Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There
are times in a person's life, whether it be a
nationally applicable or just personally applicable,
where you take a new road. You embark upon a
new adventure where something captivates your
heart, your soul, your mind, your whole being,
and you have to follow. Nationally, maybe I can
think of, in the past, that horrific event of
December 7th, and people hearing on the radio,
it's just iconic for us even now, FDR saying,
December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy.
And then the result of that speech and the result
of that horrific attack on Pearl Harbor was that
countless young men and women then came to the
recruiting office, signed up. It was horrible
things they would experience. But they took a
new road. They were imbued with courage. They
were imbued with a love of their country and
many other things perhaps. Personally, you know,
and I was reflecting on this because yesterday
was our 38th wedding anniversary, the backwards
anniversary since we were married in 83 and it's
38 years now. You see somebody and There's a
thought, some kind of powerful movement inside
the mind or something deeper. And then you get
to know that person if God grants. And then you
fall in love. And then that cements it. And you
take a new path in life. Your heart is captivated.
There's nothing else you want. There's nothing
more important. You change. Well, let's apply
this approach to a young man going to church
about the year 270. He was 18 or 20 years old.
His parents had died. He only had a sister. It
was a wealthy family. Lived in Egypt, a place
called Coma. It's not on the map anymore, probably.
He went to the church, and he heard the gospel
reading that you and I heard today. But a rich
young man who went to Jesus, Master, what must
I do? And you know the rest of the story. And
Jesus put his finger on the heart of that young
man in the gospel and the heart of that Egyptian
young man in the year 270. Sell? If you want
to be perfect, sell everything. Give to the poor
and follow me. And Jesus looked at the young
man in the story we heard from Luke. And it says
he loved him. The young man didn't go away condemned.
He went away sad. And Jesus was sad. But this
young man in Egypt. this 20 -year -old man whose
parents had died, heard this story, and his heart
was ignited. And he said, that's me. That story
was him, and us too, because there's something
in between us and Christ for a full, complete,
intense, loving... There's something we have
kept back that won't allow us to go on. For the
young man, it was his riches. He had collected
things. He had lots of things. Oh, I followed
all those commandments from my youth up. Well,
he was a teenager at some point, so probably
not. And he went away sad. But this young man
in Egypt, Anthony, Went out of the city. Having
taken care of his sister. Having sold all his
things. And he went and lived in a small hut.
Some ways out. And he began to visit righteous
people to learn how to pray. To learn how to
repent. The next time he went to church. He heard
these words. Why are you anxious about these
things? Don't you know your Heavenly Father will
care for you? And he said, that's it. I'm going
deeper. And out he went into the deep desert,
into a mountain. And for years and years and
years, and with people following him all the
time, because of his wisdom, because of the beauty
of his spirit, he was out there and he... hid
himself in a tomb, a cave, and he fought with
the demons. They attacked him every night. And
you know what he said? He said, you creatures
are pitiful. You have to come in a mob, because
one of you can't do a thing, and the mob just
has a front of hideousness. You're... powerless
before Christ. For St. Paul said that Christ
came to destroy him that held the power of death,
that is the devil. And you come in these appearances
like a lion and a bear or some woman. You're
pitiful. You can't do anything. And at the end
of these years of his life as a hermit, like
St. Seraphim, he came out. And this is what the
life of St. Anthony the Great, written by our
great father St. Athanasius. Fresco of St. Athanasius
is here. Fresco of St. Anthony is right there,
standing next to Paul of Thebes. I thank the
one who commissioned that. This is what happened.
He came out. He emerged from his desert retreat
after 20 years of isolation. St. Athanasius says
he came forth from a kind of sanctuary, initiated
and born up by God. And the people were amazed
that saw him, that he had neither grown flabby
or thin or emaciated from fast and struggles
with the demons. And the character of his soul
was pure of blemish. He was fully natural. He
became like Adam. In the garden. And through
him the Lord healed the bodies of many that were
sick. And many that were demonically afflicted.
And people were comforted. Those who grieved.
And other people were reconciled. Those who were
at enmity and strife with one another. The difference
between the young man. And the story. The gospel
story. And St. Anthony. Is that the young man
heard. If you want to be perfect, go sell everything.
And that's it. What St. Anthony heard was, if
you want to be perfect, sell everything and come
and follow me. Why follow Jesus? His heart was
captivated by the one who is our creator. Why
follow Jesus? Brothers and sisters, Think what
we've been given. Listen to what St. Paul wrote
to the Colossians, which you just heard. That
we should give thanks to God the Father who has
made us, he has equipped us, he has made us worthy
to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints.
That is saints like St. Anthony. The great ones
that we cannot even approach in our thought.
We share their life. Through God. And then St.
Paul says, the Father has delivered us from the
power of darkness. Note, it's in the past tense.
It's done. We have been delivered from darkness.
We just have to live in the light. He has translated
us. It's past tense. He has done this for us
already. He has translated us to the kingdom
of his dear son with whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
This is what should captivate our heart, set
us on the path which we should not turn aside
from. St. Paul also goes on to say that he is
the image of the invisible God. that he made
all things, and all things came into being through
him. We trust him, whatever situation we are
in. We have been called from the kingdom of darkness
into the light. We have been redeemed. We have
been given the precious blood. We have the forgiveness
of sins. Christ is the one who has made all things,
like St. Anthony heard. Why are you anxious about
so many things? Being a citizen of the kingdom,
brothers and sisters, changes everything. Otherwise,
how would it be that we honor, we venerate this
man, Anthony, lived to 105 years old, died sometime
in the 350s? Why would we remember somebody living
in the desert? It's because the grace of God
goes out from those who love him, no matter how
weak that love might be, how often we might sin.
and get up again the grace of god and mercy and
healing is in this world through the saints and
through the life of the church christ says saint
paul is the head of the church and we are its
members so rejoice brothers and sisters let the
light of the kingdom of god shine within your
heart love god as you love that person that you
were that your heart was captivated by that you
couldn't live without that's how we are to love
god amen