WEBVTT

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

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of the Holy Spirit. that could console you and

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help you during these days. I pretty much gave

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up with finding the right words and hoped only

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that God would send me some kind of inspiration

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through prayer. Well, some inspiration came,

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but it wasn't exactly through prayer. It was

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like everything else these days. It was through

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the Internet. I received an email from our dear

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friend, the former Vincent Rossignol monk, Maximus,

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and he said that he was going to be giving a

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sermon at a local church, but couldn't do it

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because he couldn't go, obviously. So I said

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that I would be happy to quote some of the words

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that he gave us. And the first thing I want to

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say is, like him, I see that, as he says here

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in his homily, a couple of weeks ago, Lent would

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have seemed like a very long slog, a very difficult,

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weary, painful, endless trial. But now we're

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at the fifth week, the last Sunday of the fast.

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And we're honoring this wonderful, sublime, incredible

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woman. Mary of Egypt. We've read her life this

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week. We pondered in hymnography words about

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her in the Canon of St. Andrew, in which she's

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mentioned prominently at the end of almost every

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ode. And Lent is almost over. One more week and

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it will be Palm Sunday. The time went quickly

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in some ways. And I'm hit. as he says here, with

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the realization that I have not accomplished

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or fulfilled anything spiritually that I had

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hoped I would at the beginning of Lent. Of course,

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if we could plan ahead, maybe things would have

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been different at the beginning of Lent, considering

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the circumstances, but probably not. I'm not

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anywhere near where I should be in my journey

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towards union with God. And this thought is stinging

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when faced with this woman here. Her memory and

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the gospel we just read about the woman that

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comes and is weeping at Jesus' feet. Weeping

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because she knows that he loves her. And can

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forgive her sins. Take that burden away. And

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she pours ointment. Expensive ointment. And apparently

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she was a prostitute. Like Mary. And she poured

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it on his feet. And she wiped his feet. This

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is what our Lenten journey should have been like.

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That kind of love for God. But it wasn't. I take

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some consolation. In the fact. Not just because.

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I'm thoughtless and lazy and prideful and think

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that, well, God will forgive me anyway. It's

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okay. I probably do think that. No, I take consolation

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also in the fact that hearing this gospel about

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the disciples following Jesus, they're not walking

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ahead of him as would have been customary. They

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were following him and they were going, he had

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set his face toward Jerusalem. This gospel isn't

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just there to tell us, oh, next. The week after

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is going to be Holy Week. You know, we should

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get to church. Obviously, we can't. This gospel

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is there to tell us that the cross is the center

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of our life. This cross is to tell us that our

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Lenten journey now is over. Now we're journeying

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with Christ, and we're going to live these days

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in a very different way. We started with being

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cast out of paradise, and now here we are, almost

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at Golgotha. A horrible place to be. But a place

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in which absolute despair, suffering, pain, loss,

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being crushed is turned into victory because

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that's how God uses things. God never works out

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of power and strength, said Metropolitan Anthony,

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but only out of weakness. Because that's the

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way we are. So I take some consolation. that

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although I have failed in the fast, God has patience

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with us. He knows our circumstances, our situation.

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I also take some consolation in the fact that

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the two of the closest disciples, James and John,

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who had been with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration,

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which I see up there in the corner, the height

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of the church. along with Peter, come to Jesus

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with the most inappropriate question. Peter had

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already tried that. Get behind me, Satan. Peter

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tried to tell Jesus, the Romans crucify Messiah

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pretenders all the time, Lord. You're not the

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pretender. You are the Son of God, the Christ,

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the King of Israel. So no, you can't be crucified.

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Peter tried that. James and John didn't seem

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to learn. So I take consolation that though I

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am clueless too with my Christian life, those

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that had seen miracles, that had seen Jesus transfigured

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in glory, still did not understand. So we don't

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understand either until we live it. Two more

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things I want to say, not just about, oh. The

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difficulty of keeping the Lenten fast, that's

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self -evident. But in that difficulty is the

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very answer we need. Is the way God has planned

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for us. What do I mean by that? James and John

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asked Jesus a question. And Jesus is patient.

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He knows what they're going to ask. Just like

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a parent knows when a child's going to ask something

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very stupid. He already knows. But we're patient,

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and it's okay. They ask, can we sit on the right

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hand and the left? When you are in glory. After

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we marched into Jerusalem. After the Romans have

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been crushed. After you're enthroned as the king.

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We want to be on your right hand. because we're

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close to you. They even had their mother come

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to ask him that. Little did they know that Jesus'

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throne outside the gates of Jerusalem would not

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be one of marble and gold with a crown of gems.

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His throne would be the cross, and on his right

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hand and left hand would be two other crosses.

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That's the road we're on now. The road of difficulty.

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The road of self -denial. But the road in which

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God's grace is always present. God's strength

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is changing our weakness into something else.

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His grace is manifest in our weakness. We know

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that all this can be taken away from us. In Russia,

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in 1910, holy Russia, nobody would have thought,

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except maybe Lenin and Stalin and their madness

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and Trotsky, that in 10 years, bishops, priests

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would be taken away and shot, sent to gulags.

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The faithful people sent to work camp in gulags.

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Churches shut and blown up. 10 years. Could it

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happen here? God only knows. But all this could

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be taken away from us. And so we live the way

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of the cross, the way outside of Jerusalem right

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now. Here's what our dear friend, Father Maximus,

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says. He says, what is it that we need to learn

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today about St. Mary of Egypt in the desert and

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St. Zosimas in the desert and the cross and the

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weight of the cross? That Jesus tells us today.

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And also. I don't have time to preach about it.

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But Jesus' final words in this gospel. Without

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which we can't understand any of it. To be first

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or last. We have to be the servant of all. As

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Jesus is. Who gave his life as a ransom to many.

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Then we understand this. That our Lenten effort.

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Our life effort. What we should be busy. doing

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as Christians is to acquire union with God in

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love, in spirit, and in truth. That's the final

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destiny for each one of us, because we've been

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created in the image of God, unless we forgot

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the lesson of Sunday of Orthodoxy already. And

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above all, says Father Maximus, Our orthodoxy,

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our right belief, our right worship, our right

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practice, our right glorification must be grounded

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in the inner realization and not merely held

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up by our external habits and practices, which

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are good and which are inspired by God and which

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are given to us for our salvation, but we spend

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too much time on the external, looking around.

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For whatever is external to ourselves, whatever

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is material, can be taken away. The right to

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assemble in church can be denied us. Our very

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bodies can be destroyed. But Jesus has warned

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us to fear not them that kill the body, for they

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are not able to kill the soul, but are not able

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to kill the soul. But rather, fear him which

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is able to destroy. both soul and body, in hell.

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Our orthodoxy, our devotion to Christ, which

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is lived out most perfectly in the Divine Liturgy

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and the Holy Eucharist, yes. But what we bring

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to it is that brokenness and that weakness and

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the love of that woman that was in the Gospel,

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not the foolishness of James and John. An interior

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orthodoxy of warmth of the heart. Which is the

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center of our being. When we memorize something,

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a psalm. Many people are trying to memorize Psalm

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15 right now, I understand. When you have it

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memorized, what do you say? I've learned it by

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heart. You don't say I've learned it by mind.

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The heart is the center. The depth of our being.

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it's there that our Orthodox practice has to

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be well -grounded, well -planted, and watered

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with the teachings of the Church, the moral life

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of the Church, the grace of God which comes from

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that. So, to finish, Fr. Maximus says, let's

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fight the temptation, and it will be. So fight

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it with all your heart, the temptation to be

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discouraged or anxious or angry about what is

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happening today or distracted from the one thing

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needful. We must not succumb to fear or to false

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knowledge. We must fight the temptation to brood

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or fixate on the social upheaval that we are

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going through. We must resist the temptation

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to take our attention, our mind's eye, of the

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center, capital C, of our spiritual life. Capital

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C, Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, Christ

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victorious over all the powers and principalities,

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Christ in St. Zosimas, Christ in St. Mary of

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Egypt, who through the ministries and incarnate

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ministries of the Theotokos led her not only

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to the expunging of all sins, but to the ascension,

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the raising up to the angelic life while on earth,

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showing us that we can be transfigured. The possibilities

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of the image of God in which we are made, being

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made very clear. For ye have not received the

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spirit of bondage to fear, but ye have received

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the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. Abba,

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

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Spirit, be all glory, honor, and worship.