Holy Spirit, glory to our Lord Jesus Christ.
If any of you have ever been on a pilgrimage,
you know that one of the things that happens,
I'm talking a big trip to a holy place, monastery,
holy land, what have you. On a pilgrimage, things
happen on the way. And it's difficult. There's
hardships. There's mistakes. There's all kinds
of obstacles that appear. And that's the way
a pilgrimage works. As one person said, this
is God helping us grow and mature like me teaching
maybe one of my grandchildren. to ride a bike,
at some point you just kind of stand back. They
have to pedal without their training wheels.
And they might fall. But that's part of the process.
Well, Lent, let's say the journey to Pascha.
This is a pilgrimage. But a pilgrimage more like
Exodus than my trip to Mount Athos. A pilgrimage
like the Hebrews. Leaving Egypt and their enslavement.
Crossing the Red Sea with the miracle of God
parting it. Dwelling in the desert, complaining
constantly after that about their situation.
Some even leaving the worship as it was given
them and they start worshiping a golden calf
because they think that's the most high God.
And on and on and on. Lent is more like that
pilgrimage. Why? Let's look at this gospel for
a moment. Now you might think this gospel and
today's commemoration of St. John of the Ladder,
this monastic saint that wrote this book called
The Ladder of Divine Ascent with 30 steps on
the road of the virtues, becoming more Christ
-like. What does this have to do with anything
with Lent and Pascha, the resurrection of Christ?
We have a story about a man who comes to the
apostles with a boy who is demon -possessed.
The apostles could not heal him. People come
running, and no doubt the apostles are being
criticized for their lack of faith. Jesus has
just come down from the mountain of transfiguration
with James and John and Peter. You think they'd
want to go celebrate the great event? Lord, this
was an amazing thing. Let's celebrate. No, they
come into the midst of this scene of this boy
wallowing, foaming, writhing, yelling. A terrible,
terrible scene. None of us have seen this, I
gather. Yes, you read about such possessions
by demons in some places and in the lives of
saints, but you and I have never seen such a
thing, probably. Maybe one or two of you have.
I don't know. Nine out of ten of us have not
read the Ladder of Divine Ascent, I would estimate.
So what's this have to do with our journey? And
then there's the last line of this gospel. Jesus
says to the disciples, you know that the Son
of Man is going to be crucified, he's going to
be killed, and he will rise on the third day.
It all seems so disconnected to what we're doing.
Well, first off, and I would say about our faith,
this man... provides a much better example of
honest faith to the disciples. They needed it
modeled. For they lacked the spiritual strength
to deliver that young man from the demon. And
the Savior told them, And this is the part which
I really hesitate to say because I'm such a hypocrite.
This kind cannot be driven out by anything but
by prayer and fasting. The road to Pascha is
going to be filled with much obstacle. Many obstacles.
The Savior says prayer and fasting. That will
get you there. But we don't trust fasting. Because
we don't see it modeled very well. And for that,
partially I'm to blame. In the life of prayer,
we're not zealous. We have to be in love with
God. Then we want to pray with him, to him, with
the saints. It's about love of God. Nothing else
is going to make us pray, because God doesn't
require that from us. But if we love someone,
we want to be with them. The Savior said, this
kind cannot come out but by prayer and fasting.
And he said that because the apostles at that
time were spiritual weaklings who had neglected
the most basic spiritual practices. for opening
themselves up to Christ's healing power. Now,
one of them got to the point when the Lord said,
the Son of Man will be delivered into the hands
of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed,
he will rise on the third day. What follows is
a talk about who's the best in the apostles,
who's going to sit at the right hand. They had
a superficial faith. This is what we discovered
during Lent, that our faith is like that. And
that man, whatever mistakes he made with that
boy, whatever situation got that boy possessed
by a demon, we don't know. But that man came
and he humbled himself. Jesus says, if you believe,
all things are possible. Now, that doesn't mean,
children, that if you pray, you're going to get
that bicycle. Or that sled. Or those skis. Or
the car that you want. Or the house that you
really want. Or on and on and on. All things
are possible according to God's plan. Not our
plan. And what did the man say back? With tears.
Brothers and sisters, it's necessary for us to
find the way to have tears. And we will only
see that and only acquire that, excuse me, if
we see the weakness of our own faith and say
to the Lord, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
This is almost the most famous text in the New
Testament and one that we could say every day.
So the first thing we learn on our way through
Lent is how miserably weak. I should say how
miserably weak my own faith is. Whether it's
Lent or some other time, we often doubt whether
God really hears our prayers. And I can tell
you, I've been in the situation many times where
I've asked God for something, and I could not
heal them. that person. I had no effect. And
years go by. And those around say, your disciple
could not heal him or her. I know how they felt.
We often doubt whether God really hears our prayers
when we get into that situation. For those we
love most in this life. And if he does, whether
we can actually help them. Regardless, And let
me spread this out a little further. Regardless
of our political opinions, we're often tempted
to despair over the future of our country. Has
God abandoned us? We're often tempted to despair
over the future and our partisan sensibilities
to inflame our passions. And we forget we're
first Christians and citizens of the kingdom.
And the invasion of one historically orthodox
nation? By another, make us wonder, what's the
point for all our petitions for peace in the
liturgy? If we're honest with ourselves, the
word of the Father in today's gospel must also
become ours. Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
Otherwise, Lent is just a superficial spirituality.
Lent is not an exodus. to the cross. And that's
my first, second, and final point. We are on
a journey to the cross. Where does our hope come
from? It comes from the fact that Jesus rose
from the dead. He already, as the epistle said,
went through the veil of death. The sign of the
truth of our faith. That St. Paul was teaching
in Hebrews when he mentioned Abraham is that
Jesus has gone before and that resurrection is
the sign that we're going to be given that gift
too. But we have to experience a little bit of
what this man experienced. The weakness of our
faith and the strength of God's faith. Next week,
this coming week, We have Presanctified on Wednesday
evening, which is much lengthier than other Presanctifieds.
The trip is intensifying. The pilgrimage, the
exodus is intensifying. Let's not grumble about
it. Like, it'd be better to be back in Egypt.
They had good cucumbers there. You took us out
here to die? Aren't there any graves in Egypt?
And such, you know, such remarks that you can
read in Exodus. Let's not grumble, but let's
be attentive to the fast. Let's be attentive
to the life of the church. You know, the life
of the church this coming week is like that magnifying
glass. You put it in the sun, it's going to concentrate
the light of the sun, and it's going to really
build some heat up. That's what we need. Give
yourself a chance to take part in that. And on
Thursday, we'll... pray the matins with the canon
of St. Andrew in mostly its entirety, we abbreviate
a little bit, with the reading of the life of
St. Mary of Egypt. And as a crown for the week
on Friday evening, we will sing the praises,
the akathas to the Virgin Mary. So enter in to
the difficulties, the obstacles, face them. your
own faith. Don't let it flag. Be strong with
the prayers of the apostles and with the prayers
of St. John of the Ladder, who we remember this
day. Amen.