WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.160 Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to the Father, and 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.880 to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. You heard 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.220 the epistle. Those are sort of our walking orders 00:00:12.220 --> 00:00:19.859 for Lent. I don't need to go into that. And you 00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:23.899 heard the gospel, which on the one hand is frightening, 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:29.910 and the other hand is absolutely consoling. I'd 00:00:29.910 --> 00:00:32.369 say it's frightening because the Lord, having 00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:35.869 just told his disciples how to pray, he gave 00:00:35.869 --> 00:00:41.590 them the Lord's prayer. This is chapter 6, the 00:00:41.590 --> 00:00:46.549 Gospel of Matthew. And then he says to expand 00:00:46.549 --> 00:00:50.109 on the Lord's prayer. Give us this day our daily 00:00:50.109 --> 00:00:52.350 bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive 00:00:52.350 --> 00:00:55.950 those who trespass against us. Forgive us our 00:00:55.950 --> 00:01:01.149 debts. as we forgive those who are debtors to 00:01:01.149 --> 00:01:04.989 us. He expands on that. He says, if you forgive 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:07.310 men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:10.030 forgive you. It's important to understand. I'm 00:01:10.030 --> 00:01:12.530 going to say more about this later at the Vespers. 00:01:12.590 --> 00:01:16.629 I hope, I'm expecting, all of you will stay for 00:01:16.629 --> 00:01:23.709 that. That's not a request, by the way. I'll 00:01:23.709 --> 00:01:26.469 say more about forgiveness later. No, it's an 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:30.329 act. When the Lord forgave from the cross, it 00:01:30.329 --> 00:01:34.930 wasn't about feeling ready or warm towards those 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:42.129 who had offended. So it's an absolute must we 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:45.989 must do. We have to do it. But what's consoling, 00:01:45.989 --> 00:01:48.890 and we have a hard time, but what's consoling 00:01:48.890 --> 00:01:52.329 about this gospel is that the Lord says when 00:01:52.329 --> 00:01:56.159 you fast, do it in a joyful way. When you pray, 00:01:56.239 --> 00:02:00.980 do it secretly. And your Heavenly Father will 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:05.760 reward you openly. How? With grace that's shared 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:10.919 with others. With love. With the ability to actually 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:13.979 forgive from your heart. We start with an act. 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:16.979 Maybe someday the heart will follow. But here's 00:02:16.979 --> 00:02:19.780 today what I really want to say to you. Today 00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:23.219 is Forgiveness Sunday. Also known as Cheese Fair 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:27.110 Sunday. We're going to stop eating dairy products 00:02:27.110 --> 00:02:32.069 after today. I say we. We are going to stop doing 00:02:32.069 --> 00:02:36.210 that as a parish. Last week we heard the gospel 00:02:36.210 --> 00:02:41.189 of the last judgment. It was not just as a warning. 00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:45.189 Of course, you heard the answers for the final 00:02:45.189 --> 00:02:52.449 exam. They're clear, are they not? Judgment means 00:02:52.449 --> 00:02:56.189 to put things right, to put things in order, 00:02:56.270 --> 00:03:01.189 to make things as they should be. The parable 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:03.349 of the sheep and the goats that we heard last 00:03:03.349 --> 00:03:07.870 week, told of the end of the age, the consummation 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.729 of everything, the judgment and the resurrection. 00:03:10.849 --> 00:03:13.550 Now the church is pointing our direction towards 00:03:13.550 --> 00:03:21.009 Pascha. Let's orient ourself. So today, having 00:03:21.009 --> 00:03:24.430 heard last week about the end, the church says, 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:29.889 well, let's go back to the beginning. Today is 00:03:29.889 --> 00:03:32.550 known as the commemoration of the expulsion of 00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:37.870 Adam and Eve from paradise. So the church says, 00:03:37.990 --> 00:03:40.610 let's talk about that, let's meditate on that, 00:03:40.650 --> 00:03:42.909 let's sing about that, return to the beginning 00:03:42.909 --> 00:03:46.430 at the creation and the fall from paradise, the 00:03:46.430 --> 00:03:50.530 fall from beauty and glory. closeness to God, 00:03:50.669 --> 00:03:54.490 so that we can begin Lent with a realistic idea 00:03:54.490 --> 00:03:59.069 of where we're really at. So we start with Adam 00:03:59.069 --> 00:04:02.530 and Eve in the garden, or rather, outside of 00:04:02.530 --> 00:04:06.069 the garden. Here's the hymn from last night. 00:04:06.169 --> 00:04:10.409 It pains my heart so much to hear this. Adam 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:15.150 sat before paradise, and lamenting his nakedness, 00:04:15.289 --> 00:04:19.439 he wept. Woe is me, by evil deceit I was persuaded 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.759 and led astray. And now I am in exile from glory. 00:04:24.339 --> 00:04:28.939 Woe is me. He's weeping there. He was persuaded. 00:04:28.959 --> 00:04:33.740 He gave his will, just as we do. We do it. Can't 00:04:33.740 --> 00:04:37.959 blame Adam. We certainly know about the tragedy, 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:42.920 the grief, the suffering, the sin, all the brokenness 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:48.279 that has come. But what exactly has been lost? 00:04:48.339 --> 00:04:51.879 We know what we have. We live with it every day. 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:57.740 What's supposed to be normal for God and for 00:04:57.740 --> 00:05:02.180 humans? So what can we say about paradise as 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:09.560 we are thinking about the resurrection? Paradise, 00:05:09.740 --> 00:05:12.220 say the Holy Fathers. I'm just going to give 00:05:12.220 --> 00:05:16.110 you some quotes here. It's the kingdom of God. 00:05:16.449 --> 00:05:19.490 At the resurrection, when we shall rise from 00:05:19.490 --> 00:05:22.129 the dead, when our bodies will be restored and 00:05:22.129 --> 00:05:27.509 renewed and become what was corruptible, incorruptible. 00:05:27.569 --> 00:05:33.490 What was mortal becomes immortal. What was broken 00:05:33.490 --> 00:05:38.410 is restored. When that happens, We will have, 00:05:38.550 --> 00:05:40.949 we will know, we will experience the kingdom 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:44.329 of God in its fullness. St. Gregory the theologian 00:05:44.329 --> 00:05:47.910 says the kingdom of heaven is nothing but encountering 00:05:47.910 --> 00:05:52.370 of the supreme purity and perfection of the life 00:05:52.370 --> 00:05:57.649 of God. The closeness to God. To behold him. 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.199 the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the whole 00:06:00.199 --> 00:06:02.180 company of heaven in the light of his glory, 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:05.019 which will be revealed to us in its fullness, 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:09.300 and we will never be filled, and we will always 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:14.220 desire more. We will see Christ then no longer 00:06:14.220 --> 00:06:17.420 as in a mirror, in an indirect and dim matter, 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:20.779 but face to face, says St. Paul, face to face. 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:26.519 I shall, he says, I shall know just as I also 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:32.199 know. am known. We shall know God as God knows 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:39.519 us. We will be in his presence. We will live 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:43.720 with him forever. A divine and truly eternal 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:47.699 life. The Lord said, as you, Father, art in me, 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.500 and I in thee, that they also may be one in us. 00:06:52.009 --> 00:06:54.790 and the glory which thou gavest me I have given 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:57.689 them, that they may be one just as we are one, 00:06:57.790 --> 00:07:04.529 and I in them, and thou in me. This is beyond 00:07:04.529 --> 00:07:09.410 comprehension, but we have to say it. St. Paul 00:07:09.410 --> 00:07:14.029 says it's beyond whatever eye has seen, ear has 00:07:14.029 --> 00:07:16.670 heard. It's beyond whatever has entered into 00:07:16.670 --> 00:07:21.470 the heart of man. We will be in the presence 00:07:21.470 --> 00:07:25.389 of God and live with him forever, a divine and 00:07:25.389 --> 00:07:30.430 truly eternal life. The liturgy tells us in its 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:32.470 prayers this communion with God and the kingdom 00:07:32.470 --> 00:07:35.990 is this. Grant that we may more perfectly partake 00:07:35.990 --> 00:07:40.769 of thee in the never -ending day of thy kingdom, 00:07:40.910 --> 00:07:46.769 in paradise, in the resurrection. We too will 00:07:46.769 --> 00:07:50.129 shine with divine light, uncreated light and 00:07:50.129 --> 00:07:53.050 glory, be united with our Savior, the Father, 00:07:53.110 --> 00:07:56.110 Son, Holy Spirit. Then the righteous will shine 00:07:56.110 --> 00:07:59.470 forth as the sun in the kingdom of heaven, says 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:02.850 the scriptures, and will partake of God's glory. 00:08:03.649 --> 00:08:11.009 Your joy, says the Lord, no one will take from 00:08:11.009 --> 00:08:19.750 you. We don't live with that joy now. But then, 00:08:19.829 --> 00:08:23.949 no one will take it from you, and we will be 00:08:23.949 --> 00:08:27.889 deified. Oh, precious paradise, says a hymn, 00:08:28.110 --> 00:08:31.829 unsurpassed in beauty, tabernacle built by God, 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:34.789 unending gladness and dwelling of the saints. 00:08:38.070 --> 00:08:43.429 This, what I've just given you, can just be as... 00:08:43.929 --> 00:08:47.750 the talking heads talking about politics say 00:08:47.750 --> 00:08:53.610 now, a word salad. If we don't orient ourselves 00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:56.490 toward the scriptures and towards the life of 00:08:56.490 --> 00:09:02.730 the age to come, we, to make an understatement, 00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:06.590 we don't live in paradise. So let's not think 00:09:06.590 --> 00:09:09.509 for a moment the life we live in this world is 00:09:09.509 --> 00:09:14.169 normal existence. What I've read to you, That's 00:09:14.169 --> 00:09:16.590 normal existence. Yes, it seems distant from 00:09:16.590 --> 00:09:21.049 us. But where does it start? It starts with the 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:25.990 change of heart. We can't actually forgive anybody 00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:29.370 truly unless it comes from the heart which has 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.830 been changed by the grace of God and by the crucifixion 00:09:32.830 --> 00:09:37.570 of the old man, the old Adam, who disobeyed God. 00:09:37.730 --> 00:09:44.379 He has to die. In a little while, Just before 00:09:44.379 --> 00:09:48.679 communion, we're going to hear the psalm by the 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:51.179 waters of Babylon. There we sat down and wept 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:55.100 when we remembered Zion. How can we sing the 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:59.000 Lord's song in a strange land? This psalm presents 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:05.159 the raw emotion, including revenge also. But 00:10:05.159 --> 00:10:09.000 for us, it represents the spiritual sorrow which 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.159 the church says, you! Brothers and sisters, you 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:19.320 know about it. Don't ignore it. Meditate on that 00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:22.940 sorrow and that tragedy that we all experience 00:10:22.940 --> 00:10:26.559 in the light, not by itself, in the light of 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:31.580 the kingdom of God, the paradise to come. By 00:10:31.580 --> 00:10:34.000 the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.559 wept when we remembered Zion. To lose our home, 00:10:36.679 --> 00:10:45.190 to lose paradise, that's tragic. But worse, our 00:10:45.190 --> 00:10:48.330 current problem isn't just thinking back. It's 00:10:48.330 --> 00:10:50.929 that we don't think back. It's that we forget 00:10:50.929 --> 00:10:54.110 it. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right 00:10:54.110 --> 00:10:58.649 hand wither, says the psalm. When we forget something 00:10:58.649 --> 00:11:02.950 holy in us and precious in us dies, to be a Christian 00:11:02.950 --> 00:11:09.769 is to love Christ above everything else and to 00:11:09.769 --> 00:11:13.399 examine our life. In the light of his kingdom. 00:11:14.620 --> 00:11:19.460 To love everything else. After Christ. Everything. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.279 And that means to behold the beauty of Christ. 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.039 And to struggle to behold the beauty of Christ. 00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:30.279 To pray. To struggle through prayer. To set Jerusalem. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:33.820 The kingdom of God. Above all others. As at the 00:11:33.820 --> 00:11:38.850 head of my joy. Make paradise in your heart by 00:11:38.850 --> 00:11:41.450 God's grace. That's what Lent is pointing us 00:11:41.450 --> 00:11:47.610 to. It's not just a series of services, liturgical 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:51.809 rites and rituals, remembering this, that, and 00:11:51.809 --> 00:11:55.309 the other thing. No, it's as the hymn which we're 00:11:55.309 --> 00:11:57.629 going to sing on the Sunday of the veneration 00:11:57.629 --> 00:12:00.009 of the cross, it says to us, to the whole congregation, 00:12:00.370 --> 00:12:06.519 return again to paradise. That's what Lent's 00:12:06.519 --> 00:12:10.620 about, to acquire the peace that passes all understanding 00:12:10.620 --> 00:12:14.480 who is Christ. Then we can forgive. Then we can 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.940 bless. Then we can do all that we need to do 00:12:17.940 --> 00:12:22.360 as servants of God in this world and make little 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:26.179 paradise around us because Christ will be our 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:30.559 peace and our heart will remember and long for 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:36.500 and weep for what was lost. but be joyful what 00:12:36.500 --> 00:12:44.799 we are heading towards. I've prepared a little 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:49.019 booklet for you. It's a limited amount. I guess 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:52.840 I can make more. It's a 2024 Lenten calendar 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:58.980 and service guide. You know Lent is going to 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.259 involve works of mercy. You know it's going to 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.980 involve prayer. At home. It's going to involve 00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:10.600 more fasting. Shutting off social media. And 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:13.179 television. And all that stuff. But what I want 00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:15.960 to say one thing to end with today. It involves 00:13:15.960 --> 00:13:23.100 church services. Let me suggest. Let me challenge. 00:13:24.659 --> 00:13:29.200 At least make a plan. What you are going to do 00:13:29.200 --> 00:13:33.299 this coming week. Canada St. Andrew in the evening. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:36.960 If you can come to Mass in the morning, pre -sanctified, 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:41.299 etc. But as a baseline, as a goal, whether you 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:43.600 can meet it or not, here's what I would suggest. 00:13:44.340 --> 00:13:48.259 Every Wednesday, pre -sanctified. Because if 00:13:48.259 --> 00:13:51.519 you only come on Sunday, the only thing different 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.740 about Lent is going to be you're going to see 00:13:53.740 --> 00:14:02.289 purple. Mostly. Come every Saturday. Because 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:04.870 you're going to hear the wonderful hymns. You'll 00:14:04.870 --> 00:14:07.070 have been nourished on Wednesday after fasting, 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:10.330 spiritually, and Saturday evening, you're going 00:14:10.330 --> 00:14:12.549 to hear the hymns of what we're celebrating. 00:14:12.730 --> 00:14:15.429 You'll understand what the content of Lent is, 00:14:15.529 --> 00:14:18.129 what the church is saying. Pay attention. You're 00:14:18.129 --> 00:14:21.929 here. Let's do this. And don't miss Sunday. These 00:14:21.929 --> 00:14:24.210 are the three things. Of course, you'll want 00:14:24.210 --> 00:14:26.450 to go to confession at least once during Lent. 00:14:28.250 --> 00:14:31.870 At Pascha, you hear this amazing... Sermon of 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:35.350 St. John Chrysostom, which is built on the parable 00:14:35.350 --> 00:14:41.210 of the vineyard workers. And St. John is saying 00:14:41.210 --> 00:14:44.070 everyone's welcome, third, sixth, eleventh hour, 00:14:44.269 --> 00:14:47.809 whatever you come. The doors are open, the table 00:14:47.809 --> 00:14:51.710 is richly laden, feast all sumptuously. But brothers 00:14:51.710 --> 00:14:54.809 and sisters, that's for those that don't know. 00:14:55.350 --> 00:14:58.210 Do not come for confession at the eleventh hour. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:04.399 For your own spiritual growth. And, you know, 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:07.559 to save the priests a little bit, too. To be 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:13.399 honest. The moment your conscience tells you 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:18.019 something, come confess. Leave that stand over 00:15:18.019 --> 00:15:21.940 there with a clean conscience. and a heart that 00:15:21.940 --> 00:15:25.440 is ready to receive the peace of God that passes 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:28.399 all understanding. So please take a look at this 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:32.960 guidebook and make a plan. And may we all, brothers 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:37.320 and sisters, have a blessed and wonderful and 00:15:37.320 --> 00:15:39.179 edifying fast. Amen.