that most monks work out their salvation in the
common life, living together. And this same emphasis
on common life monasticism is found in the father
of Eastern monasticism, Basil, and the father
of Western monasticism, Benedict, also emphasize
this, that most monks... Like all people, work
out our salvation together. And it's only in
those extraordinary circumstances when a monk
gets a blessing from his abbot to go out and,
as monastic literature frequently refers to it,
go out to the single -handed combat of the desert,
to go out and struggle. As a solitary, struggle
with yourself, struggle with Satan's temptations,
struggle to come into communion with God. But
for most monks, as I said, and for most of us,
our life is in common. Truly, our struggles are
with other people. When we're first born, it's
hard for kids to obey their parents. Then as
they get older, their struggles are with their
siblings, that constant squabbling that normal
brothers and sisters have among themselves. And
then they outgrow that, and then they go off
to school, which is the challenge for young people,
to get along with other kids, no matter who they
are. Some of them are bullies. Some of them are
just downright mean. to other people. And then
going on to college, oftentimes it's hard for
kids to get along with their roommate. Then when
you get to adulthood, to go and work. And those
of you who work know very well how difficult
it can be to work with other people and how other
people get on your nerves. Same is true in a
parish. There's not everybody each and every
one of us likes in any given parish. It's natural.
Human beings are different. Some people have
little habits that annoy us, and we do too. I
always tell people that when they confess that
in confession. I say, hey, you think you don't
have any problems that annoy other people, other
habits? The point of all of this is that whether
it's for monks and nuns and for us, so to speak,
normal Christians, we work out our salvation
in common. Practicing what is probably the most
difficult of the virtues in asceticism, which
is charity and fraternal love. Loving our spouse.
loving our parents, loving our children, loving
our brothers and sisters, yes, even loving the
people that we work with. The other point that
I think is extraordinary about Mary of Egypt,
as I said, is that she accomplished all of this
without receiving Holy Communion for 47 years.
You know her story. She was a sinful woman. She
wanted to go and see what all this interest was
and venerate the true cross. And there was a
force which kept her from going into the church.
And then she had her conversion experience. She
went out and repented of her ways. And then towards
the end of these 47 years, her life tells us.
that St. Zosima, Fr. Zosima, a monk, came and
happened to run into her, so to speak, in the
desert, and she asked him to give her Holy Communion.
And then she also asked, come back again next
year, Holy Thursday, and I'll be waiting to receive
Holy Communion again. And when he did, he found
that Mary of Egypt had died. and the notes for
her burial and instructions were next to her
body. So this person accomplished so much, which
to all of us, without the aid of Holy Communion,
which is to all of us, I'm sure is so central
in our spiritual life. From my point of view,
the highlight of the week is... receiving holy
communion at the Sunday Divine Liturgy. Everything
leads up to that and then flows away out of that.
But it's also, and I've reminded you before about
this point, that the frequent reception of holy
communion is something, I won't call it a novel
practice. But in our lifetime, my lifetime, it
is a novel practice. Of course, communion is
instituted by our Lord to be consumed, to eat
the body and drink the blood of the Lord. That
is the purpose of the Eucharist, not a service
that we sort of watch and attend. But until quite
recently, in many parts of the Orthodox world,
and even in the non -Orthodox Christian world,
to receive Holy Communion was considered something
very extraordinary. It is, of course, extraordinary.
But so that you only went to receive communion
after you went to confession, and then the next
day, communion, and you only did this a few times
a year. I can remember when I was first ordained
in 69. There was a practice in many metropolia,
which was the old name for the Orthodox Church
in America, metropolia churches, and then also
other Orthodox parishes, that frequent communion
was not practiced. And then finally, I would
say through the grace of the Holy Spirit and
the study of liturgical scholars. it dawned on
us about the centrality of receiving communion.
So you have two extremes. We who are blessed
with the frequent reception of Holy Communion
and so many of these extraordinary saints, and
Mary of Egypt wasn't the only one who lived for
a long time without receiving Holy Communion.
These are extremes in a sense. And our extreme
of receiving communion frequently should be something
that we are thankful for and that it doesn't
become routine for us. There you go. We have
this blessing to receive communion frequently.
Let it not be routine. Priests have to struggle
with that too. How extraordinary it is what we
are about to do in a few minutes. And so the
frequency should not give way to routine approach
to it. We go to confession periodically. We pray
regularly. For some people, prayer means going
to church on Sunday. Uh -uh. Prayer is what you
do every day, and then it culminates in the Eucharist
on Sunday. But daily prayer, and then either
the night before or the morning of, to say those
special prayers of contrition in preparation
before receiving Holy Communion. So, in conclusion
then, I would say, what does Mary of Egypt inspire
us? Number one, she worked out her salvation
alone. In the single -handed combat of the desert,
we work out our salvation by showing love and
fraternal charity with those in our lives, no
matter who or where they may be. And also, even
though I did mean to say she received communion,
and then her life tells us that it was important
for her, she probably had a premonition that
she was going to die. She received Holy Communion.
So fraternal love and charity is the greatest
practice that we can exercise. And then also
a reflective and pious regular reception of the
body and blood of the Lord in communion. Amen.