WEBVTT

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

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of the Holy Spirit, one God, amen. Sprasnikum.

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A blessed feast to all of you, brothers and sisters,

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community of St. Seraphim. It is a joy to be

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here with you on your winter feast. And on this

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rainy day, here you're all gathered together

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under the changed circumstances even of 2021.

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Thanks be to God. One of the things that you

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get to see when you visit a parish, from the

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outside, is kind of the tenor and the feel of

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it, and you can tell it instantly. Just like

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when you go to a person's house that you visited

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for the first time, you can kind of get the sense

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of the household right away. Coming back after

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some time and coming back into your parish during

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the pandemic, it's beautiful to see how much

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love and how much cohesion there is. And so I

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just want to commend you for that. Because when

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people are gathering together after many, many

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services, after having the rains and listening

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in their cars and gathering outside when it's

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raining right now, that is a beautiful thing.

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And so it may not feel like the parish is running,

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but it is going together. And it's beautiful

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to see. So God bless you. I'm a little envious

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that you have a fantastic saint like St. Seraphim

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as your patron. What a heavenly patron. Somebody

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who, by virtue of being consecrated to his patronage,

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cares and prays for each and every one of you.

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He can't help but do this. This is your saint.

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This is your feast day. This is the day where

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you appeal to him and ask for his blessings and

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his prayers that God would give you more of the

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Holy Spirit. And what of that Holy Spirit did

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we hear today in this gospel? We heard in Matthew

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chapter 3, verse 11. We heard John the Baptist

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say these words. He who is coming after me is

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mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy

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to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

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and with fire. The last phrase in Greek. It's

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the Piri that I want to focus on for a little

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bit this morning. The fire of the Holy Spirit.

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The gift that is given to us in the baptism that

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is coming, in the Feast of Theophany, and in

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so many other areas. You know, Father Lawrence

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and I, in happier days, in 2019, we went together

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to Greece and had some days on the Holy Mountain.

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Mount Athos, and had a wonderful pilgrimage.

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And one of the highlights of that pilgrimage,

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I'm sure Father would agree, was getting to have

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some time with one of the abbots of Vatopedi,

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where we were staying for so long. And this abbot

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is a wonderful abbot, and because of the restrictions

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this past year, he's been able to do some things

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online and using electronic means to minister

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to people. And not that long ago, I was watching

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one of his talks online, and this phrase struck

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me. People were asking him questions, like hundreds

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of people would line up online, raise their electronic

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hands, and ask questions. And one of the questions

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was from a young girl in Romania, and people

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were asking her, what job should I take, where

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should I move, and so forth. But this young woman

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asked a question to the abbot, and it was this.

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She asked, Yeronda, how do I address my anxious

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thoughts? How do I address what is like a panic,

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a serious panic in my mind, and it's there continually?

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That's a very difficult question, right? To be

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asked from somebody halfway around the world.

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And his reply was instant and so beautiful. He

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said this. He said, say the prayer, and by this

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he means the Jesus prayer, and burn those thoughts

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with the Jesus prayer. When you say the prayer,

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you burn the intrusive thoughts. He shall baptize

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you with fire and the Holy Spirit. When you say

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the Jesus prayer, you burn those intrusive thoughts.

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Wonderful Saint Seraphim, the one who lit a candle

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for all those who asked him to pray, right? Whose

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cell was aflame with all those candles. Wonderful

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Saint Seraphim who would ask, I'm glad he didn't

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do it this morning, who would ask his monks,

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what were the epistles and what were the gospels

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that you heard in this morning's service? And

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the monks, if they didn't know the answer, would

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get a rather stern rebuke. And Father Seraphim

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would say to them, you must not be like charred

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logs, right? Your souls must be aflame with the

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Holy Spirit. Be attentive to the words of the

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gospels and the words of the epistles. These

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are spirit -bearing. These are fire -bearing.

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And we hardly even notice this. It's incredible.

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Even this week I saw a quotation from the deceased

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abbot in Arizona, another year in Ephraim. He

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said, when you say the Jesus prayer, it is like

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an atomic bomb going off in the heart of the

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devil. How powerful the words of our prayers.

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How powerful the relics of our saints. How powerful

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the holy water. that we're going to bless in

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just a few days. It is a tremendous gift of God

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to have an icon of St. Seraphim right in the

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center on your analoi there with a relic of the

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saint. The monks in Arizona tell a story about

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how somebody who was demon -possessed was brought

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into the church to have the prayer said for him.

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And when they brought out the relics from the

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altar, it was especially the relics of St. Joseph

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the Hesychast that burned him the most, they

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said. He couldn't stand it. He cried out without

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even knowing these titles. He didn't know anything

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about the monastery. The Panagia of Arizona,

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I cannot bear that icon. And that St. Joseph,

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he burns me. He didn't know who St. Joseph the

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Hesychast was. But the devils do. What power.

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What power in these relics. What power in these

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saints. in the words of the Gospels, in the Jesus

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prayer. More recently, in 1982, in the monastery

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of the Onisiu on Mount Athos, there was yet another

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man who was beset by devils. And for weeks and

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weeks, the monks would pray for him, but he was

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the type that would stamp and move his body,

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continually stamping, thrashing about. They'd

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even try to tie him to no success. And then one

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day, one of the fathers decided to put some of

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the holy water from the monastery into the jug

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of water that they gave to this man to drink

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because he was continually exhausted, continually

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tired. And the man drank the holy water. He says,

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this burns me. I don't want this. And he cast

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away that holy water. Why do I tell you all these

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stories? Because it's not only in the ancient

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stories of the Orantic Con of the Desert Fathers

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that we read about the power of these prayers,

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the power of these holy items, the power of the

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Holy Spirit, but you and I ourselves, how often

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is it, how often is it, my brothers and sisters,

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that we kind of slouch towards our prayer corners

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in the morning or evening prayers, and we think,

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I wonder if this prayer does anything, right?

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I wonder if this prayer has any effect. Or we

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struggle to say an akathist for somebody who's

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in need. And we wonder, does God even hear our

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prayers? But this is the Lord who has given us

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the Holy Spirit and has baptized us with that

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same Spirit and with fire. Those words of the

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prayers, even the morning prayers, are of fire.

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The young woman who asked the abbot in Vatupedi

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how to take care of those intrusive thoughts,

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she was not a great ascetic, right? She wasn't

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a saint. Simply the objective words of those

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prayers have the grace of the Holy Spirit within

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them. And those are our prayers. Every one of

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us can say them. When we say the Jesus Prayer,

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there is an objective quality to the power of

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that prayer. When we pray the liturgy, the prayers

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of St. John Chrysostom and of the saint we celebrated

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yesterday, St. Basil, the prayers of their anaphora.

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are objectively filled with the Holy Spirit.

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That's why you don't have an afro prayed or ad

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-libbed by your local parish priests, right?

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The prayers of the saints, whether they're written

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in our morning prayer books, whether they're

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written in an akathist, whether they're written

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in an epistle or a gospel, the prayers of those

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saints are fire -bearing words of the Holy Spirit.

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Whether we care or not, whether we notice or

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not, whether we perceive that or not, whether

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our minds are attentive or not, they are still

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of that quality. That's what they are inherently.

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One monk asked St. Sophrony of England in Essex,

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he said, what is it like when you pray the divine

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liturgy? And St. Sophrony told this young monk,

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he said, when I pray the prayers of the divine

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liturgy, the Holy Spirit showed me that it was

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like fire was coming out of my mouth. Such is

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the grace that is given to us in these God -breathed

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prayers. That's what the Holy Spirit gives us.

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There is a reason, brothers and sisters, there's

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a reason why on the Feast of Pentecost, the descent

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of the Holy Spirit upon his church comes in tongues

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of fire. Our Lord says in the Gospel of St. Luke,

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he says, I came to send fire on the earth and

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how I wish it were already kindled. Today on

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this great feast of St. Seraphim, whose very

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name means, it's a plural name, the Burning Ones,

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we're reminded of the grace of the Holy Spirit,

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the fire that Christ has given to every single

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one of us. in those prayers of the saints, in

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these writings, in this liturgy. May St. Seraphim's

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prayers enkindle a love and a warmth in our hearts

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for him, for the Church of Christ, and for each

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other, and especially for our Lord Jesus Christ.

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Spraznikum.