WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:02.169 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:02.169 --> 00:00:05.570 of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ. 00:00:05.849 --> 00:00:15.630 Glory to the Father. Through the years, I guess 00:00:15.630 --> 00:00:20.670 you would know this. I've been so deeply involved 00:00:20.670 --> 00:00:27.789 in the lives of so many of you. I've seen your 00:00:27.789 --> 00:00:32.750 times of trouble. seeing your joys, seeing the 00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:38.210 obstacles that you have to overcome. Perhaps 00:00:38.210 --> 00:00:40.950 you would have overcome some of those obstacles 00:00:40.950 --> 00:00:46.210 and carried things a little bit easier if the 00:00:46.210 --> 00:00:49.409 love coming from me was stronger, if my faith 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:53.270 was more vibrant. But in any case, my point is, 00:00:53.450 --> 00:01:00.640 while you probably don't know, awful lot about 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:03.560 me, although you see me all the time, I know 00:01:03.560 --> 00:01:08.319 a lot about you. You come to confession, I have 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:12.219 a glimpse into your soul. It's not a balanced 00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:15.420 relationship in some way, but on the other hand, 00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:19.379 it's my duty to help carry, to help encourage. 00:01:20.340 --> 00:01:24.760 So I haven't mind today, hearing this gospel, 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:29.859 to speak about something like that. To speak 00:01:29.859 --> 00:01:33.980 about three things, what I have in mind is, well, 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.480 as Metropolitan Colossus Ware used to tell priests, 00:01:37.819 --> 00:01:42.680 only preach, if you have, with three points. 00:01:42.739 --> 00:01:46.480 Not four, not two, not one, but three points. 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:49.319 So I have in mind three points to share with 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.560 you based on this gospel. The first point would 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:59.840 be the rejection of grace. Rejection of grace. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:04.140 The second point would be being receptive to 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:08.699 God's grace. And the third thing, perhaps the 00:02:08.699 --> 00:02:13.080 most important thing, is perseverance in God's 00:02:13.080 --> 00:02:20.400 grace. We heard from chapter 9 of the Gospel 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:26.159 of St. Matthew. Remember, after Pentecost, we 00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:28.979 launch... Right into the Gospel of St. Matthew. 00:02:29.060 --> 00:02:31.780 We read that all summer long. And we get to a 00:02:31.780 --> 00:02:35.340 point in October where we switch to Luke. And 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:38.900 then we go through Luke all the way up just before 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:42.060 Christmas. And then we start reading about the 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:46.139 feast. Well, here in chapter 9, what has just 00:02:46.139 --> 00:02:51.919 happened? Jesus has healed a demoniac, a man 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:58.159 with a legion of demons. The demons said to Jesus, 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:04.340 recognizing who he is, have you come? Have you 00:03:04.340 --> 00:03:08.699 come to destroy us or torture us or to deal with 00:03:08.699 --> 00:03:14.099 us before the time? So the old gospel, you're 00:03:14.099 --> 00:03:18.319 seeing Jesus do these marvelous works. And who 00:03:18.319 --> 00:03:23.479 is rejecting him? And who? Seize him for who 00:03:23.479 --> 00:03:27.620 he is. Well, the demons are not heretics. They 00:03:27.620 --> 00:03:30.360 hate God for sure. But they know everything. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.599 And they hate us. But they know who Jesus is. 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.560 And they say that in the gospel. And then Jesus 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:43.639 has just raised a young girl from the dead. Hi, 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:48.439 Ace. Just raised a young girl from the dead. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.770 And healed a woman with an issue of blood. and 00:03:52.770 --> 00:03:58.150 healed the demoniac, and healed blind men. And 00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:01.150 what he says to the blind men, for a very specific 00:04:01.150 --> 00:04:05.770 reason, he says, don't tell anybody about this. 00:04:06.289 --> 00:04:09.530 And they go out, and they're so happy, of course 00:04:09.530 --> 00:04:11.849 they're going to tell people, and they glorify 00:04:11.849 --> 00:04:19.120 God. And what do we read next? Why Jesus said 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:21.939 don't tell anybody, the Pharisees and the religious 00:04:21.939 --> 00:04:26.439 leaders say, he cast out devils and does these 00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:31.040 healings by the prince of the devil. This is 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:35.040 skating close and maybe has actually happened, 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:41.360 this sin against the Holy Spirit. That is, when 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:47.029 something true, real, beautiful, Godly has happened. 00:04:47.069 --> 00:04:54.629 You deny it. This is the denial of grace. Brothers 00:04:54.629 --> 00:04:58.230 and sisters. You can talk to somebody. About 00:04:58.230 --> 00:05:03.930 Jesus Christ. And you should. But if grace does 00:05:03.930 --> 00:05:07.009 not touch their hearts. Because they are closed 00:05:07.009 --> 00:05:11.439 to it. Because their life. has some sort of corruption, 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.439 and we're not to judge them or condemn them. 00:05:13.459 --> 00:05:16.579 Only God's going to do that, is to judge them. 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:19.319 God loves everyone and wants all to come to the 00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:21.920 knowledge of the truth. But unless they have 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:26.899 some grace, your words will not touch them. You 00:05:26.899 --> 00:05:30.120 could do miracles all day long downtown Santa 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:34.060 Rosa. True miracles by the power of God and the 00:05:34.060 --> 00:05:37.920 Holy Spirit. Nothing fake. But unless someone 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:41.899 is touched by the grace of God, they won't follow 00:05:41.899 --> 00:05:45.100 the Lord. It will make no difference to their 00:05:45.100 --> 00:05:49.540 life. Why are people closed off to the grace 00:05:49.540 --> 00:05:54.620 of God? This is a great mystery. Probably we'd 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:58.279 take a semester to figure that one out. But it 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:04.220 has to do with sin. It has to do with fear. It 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:07.639 has to do with shame. And it has to do with just 00:06:07.639 --> 00:06:12.660 rejecting Christ because he will change your 00:06:12.660 --> 00:06:16.980 life. And so many don't want that to happen. 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:24.699 Let's go now to the reception of grace. Jesus 00:06:24.699 --> 00:06:31.540 comes to these men. The blind men came to him, 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:35.620 actually. And Jesus says, do you believe that 00:06:35.620 --> 00:06:38.660 I'm able to do this? Do you believe? Do you trust 00:06:38.660 --> 00:06:43.879 me? And they say, yes, Lord. And he touched their 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:46.800 eyes saying, according to your faith, let it 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:51.000 be to you. And their eyes were opened. Jesus 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:56.519 wants to affirm us. He wants to build up our 00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:01.920 faith. He says to us, do you believe? What does 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.300 that mean? It means despite everything you see, 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:11.779 in spite of all the philosophies and the social 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:15.379 things going on, do you trust in Jesus Christ? 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:21.759 Do you trust him? That's what it means. Like 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.500 St. Lawrence, who we commemorated yesterday, 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:29.920 in the prison. And he's healing the prison keeper. 00:07:32.239 --> 00:07:35.040 He's baptizing the prison keeper and healing 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:37.839 a blind man in the prison, and other blind people 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:41.600 start to come to him in the prison. He is not 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:46.220 bewailing his situation. He is not saying, God, 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:52.639 you have abandoned me. I thought this was going 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:57.259 to go another way. No, God... expects us to be 00:07:57.259 --> 00:08:00.680 a light in a dark place, and that only happens 00:08:00.680 --> 00:08:04.420 if we are receptive to grace. And that happens 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:09.439 when our conscience is clear. That's why we have 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.079 confession. That happens when we create a space. 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:17.279 Yes, we have to respond to God. It's all his 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:21.300 grace, but we have to open up a place in our 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:25.639 beating heart. so that the Spirit of God can 00:08:25.639 --> 00:08:31.180 work within us. So we fast. Right now, we only 00:08:31.180 --> 00:08:34.139 have a few days left for the fast before the 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:37.100 great feast of the Mother of God, or Dormition. 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:39.519 The greatest feast of the Mother of God, perhaps 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.940 the greatest feast of the year, the Summer Pascha. 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:46.480 Brothers and sisters, I'll say this. I know I 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.659 might be disappointed, but I'm going to say it 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:53.509 anyway. We have a vigil on Wednesday night. Wouldn't 00:08:53.509 --> 00:08:56.570 it be marvelous if we showed our love for the 00:08:56.570 --> 00:09:00.610 mother of God and for this event of her dormition 00:09:00.610 --> 00:09:05.429 by all coming together to pray. You all can't 00:09:05.429 --> 00:09:08.049 come on Thursday to the liturgy. People work, 00:09:08.169 --> 00:09:12.269 I know that. And of course school starts right 00:09:12.269 --> 00:09:17.370 on Tuesday or Wednesday. But do what you can 00:09:17.370 --> 00:09:20.919 to show your love. This is how we create space 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:23.639 in our heart. This is how we trust in God. We 00:09:23.639 --> 00:09:26.799 see his marvelous work and his love in our life. 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.100 And finally, I want to say something about perseverance 00:09:31.100 --> 00:09:36.799 and grace. In the epistle to the Corinthians, 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:42.559 right at the beginning, St. Paul says this. He 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:46.620 says, we were burdened. We were crushed beyond 00:09:46.620 --> 00:09:50.230 measure, beyond strength. So that we despaired 00:09:50.230 --> 00:09:54.649 even of life. Now we hear often, we hear this 00:09:54.649 --> 00:09:59.090 verse from St. Paul, and they're both true. There 00:09:59.090 --> 00:10:01.610 is no temptation taking you but such as is common 00:10:01.610 --> 00:10:04.750 to man. For God is faithful. He will not allow 00:10:04.750 --> 00:10:08.590 you to be tempted above that which you are able. 00:10:10.429 --> 00:10:14.730 But will, with a temptation, also make a way 00:10:14.730 --> 00:10:19.960 to escape so you can bear it. On the one hand, 00:10:19.980 --> 00:10:24.659 he says, we were crushed. It was beyond my strength. 00:10:24.860 --> 00:10:29.440 I wanted to die. It was too much. On the other 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:32.759 hand, he says, God will never allow us to be 00:10:32.759 --> 00:10:37.740 pushed beyond what we can bear. But we don't 00:10:37.740 --> 00:10:41.679 know what we can bear until we enter into that 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:45.120 furnace and to that trouble and that difficulty. 00:10:50.190 --> 00:10:53.529 The great apostle who wrote those words endured 00:10:53.529 --> 00:10:58.669 things we cannot imagine. Shipwreck, being beaten, 00:10:58.870 --> 00:11:06.029 whipped, imprisoned, betrayed. And he wore those 00:11:06.029 --> 00:11:09.629 as a badge to say this is the mark of a true 00:11:09.629 --> 00:11:14.370 apostle, to be a light in that darkness. He knew 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:19.620 that he had to pass the boundary. From this life 00:11:19.620 --> 00:11:23.700 to the life to come. If he was truly going to 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:27.679 carry his cross and follow the Savior. Every 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:32.100 soul, it's different. Every single soul is different. 00:11:32.200 --> 00:11:36.480 This Romanian elder, Father Rafael. He wrote 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.759 this. You are speaking about those moments when 00:11:38.759 --> 00:11:42.259 we are taken to the limit. At the end of our 00:11:42.259 --> 00:11:45.460 strength. And I dare to add, beyond our strength. 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:49.090 I can't give you a formula, he says, because 00:11:49.090 --> 00:11:52.610 a formula doesn't exist. This is about a personal 00:11:52.610 --> 00:11:56.789 relationship with Jesus Christ. You as a person 00:11:56.789 --> 00:12:01.230 and God as a person. This is what saves you in 00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:04.370 those moments when God takes us beyond our limits. 00:12:05.190 --> 00:12:09.129 When we're looking for grace to uphold us and 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:12.570 give us consolation and hope and patience. And 00:12:12.570 --> 00:12:15.419 what did we just hear in the epistle today? Through 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:17.700 the scriptures, we have comfort and patience 00:12:17.700 --> 00:12:22.679 and consolation. And we pass that threshold. 00:12:23.940 --> 00:12:28.100 And you see that your limits have been enlarged. 00:12:28.139 --> 00:12:33.720 And your heart is enlarged. And something happens 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:37.460 with your faithfulness to God. Like those blind 00:12:37.460 --> 00:12:40.860 men, all their lives blind and finally reaching 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:45.049 Christ. Think about Lazarus. He was a friend 00:12:45.049 --> 00:12:49.470 of Jesus Christ. Close friend. Christ loved Lazarus, 00:12:49.470 --> 00:12:52.090 it says in the gospel. And Christ heard that 00:12:52.090 --> 00:12:55.909 Lazarus was sick and delayed. He delayed. He 00:12:55.909 --> 00:12:59.690 didn't come to heal him. But he left him and 00:12:59.690 --> 00:13:06.509 Lazarus died. And then Lazarus' flesh, his body, 00:13:06.570 --> 00:13:11.730 began to decay for days. And Christ raised him 00:13:11.730 --> 00:13:14.730 not just out of death, but out of this decay 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:20.830 with the divine power which created everything 00:13:20.830 --> 00:13:28.470 out of nothing. Lazarus was his friend. And to 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:32.250 a certain degree, you and I are like Lazarus 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:35.909 in the moments when it seems like it did to Martha 00:13:35.909 --> 00:13:38.429 and Mary, that Christ was indifferent to them. 00:13:39.789 --> 00:13:42.230 When they were stretched beyond their limit, 00:13:42.389 --> 00:13:45.250 they were crushed, despairing even of life, as 00:13:45.250 --> 00:13:50.090 St. Paul says. With God, that's not indifference. 00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:54.649 With God, that's not silence. With God, he is 00:13:54.649 --> 00:14:02.110 speaking to you through the cross itself. I'm 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:05.230 speaking like this today because each one of 00:14:05.230 --> 00:14:08.740 us, at some point in our life, will bear a burden 00:14:08.740 --> 00:14:12.480 that we know is too much. And we need to hear 00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:16.600 words that will encourage us that it will be, 00:14:16.620 --> 00:14:21.240 with God's help, not a better day tomorrow. We 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:24.360 don't know that. But that the power of the resurrection, 00:14:24.620 --> 00:14:27.659 which dwells in us, will give us the comfort 00:14:27.659 --> 00:14:30.799 and the hope and the consolation to sustain us. 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:34.980 And we will show faith in Christ. We will be 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:38.980 like those blind men. Yes, Lord. I believe, and 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:42.539 the storm is raging around us, and we stand firm 00:14:42.539 --> 00:14:45.799 no matter what. No matter what kind of crazy 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.700 stuff is going on. And there's plenty of that. 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:53.240 We will be like St. Lawrence, able to be the 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:57.759 light in the dark place. And one final thought. 00:14:58.679 --> 00:15:04.440 There is only one miracle at this point in our 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:08.730 lives. Brothers and sisters, to be given to us 00:15:08.730 --> 00:15:10.309 who have been baptized, who know the gospel, 00:15:10.570 --> 00:15:12.549 who know the mother of God, who know the saints, 00:15:12.610 --> 00:15:15.509 who take part in the divine liturgy, the mystical 00:15:15.509 --> 00:15:18.909 sacrifice, who are lifted up each and every week 00:15:18.909 --> 00:15:21.110 to the kingdom of heaven. Let us lift up our 00:15:21.110 --> 00:15:23.809 hearts and we are there seated with Christ in 00:15:23.809 --> 00:15:26.110 the heavenly places. There's only one miracle 00:15:26.110 --> 00:15:28.710 that we need to think about. And that has to 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:33.950 do with allowing grace to always enter our heart. 00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:41.960 The miracle we need is that correction and openness 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:46.580 of the heart, the renewal of our life, and the 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:50.240 spiritual resurrection which only our Lord can 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:53.659 give us. To him be glory now and ever, to ages 00:15:53.659 --> 00:15:55.360 of ages. Amen.