In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to God. Let's speak today of the epistle.
St. Paul wrote to the Roman Church a treatise,
15 some chapters, or is it 16? In the year about
56 or 57, all his letters had a purpose. That
is to correct something that was going in the
wrong direction. So when we hear a reading like
we heard today, and I'll review it a bit for
you, we should be thinking that he's speaking
to us. He's speaking to a parish. He's not writing
to an individual. He's not saying, Demetrius,
this is what you should do. Or John, this is
what you should do. He's telling the parish,
this is the way parish life is. And he wrote
the letter in 56 or 57 because the Jewish community
had earlier been expelled by Emperor Claudius.
And in the meantime, Christians had begun to
gather and to worship in the city of Rome. The
Jewish community came back to Rome. You had Gentiles.
You had Jews. It's kind of like the Russians
and the Greeks trying to get together, except
not as bad. St. Paul was very keen to begin his
epistle. and take through 12 chapters to tell
us whether you are a Jew or whether you're a
Gentile, ultimately you are in the same condition
without Christ. You can keep the law to the letter.
You will still die, and your sins, that is, that
which defiles a person. that which corrupts the
heart, that which makes it impossible not just
to love God, but to be like God, to be holy,
to be righteous, to be the image and likeness
of God. It's impossible without Christ. So he
says to the Jews and the Gentiles, you're in
the same position, you're in the same boat, you
can't judge one another. You have to be united.
And he spends 12 chapters telling them about
sin, about grace, about the Holy Spirit, the
walk in the Spirit. If you walk in your sins,
you will die. If you walk in the Spirit, you
will live, and you will be raised to glory. And
by chapter 12, he has some extremely practical
advice. And this is what I want to focus on just
for a few moments. And you heard in the gospel
today how Christ first forgave the man's sins.
Son, thy sins are forgiven. The friends had taken
this man to Jesus. And it says in the gospel,
seeing their faith, the Pharisees were scandalized.
But the fact is, what Jesus does first for us
is to lift the burden of corruption, the burden
of sin, the burden of alienation from us, to
cleanse us, to make us shine. The healing of
this man is a prophecy in action. It's what's
going to happen to all of us. We will be raised
from the dead. Sins forgiven. Shining like Christ
at the resurrection. This is what we are hoping
for. This is our goal. This is what we desire.
So we're free now. We're free. Redeemed. Forgiven.
And now we can offer ourselves. And our freedom
to Jesus. That's what St. Paul is saying. Because
it's to him or it's to something else. If our
freedom is offered to Christ, we become his servants.
Then it's complete. If our freedom is offered
to something else, well, you've got to serve
someone, said Bob Dylan. And that something or
someone is not God. and you will no longer be
free. Christ says, if anyone would come after
me, he does not say, like it or not, you must
come or else. That's not our Savior. The devil
says St. Paisios, on the other hand, is shameless.
He will then try to trap us. God respects human
freedom. You can do what you want. You don't
have to come to church. You don't have to pray.
You don't have to fast. You don't have to love
the brethren. You don't have to forgive. You
don't have to do anything. But if you want to
walk with God, of course, we do those things.
But the devil, says St. Pius, because God did
not create slaves but children, but the devil
entraps us in our freedom, in our offering to
God. Well, this is where the words of the epistle
to the Romans apply. We've been reading the epistle
to the Romans since we finished Acts after Pentecost
and we began Romans. Now we're in chapter 12.
Words that tell us what to do with the grace
that we have been given. He says many things,
but let me focus on five simple things. God gives
gifts to each of us. I don't mean your talent
when you're born that you develop. I mean the
gift is given when you are baptized and charismated.
God gives gifts. St. Paul says to rejoice in
the hope that you have. To rejoice, not to mourn.
Get out of the malaise. He says to be patient
in your sufferings. He says to pray, not just
now and then. He says to care for the saints.
He says to bless those who persecute you. So
let's start with the first thing, the gifts.
These gifts are diverse. This is a letter to
the parish. This is what he says. Having then
gifts according to the grace that is given to
us, let us use them. The gift given in baptism
and in chrismation, which begins with the cleansing
of the soul and the heart, the mind, And the
body, when we receive the seal, you've seen a
seal on an old -fashioned envelope with wax,
the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. The
Spirit was given to you. He was sealed within
us. And that gift over time, the Comforter, the
Spirit of Truth, he produces with our cooperation
and our goodwill many fruits, many gifts. Through
what we're doing today, worship, through prayer,
through confession, through communion, all things
we can choose to do or choose not to do. Just
like a farmer can choose to take care of his
field, but if he doesn't, what happens? Rodents,
animals, weeds, the weather. So we struggle against
sin. We struggle to acquire first, though, the
godly virtues of patience, love, mercy, joy.
And so we sing that the Holy Spirit is the treasury
of blessings. That diverse gifts becomes a treasury
within us. It's not magic. It's synergy. It's
cooperation. Secondly, after the diverse gifts,
St. Paul goes on. He says, rejoice in hope, for
that is your salvation. Rejoice that God has
saved you, that he has taken the burden of sin
off of your heart. that he has cleansed your
mind and your body, that you will stand in the
counsel of the saints in the life of the age
to come when Christ comes in his glorious appearing.
He says, number three, be patient. Be patient
how? Patience is not, oh God, give me strength
so I can deal with this person. God, give me
strength so that I can take care of this person
that I'm so tired of dealing with. Patient in
your sufferings, in your tribulations, in your
sicknesses, and in your sorrows. Why? Do you
remember what St. Paul wrote in chapter 5? Let's
memorize this, brothers and sisters. Commit it
to memory and recite it to yourself every day.
He says this. We also glory in tribulations because
they're going to happen. They will happen. No
one gets to heaven in comfort. We glory in tribulations
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.
Perseverance produces character, godly character,
shapiness, and character produces hope. Now,
hope does not disappoint because the love of
God has been poured out in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit who was given to us, to you and me.
The Lord is good. As they say in the South, and
Baltimore is pretty close, someone said, God
is good, and I heard someone say the answer that
they say down there all the time. Not just now
and then. He will reward that patience with joy.
He enters into your suffering. He enters into
your tribulations. Every time I go to the hospital
or I visit someone who is desperately ill, I
see Christ with them, holding them up, giving
them hope and joy. Not that tomorrow will be
a better day, but that Christ will come and comfort
them. The martyrs today are a perfect illustration
of that. In their suffering, in their steadfastness,
in their witness to the truth, and especially
with Boris and Gleb, their passion bearing, that
is, they made the choice not to fight, but to
receive whatever God sent to them. They had joy.
Number four, St. Paul says, pray steadfastly.
Constantly. Not just now and then. Not when you
need something. Not, oh God, I forgot to pray
for so and so. Hey Bob, I'm praying for you.
Not like that. But when we leave this building
today, this holy place, let the prayer, the prayers
that you heard and you said, remain in your lips
and your heart. Carry that with you. Mother Susanna
said recently to me, she said, Every single Jesus
prayer, especially nowadays, is so important.
Each and every one, just one, is enough sometimes.
Pray every morning, thanking the Lord God for
your life, thanking him for your salvation, asking
him to be with those that you are concerned about.
asking for forgiveness. Number two, when you
pray, ask the Theotokos to extend her veil over
you, your family, this parish, and those who
are in need. Number three, thank your guardian
angel. You need that guardian angel with you.
Number five, St. Paul says, care for the saints.
Who are the saints? Look at the person next to
you. That person has been given the full potential
to be saintly, to be filled with God's love,
God's grace, the uncreated light. Each and every
person here has a destiny to be in the council
of the saints, the members who are striving to
be what God has created us to be, but what we
are not yet. And invite others. Invite others
when you care for the saints, your brothers,
your sisters, here or elsewhere. Invite others
to share in the great gift of the forgiveness
that you heard Christ give that young man today
in the gospel from Matthew. Rejoice in that and
let it be known that this is something that God
does for us. This is why Christ came to us. Finally,
did I say there were five things? Well, let me
make it six. Bless those who persecute you. Look
and act with love upon those who frighten you.
How? St. Pius says, consider them your own siblings.
And when we do these things, brothers and sisters,
it's not to get a reward. It's because that we
may with one mind as a parish, and one mouth
as a parish, glorify the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and to him be glory now and
ever, to ages of ages. Amen.