WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.139 You heard two epistles and two gospels, one epistle 00:00:05.139 --> 00:00:08.560 and two gospels. The second gospel was in honor 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.580 of St. Gregory Palamas, whose icon you see in 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:15.279 the center of our church. The second Sunday is 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:19.239 dedicated to his memory. I'm not really going 00:00:19.239 --> 00:00:21.320 to speak about him today, but just let me give 00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:26.280 you a short sketch. He died in 1359. So why is 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:29.989 he important to us? It's a long time ago. There 00:00:29.989 --> 00:00:33.329 have been plenty of other people since that time. 00:00:33.450 --> 00:00:37.289 He's important to us because of his defense of 00:00:37.289 --> 00:00:44.429 the church that we indeed can know God just like 00:00:44.429 --> 00:00:47.429 that man who was raised in the first gospel that 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:53.009 we heard. We tend to think about God and catechism 00:00:53.009 --> 00:00:57.329 in some of our minds tends to be Let's get as 00:00:57.329 --> 00:00:59.789 much information about the church as we can. 00:01:00.149 --> 00:01:03.750 But it's about knowing the Lord, our Savior. 00:01:04.150 --> 00:01:07.930 If we don't know Christ, our Savior, then it's 00:01:07.930 --> 00:01:13.090 all just in our mind. St. Gregory lived, interestingly 00:01:13.090 --> 00:01:17.310 enough, the last five years of his life was during 00:01:17.310 --> 00:01:22.230 the Black Plague. I've read most of his sermons 00:01:22.230 --> 00:01:24.109 that are in English. It's a nice, beautiful, 00:01:24.290 --> 00:01:27.870 big book. He doesn't complain once about it. 00:01:29.870 --> 00:01:34.310 He had a different approach. He sorrowed for 00:01:34.310 --> 00:01:39.290 those who died. He prayed for those who died 00:01:39.290 --> 00:01:44.030 without repentance, without knowing Christ. And 00:01:44.030 --> 00:01:46.609 he tried to encourage the flock. He was imprisoned 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:50.310 for five years by one side of a Byzantine civil 00:01:50.310 --> 00:01:53.969 war. He was imprisoned for five years by Muslim 00:01:53.969 --> 00:01:58.469 raiders. He wasn't a man that kind of led a sheltered 00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:01.230 life. But he knew suffering. He knew hardship. 00:02:02.530 --> 00:02:08.509 This is the saint we exalt today. What I want 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:13.069 to speak about is the gospel. This gospel of 00:02:13.069 --> 00:02:16.610 the second Sunday of Lent. During Lent we read 00:02:16.610 --> 00:02:19.650 the gospel of Mark. We read the epistle to the 00:02:19.650 --> 00:02:25.900 Hebrews. After Lent in Pascha time. Up to Pentecost, 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:28.599 we read the Gospel of John. When we get there, 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:33.520 it's clear why at that point. In the epistle 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:36.080 from the Hebrews today, you heard this important 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:41.819 verse. We must give the more earnest heed, pay 00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:45.000 more attention to the things we have heard and 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:49.780 learned, lest we drift away. Drift away from 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:54.620 the faith. It's that drift. That I worry about 00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:59.360 myself. I learned recently that there are quite 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:05.639 a few fish that only swim upstream. Against the 00:03:05.639 --> 00:03:11.580 current. You've seen those salmon jumping to 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:15.360 go back to their spawning grounds. Those same 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:19.280 fish, they float downstream when they're dead. 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:24.840 So, about the drift that St. Paul tells us, brothers 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.900 and sisters, there's going to be plenty of current 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:32.419 against us in our Christian life. Current from 00:03:32.419 --> 00:03:37.740 within us, our own sins, our own ignorance, our 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:42.939 own weakness, and current from outside in the 00:03:42.939 --> 00:03:47.800 world, and from the evil one. When we start to 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:53.819 drift, With the way of the world, we're spiritually 00:03:53.819 --> 00:03:58.319 dying. This is what I look at in myself. So the 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.879 gospel is illustrating to us that very fact, 00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:05.460 but in a very dramatic and incredible way. Imagine 00:04:05.460 --> 00:04:12.479 being there. Jesus is speaking in a house. It's 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:15.960 got a thatch roof, I suppose, and it's completely 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:21.069 packed. And there are four men who want to take 00:04:21.069 --> 00:04:22.949 their friend who can't walk, he's paralyzed, 00:04:23.050 --> 00:04:25.790 to see Jesus. Because they know Jesus already. 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:28.670 This is only chapter two of St. Mark. They know 00:04:28.670 --> 00:04:33.970 Jesus is healing. This is what God does. This 00:04:33.970 --> 00:04:37.269 is a sign of the kingdom to come. We're preparing 00:04:37.269 --> 00:04:41.329 for Pascha, right? So there's a story of a man 00:04:41.329 --> 00:04:45.610 who is healed from paralysis. He gets up and 00:04:45.610 --> 00:04:50.350 walks. But how does he get to Jesus? This incredible 00:04:50.350 --> 00:04:53.009 story, it's not just, oh, make way, make way, 00:04:53.110 --> 00:04:57.889 this guy's coming in. No, it was too crowded 00:04:57.889 --> 00:05:01.670 for that. These men had the idea, let's go up 00:05:01.670 --> 00:05:06.129 to the top of the house, remove all this thatched 00:05:06.129 --> 00:05:09.589 roof stuff, and lower this man down by a rope 00:05:09.589 --> 00:05:15.290 right in front of the Lord. What courage, what 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:19.879 ingenuity. How dramatic is that? Imagine being 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:28.480 there and seeing that. Incredible. The crowd 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:34.660 prevented those four men, and Jesus said, it 00:05:34.660 --> 00:05:37.279 says in the Gospels, I'm sorry, St. Mark says, 00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:41.439 Jesus saw their faith. That crowd prevented those 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:45.800 men from getting to Jesus. You know, there's 00:05:45.800 --> 00:05:49.100 plenty that keeps us away from God. We really 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:51.860 can't blame anybody else for the most part. It's 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:56.779 within ourself. And now, in a very practical 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:00.300 way, two weeks into the Lenten fast, I've learned 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:04.800 once again that valuable lesson. Last week was 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:06.860 about the icons, right? Well, I've learned the 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:11.009 lesson how un -icon -like I am. We are to be 00:06:11.009 --> 00:06:13.829 the image and likeness of God. It says that we 00:06:13.829 --> 00:06:17.230 are created in his image and likeness. How unlike 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:23.110 that image I am. I have much in common. I've 00:06:23.110 --> 00:06:27.009 discovered over the time of the last two weeks, 00:06:27.050 --> 00:06:30.149 just trying to fast a little bit, just trying 00:06:30.149 --> 00:06:33.610 to pray a little bit, how much like that paralyzed 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:38.750 man I really am. It's so hard to turn away from 00:06:38.750 --> 00:06:43.310 the usual self -centered habits, to become oriented 00:06:43.310 --> 00:06:47.310 to Christ. No, we stay oriented to ourself, to 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:51.529 become oriented to prayer and fasting. What did 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:55.490 St. Paul mean when he said, give heed, pay attention 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:57.610 to the things which we have heard, lest we drift 00:06:57.610 --> 00:07:00.870 away? What have we heard? We've heard from the 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:04.670 beginning of the gospel, and this has to do with 00:07:04.670 --> 00:07:10.649 Lent, That repentance is a radical, radical change 00:07:10.649 --> 00:07:16.910 in our life. We tend to think of repentance, 00:07:17.230 --> 00:07:22.329 and it has a part in this, as I didn't pray enough. 00:07:23.670 --> 00:07:27.850 I wasn't very strict with my fasting. I kind 00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:31.730 of had cheese or whatever. I had an argument. 00:07:31.750 --> 00:07:35.189 I had some bad thoughts. It's important that 00:07:35.189 --> 00:07:37.449 we identify those things for sure, but that's 00:07:37.449 --> 00:07:42.050 not repentance. Repentance is tearing off the 00:07:42.050 --> 00:07:46.670 roof of a house and getting to see Christ, no 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:50.750 matter what's against us. That's what we've learned. 00:07:50.850 --> 00:07:53.209 That's what we have to pay attention to now. 00:07:55.209 --> 00:07:58.769 We have to give our attention to, as St. Gregory 00:07:58.769 --> 00:08:03.490 Palamas would say, theology. Did I say theology? 00:08:04.370 --> 00:08:07.370 Yes, I meant theology. When we think of theology, 00:08:07.509 --> 00:08:09.769 you think of someone going to seminary or reading 00:08:09.769 --> 00:08:15.889 big fat books. No. No, that's not theology. Theology 00:08:15.889 --> 00:08:21.009 is one who prays. And one who prays is a theologian. 00:08:22.329 --> 00:08:26.649 As the old saying goes, my grandmother couldn't 00:08:26.649 --> 00:08:31.899 read English, but she was a theologian. She knew 00:08:31.899 --> 00:08:35.139 the Lord Jesus Christ. She could speak about 00:08:35.139 --> 00:08:41.559 him and her experience with him in prayer. She 00:08:41.559 --> 00:08:47.100 had the godly virtues which brought that. Now 00:08:47.100 --> 00:08:50.759 here I'm going to get a little technical. Because 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:54.940 I'm going to quote Vincent Rossi, Father Maximus. 00:08:57.100 --> 00:09:00.600 But what he said is completely relevant. He gave 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.240 a sermon on this day four or five years ago. 00:09:03.659 --> 00:09:07.600 You can listen to it on our website. I won't 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.519 take as long as he did, but he had more to say. 00:09:12.519 --> 00:09:17.779 The virtues. St. Gregory of Palamas says, the 00:09:17.779 --> 00:09:20.659 four friends in the gospel, well, there are two 00:09:20.659 --> 00:09:24.059 things. The four friends in the gospel is the 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:26.879 parish. bringing the catechumens to the church. 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.919 That's the first thing. The four friends in the 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:38.159 gospel are the hymns, the liturgy, the prayers, 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:41.600 bringing us to true repentance, knowing Christ. 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:45.379 The four friends of the gospel are you and I 00:09:45.379 --> 00:09:48.259 supporting one another in our Christian walk. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:51.799 The four friends of the gospel, however, says 00:09:51.799 --> 00:09:58.210 St. Gregory Palamas, Are the virtues. Self -condemnation. 00:09:58.350 --> 00:10:02.090 Sounds harsh. I'll tell you what it means. Compunction. 00:10:03.730 --> 00:10:09.549 Constancy in prayer. And commitment. They bring 00:10:09.549 --> 00:10:12.929 us to the Lord. Self -condemnation is what? It's 00:10:12.929 --> 00:10:17.549 honesty about yourself. That you can say you're 00:10:17.549 --> 00:10:21.629 wrong when you're wrong. It's honesty to look 00:10:21.629 --> 00:10:25.230 at yourself without shame. before the living 00:10:25.230 --> 00:10:29.049 God, before your brothers and sisters, and be 00:10:29.049 --> 00:10:33.470 who you are, but strive to be the image of God 00:10:33.470 --> 00:10:37.389 and the likeness that he gives us grace to be. 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:41.269 That's self -contemptation. Compunction is what? 00:10:42.009 --> 00:10:47.090 It's the heart touched by sorrow. If I come to 00:10:47.090 --> 00:10:52.610 confession and I say, Father, I was very sloppy 00:10:52.610 --> 00:10:59.950 in my fast. I didn't pray enough. Honestly, I 00:10:59.950 --> 00:11:02.370 think like the rest of you, I don't really feel 00:11:02.370 --> 00:11:05.769 too sorry about that. I suppose I should, but 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:09.750 that's not the problem. It's the not praying 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:12.769 enough and the fasting sloppily. It's that I 00:11:12.769 --> 00:11:16.990 don't see that I have completely disfigured what 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:21.429 God has given. That I'm not the person God is 00:11:21.429 --> 00:11:27.059 blessing me to be. When I realize that from my 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:30.240 self -knowledge and my honesty about myself, 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:35.179 that's when compunction comes. That's when tears 00:11:35.179 --> 00:11:39.340 come and sorrow comes to the heart. And that 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:42.679 sorrow then brings us to the next thing, the 00:11:42.679 --> 00:11:46.330 next virtue. Constancy in prayer. Because we 00:11:46.330 --> 00:11:48.870 love God. We know he loves us and we want to 00:11:48.870 --> 00:11:51.309 love him back. And then we love each other and 00:11:51.309 --> 00:11:54.429 we want to pray for one another. Those in sorrow. 00:11:54.529 --> 00:11:58.090 Those who are sick. Those who are grieving. And 00:11:58.090 --> 00:12:03.590 just to pray for the salvation of everyone. And 00:12:03.590 --> 00:12:07.690 that leads to the last thing. Because we know 00:12:07.690 --> 00:12:12.100 God is faithful to us. It leads to love. Our 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:14.779 commitment to him which becomes as strong as 00:12:14.779 --> 00:12:19.080 his commitment to us. The virtues, self -condemnation, 00:12:19.139 --> 00:12:22.100 compunction, constancy in prayer, and commitment. 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:26.440 These are the things that bring us to the Lord. 00:12:26.580 --> 00:12:28.899 These are the characters of the four friends 00:12:28.899 --> 00:12:33.639 that bring the paralytic from the roof. They 00:12:33.639 --> 00:12:36.940 tear a hole in it big enough to let him down. 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:40.860 The roof is our mind, our thoughts, all the things 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:44.159 that we use to wall us off from God, to roof 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:48.019 over our precious, protected, sometimes shameful, 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:52.659 darkened life. We hide from God as Adam and Eve 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:56.500 hid. But the four friends rip all that junk up 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:01.379 that covers the soul, and we find ourselves before 00:13:01.379 --> 00:13:07.480 the Lord. He forgives our sins first. Notice 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:09.940 the gospel is all about the forgiveness of sins, 00:13:09.980 --> 00:13:13.559 very little about the raising. Our sins hold 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:17.600 us to the fallen world so that the, as Vincent 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.480 would say, the super nature of Christ, which 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:25.220 we're meant to have by grace, our sins don't 00:13:25.220 --> 00:13:29.500 let us unite to that. Arise, take up thy bed 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:34.700 and walk, the Lord says. And we have the liberating 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:39.000 experience of the deifying grace of the saints. 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:44.940 Yes, we are meant to be theologians. Every man, 00:13:45.019 --> 00:13:50.000 woman, and child. Theologian is the one who prays, 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.840 and the one who prays is the theologian. That 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:56.700 is what this feast day is about today. And may 00:13:56.700 --> 00:14:03.730 God grant to each one of us personal... loving, 00:14:03.730 --> 00:14:08.970 faithful, and true knowledge of his work in our 00:14:08.970 --> 00:14:10.090 life. Amen.