Glory to Jesus Christ. Well, you won't move closer
to me, so I'll move closer to you. In the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. I find it very interesting and
comforting, too, this thought that if you're
at a store, doctor's office, waiting room, at
this time of year, December. On the speaker is,
well, my doctors at my dentist's office, thank
God it was Ella Fitzgerald, who's a legit and
wonderful musician, but it's songs like Let It
Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow, and Up on the
Rooftop, and all of these songs. Getting us ready
for Christmas. And then you have, if you turn
on the news, the horrible, the terrible chaos
going on in the Middle East and Syria, especially
right now, and the war in Ukraine and other places.
But in the church, we come here, and you're not
going to hear... Pointless songs, even if it's
Ella Fitzgerald, her magnificent voice about
snow, you're going to have your attention, if
we listen, directed towards something we need
to hear for the healing of our soul so we can
actually approach Christmas, the birth of Christ,
in a worthy manner, in a joyful manner, even
sorrowing. for all this chaos and the profoundly
suffering world, we can still rejoice at the
same time as we sorrow. The church teaches us
how to do that because the church is a spiritual
hospital. Some people don't know their patience.
That's one problem. But for those who ask God
to reveal... There's sins to them. The church
will take us who are fallen, sick, confused human
beings who suffer from all kinds of destructive
passions and sins and give us a tangible therapy
with worship, with confession, with communion,
with holy unction, with... fellowship with one
another, and the lives of the saints and the
stories from the gospel, which aren't teaching
us a good moral, but are teaching us the foundations
of the spiritual life. Healing comes provided
we desire it, provided we don't normalize our
dysfunction and our sin. And that we accept the
situation that we are indeed, we need to be patients
in this hospital. The Orthodox Church offers
something that no other church can do. Many other
places you might get into the waiting room for
the doctor. But here you will meet the physician
and he will lay his hands upon you. We're admitted
to the hospital for healing and the church has
the remedies and all the holy mysteries. It's
sometimes, mostly, not sometimes, mostly all
times, a great effort to overcome those things
within us that prevent our healing. When I say
healing, I mean that the soul is reflecting the
light and the holiness and the love of God. And
that we are joyful and at peace. That's what
I mean by healing. But we have shame. We don't
want to admit things. That's true for every one
of us. We have pride. We justify ourselves. We
blame others for our situation. And we have fear
and anxiety and anger about that. But we have
a chance, brothers and sisters, if like the lepers
today in the gospel you just heard, we call out
for mercy so repeatedly. So heartfelt that we
appear before our Savior. They were far off,
it says in the story. This is Luke chapter 17.
Isn't it interesting that we prepare for Christmas
by hearing a story about ten lepers and one Samaritan
of the ten who comes back. It's very interesting.
Well, they're far off. They have leprosy. They
can't be near. And they call to the Savior, have
mercy. They don't ask for anything but mercy.
And the Savior doesn't say to them, you are healed,
go your way, your faith has saved you. Does he?
He doesn't say that to them. Did you notice?
He says, go to the priests and show them. The
Old Testament, I think it's Deuteronomy, maybe
it's Leviticus, everybody's favorite book. Someone
with leprosy or skin disease had to go to the
priest to show them that they were sick and they
would then have to be isolated or they got well
and they would be admitted back. So Jesus says,
no, go to the priest. Which means... They're
invited to walk all the way to Jerusalem, probably
a two -day journey, because where Jesus is coming,
to have priests examine them. And one of the
nine, only one, not even a Jewish man, but the
Samaritan, that double outcast, not only with
leprosy, but he was a Samaritan. He wasn't Jewish.
He was the stranger and foreigner that St. Paul
mentions in the Ephesians. He turned back at
some point. Walked all the way back after being
healed. Imagine. And received more healing because
he worshipped his creator and his God. He persevered.
He heard what Christ asked him to do. He just
asked for mercy and Christ says, go. Do this
thing. It's going to take you two days to get
there and then two days to get back to me if
you want to give thanks. And he did it in faithfulness.
And as he started his journey to Jerusalem, to
the priest, he didn't know if he would be healed.
He didn't know. He just followed Christ. He was
at his wit's end. He was at the place where there
is no answer. There is no solution. And the same
traits, the same obedience, the same trust, the
same willingness to go the distance and then
some, because it's Christ, that's why. Because
it's Christ. Can be seen in the heroes of our
faith that we commemorate today, Saints Joachim
and Anna. Tomorrow is the actual feast day. We
moved it to today so we could all enjoy this.
And there are relics of the saints there on the
icon. Notice both accounts, that of the ten lepers
and that of Joachim and Anna, are being concerned
people that are outside of society. They feel
abandoned. They're outcasts. If not by God, then
certainly by others in their society. They need
help. They need healing. They have no answer.
This icon here, as I told you last year, because
we celebrated this feast day on a Sunday last
year. is the wedding icon that Matryoshka Ann
and I received from then Tom, now he's Father
Patrick, the Archimandrite. It's a beautiful
icon. It speaks to me about faithfulness. It
speaks to me about prayer in disappointment.
About long years of suffering. And sorrow. Born
together as husband and wife. And the profoundly
heartfelt and deep prayer that comes out of that.
And the obedience to Christ and his church. Christ
the head. The church the body. The whole Christ.
There's no Christ generic. There's Christ and
the church. They are one thing. That's what we're
being called to be obedient to. Last night, one
of the hymns describes the whole situation in
their life. It says, Anna cried out in her prayer,
beseeching the creator and God of all, O master,
thou dost perceive the shame of barrenness. They
were probably over 50 years old. Heal the pain
of my heart, open my womb to make it fruitful,
that we may offer thee a child as a gift. I see
in this icon the promise to offer God a gift
that they would only have for themselves for
a short time. They received the gift from God
and they gave it back right away. That's what
we're being asked to do with our life. I see
the warmth and joy of this gift in this icon.
I see the trust. that whatever God would give
or not give was okay. I see the beauty and sanctity
of marriage, the beauty and sanctity of conception
of a child. Who else celebrates a conception?
The Catholics have that, thank God, they keep
that feast as well. Today they actually keep
that. They have a different view of what happens.
I'm not going into the theology. I see the sacredness
of that conception and the beauty of that chastity,
that holiness, the trust in one another, in which
the Holy Spirit gives life at conception, a new
life. I see that marriage when I look at this
icon. in that embrace that the two of them have,
is not just a worldly institution that the government
can dictate and legislate about. It's a holy
vocation, a commitment of love and faith to participate
in God's creative and redemptive work. And if
you're not married, that's okay. What was...
The result of this conception. But the all holy
virgin. Let her be your example. If you are not
married. And don't plan to be married. This is
not a story. With a simple moral. The lepers.
Be grateful for what you have. Come back to Christ.
It's not that simple. They receive finally. After
struggling 50 years. the prayer of their heart,
and they received a child, and their offering.
This is not just about that. Those are elements
of this story. Like them, though, this story,
the lepers and Joachim and Anna, we're being
asked to consider, if we haven't already, to
make the sacrifice of our heart, our lives, to
our Savior. Despite whatever years, decades of
disappointment, and that we trust Christ, the
source of our life, when there seems to be no
solution, then in that struggle, we are becoming
saints. Because the grace of God can find an
opening within us in that sacrifice and transfigure
that struggle from just... Resentment and vain
struggle to something holy. For us, again, that
means we trust in Christ who is the head of the
church. The church is his body. The church is
not just, well, some old institution. And we,
unlike some other denominations, and we're not
a denomination, happen to have incense and icons
and saints and communion, confession and unction
and vigils and Pascha and the liturgy and the
Virgin Mary and vestments and all of this. That
is the content of the church and the tradition.
If we are faithful to that, brothers and sisters,
then the soul... Started to become like that
Samaritan leper that returned. Full of gratitude
and he worshipped the Lord. And we will become
like Saints Joachim and Anna. And all the things
that I said that Icon represents to me. We will
have those as a gift from God. In trust and in
love. And that witness. That witness. Of perseverance
and endurance. And Jesus says the one who endures
to the end will be saved. That witness will be
a joy to those around you. And to you as well.
To our Lord who gives us all this. Be glory and
honor now and ever to ages of ages. Amen.