and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. This is
the Sunday after Ascension, the Sunday before
Pentecost. It's a Sunday called the Sunday dedicated
to the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.
convened by Emperor St. Constantine, depicted
back there on the wall, in the year 325. And
you may say, 325, that's a long time ago. What
does that have to do with me at all? But if you
recite the creed, and it's in our prayer book
for morning prayers every day, then you have
something to do with that council. I'm going
to let you read the little article that's in
the weekly bulletin, or something about that.
this feast day is explained, rather than go into
it today. Instead, I want to speak about the
words of the gospel, particular words about knowing.
This is John chapter 17. The last time you heard
this in church was on the matins of Holy Friday
on Thursday night of Holy Week. It may seem odd.
We're reading a gospel. Before Pentecost, after
Ascension, but the gospel comes from before Jesus
was crucified. The night he was arrested, the
day before he was crucified. And did you hear
those intimate words he spoke to his father in
that prayer? And all his consideration, all his
care is for his beloved disciples, not for himself.
Christ prayed. He said these words, and this
is what I'd like to focus on, just this sentence.
And this is eternal life, that they may know
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent, that they may know thee. These
are important words, words of our Savior himself.
We know a lot of things. We know about a lot
of things. But there's a difference, isn't there?
Between knowing and knowing about. There's quite
a few of you I probably don't know much about.
But you come to confession and I know you. And
you know me. You see, there's a difference there.
When Jesus used the word know, he didn't mean
know about God. and this is eternal life, that
they may know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. He didn't mean know
about. It's not about facts. It means about being
intimate with and the experience of someone else.
Knowing God is different than knowing about him.
I've read, for example, a number of books about
World War II, this being Memorial Day weekend.
And I know a lot, I think, about some of the
important people involved in conducting the war.
But I don't know them, and I can't possibly know
them. But with God, the story is very, very different.
He has revealed himself in Christ, the perfect
revelation of the Father. In him, God became
man and dwelt among us. And John says, This young
man writing as an old man, he says, and we beheld
his glory. And that by believing, he says somewhere
else, he says, all that was written, even the
entire world couldn't hold all the books that
would be written. That Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. and he says that ye may have, you
believe so that ye may have life in his name.
John's not revealing facts about Jesus' everyday
life, is he? The apostles tell us their experience.
The saints have the same experience. The fathers
of the first ecumenical council, which is why
today we celebrate them, have the same experience
because the church is affirming today Crucial
for us. Who is it that rose from the dead? Who
is it that descended into heaven? Who is it that
we call Lord? Now, we can recite the creed. I
believe in God the Father. And we'll sing it,
and it's a glorious thing. And we might know
a lot about it. Can you speak from experience
in that creed about Jesus? How do we get experience
of Christ in the greatest possible way? It's
essential that we do. One saint says this. He
says, true communication with God, communication
means communion, is not simply thinking about
God. Neither is it a loving disposition toward
God. Instead, it is perfect knowledge of him.
He says these incredible words, surprising. He
says, it's a grasping of God in the sense of
taking possession of him, making him your own.
Having experience of God as living. He says,
if I am unable to love God truly with a love
that is true, then God for me is not a living
God. He is a dead God. What's the first prerequisite?
Here's a checklist that I borrowed from His Eminence
Archbishop Michael of New York. Here's a checklist
on how we make progress in our Christian life
to know Christ. First prerequisite. There's only
four things. This is not going to take all day.
But what I will tell you will take the rest of
your life. And it will bring you joy. And it
will bring you sorrow. And it will bring you
difficulty. There will be opposition to it. But
God is the Lord over all. Isn't that what we
sing? The disciples were glad when they received
the blessing that thou art the Son of God and
the Redeemer of the world, the entire world.
So here's the first prerequisite. To strive to
attain purity of heart. Sincerely strive to desire
purity of heart, pure to know Jesus and his entire
life, to desire Jesus. The heart has to desire
us. The mind is one thing, but to know Christ
with the heart and desire, because what's it
say? What does Jesus himself say? Blessed are
the pure in heart, for they shall see, which
means to know God. And we say in Psalm 50, O
Lord, Cleanse my heart. Make it white as snow.
And we say in the prayer we're going to sing
next week, The O Heavenly King, the Comforter,
the Spirit of Truth, have presence everywhere
and fill us to all things. Cleanse us from every
impurity. What kind of impurity? The impurity
of the heart. Secondly, that prayer to the Holy
Spirit. we must pray to the Holy Spirit to guide
us to know Christ. Since no one comes to the
Lord Jesus Christ except by the Spirit of God,
we have to be careful where we get our guidance.
We're guided not by ourself or the world. We're
not guided in just our mind. Remember, It's an
axiom, I think, of this life. That we are shaped
in our thoughts, in our actions, in our mind,
in our soul, where our treasure is or isn't.
We are shaped by what we allow to shape us and
form us. What choices, what priorities we have.
We're shaped by what we allow. to influence us
and set for us what is the most important thing
and what is not important. Where your treasure
is, there is your heart. St. Paul says this very
concisely in Romans chapter 12. You hear it all
the time. It's not just religious mumbo -jumbo.
He says, be not conformed to the world. Let the
hearer understand. But be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind. that ye may prove what
is that is good and acceptable and the perfect
will of God. The life of the Spirit in the church.
This is what we're talking about, the tradition
of the church, which is not a dead thing, no,
but something that challenges us to renew us,
to cleanse us from all impurity. After desiring
purity of heart, After praying to the Holy Spirit,
and we do these things continually, the third
thing I would suggest from Archbishop Michael
is this. Read the scriptures. Read the scriptures.
Saint Tikhon of Zodonsk says that the scriptures
are a love letter from God to us. Yes, some of
the scriptures is story. Some of it is history.
Some of it is... A letter from a lover who is
terribly disappointed in us. But it's a love
letter. It's a revelation of God's plan. His
actions, his mercy, his goodness, his wisdom,
light, his joy, his sorrow. His constant search
for us. Read the scriptures daily. Read the words.
But more important than reading the words, receive
the word. Accept the word. Live by the word.
And by living by them, you heard, we enter in
the words of St. John, into eternal life. Again,
our priorities, what we allow ourselves to be
shaped by, to influence us, has a great impact.
And number four, in receiving this love letter
daily from God. We make the commitment to what?
To love him back. That's all. To love him back.
How do we love somebody? I think we all know
how we love somebody. We can love terrible things,
by the way. We can love horrible and harmful
things. But let love of God, who created us,
be the most important thing. Make a commitment
to love him. Jesus says this. in his final words
to his apostles before he is arrested. He who
has my commandments has them. Who has his commandments.
It's not something external, some rule book that
you have to examine to make sure you're not on
the wrong page or doing the wrong thing. No,
it's the natural universal law. Of morality and
ethics from God. The spiritual life. He who has
my commandments and keeps them. It is he who
loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by
my father. And I will love him. And show myself
to him. Prayer then. Is the response. As we try
to love God. And the way we know him. To speak
with him every day. We have our prayer book to
teach us how to pray. We have our own words.
We have the prayer of the church in which we
pray with one another. Where two or three are
gathered together, Christ says, I am there in
the midst of them. We don't need a password to
log on to that network. He is always listening.
But we're not always listening or tuned to the
right channel. Our attention is fixed elsewhere.
Now that the Lord has ascended into glory at
the right hand of his Father as the risen and
glorified God -man, he is not confined to Jerusalem
or Palestine, but he is everywhere by the Holy
Spirit, present to us. I could add three more
things, but this would take three more pages.
But let me just mention, coming to confession,
we experience... His giving of purity of heart
and the unburdening of our sin. Coming to Holy
Communion, we experience his healing presence
within us. Coming to worship as much as possible.
You know what I tell catechumens? Good catechumens
come to lots of church services. Bad catechumens
don't come to many. Don't be a bad catechumen.
Come to as much as possible. That's enough for
now. May the Lord enlighten our hearts to know
him. Maybe I could say this and leave you with
this thought. You know, there's a saying, it's
not what you know, it's who you know. That's
very true with Jesus Christ. To our Lord be glory
now and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.