and sisters you've heard the beatitudes countless
times haven't you but in the context of the celebration
of all saints of america they sound a little
different it tells us and the reason we have
this reading not only jesus inviting his two
brothers two sets of brothers to come and follow
him and they left the father holding the net
and the boat, and we have this reading from the
Beatitudes, it gives a very different key. It
tells us this is our path too. Now, Pentecost
came, and then the Feast of All Saints, because
sanctity is the fruit of the Spirit, and Pentecost
is the gift of the Spirit, of which we... have
participated and do participate. Saints known,
many thousands, however many, and more than the
known ones, those that are unknown. And today
we have this feast of all saints of America and
Russia or all saints of Greece or all saints
of Romania, depending where you are. It's not
for us to sit back and admire them only. To say,
oh, how inspirational. We are on the same path.
Jesus says, follow me. And this is what we're
going to do. We love him. Because he loves us.
Before we even knew him. He loves us. There are
some 20 or saints recognized. American saints.
You know some of their names. St. Herman, St.
Innocent. Saint Jacob, Saint John of San Francisco,
Saint Sebastian of Jackson, truly an American
saint, born in 1865, baptized in San Francisco.
When we hear from Saint Matthew today that Jesus
saw those two brethren, Simon, Peter, and his
brother Andrew, it's a fresco of Saint Peter,
and just around the corner, almost touching each
other, is Saint Andrew. He says, Follow me. He
said to them, I will make you fishers of men.
Not just fish. Cast in the net. Not a hook. A
hook brings in basically dead fish. Right? A
net brings in those that are alive. He includes
us in that invitation. Maybe not to be fishers
of men. Not to be apostles because there's only
the 12. But some will be evangelists. Some will
be priests. Some will be martyrs. So on. All
walks of life. The church is for everyone. The
Orthodox Church is for absolutely everyone. But
all of us, hopefully, will be humble disciples.
You can say the saints are magnificent. We paint
them on our walls. They're distant from us. We
don't feel a connection to them. Our life is
so different. That's true. But Christ came to
the apostles when they were doing ordinary things.
They were fishing. They were just doing their
job. Let me hold up for you an example of a saint,
not yet glorified, but certainly a saint, lived
in an obscure place, very poor. She died unknown
to most. Anybody, except her village. Life was
a daily struggle in that place. I'm speaking
of Mother Olga, Matushka Olga Michael, her last
name was Michael, of Alaska. She died, in fact,
on November 8th, the Feast of the Archangel Michael.
This woman was full of zeal and love for God,
full of faith and love for her neighbor. And
now we have many, many countless accounts of
her miracles for those who approach her for help
and sometimes who haven't even approached her
for help but receive her help not even knowing
who she is. She is known as a helper for those
with child. She was a midwife. She is known as
a guide and a consolation for those especially
women who have been abused, who have been assaulted.
who live in fear, and so forth. But in reading
her life, there's so much more. When we talk
about life in the church, we talk about leadership,
we talk about authority and participation. This
is our example, a humble, giving, saintly woman
whose life now started in a little bitty place
and has opened up. like this, and now encompasses
the whole world and anyone who calls upon her.
That's leadership in the church. That's the way
it works. Matryoshka Olga is a spiritual authority
for us and a wonderful saint, humble. On this
Sunday of All Saints, I'm going to offer basically
one piece of advice. An instruction, if you will.
It's this. Ask the Lord. Truly, ask the Lord
to grant you a fervor, a warmth, a zeal for love
of him. A zeal for love of your neighbor. And
a zeal for love of the entire creation. Ask repeatedly.
until he gives you this gift. Those of you that
were coming to dinner during Pre -Sanctified,
remember we read a selection from Elder Emilio
Nos, who said the spiritual life is so simple.
It's so simple. You just ask God, come dwell
in my heart. You ask him 100 times a day, he
said. Well, if you can't ask him 100 times a
day because you're busy, that's okay. Ask 50
times a day. Perhaps you're too busy. Your children,
your husband, your wife, your job, whatever.
Okay, 20 times a day, that's fine. God will hear
you. That's too much. Three times is fine. You
ask your father for a piece of bread, will he
give you a stone? No. You ask God to dwell in
your heart. If you give him room, he will come.
This is the spiritual life. This is what we need
to ask for, brothers and sisters. Ask repeatedly
until he gives this gift. When you ask, says
St. James, yes, there's a right way to ask. You
must believe and not doubt. Because the one who
doubts, says St. James the Apostle, is like a
wave of the sea. blown and tossed by the wind,
that person should not expect to receive anything
from the Lord. But having received from the Lord,
then follow him. Resolve to love him above all
things as he loves us, even to death on the cross,
to raise us up in the last day. No excuses, no
equivocation, no but, or this or that, no. God
pours out his love. All his commandments, it's
good to remember, let's say all, just for the
sake. All his commandments are contrary to our
fallen human nature. There's resistance within
us. The only way we can follow Christ is if we
invite his spirit into our life every day and
mean it. Initially, You may not find such a change
taking place, not much difference, but persistence
will pay off. And when that warmth and that love
and that zeal for God comes, that love for your
neighbor and for all creation, respond. We can
talk about saintliness. I can give you lives
of saints from now until next month, every day,
all day long. But let's recall what St. James
also said in this epistle, that true religion,
true faithfulness, is that which God our Father
accepts as pure and faultless, to look after
orphans and widows in their distress. That sounds
pretty simple, but pretty hard to do. Are we
doing it? Meaning, St. James' meaning, we look
after those in need, like Mother Olga did. We
look after and connect with those in fear and
anxiety and poverty. St. James adds the necessity
to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
You know the list. Each of us has a list of those
sins that pollute us. Don't need to go into that.
And St. James sums up his teaching by this. Faithfulness
and other religious belief and church going by
itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is
dead. I want to challenge us, this parish, today.
Thanks be to God that he has given us these saints
as an example. Thanks be to God that we can act
out of gratitude to God because he has given
us the church, the Holy Spirit, Holy Communion,
the knowledge of his presence, his guidance,
and the life of the resurrection of the kingdom
to come, which is here but not fully. Thanks
be to God that we can humbly reach out. I'd like
to... suggest, more than suggest, I'd like this
parish to take up the challenge of beginning
a new ministry. A new ministry to support our
mothers. I don't mean my mother. Mothers who
are expecting, mothers who are in poverty, whether
married or not, mothers that are single. Why
do I say this today? Well, on the feast, of the
holy forerunner, John the Baptist, which was
Friday, you know what the Supreme Court ruled.
The abortion debate is very old and it's contentious.
It was not settled even before Friday, no matter
what anybody says. And the Supreme Court decision
doesn't end the contention. If anything, it reignites
it. It has never been a debate in the Orthodox
Church, however, even if some members resist
its teaching. It has never been a debate, not
from the beginning. For the whole history of
the church, abortion has been resisted. Human
life begins when? That's just biology. But brothers
and sisters, we know also that God has endowed
us. endowed us with his image and his likeness.
And because of the resurrection, each and every
person, each and every human being is precious
and beautiful, even if they're covered with sin.
Remember, the apostles, when they were called
by Christ, and they were taught for three years,
and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit
on Pentecost, they went into the Roman world,
which had less than zero respect for the life
of women and children. Zero respect for infants.
Perhaps we moderns are not so righteous in that
regard either. My challenge to you is to begin
this ministry, because as Orthodox Christians,
our task in all this is not about debate. It's
about helping to do what we can't do because
we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And with
God, all things are possible. We can make conditions
for life for those who are suffering favorable
for growth and holiness and just life. And in
that act of faithfulness, we too shall be sanctified.
Let's end with the words of St. Paul in Hebrews,
which you heard a few moments ago from the 12th
chapter. Therefore, since we are surrounded by
so great, so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight and every sin which
so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance.
It takes effort to run, doesn't it? Let us run
with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking to Jesus, the author and finisher, the
perfecter of our faith. To our Lord be glory
through the saints and through us, always, now
and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.