WEBVTT 00:00:01.070 --> 00:00:04.129 I don't really understand what it means to say 00:00:04.129 --> 00:00:11.009 someone is spiritual but not religious. But he 00:00:11.009 --> 00:00:13.390 said, I think I know what it means because I'm 00:00:13.390 --> 00:00:17.370 like that, religious but not spiritual. It's 00:00:17.370 --> 00:00:20.329 no laughing matter. This is what we see in the 00:00:20.329 --> 00:00:26.589 gospel today. Let me take you back to Holy Saturday 00:00:26.589 --> 00:00:32.020 for a moment. Six weeks ago, This is the last 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.500 Sunday of Pascha time. So we're asking ourselves, 00:00:36.820 --> 00:00:41.740 how have we been enlightened during this period? 00:00:42.119 --> 00:00:46.119 What have we spiritually learned about ourself? 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:51.079 Have we gained any humility? Have we seen any 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:54.600 more of the providence of God in our life and 00:00:54.600 --> 00:01:00.179 around us? Take you back to Holy Saturday. On 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:03.590 that day, we heard many Old Testament readings 00:01:03.590 --> 00:01:07.390 at the Vesper liturgy. We heard a reading about 00:01:07.390 --> 00:01:10.430 the Passover, about preparing for the Passover, 00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:13.469 the Hebrew people being given the instructions 00:01:13.469 --> 00:01:18.370 by God through Moses to prepare lamb. And then 00:01:18.370 --> 00:01:22.349 at that last terrible plague that was visited 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:28.109 upon Pharaoh, and God says to Moses, I will overcome 00:01:28.109 --> 00:01:31.730 the gods of Egypt. of which Pharaoh was a representative, 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:34.930 they're told to leave. The Hebrews were told 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:38.290 to leave in the middle of the night. Get out 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:43.189 of here. You're too much trouble. Of course, 00:01:43.189 --> 00:01:46.010 not long afterwards, why do we say that? And 00:01:46.010 --> 00:01:48.409 then they went to chase them. And they left in 00:01:48.409 --> 00:01:53.189 the middle of the night. And they escaped the 00:01:53.189 --> 00:02:00.090 slavery of Egypt. This is the Passover. And they 00:02:00.090 --> 00:02:04.870 ate the lamb hurriedly. And they took all their 00:02:04.870 --> 00:02:08.349 things, including jewels from the Egyptians. 00:02:08.409 --> 00:02:12.849 They kind of plundered the Egyptians. Well, why 00:02:12.849 --> 00:02:15.430 did we hear that? Is it just kind of Old Testament 00:02:15.430 --> 00:02:18.990 history, something interesting? No, it wasn't 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:21.669 because of that. It was so that when we stood 00:02:21.669 --> 00:02:27.050 in the dark, in the middle of the night, and 00:02:27.050 --> 00:02:31.330 we went outside, with our candles, we would know 00:02:31.330 --> 00:02:35.090 that we are participating in the Passover, the 00:02:35.090 --> 00:02:38.189 Pascha of the Lord, and we have been saved from 00:02:38.189 --> 00:02:41.650 death and sin and the slavery of all that darkness. 00:02:42.750 --> 00:02:45.629 That's why we did that. And we held our candles. 00:02:45.789 --> 00:02:48.229 And what happens when you hold a candle in a 00:02:48.229 --> 00:02:55.430 dark room? The darkness recedes. And it's as 00:02:55.430 --> 00:03:00.669 if there's this circle. of light that we are 00:03:00.669 --> 00:03:05.189 in. That's Christ. That's our faith. There's 00:03:05.189 --> 00:03:08.289 also a circle of darkness around there, and it 00:03:08.289 --> 00:03:11.050 seems to get a little bit bigger as there is 00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:16.830 more light. But remember what we heard in the 00:03:16.830 --> 00:03:20.729 gospel on that night. The light has come into 00:03:20.729 --> 00:03:25.090 the world, and the darkness could not overcome 00:03:25.090 --> 00:03:34.610 it. Darkness and sin take so many forms. It's 00:03:34.610 --> 00:03:38.930 always in this world because this world has fallen 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:43.009 away from God. You can blame other people if 00:03:43.009 --> 00:03:48.069 you want, but our sin has contributed. My personal 00:03:48.069 --> 00:03:56.009 sin has contributed to that darkness. It's heartbreaking. 00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:03.189 unjust, horrific, indeed, events all over the 00:04:03.189 --> 00:04:06.930 world, every day, things that we don't see that 00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:09.069 are going on because we don't hear about it, 00:04:09.090 --> 00:04:11.990 the sorrow, the violence, the darkness, the blindness, 00:04:12.330 --> 00:04:15.409 these terrible events like what we witnessed 00:04:15.409 --> 00:04:18.430 in the news this last week in Texas and the week 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:22.250 before in Buffalo and so on and so forth. And 00:04:22.250 --> 00:04:27.470 brothers and sisters, it's not just here. There 00:04:27.470 --> 00:04:30.529 are two kinds of evil amidst all these different 00:04:30.529 --> 00:04:34.370 kinds of rebellion and darkness against God. 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:40.810 Prompted by the devil, the first kind is outright 00:04:40.810 --> 00:04:46.509 violence and craziness. And that which we see 00:04:46.509 --> 00:04:50.990 today in this gospel, the denial of the truth 00:04:50.990 --> 00:04:55.689 when it's staring you in the face, wasn't that 00:04:55.689 --> 00:04:59.519 a count? of the blind man healing, and then the 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:02.420 deposition of his parents coming in before the 00:05:02.420 --> 00:05:05.120 judges, the fairies. Wasn't that just insanity? 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:10.800 Either way, whether the evil is outright violence 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.480 or crazy, whether it's this denial of the truth, 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:18.879 the gospel is telling us, and the newly illumined 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.459 from last week, that the world has fallen. There 00:05:25.459 --> 00:05:34.220 is spiritual warfare. It's telling us that the 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:40.379 light of Christ is not overcome. The recent tragedies 00:05:40.379 --> 00:05:45.000 don't, they do not change Christ's words, I am 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:49.129 the light of the world. This world can convulse 00:05:49.129 --> 00:05:52.389 and turn on itself continually, yet it will be 00:05:52.389 --> 00:05:56.730 only for a time because Christ is risen and God 00:05:56.730 --> 00:06:01.709 is still acting as bookends in this world. He 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:05.189 is the Alpha and the Omega, St. John says in 00:06:05.189 --> 00:06:09.310 the book of Revelation, quoting Christ. He is 00:06:09.310 --> 00:06:13.970 the beginning and the end. And from his incarnation 00:06:13.970 --> 00:06:18.000 and from his cross, his death and resurrection. 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:26.259 He is everywhere present with us. In between 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:31.279 all of that, this is a world where our free will 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:36.660 operates and causes so much pain and grief and 00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:41.699 terror, but also, let us not forget, very frequently 00:06:41.699 --> 00:06:45.259 joy. Not the kind that anyone can steal from 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:51.870 us either. The time is coming. May it come quickly, 00:06:52.009 --> 00:06:56.569 Lord Jesus, when all this suffering will be concluded 00:06:56.569 --> 00:07:01.250 and the love of God and his mercy and paradise 00:07:01.250 --> 00:07:06.670 will reign. The former things will pass away. 00:07:07.529 --> 00:07:12.509 Behold, I make all things new. But brothers and 00:07:12.509 --> 00:07:16.660 sisters, you have been, as the prayer after the 00:07:16.660 --> 00:07:20.699 baptism says you have been sanctified, you have 00:07:20.699 --> 00:07:24.680 been illumined, you have been chrismated, you 00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:27.319 have been washed in the name of our Lord Jesus 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:30.980 Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So the paradise 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:36.220 operates within your heart if you allow God to 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:40.459 illumine you. You can be like the apostles, Lord, 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:45.990 why, why, why, why, and be angry at God. This 00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:49.569 happens so frequently, but it shows our immaturity 00:07:49.569 --> 00:07:52.990 in the faith. Look at St. Paul. What happened 00:07:52.990 --> 00:07:56.350 today in that epistle? He's preaching, and this 00:07:56.350 --> 00:07:58.990 annoying person goes on and on and on, and then 00:07:58.990 --> 00:08:02.730 Paul gets arrested with Silas. Their clothes 00:08:02.730 --> 00:08:08.329 are ripped off. They're beaten with rods. They're 00:08:08.329 --> 00:08:11.930 thrown into prison. What do they say? Oh, God, 00:08:12.050 --> 00:08:15.439 I'm your servant. How could you let this happen 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:20.800 to me? I'm good. Why are you punishing me? Is 00:08:20.800 --> 00:08:24.000 that what they did? No. They sang praises to 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:26.759 God. They sang hymns all night long. And an angel 00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:30.360 came to them and opened the doors. And this prison 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:33.120 guard thought he was going to kill himself because 00:08:33.120 --> 00:08:36.240 the prisoners had escaped. But he was baptized. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:40.120 What must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.909 Jesus Christ. When Jesus... Secondly, when Jesus 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:48.090 was baptized, what happened? He went into the 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:54.850 desert and he was tempted. What happens to the 00:08:54.850 --> 00:08:58.070 newly baptized? You receive all the spiritual 00:08:58.070 --> 00:09:01.289 gifts. You are going to be tested, brothers and 00:09:01.289 --> 00:09:08.350 sisters. Beloved, you exist to bring glory to 00:09:08.350 --> 00:09:12.000 God. You exist to be continually enlightened 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:15.840 by God's light. You bring glory to God best, 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:19.360 not when everything is going well. Of course 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.120 we like that, and we're not looking for, as Father 00:09:22.120 --> 00:09:25.960 Michael said in his sermon in 2015, which I listened 00:09:25.960 --> 00:09:28.480 to yesterday, we're not looking for God to give 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:35.200 us another, as he said, punch in the gut. when 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:37.659 things are going well and when we're healthy 00:09:37.659 --> 00:09:40.379 and we have pleasure, we should be giving thanks 00:09:40.379 --> 00:09:44.480 to God. When things are not going well, when 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:47.179 we're persecuted, when we're afflicted, when 00:09:47.179 --> 00:09:51.759 we're facing terror and tragedy and violence 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:58.340 and death, we don't accuse God. We cannot question 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:01.840 him for lacking care for his creation because 00:10:01.840 --> 00:10:08.309 he himself is here. With us today. He is there 00:10:08.309 --> 00:10:12.490 when someone's dying. He is there in the hospitals 00:10:12.490 --> 00:10:15.029 when people are suffering. He is there in the 00:10:15.029 --> 00:10:18.370 nursing homes. He is there in every tragedy. 00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:23.649 When suffering intrudes and when sorrow comes, 00:10:23.850 --> 00:10:30.830 God is there. Be enlightened. Do you have blindness 00:10:30.830 --> 00:10:35.059 when it comes to God? When it comes to wanting 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:37.799 to pray, read the scriptures, or come to church. 00:10:39.179 --> 00:10:43.860 Fellowship, reading spiritual books. The Pharisees 00:10:43.860 --> 00:10:46.980 were pretty certain these were religious men. 00:10:47.720 --> 00:10:50.519 They were pretty certain about certain things, 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:56.240 but it was willful ignorance. Become mature in 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.240 your faith. Accept the path that God has given 00:10:59.240 --> 00:11:04.159 you. Be the presence of light and joy. In this 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.659 world. Carry that Paschal candle. Not just on 00:11:07.659 --> 00:11:11.759 Paschal night. Let it stand as a reality in your 00:11:11.759 --> 00:11:14.980 life. A candle of faith and flame and warmth 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:20.320 of faith. A candle of joy and trust in God. That 00:11:20.320 --> 00:11:23.860 expands the light as you move forward. Because 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:27.039 the light shines in darkness. And the darkness 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:33.850 does not overcome it. The eyes of my mind. We 00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:37.269 sang last night in the ex -apostle Aaron, blinded 00:11:37.269 --> 00:11:42.590 by dark sin, do thou, O compassionate Lord, enlighten, 00:11:42.590 --> 00:11:47.230 putting into my heart humility and washing me 00:11:47.230 --> 00:11:50.450 with tears of repentance. Christ is risen.