WEBVTT 00:00:02.060 --> 00:00:04.540 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.540 --> 00:00:10.259 of the Holy Spirit. Glory to Jesus Christ. Well, 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:16.260 this Sunday we celebrate All Saints Day. All 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:19.620 the saints that have come before us. And we know 00:00:19.620 --> 00:00:23.339 many of them. We also know that our mind can't 00:00:23.339 --> 00:00:27.039 fully fathom the number of names of saints that 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:30.539 have come before. And there are even those... 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:35.060 who are unknown. They were faithful to God throughout 00:00:35.060 --> 00:00:39.240 their lives over the past centuries, millennia, 00:00:39.320 --> 00:00:43.600 and God knows who they are. We don't know their 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.560 names, but we will one day when we're in eternity, 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:50.700 and we celebrate all those who have come before 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:55.600 us, all the saints who have lived. We recognize 00:00:55.600 --> 00:01:00.750 them this day, and we honor them. what makes 00:01:00.750 --> 00:01:06.870 them saints and how did God transform them and 00:01:06.870 --> 00:01:10.650 sanctify them? This can be instructive to you 00:01:10.650 --> 00:01:16.810 and to me. Archbishop Andre of Novo de Vivo says 00:01:16.810 --> 00:01:21.730 this of today's gospel reading. All the saints 00:01:21.730 --> 00:01:25.950 being remembered today followed the example of 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:30.439 Christ and all of them in their time in their 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:35.480 circumstances of life, fulfilled God's commandment 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:43.640 of love of God and neighbor. And loving God leads 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:47.900 to us loving our neighbor because God loves us 00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:52.019 all. He loves everything about each one of us. 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:56.719 He loves us all deeply. And so when we learn 00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:01.180 to love God, That love flows through us to others 00:02:01.180 --> 00:02:06.640 around us. When we truly love God, we will show 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.900 it through our actions to others. There are, 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.740 from today's Gospel reading, three things are 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:19.099 given to us that every saint must do. One is 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:25.620 from Matthew 10, verse 32. Whosoever therefore 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:30.819 shall confess me before men, him I will confess 00:02:30.819 --> 00:02:36.979 also before my Father who is in heaven. Perhaps 00:02:36.979 --> 00:02:40.659 you have been in a circumstance where you are 00:02:40.659 --> 00:02:44.360 a Christian amongst people who don't have a Christian 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:49.419 worldview. They have strong worldviews that are 00:02:49.419 --> 00:02:53.259 different, maybe opposed, maybe not, to Christianity. 00:02:56.259 --> 00:02:59.879 But there's this thing that we can do, which 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:03.240 is like being a chameleon, you know, where you 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:07.240 change your colors to match where you are. Some 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:11.580 people have called this thing, when in Rome, 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:15.680 do as the Romans, right? I would call that the 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.639 Rome syndrome. And there can be circumstances 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:25.219 where that's fine. If perhaps it's something 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:28.659 very simple like a sports team, everybody there 00:03:28.659 --> 00:03:31.520 likes this team, and maybe you don't really, 00:03:31.719 --> 00:03:34.439 but you just kind of don't say anything, and 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:38.219 you let them believe that you like that team 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:41.659 too. And that's not so bad. But when it comes 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:45.439 to our Christian faith, when it comes to us identifying 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.719 with our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:51.580 It is a much different thing, and we need to 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:54.979 be careful not to fall into the Rome syndrome. 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:58.259 We need to remember these words of our Lord, 00:03:58.340 --> 00:04:03.400 to confess him before the world. Now, that doesn't 00:04:03.400 --> 00:04:06.439 mean you go out and shout at people. You know, 00:04:06.460 --> 00:04:09.900 there are many that can actually turn people 00:04:09.900 --> 00:04:13.840 away from God by being way too boisterous about 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:18.509 their faith. But it does mean that... if someone 00:04:18.509 --> 00:04:23.990 were to ask you, are you a Christian? That we 00:04:23.990 --> 00:04:27.089 would say, yes, yes, I followed the Lord Jesus 00:04:27.089 --> 00:04:30.110 Christ. And we would not try to be a chameleon 00:04:30.110 --> 00:04:36.389 in such a circumstance. The second verse is Matthew 00:04:36.389 --> 00:04:42.949 10, 37. He that loveth father and mother more 00:04:42.949 --> 00:04:47.600 than me is not worthy of me. and he that loveth 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:52.180 son and daughter more than me is not worthy of 00:04:52.180 --> 00:04:58.199 me. What this really means is love God above 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:01.980 all else. It does not mean that loving your family 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:06.439 is something to be avoided. Of course, we love 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:09.399 our parents, our children, our family. They are 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:14.420 valuable to us. We love them. And that is the 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:18.980 point of this whole thing, that we love God even 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:23.680 more than that, that he is first. Saint Tikhon 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:31.160 of Zedonks says this, The true lover of God disdains 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:35.139 the world and all that is in the world and strives 00:05:35.139 --> 00:05:39.740 toward God, his most beloved. He counts honor, 00:05:39.899 --> 00:05:43.139 glory, riches, and all the comforts of this world, 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:46.759 which the sons of this age seek, as nothing. 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:51.300 For him only God, the uncreated and most beloved 00:05:51.300 --> 00:05:56.399 good, suffices. In him alone he finds perfect 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:02.910 honor, glory, riches, and comfort. So the first 00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:05.709 one was to confess God before the world. The 00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:09.769 second, to love God above all else. And the third, 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:15.949 Matthew 10, 38. And he that taketh not his cross 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:21.350 and followeth after me is not worthy of me to 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:25.889 take the cross. We have repented of our past 00:06:25.889 --> 00:06:28.610 sins and we've begun the journey on the narrow 00:06:28.610 --> 00:06:31.930 road of salvation and we walk with God and we 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:36.250 follow his commandments and we watch as God sanctifies 00:06:36.250 --> 00:06:40.509 us. But that sanctification, that being made 00:06:40.509 --> 00:06:45.470 holy, sometimes requires some suffering. Are 00:06:45.470 --> 00:06:49.730 we willing to pick up our cross and follow Christ? 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:53.509 Jesus bore the cross for us because of his love. 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:58.480 and he calls us to love others as well, and sometimes 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:01.660 that is quite a cross. Be willing to suffer in 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:06.180 order to grow, in order to change, in order to 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:14.819 be sanctified. And when we are doing these things, 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:20.040 confessing Christ, loving God above all else, 00:07:20.379 --> 00:07:25.699 being willing to suffer, and to endure, and then 00:07:25.699 --> 00:07:29.620 loving others because of God's love for us. Then 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:32.300 we are moving on that narrow path to heaven. 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.680 Saint Tikhon of Zedonk says this, The root and 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:41.339 beginning of love for neighbor is love of God. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:45.319 Whoever truly loves God without fail also loves 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:48.459 his neighbor. Without doubt, God loves every 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:52.220 man, his beloved. Let us therefore love one another. 00:07:52.750 --> 00:07:58.810 as God has loved us. In my home, there is a plant. 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:02.129 It is next to a window. It is not in front of 00:08:02.129 --> 00:08:05.569 the window. It is next to the window. And I've 00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:10.350 noticed over time that as it's grown, it first 00:08:10.350 --> 00:08:15.509 grew straight, but then the stalk turned and 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:18.870 it actually bent instead of going up sideways 00:08:18.870 --> 00:08:24.399 and turned around and faced the light, because 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:28.720 that plant knows where to collect the sunlight. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:34.279 Well, we are to be like that plant when we seek 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:38.059 God's light, when we seek God's truth. If we 00:08:38.059 --> 00:08:42.279 truly love God, the stock of our life is going 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.399 to go wherever God's light is, and we're going 00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:50.690 to then receive his strength, his love. we are 00:08:50.690 --> 00:08:55.289 going to put the God's presence in our life first 00:08:55.289 --> 00:09:00.149 in order that we might learn and be sanctified 00:09:00.149 --> 00:09:06.110 and be made holy. And just as that plant seeking 00:09:06.110 --> 00:09:10.730 the light, the sunshine, then flowers forth, 00:09:11.110 --> 00:09:15.789 so we, when we seek the Holy Spirit and seek 00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:20.019 God's will, and want what God wants for us. And 00:09:20.019 --> 00:09:23.080 when we do that, then just as a plant blossoms 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:26.679 forth, our life will have blossoms coming forth 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:32.279 that will bless our neighbors around us. Glory 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:33.200 to Jesus Christ.