I can tell you about a saint that liked that
too. He's painted on our wall, this saint. Do
any of you catch the name of the saint that the
choir sang about? What his name was? I'll tell
you. His name was Olypius. Do any of you know
where this saint is painted on our wall? Adults,
you can chime in too, because I have a feeling
that it's not well known. Well, we have, you
know where it is. And that's St. Simeon the Stylite.
And over here we have St. David of Thessalonica.
He lived in a tree. He loved trees so much. And
over here you have St. Olivia's. You see him.
We're asking his prayers today to inspire us,
to help us. And I'm asking his prayers so I could
tell a little bit about his life. He was born
about 1 ,500 years ago. And you might think,
well, that's a long time ago. What's that have
to do with us? Well, he was a Christian. His
parents were Christians. He was born in the year
522. You can tell me exactly how many years ago
that was. I'll take you to In -N -Out after Christmas
as a reward. His mother and his father were Christians.
They were Orthodox Christians. They loved God.
They went to liturgy just like what we have.
A little bit different, but the same. His mother,
I don't know her name, when she was asleep, she
had a vision from an angel. And the angel showed
her many, many people. And they were all coming
to see her son, who was at that point in her
vision, grown up. And she had another vision
of a lamb. Well, actually it was a ram with his
horns. And there were lambs hanging from it.
And somehow she thought, that must be somehow
my son. It's not clear what that means, but that
was her vision. So he was born. And when he was
three years old, his father died. And his mother
said, I'm going to dedicate my son to God. I'm
going to take him to the church. Just like we
see Mary bringing Jesus to the temple. Just like
we saw a couple days ago. The parents of the
Virgin Mary bringing her to the temple. Dedicating
the child to God. You have all been dedicated
to God. Did you know that? You were baptized.
You are a servant, a handmaid of God. Whatever
you say. whatever you do, either sends glory
to God or doesn't. Either makes you closer to
God or doesn't. So you think about the things
you say and the things you do in your life, that
God has given you not only life, you have legs,
you have feet, you have lungs, you have a heart,
you have mind, a voice, and ears and eyes. He
gave all of that to you. What an incredible thing.
We didn't earn it. But we also want all those
things to be sanctified, to be dedicated to the
love of God. Well, when he was about 15 years
old, when Olympias was 15 years old, his mother
took him to a monastery and said to this bishop,
his name was Theodore. Now, this was in a place
called Adrianopolis in Paphlagonia. That doesn't
help you any, I know. But it's up there by the
Black Sea. She took her son and she said, you
take care of my son now. He loves God so much.
He wants to be in the monastery. And this bishop,
Theodore, he took charge of the boy, Olypius.
He died and another bishop came. His name was
also Theodore. Well, when Olypius was about,
probably about 21 years old. He said to his mother,
didn't tell anybody else. He said, my soul wants
to go to the holy land. My soul wants to be in
the holy places where Jesus was. And she said,
go, my son. She didn't say, oh, you're leaving
me, your mother, and I have nothing. You know,
she said, go, my son. She trusted God. This story
about St. Olympias teaches us the first thing,
trusting God. Trusting God. Putting our faith
in God. When we love God, when we do his commandments,
we can trust God. And so he went. Secretly. He
didn't. Oh, by the way, he was made a deacon.
And he was also put in charge of the parish.
Like the counting of the contributions, the olive
oil. Getting the wine, getting the candles. They
thought this man, the people in this parish loved
this boy so much. But he secretly left. The bishop
heard about it. What do you think he did? He
got on a horse and he chased him. And he found
him not too far. And he said, you have to come
back. The people love you so much. And Olympias
was very humble. He went back with the bishop.
And everybody rejoiced. Then Olympia said, I
have to find a holy place. And he had a vision,
too, from an angel in his dream. But probably
it wasn't a dream. It was a vision. And the vision
said, you can go to the holy land. You can be
in the holy place where Jesus Christ is, where
he was. That's your heart. Wherever you are when
you carry Jesus with you. That's the holy land.
That's the holy place. Because the kingdom of
God is within us. So he didn't worry anymore.
But he thought, I have to find a place to pray.
A quiet place. So imagine Santa Rosa. We have
the church here. And he thought, I'll go up to
Mount Taylor. And I'll find a secret place. And
so he went up there. Except it was a little bit
farther away. let's say, as far as Mount Tamalpais.
And he thought, oh, I can't live without water,
so he's digging. He spends all day digging, looking
for water to dig a well. And he's exhausted.
He falls asleep. Guess what happens? Vision?
He has a vision. An angel says to him, dummy,
you're digging in the wrong place. That's not
the first time he gets called a name. And the
angel said, don't dig there. Dig in this other
place. And so he digs. And water comes out. And
there's a fresh spring coming. And he tells the
bishop. And the bishop says, oh, that's wonderful.
You can have your place. And the bishop's thinking,
that's not wonderful. He's too far away. So the
bishop, true, sends somebody when Olypius is
not there to cover up the spring. He does. And
Olympias thinks, well, I can't be here. And so
he goes back to the city near the church. And
when he is near the church, there is an old cemetery
that belonged to pagans. And they had pagan sacrifices
there. And they were praying to the demons. And
it was a very scary place. And there were many
demons. Nobody went into that cemetery. And Olympias
thought, That's where I'm going to go. And his
friend said, you're crazy. They said that. It's
in the story. It says, you're crazy. We're not
going with you. And so he goes into the cemetery.
And what does he find? He finds a big, really
big, bigger than I am, pillar. A column. You
see the picture of him up there. It must have
been bigger than that. In fact, that one is a
stairway going into it. And he climbs up there.
And there's a... statue of a half lion, half
bear from before. He goes to the column and he
embraces the column. He puts his arms around
the column. He says, this is the stone which
the builders rejected. It has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in
our lives. And he hugged the column. He says,
this is where I will be. And he got across. And
he got an icon, and he went up to the top, and
he had a crowbar, and he knocked the lion bear
off. And he went back down, and he built himself
a little hut. And people came to him. You might
think, this is a strange man. He goes away, then
he tries to go to a mountain, and then he goes
into a cemetery, and there's many demons, and
the demons are afraid of him, and they all scatter.
They throw rocks at him, but it doesn't bother
him. He says, the holy martyr Stephen suffered
from being stoned. If that's the way I'm going
to die, that's okay. But he didn't. They were
afraid of him and they all ran away. And he built
a little hut. And people came. And they were
healed of diseases. People came. And he gave
them money because a monastery for women. Grew
up here. And a monastery for men. Grew up over
there. And people gave funds for charity. And
then one day, he decided, I'm not going to live
down here anymore. I'm going to live on top.
And he climbed the pillar. And he built a little
hut. And he stood in prayer on his pillar. Day
and night. Day and night. Day and night. And
people could see him sometimes at night. He was
shining as bright as a star. As bright as the
sun. Because his love for Christ was so great.
His heart was so pure. He had fasted. He had
prayed. He had given alms. Guess what? He is
a saint not because he went up on the pillar.
But because he followed the commandments of Christ.
You can fast a little bit. We're done with Thanksgiving
now. Now we're back into the fast. Now it's more
serious for us. You can do works of charity.
You could give something away. You probably have
lots of toys, lots of clothes you don't even
use. You can give it to the poor. And you can
pray. You can come to church. You can pray to
God. Mostly, you can trust in God. One day, Olympias...
sent his mother to the city to get some food
for the monasteries down here. And she came back,
and he noticed. He could see her. She's standing
on those pillars way down there. She's coming
back. She had nothing. She had no food, and she
had less clothes than when she started. And he
said, Mother, what happened? What happened? She
said, Well, there were many poor people. And
I gave away all the money, and I gave away all
the food, and I gave away some of my clothes.
And he said, Mother, God has blessed you. He
didn't worry about what he was going to eat.
Jesus said, Why are you worried about that? Seek
the kingdom of God first. This man does something
that we're not going to do. We're not going to
climb up a pillar. Maybe one of you will do that.
I don't know. It'd be strange, but it'd be wonderful.
But he trusted in God, in God's loving providence.
And God showered him with gifts of healing and
wisdom so people could come to him and he could
give them comfort. His heart was changed. He
became like Christ. You know how long he lived
on his pillar? 50 years. The last 14 years of
his life. He was very sick. Obviously, he was
outside all the time. And he was paralyzed, and
he could only lie down. And he died, and he was
buried, and people rejoiced that they had a saint
in heaven interceding for them. He followed a
way that is very difficult, but his heart was
on fire. Fire with love for God. And this is
what he had to do. And he obviously loved climbing
rocks too. That's St. Olypius the Stylite. When
you come into church now, you will see him. And
you will come to church every year on November
the 26th. And you'll remember his name. Olypius.
Pray to God for us. Amen.