And so we begin. We begin this journey of ours
towards the resurrection. And from the very beginning,
from the onset of everything, Christ puts before
us what is at stake. And it is very important
to pay attention to that. We begin. this time
of preparation and we are being told from the
very beginning what we are preparing for. And
that is we are preparing for the last judgment.
We are preparing our state, our being, our eternal
fate as it shall be decided at the last judgment.
Nothing less than that. Lent is not about being
kinder in a general way to people. Lent is not
about a diet of sorts. Lent is about nothing
but the eternal outcome of our life here on earth.
And it's important, I think, especially for us
today to remember this, because in a strange,
perverse way, I think we've become a bit too
civilized to talk about the final judgment. or
to talk about the devil, or to talk about condemnation.
We've become so nuanced or so complex, so full
of ourselves ultimately, that these have become
antiquated notions, something that has to do
with times long past that do not affect us anymore.
I remember once when I was traveling to the south
of England. and there was a tiny beautiful church
where they had just discovered underneath the
many layers of whitewash they had discovered
the iconography that was hiding behind the oldest
layer that was hidden by the local people at
the reformation they refused to take it down
as it had been commanded to them and instead
they just covered it with whitewash and they'd
forgotten it was there And I've asked the local
minister about that. And I said, without any
intention of any sorts to look for an argument.
You know, it's beyond arguments at this point.
But how does it sit within yourself to preach
against iconography in a church where you're
surrounded by iconography? So it is so obvious
that your ancestors clearly used icons in their
prayer life. And the answer was, we now know
better. And with that, a chasm, a cut between
true faith, true Christianity, and what they
are experiencing today was created. And in a
subtle way, although we don't actually allow
ourselves to say it. The same thing I've seen
in confession amongst the Orthodox Church. Slowly,
slowly, the devil is managing to trick us into
thinking that he's nothing but the creation of
our minds, a figment of our own imagination.
And so we become almost ashamed when we give
witness to our faith. to include things such
as the devil or the idea of a judgment, an actual
moment of judgment when people are going to be
split between those who are righteous and those
who are sinful, between those who go into heavens
in eternity and those who go into hell for eternity.
We've become too complex somehow. Much better.
We know much better today so we can leave aside
these antiquated notions. And yet here we are
in the Orthodox Church this year like every single
year of the 2 ,000 that have passed since Christ's
crucifixion, with the Church teaching us that
the entry into Lent is bringing back before our
minds this central truth that the time will come
for every single one of us to face God's judgment.
and that there are two possible outcomes as clear
as black and white. This is what the Church places
before our eyes today. And as it does that, it
also places before our eyes what I was trying
to tell you yesterday, the height of our calling
at the end of that judgment and the depth of
what it means to fail that calling. When Christ
says to those on the right side that they've
done the right thing, he says, go now into the
kingdom which has been prepared for you since
the creation of the world. And it's in those
words that you see the aim, the purpose for which
God has created us. When he created the first
human being, and in that first human being, all
of us, The purpose, the aim, was to join this
kingdom of heaven which was created for us from
the creation of the world. And the depth of the
failure to fulfill that calling in ourselves
is also in this gospel today. We shall join the
demons who go in the darkness prepared for them.
Mind you, Christ doesn't say it was a darkness
that was prepared for us, but for the devil.
And he doesn't even say that it's a darkness
that was prepared for the devil since the creation
of the world. Because when God created the devil,
the devil was supposed in God's hope and love
to join him with everything he created in that
kingdom. It's because of the free will which
was badly exercised by the devil that darkness
had to be created, not with the creation of the
world, but later on after the fall of the evil
one. We learn today with no uncertain terms that
there is a judgment awaiting us. We learn today
that God's hope for us, the purpose of his creation
is there from the very beginning to join him,
to be one with him in that kingdom prepared for
us from the moment of creation. And we learn
that to fail that is to join the devil in the
darkness created for him, not for us. And we
also learn what is the criterion. What is that
one thing that will work as the criterion that
will spin some of us to Christ's right side and
others to the left side? And that is love. It
is so clear. It is love in no high philosophical
terms. Love manifested in any way that is available
to us. From a good word to a good meal. to visiting
someone who's in prison, to giving some comfort
to those who are in pain, who are grieving, who
are in bereavement. Love. Not self -fulfillment.
Not a love that builds you up, but a love, if
you pay attention, that means doing something
for the other. As Saint Silouan... puts it much,
much clearer for our minds today. Our brother
or our sister is our salvation or our perdition.
If we go through life trying to simply affirm
ourselves and to use the others to affirm ourselves,
there's no sacrificial love in there. There's
nothing done for the other. Pay attention to
the examples that are placed before us today.
It's all about love manifested for the sake of
another. It's always doing something for another.
It's always taking something of yourself, your
time, your mood, because you're not always in
the mood to help someone. You're not always strong
enough yourself to be able to strengthen someone
else. But you have to take from yourself, even
when it doesn't come easy, and even when you
don't have it, because God will give it to you.
You have to take from yourself your mood, your
food, your time, and give it, sacrifice it for
the other. And I know that from my monastery.
I know that without always creating space, by
denying myself space, so that the others of my
community can find who they are, so that they
can become the holy people God created them to
be, without me doing that, I fail in my obedience
towards God. And you, because I imagine most
of you are married, know that from your own marriages.
If your marriage becomes about you, affirming
yourself through the other, that is no longer
a marriage anyway. A marriage, if you remember,
you have all walked around that holy table with
the gospel, singing to the holy martyrs. Not
any other saints, but the martyrs. Because through
marriage, each spouse is martyred for the salvation.
The affirmation of the other one, the brother
and the sister that has become a spouse. There
are, and I'll finish with this, there are two
dynamics in this world. They've always been here
and they will be here until the end of time.
There's a dynamic of salvation and there's a
dynamic of perdition, of destruction. Christ,
when you look at the world as seen through Christ's
eyes and you pick and choose of the truth, you
select that which fits you and you let aside
that that doesn't fit you, that troubles you
or pains you or challenges you, then you are
not joining the dynamics of salvation. The dynamics
of salvation is to pick and choose of yourself
that which fits the description of a holy man
or a holy woman, and to fight against those parts
of yourself that do not fit that description,
that vision. One dynamics is us striving our
whole life to become God -like. to join that
image, to make us grow into the image of God.
And the other dynamic is to try to make God and
those around us and the world fit our own fallen
image. And if we become like God, we shall join
God in the kingdom. If we become like the world,
we shall join the world into its fallenness.
We start today the journey towards the cross,
my dear ones, towards the cross and nothing else.
Without allowing that cross to crucify who you
are in this world, you'll never learn who you
are in the resurrection. Because there is no
other gate, there is no other path towards the
light. of the resurrection except the darkness
and the suffering of the cross. I pray that when
the time comes your Christ is risen here and
our Christ is risen far far away in the Scottish
Isles will sound strong and powerful and will
be heard all the way up to heavens, and even
more importantly, all the way down to hell, bringing
the good news of the resurrection and a hope
of salvation, even to those who are trapped down
there in that pain. Amen, my dear ones. Amen.