In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.
Glory to the Father. Through the years, I guess
you would know this. I've been so deeply involved
in the lives of so many of you. I've seen your
times of trouble. seeing your joys, seeing the
obstacles that you have to overcome. Perhaps
you would have overcome some of those obstacles
and carried things a little bit easier if the
love coming from me was stronger, if my faith
was more vibrant. But in any case, my point is,
while you probably don't know, awful lot about
me, although you see me all the time, I know
a lot about you. You come to confession, I have
a glimpse into your soul. It's not a balanced
relationship in some way, but on the other hand,
it's my duty to help carry, to help encourage.
So I haven't mind today, hearing this gospel,
to speak about something like that. To speak
about three things, what I have in mind is, well,
as Metropolitan Colossus Ware used to tell priests,
only preach, if you have, with three points.
Not four, not two, not one, but three points.
So I have in mind three points to share with
you based on this gospel. The first point would
be the rejection of grace. Rejection of grace.
The second point would be being receptive to
God's grace. And the third thing, perhaps the
most important thing, is perseverance in God's
grace. We heard from chapter 9 of the Gospel
of St. Matthew. Remember, after Pentecost, we
launch... Right into the Gospel of St. Matthew.
We read that all summer long. And we get to a
point in October where we switch to Luke. And
then we go through Luke all the way up just before
Christmas. And then we start reading about the
feast. Well, here in chapter 9, what has just
happened? Jesus has healed a demoniac, a man
with a legion of demons. The demons said to Jesus,
recognizing who he is, have you come? Have you
come to destroy us or torture us or to deal with
us before the time? So the old gospel, you're
seeing Jesus do these marvelous works. And who
is rejecting him? And who? Seize him for who
he is. Well, the demons are not heretics. They
hate God for sure. But they know everything.
And they hate us. But they know who Jesus is.
And they say that in the gospel. And then Jesus
has just raised a young girl from the dead. Hi,
Ace. Just raised a young girl from the dead.
And healed a woman with an issue of blood. and
healed the demoniac, and healed blind men. And
what he says to the blind men, for a very specific
reason, he says, don't tell anybody about this.
And they go out, and they're so happy, of course
they're going to tell people, and they glorify
God. And what do we read next? Why Jesus said
don't tell anybody, the Pharisees and the religious
leaders say, he cast out devils and does these
healings by the prince of the devil. This is
skating close and maybe has actually happened,
this sin against the Holy Spirit. That is, when
something true, real, beautiful, Godly has happened.
You deny it. This is the denial of grace. Brothers
and sisters. You can talk to somebody. About
Jesus Christ. And you should. But if grace does
not touch their hearts. Because they are closed
to it. Because their life. has some sort of corruption,
and we're not to judge them or condemn them.
Only God's going to do that, is to judge them.
God loves everyone and wants all to come to the
knowledge of the truth. But unless they have
some grace, your words will not touch them. You
could do miracles all day long downtown Santa
Rosa. True miracles by the power of God and the
Holy Spirit. Nothing fake. But unless someone
is touched by the grace of God, they won't follow
the Lord. It will make no difference to their
life. Why are people closed off to the grace
of God? This is a great mystery. Probably we'd
take a semester to figure that one out. But it
has to do with sin. It has to do with fear. It
has to do with shame. And it has to do with just
rejecting Christ because he will change your
life. And so many don't want that to happen.
Let's go now to the reception of grace. Jesus
comes to these men. The blind men came to him,
actually. And Jesus says, do you believe that
I'm able to do this? Do you believe? Do you trust
me? And they say, yes, Lord. And he touched their
eyes saying, according to your faith, let it
be to you. And their eyes were opened. Jesus
wants to affirm us. He wants to build up our
faith. He says to us, do you believe? What does
that mean? It means despite everything you see,
in spite of all the philosophies and the social
things going on, do you trust in Jesus Christ?
Do you trust him? That's what it means. Like
St. Lawrence, who we commemorated yesterday,
in the prison. And he's healing the prison keeper.
He's baptizing the prison keeper and healing
a blind man in the prison, and other blind people
start to come to him in the prison. He is not
bewailing his situation. He is not saying, God,
you have abandoned me. I thought this was going
to go another way. No, God... expects us to be
a light in a dark place, and that only happens
if we are receptive to grace. And that happens
when our conscience is clear. That's why we have
confession. That happens when we create a space.
Yes, we have to respond to God. It's all his
grace, but we have to open up a place in our
beating heart. so that the Spirit of God can
work within us. So we fast. Right now, we only
have a few days left for the fast before the
great feast of the Mother of God, or Dormition.
The greatest feast of the Mother of God, perhaps
the greatest feast of the year, the Summer Pascha.
Brothers and sisters, I'll say this. I know I
might be disappointed, but I'm going to say it
anyway. We have a vigil on Wednesday night. Wouldn't
it be marvelous if we showed our love for the
mother of God and for this event of her dormition
by all coming together to pray. You all can't
come on Thursday to the liturgy. People work,
I know that. And of course school starts right
on Tuesday or Wednesday. But do what you can
to show your love. This is how we create space
in our heart. This is how we trust in God. We
see his marvelous work and his love in our life.
And finally, I want to say something about perseverance
and grace. In the epistle to the Corinthians,
right at the beginning, St. Paul says this. He
says, we were burdened. We were crushed beyond
measure, beyond strength. So that we despaired
even of life. Now we hear often, we hear this
verse from St. Paul, and they're both true. There
is no temptation taking you but such as is common
to man. For God is faithful. He will not allow
you to be tempted above that which you are able.
But will, with a temptation, also make a way
to escape so you can bear it. On the one hand,
he says, we were crushed. It was beyond my strength.
I wanted to die. It was too much. On the other
hand, he says, God will never allow us to be
pushed beyond what we can bear. But we don't
know what we can bear until we enter into that
furnace and to that trouble and that difficulty.
The great apostle who wrote those words endured
things we cannot imagine. Shipwreck, being beaten,
whipped, imprisoned, betrayed. And he wore those
as a badge to say this is the mark of a true
apostle, to be a light in that darkness. He knew
that he had to pass the boundary. From this life
to the life to come. If he was truly going to
carry his cross and follow the Savior. Every
soul, it's different. Every single soul is different.
This Romanian elder, Father Rafael. He wrote
this. You are speaking about those moments when
we are taken to the limit. At the end of our
strength. And I dare to add, beyond our strength.
I can't give you a formula, he says, because
a formula doesn't exist. This is about a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ. You as a person
and God as a person. This is what saves you in
those moments when God takes us beyond our limits.
When we're looking for grace to uphold us and
give us consolation and hope and patience. And
what did we just hear in the epistle today? Through
the scriptures, we have comfort and patience
and consolation. And we pass that threshold.
And you see that your limits have been enlarged.
And your heart is enlarged. And something happens
with your faithfulness to God. Like those blind
men, all their lives blind and finally reaching
Christ. Think about Lazarus. He was a friend
of Jesus Christ. Close friend. Christ loved Lazarus,
it says in the gospel. And Christ heard that
Lazarus was sick and delayed. He delayed. He
didn't come to heal him. But he left him and
Lazarus died. And then Lazarus' flesh, his body,
began to decay for days. And Christ raised him
not just out of death, but out of this decay
with the divine power which created everything
out of nothing. Lazarus was his friend. And to
a certain degree, you and I are like Lazarus
in the moments when it seems like it did to Martha
and Mary, that Christ was indifferent to them.
When they were stretched beyond their limit,
they were crushed, despairing even of life, as
St. Paul says. With God, that's not indifference.
With God, that's not silence. With God, he is
speaking to you through the cross itself. I'm
speaking like this today because each one of
us, at some point in our life, will bear a burden
that we know is too much. And we need to hear
words that will encourage us that it will be,
with God's help, not a better day tomorrow. We
don't know that. But that the power of the resurrection,
which dwells in us, will give us the comfort
and the hope and the consolation to sustain us.
And we will show faith in Christ. We will be
like those blind men. Yes, Lord. I believe, and
the storm is raging around us, and we stand firm
no matter what. No matter what kind of crazy
stuff is going on. And there's plenty of that.
We will be like St. Lawrence, able to be the
light in the dark place. And one final thought.
There is only one miracle at this point in our
lives. Brothers and sisters, to be given to us
who have been baptized, who know the gospel,
who know the mother of God, who know the saints,
who take part in the divine liturgy, the mystical
sacrifice, who are lifted up each and every week
to the kingdom of heaven. Let us lift up our
hearts and we are there seated with Christ in
the heavenly places. There's only one miracle
that we need to think about. And that has to
do with allowing grace to always enter our heart.
The miracle we need is that correction and openness
of the heart, the renewal of our life, and the
spiritual resurrection which only our Lord can
give us. To him be glory now and ever, to ages
of ages. Amen.