I congratulate you on this feast day. Notice
how the epistle started, the reading from Acts.
It said, when the feast of Pentecost had fully
come, fully come. In other words, it was a process.
It was a time of preparation. It wasn't just
a one -day thing. Exactly for us. We've been
celebrating in the Paschal season, as I remarked
last week, all the way through these 50 days.
Pentecost is 50. This is the fullness. This is
the day in which the feast has fully come, brothers
and sisters. Now, what does that mean for us?
Well, we're going to hear, we're going to pray,
we're going to participate at the end of the
Divine Liturgy in three. magnificent, and yes,
long prayers during which we kneel for the first
time since Holy Week because we've been celebrating
the resurrection. So we stand, we rise, we lift
up. But today, at the end of the liturgy, Vespers,
which should be later in the day, but we're all
here, so let's just do it. We will kneel. before
God. And you hear these magnificent prayers.
That's the sermon you're going to get today.
All I want to do right now is to congratulate
you. I want to affirm and that we have celebrated
together Lent and Holy Week and Pascha and here
we are on this incredible Day in which we celebrate
something. Fresco's right there. Which you heard
about in Acts. That changes everything about
human nature. It makes us free. The gift of the
Holy Spirit. Reveals Christ to us. Not as information.
Like okay we know that Jesus is the son of God.
We know that he is begotten from the father.
And that he was born of a virgin. That's important.
That's crucial for us. But in the first instance,
what is it that the Holy Spirit reveals to us?
That Jesus is Lord. And we can't say that without
the Holy Spirit. And when we say Jesus is Lord,
I don't mean just sort of casually throw that
off. But in the scriptural language, to say someone
is Lord means that absolute fidelity. To that
person. Love, honor, respect, service, and sacrifice.
We can't do that with Jesus without the Holy
Spirit. And what does Jesus give to us? Again,
it's not information, but he shows us who his
Father is, without which we cannot be free. So
this day, yes, we celebrate the Trinity. It's
called Troits, a Trinity, that the Holy Spirit
brings us to Christ, and Christ shows us the
Father how, his love. Last night at the vigil,
and I wish you were all there with us in San
Francisco, but you had the vigil here. I see
that the attendance was... Kind of on the low
side, but what you missed was this. At Vespers,
the clergy come out, bless the wheat, wine, and
oil, and all that, and then, for the first time
since Holy Week, you hear the reader say, cast
me not away from thy presence, take not thy Holy
Spirit from me, and the choir and the entire
congregation sings, O Heavenly King, the Comforter,
the Spirit of Truth, and in this moment, we are...
inspired we are united and we are comforted by
the spirit himself and the joy of all those voices
hundreds of people singing together that simple
hymn which is given to us as the beginning of
almost every service we ever do and every prayer
we ever do even on our own that speaks to us
of God's revelation to the human heart Notice,
dear brothers and sisters, after communion, what
do we say? We have seen the true light. We have
received the heavenly spirit. So this is a feast
not about information about God. It's a feast
of integration and communion with God. Can we
sing we have seen the true light? Jesus said
it. You heard the gospel today. The light of
the world. He who has me does not walk in darkness,
but as the light of life. Can we say honestly,
authentically, after communion, those words,
do they ring true for us personally? And if they
don't, then we're going to fall on our knees
today at the Vespers. to pray that they are authentic,
that they are true, that we have seen the true
light who is Christ. We have received the heavenly
spirit who unites us to the Father. Now we can
speak about deification and theosis, becoming
united to God, sharing in the uncreated light.
And whoever you've met in your life, whatever
holy person, you have met, whatever you've read,
however you've been inspired, the very first
steps of deification, theosis, to be like God.
We are his image and his likeness. That should
not be a surprise. To be like God means we start
with the simplest thing possible. The simplest
things. To love God with all our soul, all our
mind, all our strength, to love our neighbor
as ourself. There's a hungry person out there,
a poor person, a lonely person, someone who needs
shoes and clothes. Can you be like God to them
today? Can you be the revelation of God's love
to one of those persons today? Can you be the
revelation of love to your neighbor? the person
you're next to today, to be kind, loving, merciful,
generous, giving. These are all gifts from God.
Brothers and sisters, you don't have to generate
them on your own. If we are like God, by the
Spirit of God, the riches of his love will come
to you. Finally, Finally, knowing that our lives
with Pentecost are under sort of, let's say,
not the life of the world, but under new management.
That's the Holy Spirit. When we cooperate with
his will, which is about our attitudes, our desires,
our thoughts, when we cooperate, the more spiritual
grace we experience. And we begin to really want.
What God wants. That's he wants us. And it's
surprising to see this happening in yourself.
And it's a delight. And it's a joy. And we see
that he has a better plan for us than anything
we may have imagined. And our prayers become
less concerned with managing our outer circumstances,
our worries, our concerns in this world. which
are important, but they become more concerned
with managing our inner condition to his satisfaction.
Those are the prayers that he will answer. Those
are the prayers he will answer first. When we
say thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth,
meaning my life, as it is in heaven, this is
what the Holy Spirit gives us today. To our Lord,
who sends us the Spirit from his Father to dwell
in our hearts, to him be glory now and ever,
through ages of ages.