WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.439 Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. 00:00:04.259 --> 00:00:09.500 Christ is risen. Christ is risen. Christ is risen. 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:22.179 Today is Thomas Sunday. And you heard why? You 00:00:22.179 --> 00:00:25.739 heard the gospel account. Thomas was not in the 00:00:25.739 --> 00:00:31.550 right place at the right time. But you are. You're 00:00:31.550 --> 00:00:35.229 here at the right place, on the right day, at 00:00:35.229 --> 00:00:41.630 the right time. So we glorify God. Isn't it interesting? 00:00:41.789 --> 00:00:46.549 You know, the Gospel says things very simply. 00:00:47.070 --> 00:00:51.109 What's the word? Laconic? Just a few words to 00:00:51.109 --> 00:00:56.890 describe something incredible. Notice, in the 00:00:56.890 --> 00:01:01.280 Gospel of St. John, The disciples were in a room. 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:06.159 The doors were locked. They were afraid. Their 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:10.299 master had been crucified. If they have done 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:12.859 this unto me, they will do this unto you. Jesus 00:01:12.859 --> 00:01:16.379 warned them about the suffering to come. And 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:19.560 they were afraid. But then we get the epistle 00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:22.260 today, which tells us about the life of the early 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:24.680 church. Now, it's after Pentecost, of course, 00:01:24.760 --> 00:01:28.790 which we haven't celebrated yet. to get a sense 00:01:28.790 --> 00:01:33.629 of the boldness and the spiritual life of the 00:01:33.629 --> 00:01:37.450 Christians, that reading and the readings from 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:41.010 Acts are given to us. Notice, they're preaching, 00:01:41.189 --> 00:01:44.750 they get arrested, an angel comes to release 00:01:44.750 --> 00:01:49.129 them, and the angel says, go to the temple, stand 00:01:49.129 --> 00:01:52.549 in the midst of the temple, and preach all the 00:01:52.549 --> 00:01:56.879 words of this life. It's interesting, too, that 00:01:56.879 --> 00:02:01.560 the gospel ends with the phrase that you may 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.400 believe so that you will have life. What is this 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:08.979 life? The life of the resurrection. The Christian 00:02:08.979 --> 00:02:13.020 life is not about something just in the future. 00:02:13.180 --> 00:02:16.699 Yes, we await the redemption of the children 00:02:16.699 --> 00:02:19.620 of God, and all of creation is groaning, says 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:23.639 St. Paul, for that day. But we live the life 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:27.969 of the resurrection. Now, our participation in 00:02:27.969 --> 00:02:32.729 Holy Week and Pascha is a participation in the 00:02:32.729 --> 00:02:35.530 life of the resurrection. We carried candles. 00:02:35.590 --> 00:02:39.830 We followed the life giver Christ who, it says 00:02:39.830 --> 00:02:42.930 in that prayer, that wonderful sermon of St. 00:02:42.969 --> 00:02:48.090 John Chrysostom. Hell, Hades, Hades, death, the 00:02:48.090 --> 00:02:55.400 grave, the evil one took a body, And met God. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:01.860 It encountered what it saw. But crumbled before 00:03:01.860 --> 00:03:06.020 what it did not see. That is the power of God. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.840 The Lord releases the prisoners. This is our 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:14.419 life. So we followed him on Pascha. Out of the 00:03:14.419 --> 00:03:17.219 grave. Out of the tombs. Out of sin. With our 00:03:17.219 --> 00:03:20.879 candles. And we entered into paradise. The lights 00:03:20.879 --> 00:03:26.909 blazing on Pascha. The love of God pouring out 00:03:26.909 --> 00:03:31.409 upon us and all creation. The Lord of the living 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:34.750 and even those in the grave. Which is why we 00:03:34.750 --> 00:03:38.810 say, death, where is thy sting? Oh, Hades, where 00:03:38.810 --> 00:03:42.990 is thy victory? For Christ is risen and the demons 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:47.389 are overthrown. And not one dead remains in the 00:03:47.389 --> 00:03:52.090 grave. So we have lived through Pascha. That's 00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:55.590 the whole point of all of that. To make us participants 00:03:55.590 --> 00:03:58.650 in that event, the life of the resurrection, 00:03:59.110 --> 00:04:02.830 the life that the angel says to the apostles, 00:04:02.969 --> 00:04:06.770 go speak all the words of that life. And we believe 00:04:06.770 --> 00:04:10.330 so that we may have life eternal. That's what 00:04:10.330 --> 00:04:18.069 this gospel is about today. Isn't it also incredible 00:04:18.069 --> 00:04:24.100 that the church, On Pascha Day, and I mention 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:27.279 this on Pascha, gives us a gospel that ends with 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.000 the words of Thomas. The gospel ends with these 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.579 words. Unless I see, I won't believe. The choir 00:04:34.579 --> 00:04:37.420 sings, Glory to thee, O God, glory to thee. And 00:04:37.420 --> 00:04:41.500 we move on with the service. But today, we hear 00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:46.100 the rest of the story. You see, during the week, 00:04:46.240 --> 00:04:49.740 we have to fill in what that means to believe. 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:54.379 This is our task. I'm not talking about doubts 00:04:54.379 --> 00:04:56.800 and all of that stuff. No, I'm talking about 00:04:56.800 --> 00:05:01.860 commitment to Christ. Being in the right place 00:05:01.860 --> 00:05:05.639 at the right time helps. Thomas had a very bad 00:05:05.639 --> 00:05:13.819 week. The apostles met Christ first. Christ comes 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:18.800 to them and says, peace be unto you. And it says 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.360 in the gospel, the disciples were glad when they 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:27.240 saw the Lord. Glad, they rejoiced. They were 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:32.879 speechless. The dead Christ, completely beat 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.779 up by the Romans and crucified and laid in the 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:39.819 grave. They didn't know that he was working his 00:05:39.819 --> 00:05:44.339 glory to save those in Hades. He appeared to 00:05:44.339 --> 00:05:47.500 them and they were glad. And he said, peace be 00:05:47.500 --> 00:05:50.240 unto you. Do you know, any time a priest comes 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:55.459 out and says, peace be to all, those are the 00:05:55.459 --> 00:05:59.819 words of Christ. I don't have any peace to give 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:03.040 you. This is not from me. This is from the Lord, 00:06:03.180 --> 00:06:06.379 which is why we say his words. And that peace 00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:12.939 is filled with content if we but open our hearts 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:18.180 to it. I'll give you an example. There was a 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:22.279 man in our parish long ago. I'd say 90 % of you 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:27.120 wouldn't have known him. And he was a catechumen 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:31.300 for a while, a long time. And he was baptized. 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:36.500 And then not long after his baptism, the bishop 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:41.500 came. The bishop came out with his tree curry 00:06:41.500 --> 00:06:47.050 and tea curry. I didn't do a very good job catechizing 00:06:47.050 --> 00:06:51.250 him. And he's very kind of straightforward by 00:06:51.250 --> 00:06:56.990 the book, not emotional, just regular person. 00:06:57.149 --> 00:06:59.389 Bishop comes out with the tree creed and the 00:06:59.389 --> 00:07:02.149 decree, those three candles and the two candles, 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:06.250 and blessed the congregation. And when he turned 00:07:06.250 --> 00:07:10.490 to this side where my friend was standing, my 00:07:10.490 --> 00:07:15.899 friend said to me later, I saw, not with my eyes, 00:07:16.100 --> 00:07:21.680 streams of light come right to us from those 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:26.439 candles. And I thought, yeah, we don't see that 00:07:26.439 --> 00:07:30.000 because he had recently been baptized because 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:35.639 our eyes are covered with sin and noise. Noise. 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:39.360 Yes, eyes and noise. I know it's a mixed metaphor, 00:07:39.540 --> 00:07:42.589 but it's true. if you want to hang on to the 00:07:42.589 --> 00:07:45.990 glory of Pascha, the intensity of Holy Week and 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:50.290 Lent, don't immerse yourself in the noise of 00:07:50.290 --> 00:07:55.310 this world. The peace be unto all is a real thing. 00:07:56.110 --> 00:07:58.470 The Lord said that to the apostles. They were 00:07:58.470 --> 00:08:00.490 glad, and he had to say it again. They were so 00:08:00.490 --> 00:08:08.389 shocked. And then he said unto them, Whosoever 00:08:08.389 --> 00:08:13.420 sins, You forgive, they're forgiven. Whosoever 00:08:13.420 --> 00:08:17.720 sins you retain, they're retained. He breathed 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:21.860 on them and gave them the Holy Spirit. This glorious 00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:27.199 moment is the record of the institution of the 00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:32.559 holy mystery of confession. When we go to confession, 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:34.779 just like you hear the words of Christ, peace 00:08:34.779 --> 00:08:37.539 be unto all, it's Christ. When you go to confession, 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:40.919 when we stand before that icon and that cross 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:46.620 and that gospel, we are with Christ. It's not 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:50.059 a legal transaction taking place. It's not something 00:08:50.059 --> 00:08:55.000 that you have to do so that you can stay orthodox. 00:08:55.820 --> 00:08:59.700 It's something you want to do because the Lord 00:08:59.700 --> 00:09:04.649 is there. And he says those words through us. 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:09.230 Your sins are forgiven, brother and sister. That 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:12.350 moment on the first day of the week, what riches 00:09:12.350 --> 00:09:16.210 we've been given there. But Thomas was not there. 00:09:17.649 --> 00:09:21.929 And then eight days later, today, the eighth 00:09:21.929 --> 00:09:26.750 day, the day after, the week after Pascha, Thomas 00:09:26.750 --> 00:09:31.879 comes. And Jesus comes into the room. Once again. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.340 And says peace be to you. And he knows what Thomas 00:09:35.340 --> 00:09:38.080 is thinking. He knows what Thomas has said. After 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:44.559 Thomas' miserable awful week. And Thomas. How 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:58.399 did he react? He says. St. Gregory the great 00:09:58.399 --> 00:10:04.779 says. He saw one thing with his eyes, Christ, 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:09.379 the risen Lord, physically risen from the dead, 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:14.259 but he perceived another with his soul. And he 00:10:14.259 --> 00:10:23.039 said, my Lord and my God. First off, we don't 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:27.220 call Thomas Doubting Thomas. We call him Believing 00:10:27.220 --> 00:10:32.559 Thomas. The doubt that led to belief. We don't 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:35.440 take a snapshot of a person at their weakest 00:10:35.440 --> 00:10:42.320 moment. At their sinful moment. And define a 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:47.899 person like that. We take a picture. We understand 00:10:47.899 --> 00:10:51.980 that person at the end of their life. You want 00:10:51.980 --> 00:10:56.360 a good example? The thief on the cross with the 00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:01.070 Lord. You want another example? The Apostle Paul, 00:11:01.389 --> 00:11:05.629 who is executing Christians. What about the Apostle 00:11:05.629 --> 00:11:08.970 Peter, who denied the Lord three times? Who even 00:11:08.970 --> 00:11:12.269 said earlier, when Jesus spoke about the cross, 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:18.190 No, Lord. This is not going to work. You're the 00:11:18.190 --> 00:11:22.570 Messiah. Messiahs don't get crucified. Get behind 00:11:22.570 --> 00:11:29.440 me, Satan. Moses the Black. Augustine of Hippo. 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:33.340 On and on, brothers and sisters. You and me, 00:11:33.440 --> 00:11:38.720 too. We don't take a snapshot of that dreadful 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:43.080 time in our life. We wait until the fullness 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:48.100 of time. And so we have Thomas, the great apostle 00:11:48.100 --> 00:11:52.899 to India. The great apostle, the fearless one. 00:11:56.399 --> 00:12:01.960 We might wonder now why the Lord doesn't appear 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.720 just to everybody the way he appeared to Thomas. 00:12:07.899 --> 00:12:11.279 No man has seen God at any time, says St. John, 00:12:11.480 --> 00:12:16.220 the theologian. So no, he's not in outer space, 00:12:16.220 --> 00:12:20.460 as Yuri Gagarin said. I couldn't see God when 00:12:20.460 --> 00:12:26.220 I went up there. It sounds like a cliche. But 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:30.539 the Lord speaks to us in the inner space of a 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:35.320 person. Where we now see Christ, since his glorious 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:39.659 ascension, where? We perceive him in the poor, 00:12:39.759 --> 00:12:43.340 in the least of these, my brethren. We perceive 00:12:43.340 --> 00:12:48.500 him in prayer. We perceive him in the icons and 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:51.889 the lives of the saints. And those righteous 00:12:51.889 --> 00:12:54.730 people that you meet. We perceive him in the 00:12:54.730 --> 00:12:58.289 Eucharist. We perceive him in confession. We 00:12:58.289 --> 00:13:01.789 perceive him in the scriptures. We meet him there 00:13:01.789 --> 00:13:04.870 where he speaks to us. Unfortunately, a Pew Research 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:08.250 poll from a few years ago tells us that only 00:13:08.250 --> 00:13:16.009 29 % of Orthodox Christians read the scripture 00:13:16.009 --> 00:13:22.639 once a week. And that's a high. Faith is in the 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:26.000 heart. This is why God doesn't appear into the 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:32.360 temple. Here I am, I'm risen. It's plain to us 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.080 that faith is the evidence of those things that 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:38.279 are invisible, said St. Gregory of Rome. For 00:13:38.279 --> 00:13:41.340 things that are visible do not result in faith, 00:13:41.500 --> 00:13:47.210 but in knowledge. God invites. He comes to the 00:13:47.210 --> 00:13:50.210 heart of a person. The Savior approaches each 00:13:50.210 --> 00:13:54.169 one. We know how to receive Christ. All those 00:13:54.169 --> 00:13:56.990 things that I just listed. He doesn't advertise 00:13:56.990 --> 00:14:00.649 himself to the mass of humanity via social media 00:14:00.649 --> 00:14:04.009 or the news. Oh, I missed the news. Did you see 00:14:04.009 --> 00:14:10.769 that about that Jesus? No. Jesus is not a celebrity 00:14:10.769 --> 00:14:14.470 with followers. He is the Lord of heaven and 00:14:14.470 --> 00:14:19.299 earth. The God -man who entered death and rose 00:14:19.299 --> 00:14:23.899 again. Everything has changed since that day. 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:29.779 This day has given to us the peace, the forgiveness, 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:35.100 the incredible confession of faith of Thomas 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:39.720 the Apostle. It takes 21 chapters of the Gospel 00:14:39.720 --> 00:14:43.360 of John until someone says, my Lord and my God. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.200 Ten chapters of three years of Jesus' life. Ten 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.720 chapters of one week. And finally at the end, 00:14:52.820 --> 00:14:57.960 someone says, my Lord and my God, and peace be 00:14:57.960 --> 00:15:03.659 with you. The ending of the gospel on Pascha 00:15:03.659 --> 00:15:06.500 Day, unless I see and I will not believe, and 00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:09.399 the conclusion of the story today with Thomas' 00:15:09.580 --> 00:15:13.419 confession, are the means. the church gives us 00:15:13.419 --> 00:15:17.080 today to deal with our own doubts about the faith. 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:21.860 And I hope our parish is healthy enough to provide 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:24.600 a loving space for those who question wrestling 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:29.139 with God. These are opportunities for discovering 00:15:29.139 --> 00:15:34.320 something deeper, without which, if we do not 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:40.669 struggle, then when resistance comes to us, in 00:15:40.669 --> 00:15:45.730 the form of the world, the flesh, that is impulses 00:15:45.730 --> 00:15:49.990 within us that are not godly, and the devil, 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:54.250 we will be pushed around and float downstream 00:15:54.250 --> 00:15:59.429 for a long time, and it's very hard to come back 00:15:59.429 --> 00:16:04.330 up. So this is an opportunity today to strengthen 00:16:04.330 --> 00:16:08.490 our faith. I'll end with these words of the elder. 00:16:09.070 --> 00:16:13.190 and St. Lee Emilianos of Mount Athos. I've read 00:16:13.190 --> 00:16:15.129 this book, I don't know, a dozen times, and every 00:16:15.129 --> 00:16:20.330 time I read it, there's something new. In his 00:16:20.330 --> 00:16:24.070 current state of blindness, man clings to various 00:16:24.070 --> 00:16:28.870 visions of the future. In his doubt and disbelief, 00:16:28.909 --> 00:16:32.769 he believes in the promise of tomorrow, when 00:16:32.769 --> 00:16:36.769 he hopes to attain all that he longs for. longing 00:16:36.769 --> 00:16:42.269 for a future that never comes. Apart from God, 00:16:42.470 --> 00:16:49.509 man is dead, blind, without breath, without life. 00:16:50.149 --> 00:16:52.470 He can only grow up for God in the darkness, 00:16:52.570 --> 00:16:55.470 and because God knows this, he presents himself 00:16:55.470 --> 00:16:59.090 living to the apostles so that they can bear 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:03.549 witness, they bear witness that God is risen 00:17:03.549 --> 00:17:07.480 from the dead and lives. And when I receive Christ, 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:12.559 when I see him, in all those ways that I mentioned, 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:16.380 I feast my eyes on the living God and rejoice 00:17:16.380 --> 00:17:19.640 in him, even in my state of spiritual darkness 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:23.059 and decay, even in my sin, into the abyss which 00:17:23.059 --> 00:17:25.559 I've fallen, the dark cloud that overshadows 00:17:25.559 --> 00:17:30.099 me sometimes, in my midnights. I can still remember 00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:34.339 that the apostles have assured me that they saw 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:38.839 the living Christ. Thus Christ lives. He who 00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:42.299 is my life lives. And at any moment, and with 00:17:42.299 --> 00:17:45.700 one, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy 00:17:45.700 --> 00:17:49.380 on me, that life can become mine. And dead as 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:54.700 I was, I am filled to bursting with life. Christ 00:17:54.700 --> 00:17:55.200 is risen.