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My love on this feast day, not an ordinary feast

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day, but what none of them are. You heard these

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words from the Lord in the Gospel from John,

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which we had from our deacon. If anyone thirsts,

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let him come to me and drink. That's why we're

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here. He that believes on me out of his belly

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shall flow rivers of living water. The thirsty,

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the thirsty come to drink to Christ. We have

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to make sure that we're not drinking soda pop

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spiritually and temporarily not thirsty. St.

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Basil the Great, who died in the year 379, he

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wrote this about the Holy Spirit. Through the

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Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise,

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our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our

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return to the adoption as children, our liberty

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to call Christ Lord, our being called ourselves

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children of light, our sharing in eternal glory,

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and in a word, our being brought into a state

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of every blessing, both in this world and the

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world to come. If someone asks you what it means

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to be saved, I'll write this down in the next

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bulletin. So you can have this for yourself.

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Because that's what it means. That encompasses

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everything. And it's the Holy Spirit that has

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done that for us on Pentecost. Pentecost. The

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festival, of course, of the giving of the Holy

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Spirit. Not the law. That was in the old covenant.

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But the Holy Spirit to each one of us. A great

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miracle. A great mystery. Perhaps the greatest

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of all the church feasts. But that's what I think.

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when we celebrate any of them, that they're all

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the greatest. Because they're all one. They're

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all about Christ and about what he has done for

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us. About that, what St. Basil said, what he

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has done for us. Let's just briefly remember

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and rejoice. Our Lord was conceived by the Holy

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Spirit and the Virgin Mary on the Annunciation.

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We celebrate that March 25th. And she says, let

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it be. to me according to thy word. And the word

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took flesh, and the Holy Mary became the new

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temple, the new ark, the Theotokos, showing us

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what it means to be human. But that wasn't enough

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for our salvation, that event. God had more.

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At Christmas, after we'd prepared for 40 days,

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we celebrate that God is with us. born as a human,

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as a child, born in a humble and a meek way,

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giving us hope, a vision, an understanding for

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our rebirth from this broken life, this sorrowful

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life, to the kingdom of God, to life immortal,

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God on earth. Literally incredible. And yet...

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That was not yet enough for our salvation. God

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had more for us. At Theophany, Jesus was baptized

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into Jordan, again showing his great humility,

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but also identifying himself with us sinners

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and going into the water to sanctify it and everything

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and to pull us up, to show us that we too can

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be children of the Father when we hear that verse.

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This is my beloved son. This is my beloved daughter

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in whom I am well pleased that we become anointed.

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But that feast day was not enough. God had more

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planned for us. It seems strange to say that's

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not enough for our salvation, but it wasn't.

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Just over 50 days ago, well, exactly 50 days

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ago, we celebrated Pascha. But a little before

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that, a few days before that, we commemorated

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the Lord's Passion. You saw the cross in the

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middle of the church. You saw the icon, the shroud.

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We remembered his glory, which the Lord says

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is the cross. That's his glory. That's where

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our sins were killed. That's where they were

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abolished. That's where they were buried. And

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his death and his invasion into the realm of

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death, into the grave, filling even that up.

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And you're going to hear that in the kneeling

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prayers in a little bit. God still needed to

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do more for us. You'd think that would be enough,

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but it wasn't. And he ascended into heaven and

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sat at the right hand of the Father. And our

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human nature is enthroned there. And we have

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confidence when we pray that Christ... is ruling

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all things. But that's not enough. God needed

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to do more. All those things fill us with wonder.

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They are all mysteries. But it's the gift of

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the Spirit that changes everything from a past

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event to become real for us. to unite us to the

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Father through the Son in the grace of the Holy

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Spirit so that we can actually authentically

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participate and be spiritually enlivened and

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connected to the Annunciation, to the birth,

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to the baptism, to the cross in which we die

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and rise with Christ in our own baptism, and

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to the ascension in which we are united to the

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Lord. The Feast of Pentecost is not some celebration

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of an event which took place centuries ago. It

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is the celebration of what must happen and does

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happen to us in the church today and now, on

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this very day. Because we've all died and risen

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with the Messiah King. We've received his Holy

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Spirit. We were reminded of that last Sunday

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when these people here were baptized. We had

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such joy at that. We're at temples of the Spirit

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now, like the Theotokos, but in a new and different

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way. God's Spirit dwells in us. Can we not? How

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would we possibly miss coming together to worship

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and to praise God, knowing that, whenever there's

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a Sunday liturgy? We are called together and

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assembled by the Holy Spirit. We've received

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the seal of the gift of the Spirit. Pentecost

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has happened to us. And having been given this

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gift, in which all those feast days now become

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real for us, we can finally live the life of

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the resurrection. We can actually say, Jesus

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is Lord. Because without the Spirit, we can't

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say, oh, we can say it in a hypocritical way,

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but to say it and stake our lives on it with

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no plan B, we have to have the Holy Spirit. We

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are to bear fruit. We can't bear any fruit without

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that Spirit. There's no liturgy. There's no priesthood.

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There's no baptism. There's no ordination. There's

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no love of our neighbor, much less love of our

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enemy. We cannot do it without the Holy Spirit.

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There's no true comfort for us in our sorrow

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and in our fear. There's no healing for us in

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our brokenness without the Spirit. There's no

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peace. And if it's truly the Spirit, then there's

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truth. There's truth, too. And the fruit of all

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that... In each one of us, individually and collectively

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as a parish. It's what St. Paul enumerates in

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Galatians. Notice, he says, the fruit. Singular.

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Like a basket of fruit. There may be different

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kinds in there, but it's singular. Because we

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should have them all. Love. Joy. Peace, patience,

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kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,

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and self -control. These are fruit of the Holy

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Spirit. You might be a loving person, but you

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have no truth. Then that love is compromised.

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You might be a loving person, but you have no

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self -control. You're impatient. then it's not

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love from God. It's just something natural to

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you which won't get you to heaven. Fruit, as

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St. Paul calls this, needs tending. The plant

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needs tending if it's going to bear fruit. That's

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what we do when we leave here. We have our prayers.

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We can't be Orthodox Christians without praying

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in the morning and the evening. We can't. We're

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just sort of skating through. We're not going

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to bear fruit without consistent nurturing of

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the plant, the heart, the soul. I'll end with

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this quote from St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mount.

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Lest you think I'm a serious reader of patristics.

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No, I got this quote from Father Basil Rhodes.

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The grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given

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mystically to every Christian when he is baptized,

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acts and manifested in proportion to our obedience

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to the commandments of God. God's commandments,

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not our own, God's commandments. That is, if

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a Christian obeys the commandments of the Lord

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more, grace acts in that person more. While if

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he obeys them less, grace acts within him less,

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and there is no fruit. Just as a spark, when

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covered in the ashes of the fire, becomes increasingly

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manifest as one removes the ashes. And the more

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fire would you put, the more the fire burns.

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So the grace that has been given to every Christian

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through baptism is hidden in the heart. and yet

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often covered by passions and sins, and we may

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not even know it. However, the more a Christian

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acts in obedience with the commandments of Christ,

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the more that person is cleansed, and the more

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the fire of divine grace flames in the heart,

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illumines and deifies the Christian. This is

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the greatest of feasts. To our Lord be honor

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and glory now and ever to ages of ages.