WEBVTT 00:00:00.430 --> 00:00:03.209 In the name of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be 00:00:03.209 --> 00:00:07.269 to Jesus Christ. Glory be to God. In today's 00:00:07.269 --> 00:00:11.210 epistle and gospel, there are probably, there 00:00:11.210 --> 00:00:15.390 are many, and questions, but three fundamental 00:00:15.390 --> 00:00:20.489 questions that can change our entire life. The 00:00:20.489 --> 00:00:24.850 first one is that the epistle says that you may 00:00:24.850 --> 00:00:30.170 be of one mind, one heart in Christ Jesus. If 00:00:30.170 --> 00:00:32.649 we could be one mind and one heart in Christ 00:00:32.649 --> 00:00:36.890 Jesus, that's paradise on earth. If we make that 00:00:36.890 --> 00:00:40.890 our entire aim of our life, that would be a life 00:00:40.890 --> 00:00:44.950 worthy to be lived. In the Gospel, the second 00:00:44.950 --> 00:00:52.229 question is, how do I handle my own pain? This 00:00:52.229 --> 00:00:54.469 is one of the most fundamental questions of life. 00:00:54.530 --> 00:01:00.460 I see this every day as a priest. a drug addict 00:01:00.460 --> 00:01:04.219 than the next hour I'm with a millionaire. And 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:08.140 the most common correlation between both of them, 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:12.040 those who don't even have $100 a month to spend 00:01:12.040 --> 00:01:15.879 and those who have millions of dollars, the commonality 00:01:15.879 --> 00:01:20.260 between them is pain. Everyone deals with their 00:01:20.260 --> 00:01:23.379 own pain. And then the third question is, what 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:27.340 do we do with the pain of others? You notice 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:30.760 there was not one blind man, there were two blind 00:01:30.760 --> 00:01:34.280 men that came to Christ. Now the answer is going 00:01:34.280 --> 00:01:37.640 to answer all three of these main questions. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.480 Again, if we got these three main questions, 00:01:40.579 --> 00:01:44.620 how do we handle our own pain? How do we handle 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.819 the pain of our brothers and sisters? And how 00:01:47.819 --> 00:01:52.400 can we be one in Christ? One heart, one mind, 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:58.439 one soul, one will, one body. Now, when we have 00:01:58.439 --> 00:02:03.760 and experience our own pain, we can turn that 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:08.580 energy around. Now, what I mean by pain, we've 00:02:08.580 --> 00:02:10.759 all experienced this. It's a universal language 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:14.860 for humanity. Pain of despondency, pain of despair, 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:19.639 pain of a loss of a job, pain of a loss of someone 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:23.919 that we love. pain of losing our job, pain of 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:26.400 stubbing our pinky toe in the middle of the night. 00:02:26.539 --> 00:02:29.319 You name it, we each have experienced some kind 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:33.199 of pain. So what can we do with that energy of 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:38.139 pain so that it can be sanctified and that pain 00:02:38.139 --> 00:02:41.860 can then turn into love? Not just for ourselves, 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:45.840 but for all mankind. Because remember, the aim 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:49.800 is to be one heart, one mind, one soul in Christ 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:54.139 Jesus. What about the pain of someone else that 00:02:54.139 --> 00:02:57.199 we love? Someone that we heard of that got into 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.439 a car accident, or someone that we know of that 00:02:59.439 --> 00:03:01.180 stubbed their pinky toe in the middle of the 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.840 night. What about someone that lost their job, 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.840 or someone that's going through a very difficult 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:08.900 time? We can feel that in our heart and in our 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:12.360 soul. Especially in the crazy times that we live 00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:15.659 in now, the wars and the famines and the rumors 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:18.719 of wars, everything that's happening, we experience 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:22.539 this in our soul. What are we supposed to do 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:26.020 with this energy that we experience? What are 00:03:26.020 --> 00:03:27.800 we supposed to do with the energy of our own 00:03:27.800 --> 00:03:30.979 personal pain and then the energy of the pain 00:03:30.979 --> 00:03:35.039 that we feel in the entire world? Saint Sophrony 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:40.000 says, the place to experience grace. par excellence. 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.580 And he says, even as great as when he was in 00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:48.539 the desert on Manaphos, is in the divine liturgy. 00:03:49.319 --> 00:03:52.599 The divine liturgy is the place where our own 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:56.479 personal pain, our own, the corporate pain that 00:03:56.479 --> 00:04:00.139 we feel, can then be transformed into a divine 00:04:00.139 --> 00:04:03.719 love for the entire world. And then the divine 00:04:03.719 --> 00:04:06.840 liturgy is where we become one heart, one soul, 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:12.219 one mind. in Christ. There are two symbols in 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:14.120 the Divine Liturgy that I want to illustrate 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:17.819 this point. The first, and one of my favorite 00:04:17.819 --> 00:04:20.639 parts of the Divine Liturgy, is when we'll experience 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:23.379 it in maybe ten minutes' time. It depends on 00:04:23.379 --> 00:04:28.560 how slow we read the litanies. Thine own of thine 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:34.240 own, we offer unto thee on behalf of all and 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.220 for all. Thy known of thy known. Let's go through 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:42.620 this quickly. Thy known of thy known. Everything 00:04:42.620 --> 00:04:48.120 you've given me is a gift. My nature is a gift. 00:04:48.319 --> 00:04:53.860 My breath is a gift. My thinking is a gift. Thy 00:04:53.860 --> 00:04:58.019 known of thy known. I am thine. Save me, as we 00:04:58.019 --> 00:05:01.079 heard in the Psalms. Thy known of thy known. 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:06.430 We offer unto thee. That means, I am offering 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:10.810 my life on behalf of what? Let's keep going. 00:05:11.310 --> 00:05:16.529 Thine own, of thine own, we offer unto thee for 00:05:16.529 --> 00:05:21.990 what? On behalf of all and for all. So by you 00:05:21.990 --> 00:05:25.350 being in the divine liturgy, by you offering 00:05:25.350 --> 00:05:29.129 your life to Christ, especially in the divine 00:05:29.129 --> 00:05:32.290 liturgy, you are offering your life on behalf 00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:36.750 of the whole world. You are offering your life 00:05:36.750 --> 00:05:40.949 on behalf of your whole family, of your neighbors, 00:05:41.350 --> 00:05:45.990 of your aunts and uncles. And in fact, that pain 00:05:45.990 --> 00:05:49.910 that you experience of theirs, when you offer 00:05:49.910 --> 00:05:53.569 that to God in the Divine Liturgy, you are offering 00:05:53.569 --> 00:05:58.089 them up to God on the Divine Altar. Now, whose 00:05:58.089 --> 00:06:00.829 sacrifice is it? It's Christ's sacrifice. We 00:06:00.829 --> 00:06:03.490 are just entering into His sacrifice. He is the 00:06:03.490 --> 00:06:05.930 one that offered Himself perfectly to the Father. 00:06:06.050 --> 00:06:10.350 We are just entering in by grace to His beautiful 00:06:10.350 --> 00:06:14.449 paradise of offering and His resurrection. But 00:06:14.449 --> 00:06:18.110 the Divine Liturgy is the transformation of pain 00:06:18.110 --> 00:06:23.930 into love. Never forget this. We come in with 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:28.470 our struggles. We offer God our repentance. We 00:06:28.470 --> 00:06:32.170 come in with our fears, our panics, our worries. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.199 But God comes and on the altar sanctifies the 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.579 holy gifts and offers us His divine kingdom. 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:41.980 It's not a fair exchange. We offer Him a little 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:44.339 bit of our two minds and He gives us His entire 00:06:44.339 --> 00:06:47.899 life in the divine liturgy, especially in the 00:06:47.899 --> 00:06:52.120 chalice. Everything that is His, He gives to 00:06:52.120 --> 00:06:54.860 you in the chalice. And when you partake, you 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:57.579 are partaking of the fullness of the Godhead. 00:06:57.899 --> 00:07:02.540 Nothing, nothing short of that. So we offer our 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:06.839 personal pain and the pain of our neighbors to 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:12.399 God on behalf of all and for all. Therefore, 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:16.000 as it says in the Akathist of St. Olga of Alaska, 00:07:16.220 --> 00:07:22.139 that her every step was an offering to God. You 00:07:22.139 --> 00:07:25.939 see, every prayer, every breath that you make 00:07:25.939 --> 00:07:28.839 in the Divine Liturgy and extend it out throughout 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:31.959 your entire life, is an offering not just for 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:36.079 yourself, but for your loved ones, for your brothers, 00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:38.839 for your sisters in Christ, for your uncles, 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:41.519 your aunts, for anyone that's ever stubbed their 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:43.660 toe in the middle of the night. Whoever it is 00:07:43.660 --> 00:07:45.639 that you bring into your heart, you bring them 00:07:45.639 --> 00:07:48.459 to the altar in the Divine Liturgy, and not only 00:07:48.459 --> 00:07:52.420 are you transformed, but they, by grace, are 00:07:52.420 --> 00:07:54.920 transformed a little by little. This is why St. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.649 Seraphim says, acquire the spirit of peace and 00:07:57.649 --> 00:07:59.569 a thousand around you will be saved it's not 00:07:59.569 --> 00:08:02.269 that you're a guru and you have this peace that 00:08:02.269 --> 00:08:04.769 everyone's attracted to no the thousand people 00:08:04.769 --> 00:08:08.430 are in your heart you see so then when you acquire 00:08:08.430 --> 00:08:11.569 peace in your heart they too get to experience 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:15.509 that so you are participating in the greatest 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:18.790 work in the whole cosmos and that is the divine 00:08:18.790 --> 00:08:21.589 liturgy because it's the place where we become 00:08:21.589 --> 00:08:24.850 one in christ It's the place where we can transform, 00:08:25.050 --> 00:08:28.589 by God's grace, our own personal pain into love 00:08:28.589 --> 00:08:31.009 for others. And it's also the place where we 00:08:31.009 --> 00:08:34.509 can bring our brother and sister's pain to the 00:08:34.509 --> 00:08:37.730 divine altar. And there's a wonderful transformation 00:08:37.730 --> 00:08:43.909 that occurs. Pain turns to joy. The cross turns 00:08:43.909 --> 00:08:48.049 into the resurrection. So come to every divine 00:08:48.049 --> 00:08:52.100 liturgy with expectation. that this is a cosmic 00:08:52.100 --> 00:08:56.080 event, that this is not just you and God time, 00:08:56.379 --> 00:08:59.940 but this is the time where God can, through you 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:03.580 and through all of us, to be one heart, one mind, 00:09:03.679 --> 00:09:07.720 one soul, one body, and through the body to bless 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.899 and to share His grace to the whole world. To 00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:13.559 Him be all glory, honor, and worship.