WEBVTT

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

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of the Holy Spirit, I greet you, brothers and

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sisters, on this day of the resurrection and

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the continuation of the celebration of the Feast

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of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross. That's

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why we're singing all these hymns today. Normally,

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the leave -taking of the cross would be tomorrow.

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but we're doing it today because you're all gathered.

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We're all together. The elder and saint Perferius,

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the recent saint, said to somebody once, the

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great medicine is for us to devote ourselves

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to the worship of Christ. Everything is healed.

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Everything functions normally. The love of God

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transforms everything. It sanctifies, it amends,

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and changes the nature of everything. This is

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the cross. This is the medicine of the cross.

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Last year, I had the great blessing in October

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to go to the Holy Mountain, Mount Athos, and

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I went to the monastery of Vatopedi, and I stayed

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there. And I had the great blessing to serve

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Divine Liturgy twice with the other fathers in

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this magnificent, beautiful church where St.

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Gregory Palamas was at one time and many other

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saints. And at the great entrance, you know,

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we usually come out with the chalice and the

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discos. And the deacon does that, and the main

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priest holds the chalice. And all the other priests

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in our practice, we come out with a spoon and

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a spear and a cross or whatever is left over

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that we're going to need. But there at Vatupedi,

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each priest that is serving at the great entrance

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is given one of the relics, one of the reliquaries.

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And the second liturgy that I served at, I was

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given this box about this big. About 30 pounds.

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And it was covered with jewels and gold. And

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it opens up. And what is it? But a large piece

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of the true cross, which had been in that monastery

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for a long time and had worked so many miracles

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and healings for people. And my reaction was

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I was completely... dumbfounded for a moment.

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I couldn't remember what I was supposed to even

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do next. And I carry this holy relic out. We

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go out, all the priests go out, commemorations,

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and we go back in. And I realized, I don't know

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anything about the cross. To me, I would hear

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that verse that we just heard. In the Gospel

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of Mark, pick up your cross, follow me. And I

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thought, well, what are those crosses? Dramatic,

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difficult things, usually caring for somebody

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else, or a problem in your life, you know. This

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is my cross, Father, have to carry it. But I

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realized that day, after I gave this precious

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relic back, to the sacristan and he put it away.

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I never heard the first part of that verse which

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tells you what it means to pick up the cross.

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The Lord says an invitation. It's an invitation

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that our precious, loving, merciful creator offers

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to each person. He says, if you want to follow

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me, deny yourself. That's the basic first step

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of a Christian. Deny yourself. I'm not making

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that up, and I don't like it any more than you.

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There's plenty of things I don't want to deny

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about myself, especially myself. But if I'm concerned

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about myself, then how am I concerned about the

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will of God? If I'm concerned about my own will,

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how can I ever do God's will? How can I ever

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do the will of somebody else, much less my wife,

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who might say, please take out the trash, but

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I don't want to. Deny yourself. This is the first

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step of the Christian life. And I only saw...

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this precious relic until I gave it away as that

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cross that we all have to carry, the difficult

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thing in our life, rather than the life preserver

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that our Lord himself throws to us. You know,

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if you're sinking in the water off the side of

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a ship, they're not going to throw you a brick

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or the anchor. They're going to throw you something

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that floats. The cross isn't going to drown us.

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No. In fact, our own will, if you seek your own

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life, you will lose it. If we seek to lose our

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life, that is, to give it to Christ, then that

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cross won't drown us, but we'll hang on to it

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for dear life, and it will pull us up. It will

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pull us up. Father Nicholas quoted Tito Coleander

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last night at Vespers. I'll do him one better.

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I'll also quote Tito Coleander. He says, as long

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as our selfish desires rule. And none of us thinks

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we're selfish. Most of us think we're quite magnanimous.

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We're generous. We're good. But the gauge, the

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criterion, the bar is Jesus Christ. who made

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himself of no reputation, but became a servant

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to slave, even to death on the cross. As long

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as our selfish will rules, he says as long as

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your selfish will rules, but I'm including myself,

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you cannot pray to the Lord with a pure heart,

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thy will be done. If you cannot get rid of your

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own greatness, neither can you lay yourself open

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for real greatness. If you cling to your own

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freedom, you cannot share in true freedom, where

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only one will remains. It is the life of our

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will that is destroyed. Since the fall in the

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Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, our will has

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been running errands exclusively for its own

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ego. For this reason, our warfare is directed

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against the life of self -will as such. And it

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should be undertaken without delay or wearying.

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How? How to do that? Oh, so simple. If you have

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the urge to talk, don't. If you have the urge

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to drink two cups of coffee, drink only one.

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If you have the urge to look at the clock, don't

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look. If you wish to smoke a cigarette, refrain,

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especially refrain. If you want to go visiting,

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stay at home. This is self -persecution. And

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with God's help, our will is quieted. The Holy

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Fathers say this, Do you really think that you

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can fill a jar with clean water, that's our soul,

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before the old dirty water has been emptied out?

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Let us purify the heart. And if we move out of

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ourself towards Christ, who do we see? We see

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Christ, and we see our neighbor. It is for this

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reason that denying oneself is a stipulation

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and the chief one for the person who seeks salvation

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in Christ. Only so that the center of our being,

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our attention, our understanding, who we are,

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who we think we are, can be moved from self to

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Christ. Both God and neighbor. And then we hear

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Jesus say, Pick up the cross. His listeners didn't

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think it was some kind of problem in their life

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that their cross consisted of. They knew what

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Golgotha looked like when the Roman contingent

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went up there to crucify people. When Jesus says

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pick up your cross, he's being as graphic as

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he can about putting that which is opposed to

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God to death. Why? Well, you heard from Tito

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Coleander, but there's one more thing that I'd

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like to share with you. It's so that we can then

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be bearers of the light. The Christian faith

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is not about keeping a bunch of rules and doing

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good things. It's about bearing the light of

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Christ. For it is God who commanded the light

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to shine out of darkness. When it says in the

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beginning, let there be light, the same has shined

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in our hearts. Is it shining? Let it shine to

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give the light of the knowledge of the glory

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of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have

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this treasure in clay vessels. That the excellence

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of the power may be of God, not of us. We're

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troubled on every side. We're not distressed.

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We're perplexed. We're not in despair. We're

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persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We're cast

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down, but we're not destroyed. We always bear

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in our body The dying of the Lord Jesus. This

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is the cross. So that the life of Jesus may be

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made manifest in our body. All things are possible

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with Christ. Where is the pain and effort for

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you to become good? Elder Porphyria says, it's

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simple. You will call upon God. And he will take

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things from you. And make them good. If you give

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your heart to them, he says, there's no room

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for the other things. When you put on Christ

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in baptism, then you put on the resurrection,

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the garment of light, and you become a bearer

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of Christ. And you will not need any effort,

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he says, this is surprising, to attain the godly

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virtues. They will be given to you. Are you engulfed

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in fear? Are you disenchanted? Turn to Christ.

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Love him simply and humbly, without any demand,

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and he himself will free you. Turn to Christ,

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and with humility and with hope. Like St. Paul

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says, Who shall deliver me from this body of

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death? Turn to Christ, and he will come immediately.

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His grace will act at once. Amen.