WEBVTT 00:00:01.610 --> 00:00:04.469 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.469 --> 00:00:07.530 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. 00:00:07.950 --> 00:00:24.050 Glory to God. Jesus went to a city called Nain. 00:00:25.890 --> 00:00:30.800 St. Luke says, as he drew near to this gate of 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:36.479 the city, a man who had died was being carried 00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:42.979 out, the only son of his mother, and she was 00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:49.240 a widow, and Jesus had compassion on her. At 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:53.840 this time of the account of St. Luke, if we were 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:58.689 looking down from above, we would see a road 00:00:58.689 --> 00:01:03.490 between the town of Capernaum, where Jesus had 00:01:03.490 --> 00:01:07.750 just healed, St. Luke tells us, the servant of 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:13.730 a righteous Roman centurion. In fact, it says 00:01:13.730 --> 00:01:16.049 that that Roman centurion had more faith than 00:01:16.049 --> 00:01:21.189 anyone that Jesus had actually met before. Between 00:01:21.189 --> 00:01:24.829 Capernaum, there was a road going to the village 00:01:24.829 --> 00:01:34.920 of Nain. And Jesus was on that road. There's 00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:37.519 two processions that we would have seen looking 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:41.079 down from above. One with Christ in the center, 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:44.760 joyful. People hanging on to his every word, 00:01:44.840 --> 00:01:49.359 I imagine. Expected at what Jesus would say and 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:53.799 what he would do. And heading towards him, coming 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:57.010 out of the gate of the city. Where many who are 00:01:57.010 --> 00:02:00.790 grieving with a widow for her dead son, think 00:02:00.790 --> 00:02:06.250 of that at that time, a widow with no son. Basically 00:02:06.250 --> 00:02:10.550 helpless, having to depend upon her relatives 00:02:10.550 --> 00:02:15.009 if she has them. The procession is one of death, 00:02:15.229 --> 00:02:22.330 sorrow, grief, sickness, despair. It's a traffic 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:26.099 jam at the city gate. We're looking down at this. 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:30.919 But we're not looking down. Actually, each one 00:02:30.919 --> 00:02:34.099 of us knows something about that widow's condition. 00:02:35.180 --> 00:02:41.300 The family that she was in. The sorrow. The grief. 00:02:41.379 --> 00:02:45.639 We know something about that. Maybe some of you, 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:51.280 exactly the same here, know about that from your 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:56.780 life. And that's... See, the gospel is always 00:02:56.780 --> 00:03:01.759 extremely clear about reality. When Jesus is 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:05.979 born, yes, the shepherds are joyful. The wise 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:10.379 men are rejoicing. They've got no place to be 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:14.400 but a cave. And what happens after that? Herod, 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:19.719 afraid of losing his position to a new king, 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:25.229 kills children. The gospel is extremely clear 00:03:25.229 --> 00:03:29.349 about the condition that we live in. Nothing 00:03:29.349 --> 00:03:34.289 is sugar -coated. It's not easy to carry the 00:03:34.289 --> 00:03:37.370 cross. It's much easier to just let it all go 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:40.530 and pretend, you know, and put an electric blanket 00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:44.090 over our head for the rest of our life. But this 00:03:44.090 --> 00:03:47.590 is reality. The gospel is about what's real. 00:03:48.870 --> 00:03:52.340 The procession of death. Meets the procession 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:55.039 of life. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, I 00:03:55.039 --> 00:04:00.319 am the gate. He's at the gate of that city. Jesus 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:03.460 touched the open coffin. And those who carried 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:08.979 him stood still. It says. Those who carried him 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:12.740 stood still. Jesus touched the coffin. Everything 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:19.500 stopped. I imagine the bird stopped. Total silence. 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:24.160 Nothing moved. The clouds stopped in the sky. 00:04:24.699 --> 00:04:28.860 The wind stopped. Everything waiting for what 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:36.560 the Son of God would do. Equally impossible but 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.399 true is like, who is this Son of God that has 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:44.399 come? Sometimes people have said to me, well, 00:04:44.420 --> 00:04:48.639 Father, why are our prayers so long? They are 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:54.199 long. Listen to this portion of a prayer, a long 00:04:54.199 --> 00:04:57.459 prayer, I won't read it all, from the baptism 00:04:57.459 --> 00:04:59.459 this morning. I congratulate the grandparents, 00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:09.180 Gunella and Lena's parents, Gunella and... Why 00:05:09.180 --> 00:05:15.600 can't I remember your name all of a sudden? Ingmar 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:25.990 and the mother, Lena. And the grandparents. I 00:05:25.990 --> 00:05:31.370 was saying, we have long prayers because we speak 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:35.850 to the God, the Most High God, the only true 00:05:35.850 --> 00:05:39.389 God. We're not speaking to any other powers. 00:05:40.449 --> 00:05:45.269 St. Paul says, we're in a fight, not with flesh 00:05:45.269 --> 00:05:49.670 and blood, but with wickedness, spiritual wickedness. 00:05:50.269 --> 00:05:54.110 In powerful and high and heavenly places. So 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:58.389 we speak to God to remind ourselves who we are 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:03.430 members of. Who is our God? Not to remind God. 00:06:03.509 --> 00:06:07.399 So we say this. Oh God. Lord, the moon glorifies 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.259 thee. The stars meet together before thee. The 00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:12.839 light hearkens to thee. The deep shudder before 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.600 thee. The springs of water serve thee. Thou hast 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.579 stretched out the heaven as it were a curtain. 00:06:17.720 --> 00:06:19.920 Thou hast established the earth upon the waters. 00:06:20.589 --> 00:06:23.050 Thou hast bounded the sea with sand. Thou hast 00:06:23.050 --> 00:06:25.170 spilled out the air for breathing. The angelic 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:28.350 powers serve thee. The choirs of archangels worship 00:06:28.350 --> 00:06:31.050 thee. The many -eyed cherubim and the six -winged 00:06:31.050 --> 00:06:33.889 seraphim standing and flying round about cover 00:06:33.889 --> 00:06:36.870 themselves with fear at thine unapproachable 00:06:36.870 --> 00:06:42.029 glory. For thou who art God, inexpressible, without 00:06:42.029 --> 00:06:46.610 beginning, and ineffable. Doth come down upon 00:06:46.610 --> 00:06:49.449 earth, taking the form of a servant, being made 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:52.350 in the likeness of man, for the sake of thy tender 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:55.569 mercy and compassion. And compassion is the word 00:06:55.569 --> 00:06:59.730 in the New Testament used only of Jesus. Only. 00:06:59.790 --> 00:07:03.089 That word is only used of Jesus. Multiple times. 00:07:03.310 --> 00:07:07.029 Ten, thirteen times. For thou, Lord, couldst 00:07:07.029 --> 00:07:10.230 not endure to behold the race of men tormented 00:07:10.230 --> 00:07:13.310 by the devil, for thou didst come and save us. 00:07:14.089 --> 00:07:19.050 It is that one that came to that city gate and 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:26.610 put his hand on the coffin and said, young man, 00:07:26.769 --> 00:07:30.290 we speak to dead people all the time in the middle 00:07:30.290 --> 00:07:35.649 of the church, they don't arise. But Jesus says, 00:07:35.769 --> 00:07:39.350 young man, I say unto thee, arise. And he rose 00:07:39.350 --> 00:07:43.839 up and he gave him to his mother. It was for 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:46.000 the sake of the mother that this man was raised. 00:07:46.740 --> 00:07:50.040 And fear and joy came upon all that were there. 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:55.660 For that man, it meant a temporary continuation 00:07:55.660 --> 00:08:00.220 of life for the sake of his mother. Not for his 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:04.899 own sake. For us, what does this miracle mean? 00:08:08.109 --> 00:08:10.769 Cyril of Alexandria says it's a sign of what's 00:08:10.769 --> 00:08:13.209 to come. It's the pledge of what God's going 00:08:13.209 --> 00:08:16.769 to do at the consummation of the age. That those 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:19.290 persons who were restored to life by the power 00:08:19.290 --> 00:08:24.689 of Christ, the young girl, this man, Lazarus, 00:08:24.750 --> 00:08:29.009 we take as a pledge of the hope prepared for 00:08:29.009 --> 00:08:35.210 us for the resurrection beyond the grave. Christ 00:08:35.210 --> 00:08:39.460 is the gate. We've gone through that gate. He 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:44.179 is our gate. The world is full of sorrow and 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:50.419 grief. Brothers and sisters, we are to be witnesses 00:08:50.419 --> 00:08:54.820 not of something nice, something comfortable, 00:08:55.059 --> 00:08:59.620 something soothing, but witnesses of the new 00:08:59.620 --> 00:09:04.320 life that we saw in the baptism today given to 00:09:04.320 --> 00:09:07.860 Alvig Elizabeth. that we are now partakers of. 00:09:11.519 --> 00:09:15.139 If Christ is the only compassionate one, then 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:18.259 you and I have to be compassionate with the compassion 00:09:18.259 --> 00:09:24.100 of God to those around us. Not judgmental, not 00:09:24.100 --> 00:09:29.960 angry, not argumentative, but giving and loving 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:34.220 and witnessing to what we have here. to the new 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.539 life in Christ, which we are going to partake 00:09:36.539 --> 00:09:40.580 of shortly when we receive his body and his blood, 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:45.639 that we are members of the kingdom. Now, now, 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:49.039 through liturgy, through prayer, to faithfulness 00:09:49.039 --> 00:09:51.559 of commandments, through trust in Christ's words, 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:55.100 Christ promises his disciples this, peace I leave 00:09:55.100 --> 00:10:00.659 with you, my peace I give unto you. This is what 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:03.620 we give to other people too. Christ gave it to 00:10:03.620 --> 00:10:08.039 us, we give it to others. Not as the world. Peace 00:10:08.039 --> 00:10:10.879 in the world is just the subtraction of violence. 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:15.320 Not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:18.960 your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:23.159 And you heard his words to the apostles, to the 00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:26.159 Lord, to Lord God, his Father, in the prayer 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:30.299 that he gave. Father, that they may be one, even 00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:36.769 as we. are one. Let me conclude with a prayer 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:41.409 composed by a holy abbot rather than try and 00:10:41.409 --> 00:10:47.370 explain all this more. The prayer is this. Weep 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:51.669 not, O Mother, for the father of orphans and 00:10:51.669 --> 00:10:55.409 the judge of widows is here. I adopt from my 00:10:55.409 --> 00:10:57.889 own the orphan and the widow. I will never let 00:10:57.889 --> 00:11:01.570 them go unprotected or unassisted. Weep not, 00:11:01.690 --> 00:11:05.769 for your son is only sleeping, for in my presence 00:11:05.769 --> 00:11:10.809 death is as evanescent as sleep. Weep not, for 00:11:10.809 --> 00:11:13.409 before you stands the resurrection and the life, 00:11:13.590 --> 00:11:18.269 which life is the light of all. Weep not, for 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:21.350 with me is the fountain of life, and in my light 00:11:21.350 --> 00:11:24.809 your son shall again see the light of life. Weep 00:11:24.809 --> 00:11:27.289 not, for I call the things that are not as though 00:11:27.289 --> 00:11:30.649 they are. Out of nothing I brought all things 00:11:30.649 --> 00:11:34.769 into being. Is it a great thing then for me to 00:11:34.769 --> 00:11:38.210 call your dead son back among the living? Weep 00:11:38.210 --> 00:11:41.330 not, for I hold the keys and the power of death. 00:11:41.690 --> 00:11:45.789 I put to death and make alive. I bring down into 00:11:45.789 --> 00:11:50.049 Hades and bring back up again. The lifespan of 00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:54.409 all men is in the light of my face. Death and 00:11:54.409 --> 00:12:00.039 hell cower and quail in my presence. Weep not, 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:05.360 O woman, your son shall rise again. Those words 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.600 are directed to you and to me. To our Lord, risen 00:12:08.600 --> 00:12:11.659 from the dead, be glory now and ever, to ages 00:12:11.659 --> 00:12:13.259 of ages. Amen.