Well, a week ago, a week ago today, last Sunday,
we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost, the
day on which the Holy Spirit filled the apostles
and disciples, and they spoke with tongues that
gave the good news to everyone in their own language,
bringing the good message, the message of salvation
that you and I are a part of. It was and is the
birthday of the church, Pentecost, when the Holy
Spirit comes upon us all. And so last week we
celebrated a birthday and it was fitting to have
a week fast -free like a birthday party. And
then today we have All Saints Day. Now, Father
Michael Margitich of blessed memory, I remember
in the altar one time he came to me and said,
Happy Names Day. And I said, I don't think it's
my Names Day. He said, it's everyone's Names
Day because it's All Saints Day. And although
perhaps we have the small s. and not the capital
S of saint as we work towards our sanctification.
It is. It is our names day. And we are happy
belated birthday to the church last week. Happy
names day. And to all the fathers and godfathers,
happy father's day. And what a great day to be
in church today. And we're not alone. It's in
the epistle reading. It talked of the cloud of
witnesses, all those that have come before us,
back to the apostles, all the way forward, almost
2 ,000 years, and yet we're all together, and
who knows how many more years, and people that
we've never met who will be in the church because
they'll be born after we are gone. Many saints
have come before us. Many who were hierarchs,
others who were monastics, others who were holy
martyrs, and each one of them unique as you and
I are unique. And yet God loved every single
one. He sought them out. He called them and they
responded. And the same thing happens for us
this very day. The fact that you are here. It
means you are responding to God's call to you.
Most of us, as we have heard the call and responded,
though, have some struggle which hits us. You
would think we have the Holy Spirit. It's all
over. But somehow there's still a struggle. Perhaps...
We lose our temper and an unkind word comes out
of our mouth. Or perhaps some lust hits us or
gluttony or something. It seems that we have
to struggle still. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk has
said, The man who has received Christian faith
and baptism has both an old or fleshly birth
or spiritual birth, and therefore he has two
births. And because of these two births, the
war of spirit and flesh arises in him. I know
this battle, and I expect you do too, the battle
between spirit and flesh. And it is reflected
in our choices that we make in our life as we
live. The flesh calls us to eat, drink, and be
merry, to excess, to have self -focus, self -excess,
and the spirit calls us to self -denial, self
-control, to the love of others, as well as to
the love of God. What can we do? Imagine, if
you will, that there is a sled. a dog sled that
runs on the snow and the ice and there are two
rows of dogs on one side is a row of dogs which
would pull the sled in the way of the spirit
and then the other side is a row of dogs that
would pull the sled in the way of the flesh and
they both are struggling to dominate the direction
of that sled. Well, which dogs will be dominant?
The ones that you feed. Doesn't it make sense
that those that you feed would be stronger and
those that you don't feed would be weaker? You
may want the spirit to pull. If you're feeding
those fleshly dogs all the time and ignoring
those spiritual dogs that are pulling the sled
of your life, why should it be a wonder that
we have the fleshly dogs take over the sled?
And so the answer becomes, deny the fleshly row
of dogs. Don't feed them. Instead, feed the spiritual
dogs. Come to church as you are now. Pray more
in your life. Seek out God even every night before
you go to bed. May your last thought be of God
and not of some other distraction. Feed the right
dogs and starve the wrong dogs. But remember,
first and foremost, that what you need in this
battle between flesh and spirit is the presence
of the Holy Spirit. To fight this battle on your
own, maybe you would have some success, but ultimately,
without the Holy Spirit, we are doomed to fail.
It's like a boat on a river. If there's no rowing,
the boat will go in the way of the current. That's
the flesh. It has had control over us. But if
you take the oars and you begin rowing, and that's
the Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit, coming to
help you and rowing the boat for you, you will
move away. Saint Tikhon of Zidane says this,
Our nature can sin easily, being corrupted, and
it does sin. but it is entirely unable to stand
against sin or to defeat it. For this, we need
to seek help and strength from the conqueror
of death and hell, Jesus the Lord. And as we
have just celebrated ascension, where Jesus ascended
to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father,
and Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit is sent
down upon us, let us... Reach out for that help
when these struggles come to us. That is the
purpose for us to be in the church, to be sanctified,
to be made holy, to be brought closer to God.
And all those that will turn to God and ask God
to come close to them, God will come close to
them. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. One last
analogy for you. A sailing vessel floating on
the ocean. An entire sea of water can't sink
a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly,
the negativity of the world can't put you down
unless you allow it to get inside you. Don't
be filled with the things of the world, which
are like that water that would sink the ship.
Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be enabled
to sail on the journey that Christ has called
you to, one of salvation, one that, as was in
the gospel today, leads, it tells us, it leads
to eternal life. Make the right choices in your
life. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, and when
the temptations of the flesh hit you, it will
be water splashing off the hull of the ship.
Tomorrow begins the Apostles' Fast, which will
end on the Feast of St. Peter and Paul. May we
all strive to walk in the Spirit during this
fast when temptations come. Reach out and call
to the helper, the Holy Spirit, to give you strength.
Glory to Jesus Christ.