WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 Son and of the Holy Spirit, glory to Jesus Christ. 00:00:05.419 --> 00:00:12.000 There are times in life when we need help. Some 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.579 circumstance arises that is just too much for 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.800 us alone. In those times of trouble, to whom 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:25.920 do we go? If I have a toothache, I go to the 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.460 dentist. Because I trust in the training and 00:00:29.460 --> 00:00:33.600 the abilities of that dentist working with teeth. 00:00:35.259 --> 00:00:40.159 If my yard is a wreck, I seek a landscaper. If 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:44.100 my house has been damaged in some storm, a carpenter. 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:48.539 If there is something wrong with my soul, perhaps 00:00:48.539 --> 00:00:57.899 I should go to a priest. in any human aid, where 00:00:57.899 --> 00:01:02.799 do we go then? In today's gospel reading, we 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:09.060 see clearly the choice of two blind men. Matthew 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:13.519 tells us two blind men followed him, meaning 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:18.700 Jesus, saying, Son of David, have mercy on us. 00:01:18.840 --> 00:01:21.920 And when he had come into the house, the blind 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:25.450 men came to him, and Jesus said to them, Do you 00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:29.769 believe that I am able to do this? They said 00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:33.409 to him, Yes, Lord. And Jesus healed them, saying, 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:38.510 According to your faith, let it be to you. And 00:01:38.510 --> 00:01:42.650 Jesus also healed a demon -possessed mute and 00:01:42.650 --> 00:01:46.870 made it so he could once again speak. And Jesus 00:01:46.870 --> 00:01:51.230 healed other sicknesses and diseases. And when 00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:54.650 we find ourselves, overwhelmed with something 00:01:54.650 --> 00:01:59.010 that we just can't deal with on our own, where 00:01:59.010 --> 00:02:03.230 should we go? When there's no human help possible, 00:02:03.590 --> 00:02:10.330 we should follow the example and go to the Lord 00:02:10.330 --> 00:02:15.289 Jesus Christ, our Lord and God and Savior. We 00:02:15.289 --> 00:02:18.990 can also go to all the myriads of angels and 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:23.199 all the saints, the Holy Mother of God, they 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:28.740 will intercede to the Lord for us as well. This 00:02:28.740 --> 00:02:32.020 Sunday, we commemorate two wonder -working icons 00:02:32.020 --> 00:02:36.360 where God answered the prayers of his people. 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:40.759 The first is the icon of the Mother of God, the 00:02:40.759 --> 00:02:46.840 joy of all who sorrow. In 1888 in St. Petersburg, 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:50.460 there was a great... thunderstorm and lightning 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.919 flashed out of the sky and struck a chapel there 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.599 and it caught fire and it burned and everything 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:04.800 was singed or burnt except for this icon of the 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:09.439 mother of God. It was so hot in that chapel that 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:13.199 coins were actually pressed into the icon itself 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:19.349 from the heat and yet it was undamaged. How could 00:03:19.349 --> 00:03:22.750 something like that be if it were not miraculous? 00:03:24.189 --> 00:03:28.110 God seeks to give us his love. He seeks to help 00:03:28.110 --> 00:03:33.550 us in times of tough, difficult times. He wants 00:03:33.550 --> 00:03:36.389 to be there with us through those times. Won't 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:39.370 we go to him? Shouldn't we pray? Shouldn't we 00:03:39.370 --> 00:03:43.310 ask the saints to pray for us as well? The second 00:03:43.310 --> 00:03:50.599 icon of the mother of God is, the icon of Pochayev. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:57.360 I want to read to you, this is on the OCA website. 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:00.340 If you were to look it up for today, you would 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:06.840 find this portion about this icon. In the summer 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:12.080 of 1675 during the Zaboransk War with the Turks, 00:04:12.340 --> 00:04:16.180 in the reign of the Polish king Jan Sobieski, 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:20.680 Regiments composed of taters under the command 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:25.139 of Khan Nur ad -Din via Vishnavets fell upon 00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:29.899 the Bochayev Monastery. They surrounded it on 00:04:29.899 --> 00:04:35.339 three sides. The weak monastery walls and its 00:04:35.339 --> 00:04:39.220 stone buildings did not offer much protection 00:04:39.220 --> 00:04:43.899 against a siege. Eagleman Joseph Dobromirsky 00:04:43.899 --> 00:04:46.959 urged the brethren and the lay people to pray 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:51.019 to their heavenly intercessors, the Most Holy 00:04:51.019 --> 00:04:55.980 Theotokos and Saint Job of Pachaya. The monks 00:04:55.980 --> 00:04:59.040 and the people prayed fervently, prostrating 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:02.180 themselves before the wonder -working icon of 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:05.199 the Mother of God and the reliquary containing 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:10.100 the relics of Saint Job. At sunrise on the morning 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:15.980 of July 23rd, as the taters prepared to attack 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:19.620 the monastery, the egomon ordered the akathist 00:05:19.620 --> 00:05:22.740 to the Theotokos to be sun, and at the opening 00:05:22.740 --> 00:05:27.160 words, O Queen of the Heavenly Hosts, the Mother 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:31.459 of God suddenly appeared over the church in an 00:05:31.459 --> 00:05:36.420 unfurled, radiant white omephorion. With angels 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:41.100 holding unsheathed swords, St. Job stood beside 00:05:41.100 --> 00:05:44.660 the Mother of God, bowing to her and beseeching 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:49.639 her to defend the monastery. The taters believed 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:53.000 that the heavenly army was a vision, and in their 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:56.860 confusion, they started shooting arrows at the 00:05:56.860 --> 00:06:00.860 Most Holy Theotokos and St. Job. But the arrows 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:04.180 turned backwards and wounded those who shot them. 00:06:04.939 --> 00:06:09.759 The enemy gripped by terror fled in panic, trampling 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.720 upon and killing each other. The defenders of 00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.600 the monastery pursued them and took many prisoners. 00:06:17.060 --> 00:06:22.360 Later, some of those prisoners converted to the 00:06:22.360 --> 00:06:26.060 Orthodox faith and remained at the monastery 00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:32.199 thereafter. What a miracle. How could they ever 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:36.220 have survived this attack? If they gave in to 00:06:36.220 --> 00:06:40.240 despair, they would not have prayed and they 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.259 would have been destroyed. But they had hope. 00:06:43.339 --> 00:06:47.240 They had faith. They had trust in God. And even 00:06:47.240 --> 00:06:51.480 in seemingly impossible, the situation was beyond 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.980 what they could handle. They prayed and God answered. 00:06:56.439 --> 00:07:01.399 There are times in life when we need help. Let 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:07.079 us go in prayer to the Lord. Sometimes we forget 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:12.019 about the unseen part of God's creation, living 00:07:12.019 --> 00:07:15.439 in the limited vision of the visible world around 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:19.459 us. But the two blind men came to Christ with 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:23.019 faith and he opened their eyes. And if we are 00:07:23.019 --> 00:07:26.459 spiritually blind, we too must come to our Lord 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:29.680 and God and Savior Jesus Christ and ask for healing. 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:33.980 to be given spiritual eyes, eyes of faith which 00:07:33.980 --> 00:07:37.120 trust in God. When we are faced with a great 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:40.220 challenge, we must take it to God in prayer. 00:07:41.319 --> 00:07:45.300 Perhaps today there is some great challenge that 00:07:45.300 --> 00:07:50.699 confronts you. It could be an illness. It could 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:54.360 be some sin that has overwhelmed you. It could 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:58.430 be a betrayal by someone close to you. It could 00:07:58.430 --> 00:08:01.430 be emotional, mental, spiritual, or some kind 00:08:01.430 --> 00:08:04.290 of challenge, but you know it's just too much. 00:08:04.589 --> 00:08:07.949 You feel under siege, like that monastery in 00:08:07.949 --> 00:08:12.370 Pachayat. The answer is to go to the Lord Jesus 00:08:12.370 --> 00:08:16.329 Christ, to pray to him, to ask the Holy Mother 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:20.509 of God to pray, to ask saints to intercede for 00:08:20.509 --> 00:08:24.509 you, to trust in God, not in yourself, not in 00:08:24.509 --> 00:08:28.000 other people, but in God. Trust not in the sons 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.079 of men in whom there is no salvation, but in 00:08:31.079 --> 00:08:35.820 the Lord God, the creator of all things. Let 00:08:35.820 --> 00:08:39.200 us follow the example of King David, who writes 00:08:39.200 --> 00:08:43.440 in Psalm 54, Save me, O God, by your name, and 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.500 vindicate me by your strength. Hear my prayer, 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:51.379 O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. There 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:54.919 are times in life when we need help. let us always 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:59.059 turn to God in prayer, trusting in his love for 00:08:59.059 --> 00:09:02.700 us. Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God.