. In this
reading from Romans, St. Paul says, That the
scriptures are the source of our hope. So a person
that has no hope is like someone that's anemic
or dying of hunger. You need food. You need protein.
You need iron. A person who has no hope needs
the scriptures. So I'll say a little bit about
Romans and a little bit about St. Jacob. This
noble, incredible man whose journeys... really
were like St. Paul's, very much so, and tragedies
and troubles. He came back to where he was going
to serve, and after his wife died, and his house
had burned down. One thing after another. He
asked a blessing in order to become a monk after
his wife died, and the bishop said, sure, we
can do that, but you'll have to wait until a
replacement comes, which never happened. He had
a diocese that was 2 ,000 miles, as much as the
diocese of the West, but as the only priest in
most of those territories. So we sang today,
O Righteous Father Jacob, Adornment of Alaska,
thou didst offer thyself as a living sacrifice
to bring light to a searching people. St. Jacob.
to those searching people, they lived a very
rudimentary village, Alaskan village, and harsh
life. But don't think for a moment they were
savages, either morally or spiritually. They
knew there was a creator. They knew that all
life came from this creator. They gave thanks
to God. the creator for all things that they
received. They knew that the world was a transcendent
place, that there were angels and that there
were demons. They knew that after this life,
their soul would move on. Heavenly things were
not strange to these people. Unlike our present
society, technologically obsessed and spiritually
and morally devolving, How can we believe in
evolution when we see what we see? Obsessed with
technology, spiritually and morally devolving
all the time. Unlike our people, ourselves, our
minds, our hearts are so fragmented, we can barely
pull a thought together to stand before God.
Unlike us, the peoples of Alaska discerned immediately,
almost immediately, a fulfillment and a truth.
about Jesus Christ who reveals God in the power
of the Holy Spirit. They accepted the gospel.
They knew this. They discerned this. Our contemporaries
can't see this. We have a hard time preaching
to people in our society. And of course, the
account of St. Matthew that you heard is relevant
there. The blind men, except... We don't go to
Christ. The blind men in the gospel went to be
healed. We think that blindness is natural. This
is our world that we live in now. The life of
St. Jacob says this. When he was clothed in the
garments of the priesthood, he was found to be
clad with zeal as with a cloak. And so he threw
himself completely into his sacred service. to
his parishioners, his deep love for God and for
his flock, was evident in everything that he
did. Having no anxiety in this life. Remember
the teaching from Matthew 6? Why are you anxious
for this and that? Having no anxiety for things
in this life. He experienced the harshness of
cold, wet, traveling long distances in that condition,
illness, hunger, exhaustion. For to him, Life
was Christ. Christ was his life, and his life
was Christ. And he knew, as St. Paul said, the
power of the resurrection in himself. And that's
why those who met him were so receptive to what
the gospel that he was preaching. It's exactly
what we heard in the gospel. In the epistle today,
this describes St. Jacob. Those who are strong
ought to bear the scruples of the weak. Strong,
by the way, means steadfast and confirmed in
the faith. And to bear with the scruples the
infirmities of the weak does not mean to put
up with them. As in, oh Lord, come on. These
people. It means something more profound. It
means to carry with love. God's love, not our
own. God's love to carry those who have moral
weaknesses, spiritual weaknesses, misunderstandings,
and yes, even prejudices. Those that are strong,
and if we think we are strong, probably not.
ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak.
St. Paul is teaching us, and the example of St.
Jacob shows us, demonstrates us, that we are
perfected. Yes, perfected. We've reached our
goal, made holy and like Christ, by struggling
to fulfill these words of St. Paul. Note well,
please, that the Christian life is one of common
union. Community. Together as one in Christ.
This is unity from above. This is not political
ideas, or because we like church music, or icons,
or vestments, or some kind of cultural thing.
This is unity from above. Unity of one faith,
One baptism, one Lord, and one Eucharist. This
means, brothers and sisters, that all of us that
share the same faith, the one Lord, one baptism,
one Eucharist, have sensitivities, perhaps hopes,
aspirations, weaknesses, all of which are indispensable
to my life. and your life. I'm saved through
my brothers and my sisters. And I am saved through
them. What we do, St. Paul is teaching us, we
don't do for ourselves, but we do for the spiritual
benefit of our brethren. Brethren is men and
women, by the way. It's the way St. Jacob lived,
it's what he shows us. It's what we've had since
the beginning of this month. St. Sergius on the
first Sunday. St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain
on the second Sunday. St. Seraphim of Sarov on
the third Sunday. St. Jacob of Alaska on the
fourth. Are we getting the message? I may not
make choices with only myself in mind. Let each
of us, says St. Paul, please his neighbor for
his good. To do good things. Leading to edification,
he says. Edification means building up, right?
The word edifice means building up. In our words,
actions, thoughts, opinions, we are to build
up our neighbor with our faith. To edify one
another. What we don't have, we can't give. It's
not sufficient either that I avoid scandalizing
you. That's not enough. And here, a word of caution
about social media. Once again, as I mentioned
months ago, I don't need to go into that again.
Our Christian way is hard. Some may think it's
too demanding. But let me be clear. What St.
Paul is telling us is this. If my neighbor is
not edified by me, not improved, it's not my
neighbor's fault. The moral failure is mine.
I'm responsible for building him up. Because
if I truly am a temple of the Holy Spirit in
Christ, it's possible. It's possible. Because
we depend upon Christ to do all things. It's
not that we add a little God to our own effort.
We have nothing without the Lord. We're the thief
next to Christ on the cross, unable to do anything
by our own power. But Christ says, you'll be
with me today in paradise. If you, like me, find
this kind of love for neighbor, lacking and you
find weakness and an inability to follow St.
Paul's words here, well, just don't say, well,
St. Jacob was a saint and I'm not. So, again,
it all comes from God. We aren't asking God to
add to my efforts. We depend solely on him. The
native peoples of the Yukon, didn't come to Christ
because Jacob was a nice man, although undoubtedly
he was, or had great arguments about theology
and logical answers. They came to Christ because
he was Christ to them. He reflected Jesus Christ
to them. He had light in himself. Radiating from
the prayer of the heart. The Jesus prayer. Lord
Jesus Christ. Son of God. Have mercy on me. He
had love and truth. Which is Christ. And the
presence of the Holy Spirit. He was the temple
of the Holy Spirit. Wherever he went. There was
the church. What to do for us. Keep this in mind.
And I'll close with this. Saint Nicodemus. Nicodemus
of the Holy Mountain, a saint of the 18th century,
says this, the grace of the Holy Spirit which
is given mystically to every Christian when he
is baptized acts and is manifested in proportion
to our obedience to the commandments of the Lord.
That is, if a Christian obeys the commandments
of the Lord more, grace acts with him more. While
if he obeys them less, grace acts less within
him. Talk doesn't do it. Action, motivated by
prayer, which bestows godly love, which bestows,
and this is the gift from God, peace of heart
and joy. Joy in each other. Joy in the life God
has given us. Joy in salvation. Joy in the liturgy.
Joy in communion. joy in the forgiveness of sins,
joy in this world that we live in, joy and hope
of what we have. Now may the God of patience
and comfort grant you to be like -minded toward
one another according to Christ Jesus, that you
may with one mind and one heart glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers
and sisters, receive one another, just as Christ
also received us to the glory of God. Amen.