So that we could come to this day and enjoy it
spiritually, profit from it. We spent no little
time The time of Great Lent, time preparing for
Great Lent, the time of Holy Week. So that the
spiritual lesson, the spiritual lesson in this
gospel, that there's a stone over the tomb, the
women are coming to anoint Christ. How will they
possibly move this stone? It is very great. And
it's gone when they get there. It's moved by
the angel. It's not that Christ kind of got up
and moved the stone. He passed through as he
came to the apostles in the upper room and the
doors were locked. The stone was removed. All
the lessons, the work we did, the hymns we sang,
the prayers, the vigils, is so that as St. Ignatius,
this great bishop of the 1800s in Russia said,
that stone... is a stone of insensibility. Well,
what's that? Sounds like something you need some
kind of cream for. The heart, the heart of the
baptized man, woman, or child is to be the altar
for God, where he is enthroned. Our body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit, and within that temple
is this altar. Insensibility, says Saint Ignatius
Brianchanadov, is when our spiritual feelings
are deadened. When we feel bored when we pick
up the scripture and we can't concentrate. When
we have continuous distractions, both within
ourself and from outside. Constant, yes, voluntary
sins in which we don't oppose ourself. Forgetfulness
of God, forgetfulness of what it said about Joseph.
He awaited the kingdom. Inattention, superficial
attention, boredom with spiritual things, even
lack of attendance in church, lack of prayer
at home. That's insensibility. All Lent, we spent
begging God to remove that stone from the covering,
the heart, so that we could rejoice, so that
we could get over all of that. We could feel
compassion and mercy and love towards God. That's
what we need to have accomplished to come to
today. Well, as the Lord said about the Pharisees,
whatever they say, do, but as they do, don't
follow them. I'm speaking of myself here. So
follow what I say, just don't do what I do, and
you'll be fine. Let me get to this gospel now,
having cleared the way spiritually. I'm intrigued.
I'm always amazed. And I'm very much comforted
that the church gives us such accounts as we
had today. If you were paying attention, you
know, sometimes we don't pay attention during
the gospel reading. But if you were paying attention,
you heard this amazing ending. The angel spoke
to the women. See the fresco up there? They were
afraid. They were told to speak to the disciples.
They went away and said nothing. They did exactly
the opposite. They were so confused. The church
wants us to return to the experience of Joseph
and Nicodemus, the secret disciple, and the myrrh
bearers because they had lost their hope along
with the apostles. Who were in hiding and did
not believe the women when they did tell them.
You know, if we don't feel like utter failures
in our life sometimes, we don't have a very realistic
view. I don't mean all the time. But we follow
the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, who chose
that path to save us. The women and the Apostle
John, whose memory we celebrate today, were at
the cross at the worst, the most devastating,
disappointing, and dark time. Utter, complete
failure is what it looked like. So if we sometimes
feel that way, we go to the cross and we see,
Jesus, you passed through that way, and you lift
us up. The women went to the tomb of Christ out
of love on that first Pascha. In the darkness.
Spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and actually.
Knowing they were unable to roll that stone away.
Knowing that they could not anoint the body of
Jesus and that's where they came. They were afraid.
They were in tremendous grief. But they were
not timid because they came despite the obstacles
and they knew the soldiers were there. Those
women were there from the start of Jesus' ministry.
They remained with him always to the end. They
were not only there with him when he was speaking
and doing miracles and attracting crowds. but
when he was abandoned by everyone else. Our Christian
life is like that sometimes. They were there
when he was arrested, when he was crucified,
when he was put on the cross as a criminal. They
remained at the foot of the cross and stood by
him as he was taken down. They were there for
the burial by Joseph and Nicodemus. Then they
returned to that tomb on Sunday morning before
the dawn. They would not allow fear or threats
to keep them away from the Lord. And such is
the nature of our Christian life. Look at that
fresco. I see three figures, basically. The soldiers,
the angels, and the women. Look how the soldiers
are huddled together. What's that tell us? That
tells us that, yes, The world has power to harm
and to hurt us. But it means nothing because
Christ has overcome death, and death does not
separate us from God, no matter what the threats
are. Look at the women standing there. They stand
over those soldiers. Spiritually, those soldiers
have no power whatsoever over them. The world
has no power over us. Don't think that the world
is going to, at some point, if we are only good
enough or educated enough, things will be great
and we'll hit some kind of utopia. The world
is in darkness. Men prefer the darkness rather
than the light, says Jesus, our Savior. Expect
it to continue in that way with violence and
hatred. And craziness. But look at the women.
That's us. Being ministered by the angel. He
is not here. He is risen. Go tell the disciples.
You know, the gospels also don't give us psychological,
emotional portraits or information. But one might
claim that even in their grief, They didn't complain
about and condemn the apostles who weren't there,
who had abandoned the master. Where are those
guys anyway when we need them? They all ran away.
None of that. This tells me that we need also
to do our Christian duties, our Christian ministry,
our tasks, to accomplish them. our own ministries
without worrying about what others are doing
or not doing. You know who you are. Or judging
them for their lack of devotion. My first point
after all that is to say let us maintain our
devotion to Jesus Christ to the very end. To
his holy body, the church. Because we love him.
Because if we love him, we love those that he
created. And the church is his body. And if there
are those within his body, and in the creed,
by the way, what do we say? We say we believe
in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We
believe in it. If there are those within the
body of the church that may betray the Lord,
that may be seeking a place out of pride, who
may deny him, that may be fearful and run off
when the going gets difficult. And I'm only talking
about the apostles. I'm not even talking about
us. Those within the body have no fear. We remain
in love and focused on Christ and ministering
to his body in love, in action. It's not something
you can accomplish by thinking about it. Prayerful
action equals faithfulness. Last week was about
faith. This week is about faithfulness, which
leads to knowledge, which leads to trust in God's
providence, which leads to firm discipleship.
Do not be timid about your faith, about what
you can say to others. Don't be arrogant either.
Be humble. On this Sunday of the Mary bearing
women and Joseph and Nicodemus, we also have
this reading from the Acts of the Apostles about
the institution of the Holy Diaconate. The word
deacon simply means servant. The Apostle said
to those gathered, you choose. Seven men of good
report, good reputation, full of wisdom, and
full of the Holy Spirit. These were not dummies.
Just read what St. Stephen says in the next chapters
when he preaches. Deacons were chosen to manage
the charitable work of the church so that the
apostles could remain. focus on witnessing to
what they saw in Christ, what they heard from
him, and what they knew. That is, it tells us,
the word of God. When you hear the word of God,
you think maybe Bible study? There was no Bible.
It was preaching the word of God, witnessing
to the kingdom of heaven. Acts chapter 2 tells
us that 3 ,000 converted on the day of Pentecost.
Acts chapter 4 tells us 2 ,000 converted after
that and so on and so forth. So the deacons were
not serving meals like they might do in our parish
hall. Thousands of people were being ministered
to. They were managing offerings, food distribution,
care, love, attention to the many, many poor
people and the widows and the orphans. Incredible
work. Think about it. Ministry Sunday. That's
for us today. How it will work out, only God
can tell us, will show us later. But it's about
being inspired by the apostles, by the women,
by the deacons, to care for the church. So we
read that after the deacons began their ministry,
what happened? The word of God spread. and the
number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.
And a great many priests, that is Jewish temple
priests, were obedient to the faith. The church
grew. Let's ask ourselves, how are we doing in
comparison to this reading from Acts? How are
we doing in comparison to the reading from the
Gospel of Mark? Clearly, today's readings, the
memory of the myrrh bearers, the fact that today
is Mother's Day, and I congratulate you on that
precious, admirable, and holy thing that you
are. This is about today, ultimate examples of
sacrificial giving. Compelled by, inspired by,
If Christ is in the heart, if the stone has been
rolled away from us, from the tomb of the heart,
if we are alive with God's love, then it will
be a healthy sacrificial giving. It will not
be one in which we burn out. It will be from
God himself. Consistent. Humble service to the
Lord for the building up of his church, for the
care of his body. Not a body in a grave, but
his living, continuing incarnation in the form
of the members of the church by living lives
that bear witness to the victory of the resurrection.
Over sin, over death, over self -centeredness,
over laziness, and that we don't have any excuse
now to serve the Lord, the church, our families,
the people around us, every day of our life.
Christ is risen.