Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. I greet
you all on this second Sunday of the Great Fast,
Great Lent. We celebrate the memory of St. Gregory
Palamas, the great archbishop, the teacher of
prayer, 14th century, and his icons here in the
middle of the church. That's why you heard, in
honor of his memory, you heard two Gospels, the
second one from the Gospel of John about the
Good Shepherd, which St. Gregory epitomized in
his life. But I think we'll speak about the first
Gospel, that story from Mark, which I think is
very familiar to all of us. The four men carrying
their friend, they can't get into this house
where Jesus is preaching. They manage to go onto
the roof. They remove the roofing material and
they lower their friend down before Jesus. And
he immediately says, son, what a wonderful way
to be addressed by God. Son, your sins are forgiven
you. And of course, the Pharisees are shocked
because only God and the temple can forgive sins.
Jesus sees into their heart and says, oh, you
think because there's no sin meter that nobody
can check. That I said, your sins are forgiven
you. Like, it's not that big of a deal for me
to say. Who can say? And then he raises the paralyzed
man. Well, we hear this gospel on the second
week of the fast, and we have to ask ourselves,
how's it going? A number of you have told me
it's not going well. I understand that. And I
also know that during such times, when it's not
going well, we gain experience, which teaches
us. Besides, I know that it's not going well
for our dear brothers and sisters in Eastern
Europe and Ukraine. Our Lent can't possibly...
be as difficult in any way as what they're experiencing.
We continue to pray for them here, and I hope
you continue to do so at home. When we fail,
let's say Lent is not going well, we're not fasting
that well, have we done any of the list of things
that we heard in Matthew 25, visiting the sick,
not to mention the imprisoned, giving drink?
to the thirsty, food, have we done any of that?
We learn a lot about ourselves, about God's mercy,
and about love when we fail, don't we? Failure
can teach us humility. Failure can teach us how
to rely on God, not on ourself. Failure can teach
us our weaknesses, which we need to know. or
else we can never progress. Failure can teach
us empathy for others. As it concerns Great Lent,
let's remember that fasting and praying and almsgiving,
these three pillars, it's not an end. Those things
are not ends in themselves. Knowing Christ and
him crucified and risen is the goal, and to be
his servants during Lent, to be his image. That's
the path there. I've discovered once again, doesn't
take long, the second week we'll give you this
information. I've discovered my own failures
as I usually do and see that I have a great deal
in common with the paralyzed man in the gospel
today. It's hard to turn away from self -centered
habits. To become oriented towards Jesus. To
give. To give precisely in whatever way I can
give myself to Christ. I want to give myself
to myself. But I should give more attention to
prayer and fasting and generosity. But this is
extremely difficult because I'm used to And I
perceive things and I know things through my
physical senses. And my spiritual senses remain
somewhat on the low side. They need to awaken.
We sang a hymn on Friday at Matins and it jumped
out at me. And it told me about my spiritual
paralysis, exactly what I needed to hear that
day. We sang these words. Tone 8. in case you're
interested. Putting to death the passions, which
are those sinful impulses and negative habits.
Putting to death the passions, this time of fasting
brings promise of healing to those wounded by
sin. And lo and behold, we hear in the gospel
today this account about Christ forgiving and
healing sin. Then the hymn, the hymn goes on.
It advises us like this. Let us not choose deliberate
self -indulgence, but let us rejoice with the
church. Let us not be hypocrites like the Pharisees,
but in the spirit of the Gospels, let us put
on the beauty of holiness, glorying in the cross
of Christ, who is the deliverer of our souls.
How beautiful. The beauty of holiness. If you
ever meet a saint, you will see that beauty.
Some folks don't hear that statement about the
beauty of holiness, about Christ the Deliverer,
about glorying in the cross of Christ. What they
hear is sin, sin, and more sin. All we talk about
is sin. Some people claim that the church is
too focused on sins. And that's just depressing
and overwhelmingly negative aspect of the church.
I can't be part of that, I've heard. I know some
that think that. But it's not that the church
is fixated on the negative aspects of human existence.
Christ tells us, and you hear it every Sunday,
blessed are the pure in heart, for they... shall
see God. If we don't deal with removing the paralysis
of sin the paralysis of the soul we are not going
to get very far on the road of purity of heart
and the vision of God. The paralytic in the gospel
needed some friends, as we do too, to remove
what stood in the way of getting to Jesus, going
up to the roof, removing all that stuff, and
then humbly going before Jesus. The same for
us. This gospel has a very powerful memory for
me, very powerful meaning for me personally.
I remember when our dear brother in Christ, Gabriel,
was dying. He went into a coma on the Feast of
Transfiguration and never fully awoke. His vital
organs began to shut down. And I went with a
number, maybe it was four of us, to UCSF to serve
an unction for his healing. And this is it. very
profound, profoundly moving service. It takes
all of our focus and energy, and when we're done,
we feel completely crucified. And we prayed,
and we anointed him seven times, the Gospels,
the epistles, the prayers, and I could see, I
could understand when I got close to him that
he knew what was happening. But then we went
home. And feeling somewhat downcast, of course,
but downcast because Gabriel was not being physically
healed. I complained. I expressed this to a brother
priest who said, don't be stupid. What you did
with those people was like the four friends.
Going to the house with their paralyzed friend
and bringing that man to Christ. That's what
you did, and you better believe that he was healed
of his sins. And at the second coming, his soul
will be glorified, and his body will be raised
and be united, and he will be with Christ, and
he will meet Christ as he comes. So, when I hear
this gospel, I understand that if the forgiveness
of sin doesn't come first, then brothers and
sisters, don't be caught without repentance at
your death, without having made a confession,
and without a recent communion. You don't know
the day or the hour when the Lord comes. You
also don't know the day and the hour when you
will meet him. Gabriel was not prepared, but
we went and we took him and we brought him to
Christ. This cost a lot. Don't be in that position.
Find Christ every day. We might be weighed down.
with all kinds of addictions and dysfunction
and ignorance about Christ and the Father and
the Spirit, we might have self -destructive behavior,
ignorance about ourself, ignorance about God,
about being human, about human nature, male and
female, and this is, of course, under serious
attack. All kinds of sin and error and passions
need healing in me first. Only then, can I experience
the glory of the kingdom of God and the resurrection,
where there will be no sickness or sorrow or
sighing, but life everlasting in a body that
is completely spiritual and immortal. We need
each other for Lent, for sure. Maybe more than
four friends in our case, in my case. But there
are four friends in Lent that I see. that each
one of us could make an acquaintance with a little
more closely. Prayer, let that be your first
friend. Fasting, which gives wings to prayer
and self -discipline. Works of mercy for others.
People don't see God because they don't see God
in us as his reflection. And finally, the last
friend. Prayer, fasting, alms, confession. Dealing
with those sins so that our spiritual senses
awaken. Our paralysis is seen. We know that Jesus
says to us, son, daughter, your sins are forgiven.
Then we might be inspired hearing Christ say
true but almost unbelievable words. Which we
are afraid to act on. This promise. If anyone
loves me. He will keep my word. And my father
will love him. And we will come to him. And make
our abode with him. And I will manifest myself
to him. This one. This Jesus so humble. Experiencing
the. cynicism and the opposition of the Pharisees.
We trust him because he is the one who as we
heard in the epistle today the father says to
the word Jesus he made the worlds. He is the
brightness of the father's glory. The divine
imprint of his person. His throne is forever.
Who in the beginning laid the foundation of the
earth and the work. The heavens are the work
of your hands, O Lord. They, the creation that
is, will perish, but you remain. And they will
all grow old like a garment. Like a cloak, you
will fold them up, and they will be changed.
Amen.