and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has given
us the good news. And in this, with the gospel,
let us share it. So that through love and compassion,
we do good works. I come to you from Tijuana,
Mexico. I come to you from the Orthodox orphanage
in a foreign country where we care for little
boys and girls, where we bring hope, and how
we're called to affirm the celebration that the
hope has arrived. We affirm the celebration that
God came as a child and was laying in a manger.
For our salvation. And this is beautiful. So
let's share it. Glorifying the Lord's name. In
everything we do. Knowing that we are different.
From the rest of creation. And therefore we have
the responsibility. To respond appropriately.
With this we. Reflect on the gospel today. With
this we. Responsibly look at. How it is calling
us. To not make excuses. No. Everyone's busy.
We have so many belongings. But the Lord's day
is here and we participate. We take advantage
of the feast and share this blessing with the
world. No matter if we have a piece of land we
need to check on or even sometimes our relationships
in our family. Might be complicated. That's no
excuse. If you just got married. Okay. No. God
is the most important. And as brothers and sisters
in Christ. We live this truth. By participating.
In the beauty of the church. And also. Possibly
we might have. Some livestock. Maybe even some
chickens. Okay. But just because you need to
take care of your animals. doesn't mean you can't
come to church and worship, okay? Because remember,
yes, we have animals down in Tijuana, Mexico,
on the 16 -acre ranch. We have pigs. We have
troughs, food troughs. And do you know what the
other name for a food trough is, by the way?
Manger, okay? That's actually what a manger is,
if you didn't know. If you look, it's not this
nice little... Figure set. No, it's a food trough
for animals. And how quickly we forget that Jesus
transformed this basic vehicle for animals into
the vessel that carried the bread of life. The
manger. The food trough. So no excuses. No. We
come and we celebrate. We open our eyes. We go
out and share this. We go into the streets with
zeal. We see opportunities. Lovingly we share
the message of Jesus. Even if we can dream about
it sometimes. We dream about sharing the beauty
of God becoming man. And so man can be deified
and truly approach The godliness we were meant
to be. And in this, yeah, we do. We hit the pavement.
It says go into the neighborhoods. You can go
into maybe the streets that have not been entered
into recently. As it says in the Greek, the odos.
Which actually in many talks about the odos.
It's a Greek word. Odos in the book of Acts.
It's the way. The way. Go off the well -trodden
path and share this news with everyone. And ask
people, hey, are you going to celebrate Christmas?
Why don't? Okay, well, happy holidays. And remember,
holidays is a good thing because those are the
holy days. The holidays are the holy days, and
these days are holy. Do not let the world reclaim
the word holiday. No, holidays are the holy days.
And in this, we affirm what makes the days holy?
Jesus Christ. And we do this by our actions.
We do this by sharing this message. Zealously,
it says actually, go out and compel the people
to come in. That means you have to be a little
ambitious, maybe a little assertive, and get
out there. Talk about Jesus. Share it in a loving
way. Be that great salesman or woman because
you have the greatest thing to share. You do.
It's Jesus Christ incarnate. And through this,
we realize that the comfort that God has given
us because he saves us no matter what happens.
We just need to repent and turn to him. And knowing
this, in faith, we are free. This isn't the...
Chapter 5 of Galatians. Very clearly. We receive
freedom. In this gift. There's so many rules.
We do. We have fasting times. We have how to
cross ourselves. When to cross ourselves. When
to come to church. We do all these things in
obedience. But this does not save us. It's very
clear. We are saved through Jesus. Sacrifice.
So that we can do all these things. So that we
can fast with love. So that we can worship Him.
So that we can help those in need. This is what
we're called to do. And in this we're liberated
to share this great message. We're liberated
so that we can receive God into our hearts. Receive
Jesus. Receive the one who sent the Lord, the
Father. And we receive him when we receive the
little ones. It says in chapter 9 of Mark, we
are transfigured and we partake in this miracle
by receiving the children. And through this,
We are encouraged. Through this, we see that
now is the time to live our faith. Even though
it's difficult. Even though the days can be challenging.
And when it is challenging, we give thanks to
God. It says in James chapter 1, give thanks
to Him. Give thanks to Him when we have these
roadblocks. Because our faith grows. We can shine.
Put away the malice. Put away the evil words.
It says in chapter 1 of James. And so, we can
live our Orthodox faith truly and shine. Be undefiled.
Be pure. And the one way it says in chapter 1
of James to do this is to care for orphans and
widows that come to you. I've lived over 14 years
in Tijuana, Mexico with my family. Caring for
little children. Living the faith, God willing.
And through this, I come to you with the hope
that all of us will continue to follow the Lord.
Knowing that many of you have sacrificed so much.
And I'm so grateful for that. Vladica, Archbishop
Benjamin, being on the board for almost a decade
of Project Mexico, sacrificing, coming to almost
every board meeting when he was an active member.
Your spiritual leader led us to serve. And in
this we continue. We realize that, okay, the
world is full of confusion sometimes. It is.
Especially In this atmosphere of different messages.
But we are given. We are given clarity. It says
in the Old Testament. Okay. Deuteronomy chapter
27. It says sit and listen. Be silent and listen.
It says in chapter 27 of Deuteronomy. Listen.
In your abundance. It's a great chapter. We have
so much in America. And so through this, we share
what we have and live the truth. And it says
there, okay, a family is a husband and wife.
It's beautiful. Mother and father, beautiful.
Respect and honor your mother and father. The
law guides us, tells us how we're supposed to
live. Also, it tells us who we're supposed to
marry, too, by the way. Okay? You cannot marry
a sibling. Why? Because it says it in Deuteronomy.
Okay? Which chapter? Which chapter? What's that?
Exactly. There you go. 27. I just said it three
times. I always quiz the little orphan boys because
sometimes they're distracted. So it's a common
practice I utilize. Chapter 27. Honor your mother
and father. Also it says, okay, you cannot marry
your siblings, you cannot marry your mother -in
-law, you cannot marry your stepmom, and you
cannot marry your pets. All right. Pretty clear,
isn't it? I know. And if you were confused, read
which chapter? Of what book? Excellent. And it's
great. It leads us. And all those who receive
the blessings of the Lord reject the curse of
Satan. It proclaims care and treat appropriately
in a godly manner orphans and widows. In chapter
27 of Deuteronomy. We see this and we raise up
our voices to him. Knowing that Christ came.
St. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus. And we
see this fulfillment in the Old Testament in
the book of Malachi chapter 3. And Jesus will
come back. He will come back and he'll purify
the church. He will come back and he will give
us the opportunity to shine in our Orthodox faith.
He will reject the maladies of the world. He
will reject those who are filled with lies. He
will reject those who are captured by adultery
and fornication and don't repent. He will come
and judge. Those who practice witchcraft, by
the way. It says, no sorcery for Orthodox Christians.
No bueno. Okay? It isn't. Why? Because it says
it. In Malachi chapter 3. And we know this. And
also he says he will come back. And judge those
who do not. Care. For orphans and widows. And
there will be consequences. For our actions.
This is. What we lift up our eyes to. To the
powerful God. The powerful God. Who comes in
love. And through his love. We are saved. And
through this, we are encouraged that we can arise
to the occasion and fulfill the message of hope,
knowing that we, as it says in Psalm 82, we are
children of the Most High. Oftentimes we forget
this. Our Father, who are in heaven. We say that
all the time. But it's our Father, okay? Really.
Don't forget it. Psalm 82, your children are
the most high. It says clearly. And it's beautiful.
It speaks in this Paschal Psalm, by the way.
It's only seven verses in this Psalm. There's
seven verses. This Paschal Psalm, it proclaims
in the assembly of God. Small G, okay? God, big
G, speaks. Speaks to us. He says, you are gods.
Small g. Says in the Greek and Hebrew, use gods.
You are gods. But you die. You're supposed to
live forever. You're so consumed with the things
of the world and the sins of the world. And we
are here to bring hope. And in this, we chant
this hymn during Holy Week every year. In this
beautiful time. Arise, O God, and judge the earth,
for you shall take all nations to your inheritance.
In the Byzantine tradition, melody. It's sung
the same verse in the Slavonic tradition. When
is that sung, by the way? Holy, when? Holy Saturday.
Okay, this Psalm 82 proclaiming that we are called
to receive the divinity of God and shine. That's
why we were made. And we proclaim a rise above
the craziness. And in the same Psalm, Care for
orphans and widows. Help the poor. There's only
seven verses in the Psalms, and they choose one
of the verses to emphasize our need to stretch
out our hands and help. And that's what we're
doing. We're helping the little kids. Little
kids who don't have moms. Like these brothers
who came, and they were left at their house for
two weeks by themselves. Their mom never came
back. Just left. And they got found by the authorities.
And they brought them to us. But imagine that.
Wake up every morning, waiting for your parent
to come. Sounds horrible. This is what we do.
We reach out to these children. We give them
hope. No, you'll be loved. You can have a place
to grow up. A secure place. And have a healthy
family one day yourself. Isn't this? Like that
young boy said to me, my mom was so bad, I never
want to go back to her. Never. Even if she comes
looking for me. No, I'm not going. And God is
working through Orthodox Christians at the Orthodox
orphanage in Tijuana. Like that boy who I mentioned
last night to the group of people in this hall
right here who was raised at the orphanage. Came
when he was five. Has no memory. Remembrance
of his parents. And he. Went to school. In Tijuana.
Graduated from high school. Then went to college.
In Brookline. Massachusetts. At the Orthodox
College. Helena College. Yeah. For four years.
He actually graduated. Met a girl. And just got
married. Beautiful. Now. He works and lives.
At the orphanage. Helping. new boys who come.
He's a leader. It's a beautiful thing. Well,
this other boy, it's a sex story. He came and
he says, hey, Father Nick, just the other day,
he's older now, he says, you actually saved me
from prison. I was like, how did I do that? You
came to me when you were five years old. He said,
well, my mom was bad and she got put in jail.
But in the 90s, if your mom was a criminal, she
could take her kids to jail with her. So she
brought her son and daughter to the prisons of
Tijuana with the drug addicts, the thieves, the
murderers, the rapists. And that's where they
were running and growing up until the St. Innocent
Orthodox Orphanage rescued the orphans from prison.
It's incredible. And this is what we do. I share
this with all of you because we are compelled
to share the hope with the world. We are encouraged
to come to Tijuana. Come for a week. Help build
a home. We'll take care of you. And you'll have
the best tacos on the planet. They're delicious.
And through this, help. Come down and hold our
little babies. They need to be held and loved.
We have long -term missionaries who are serving
there right now that we need your help. Collect
food. If you collect 20 cases of food here, it's
called Pantry Partners. That's the program with
Project Mexico. We will come pick it up. An Orthodox
man will bring his shipping company here for
free. All you have to do is collect the 20 cases.
That's all you do, and we need the food. We'll
bring it down to the orphanage for free. All
you have to do is collect the food. Help us do
a food drive for the Orthodox orphanage. And
we need your financial help, too. Last night
we had a great dinner. We raised over $10 ,000
just in that one night. It was beautiful, really
beautiful. But our budget's big, by the way.
It is. I have about another dozen young boys
who need their education sponsored between the
$3 ,000 to $4 ,000 a person. I need to raise
money. I need to beg for collecting funds. Please
consider. I know in the back there's information.
I've got the poster right there. You could just
put in projectmexico .org and donate right online.
Or send a check -in to the address that's there.
I need your help financially. Please consider
giving. And most importantly, I need your prayers.
I need your petitions through the Theotokos to
petition her son to have mercy on us and give
us strength. And in this, I need your... Dialogue
with the Lord to give strength to the missionaries.
Give strength to the boys that they can heal.
Give strength to the Mexicans who work with those
boys. Give strength to Father Nicholas and his
presbytera, his matushka, that we continue year
after year. And so through this, maintaining
the good news, we share it with the world and
glorify the name of God. of the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.