WEBVTT 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:07.259 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:10.660 of the Holy Spirit, and thus we sign ourselves 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:16.660 with the Holy Cross of Christ, that instrument 00:00:16.660 --> 00:00:22.480 which we call the invincible trophy, the weapon 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.920 of peace. We sign ourselves with it continually, 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:31.660 over and over again, because in the cross, whether 00:00:31.660 --> 00:00:36.200 it be the shape we make with our hand over our 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.719 body, over someone else, that blessing occurs. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:44.340 The cleansing of the heart comes. Or whether 00:00:44.340 --> 00:00:47.840 we kiss the Holy Cross, which healed that woman 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:50.219 who was dying there in Jerusalem in the year 00:00:50.219 --> 00:00:57.340 326, when Helen, the Queen Mother, found the 00:00:57.340 --> 00:01:00.219 cross and determined that this piece of wood 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:05.329 here which healed this woman. This has the power 00:01:05.329 --> 00:01:09.090 of the resurrection in it. This has the power 00:01:09.090 --> 00:01:11.609 of God's cleansing in it. Let's not be afraid. 00:01:12.629 --> 00:01:18.469 We have the cross of Christ. Jesus said before 00:01:18.469 --> 00:01:25.989 he gave up his spirit, it is finished. It's completed. 00:01:26.969 --> 00:01:29.609 Everything's consummated. The creation is made 00:01:29.609 --> 00:01:33.560 new. St. John puts it this way. Jesus, knowing 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:36.920 that all things were accomplished, gave up the 00:01:36.920 --> 00:01:41.719 spirit. And yet we want more from God. Yet we 00:01:41.719 --> 00:01:45.540 want more signs and wonders. We want more information. 00:01:47.180 --> 00:01:51.359 But we have this symbol of strength, the weapon 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.359 of peace. There are many symbols out there in 00:01:54.359 --> 00:02:01.189 our culture today vying for prominence, vine 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:06.549 for preeminence. And they're basic because it's 00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:11.129 the world. The basic presupposition is that it 00:02:11.129 --> 00:02:14.110 is about power. To do this, to do that, to do 00:02:14.110 --> 00:02:19.530 something else. The cross is our weapon of peace. 00:02:19.750 --> 00:02:23.710 This feast day, yes, it's a day of joy. But then 00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:26.530 I read and I hear one of the hymns from last 00:02:26.530 --> 00:02:30.960 night and I read it again and I'm led to sorrow. 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:36.340 I'm not led to jump. And it says here, the trees 00:02:36.340 --> 00:02:40.099 of the forest are clapping their leaves together 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:44.280 in joy because the wood of the cross is exalted. 00:02:44.340 --> 00:02:48.180 The wood, that which God has made, just a tree 00:02:48.180 --> 00:02:53.039 becomes something transcendent and transformative 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.960 and powerful. But then I read this. Through the 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:02.419 cross, O Lord, today thou hast raised us up again. 00:03:03.580 --> 00:03:07.280 We're plunged continually in the gloom of our 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:11.639 forefather. That is the life of sin, which we 00:03:11.639 --> 00:03:15.300 know before baptism is so powerful. It has such 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:18.379 a grip on us that we cannot release it, not one 00:03:18.379 --> 00:03:22.400 bit. Salvation isn't about us doing good things. 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:25.360 It is about the cross and the resurrection and 00:03:25.360 --> 00:03:29.060 our uniting to Christ. who gives us that power, 00:03:29.180 --> 00:03:33.860 the weapon of peace. And then this hymn says, 00:03:34.039 --> 00:03:39.099 Unrestrained greed thrusts down our nature into 00:03:39.099 --> 00:03:47.620 error. We look around us. Isn't this our basic 00:03:47.620 --> 00:03:51.300 attitude towards one another? So frequently. 00:03:51.879 --> 00:03:56.300 Certainly the world itself, which the cross reveals 00:03:56.300 --> 00:04:02.159 it to be, opposed to God and under judgment and 00:04:02.159 --> 00:04:07.479 under condemnation. Everything we see going on 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:10.460 in our society is just a sign of our own sin, 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:16.259 our collective sin before God. Greed thrusts 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:22.899 down our nature into error. Someone said the 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:28.740 other day, I heard this. If this church, this 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:34.899 parish, disappeared from Santa Rosa, would it 00:04:34.899 --> 00:04:39.160 make any difference at all to the community of 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.939 Santa Rosa? I don't mean to you, and to me, obviously. 00:04:44.100 --> 00:04:47.040 Although maybe some members would find something 00:04:47.040 --> 00:04:50.899 else to do on a Sunday morning. And they'd discover 00:04:50.899 --> 00:04:55.800 as one of the... great surveyists in this country, 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:57.800 the Barnard Group, has discovered that probably 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:00.000 a third of people aren't coming back to church 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.120 once this COVID ends because they find that life 00:05:04.120 --> 00:05:09.360 on a Sunday is okay without the church. They 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.980 can read their Bible if they want. They can pray 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.379 the way they want. They can go to the great church 00:05:15.379 --> 00:05:24.529 of the outdoors, the ocean. But would this town 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:30.410 miss in any way the presence of St. Seraphim 00:05:30.410 --> 00:05:33.250 Church, the protection of the Holy Virgin Parish? 00:05:35.329 --> 00:05:39.410 When I asked myself that question, I asked myself 00:05:39.410 --> 00:05:44.889 then, well, have I even begun to repent? Because 00:05:44.889 --> 00:05:50.350 when we see in ourself greed, when we see in 00:05:50.350 --> 00:05:53.750 ourself the questioning of God, when we see in 00:05:53.750 --> 00:05:55.949 our self -agitation in the heart, not peace, 00:05:56.230 --> 00:06:05.350 not faith, and not love. Yes, it's easy to point 00:06:05.350 --> 00:06:10.829 a finger to someone else out there. Because there's 00:06:10.829 --> 00:06:19.439 plenty of violence and hatred to go around. But 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:22.399 we have to start with repentance. Repentance 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.000 is not telling someone else they need to change. 00:06:25.379 --> 00:06:29.019 Repentance is telling ourselves we're not oriented, 00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:34.459 facing east, going towards Christ, going towards 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:39.339 paradise. We've forgotten that our true life 00:06:39.339 --> 00:06:43.240 is the kingdom of heaven and that the symbol 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:48.800 of that kingdom is the cross. A symbol of love. 00:06:49.959 --> 00:06:54.399 God's love. A symbol of sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.420 A symbol of mercy. And that it leads to resurrection. 00:07:01.779 --> 00:07:05.279 Let's embrace the cross. Let's raise it high 00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:12.399 in our own hearts. A day in 326 in which... Archbishop 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:15.120 Macarius lifted up the cross on high so everyone 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:17.480 could see it and they all sang Kyrie eleison, 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:21.939 Lord of Mercy. That's wonderful. But if it doesn't 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:24.959 translate to the cross being lifted up high in 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:34.199 our own midst, love, sacrifice, mercy, then how 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:37.379 is it an invincible trophy, a weapon of peace? 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:41.689 becomes a symbol that at some point some communist 00:07:41.689 --> 00:07:45.069 or Marxist is going to pull off the roof, just 00:07:45.069 --> 00:07:48.949 like they did in Russia. Let it be in your heart, 00:07:48.970 --> 00:07:53.850 reigning this weapon of peace. A weapon causes 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:58.810 something to happen. It's an offensive tool or 00:07:58.810 --> 00:08:03.730 a defensive tool. The power of that weapon is 00:08:03.730 --> 00:08:07.430 love. The power of that weapon is self -sacrifice. 00:08:08.189 --> 00:08:10.949 The power of that weapon is worship and gratitude 00:08:10.949 --> 00:08:15.709 to God. Lift up that weapon in your heart, brothers 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:21.189 and sisters. Let it reign. And agitation, anxiety, 00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:27.569 fear will be replaced by the love of God who 00:08:27.569 --> 00:08:31.189 grants that great gift to us. Amen.