WEBVTT

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Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

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and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. God truly

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wants man to be his equal, his likeness. God

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directs his gaze toward man and seeks out his

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deep heart. His desire for man's heart to know

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a spiritual and divine sensation, as Proverbs

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says. This kind of inner life, not the mere exercise

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of thinking, is what elevates man's existence

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above that of animals. Rational thought may distinguish

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us from them, but if it is occupied merely with

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our physical well -being, then we are hardly

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above the level of an animal feeding itself.

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If our inner life is dissipated and lost and

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wasted in the things of this world, it will surely

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end in the grave along with our physical body.

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But as we have said, our divine calling is so

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much higher than this. God wants man's deep heart

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to know the living. spiritual and divine sensation

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of his presence within her. And when a person

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becomes aware of this treasure in his heart,

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a godly fear comes upon him. And as soon as this

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godly fear takes hold of our heart and we begin

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to feel God's life -giving energy, we enter into

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a personal relationship with the personal living

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God. We heard an account of a man who came to

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Jesus Christ. This man could not have imagined

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what we know. That at the name of Jesus, every

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knee should bow, both those on earth, those above

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the earth, those below the earth, to the glory

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of God the Father. And he came and asked a question

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about something he could do. This gospel has

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to be read in the light, and I do mean literally,

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in the light of the two feasts we just celebrated,

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Transfiguration and Dormition, if we are going

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to make any sense at all of what Father Zacharias

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just told us in this marvelous book. The light

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of Christ shown to us on Tabor and in the light

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that received the mother of God, bodily risen

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into the kingdom of God. Dear people, let me

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misquote St. Paul. I don't say this to shame

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you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

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Come to the great feast days. In thy light shall

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we see light, we sing. It's true. The world looks

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different in that light, and the stories we hear

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in the gospel, we interpret in that light. We

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have been given a gift that that man could not

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imagine when he asked that question. Our question

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comes out differently. At the transfiguration,

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a voice from heaven said simply, Hear ye him.

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The apostles heard the voice. Hear ye him. Just

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like at the baptism. This is my beloved son.

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Hear ye him. Saint Theophon the recluse asks,

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why the father would say only this? Hear ye him.

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And he answers, because obedience, obedience,

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that the ability to hear and to follow, it's

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not to become a... humiliated slave. We hear

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this word obedience and it's colored for us in

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our culture. So, so distorted. To hear and to

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follow. Obedience was being shown to the disciples

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on Tabor as the very door into glory. It's as

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if the father were saying, do you want this?

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Then hear what he tells you. O apostles, O disciples,

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O people of God, and do it. Walk in the path.

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You will enter a light that does not come at

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you from the outside, but rises up within you.

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You will be filled with the light of joy, of

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goodwill, of all knowledge. Sorrow will come.

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Sufferings will come. The cross will come. Sorrow

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will pass. The noise of the passions will go

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quiet. On earth, you will become heavenly. Born

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of earth, you will become of God. All things

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will be yours because you will have become Christ's.

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Thank you, St. Theophon, for telling us. This

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is the promise. Are his words too far -fetched?

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Does this make us feel inadequate, like giving

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up? Like, no way for me. Sorry. I'm busy with

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my life. Jesus looked at his disciples and said

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to them, they were probably feeling that. With

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men, this is impossible. But with God... All

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things are possible. Yes, the saints are granted

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this now in this life. And by God's help, we

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too shall experience this and attain it in the

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life of the age to come at the resurrection.

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The man came. He said, what do I need to do to

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have eternal life? What his understanding, his

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idea of eternal life was. Was nothing like I

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just described. Or what Father... Zacharias just

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told us. It wasn't like that. How could he possibly

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know? And I wonder if our ideas too may also

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be rather earthly limited. What must I do to

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attain a happy life and be comfortable? That

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just doesn't work. The young man's vision of

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eternal life was earthly. Perhaps ours is too

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sometimes. Hear ye him was heard by Peter, James,

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and John on the mountain. And this man heard,

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sell the riches that are holding you back from

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true life and come and follow me. This is the

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same voice offering the same light, the same

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kingdom, the same door, which is obedience. Christ

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was inviting him with love onto Mount Tabor to

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be with him. And yes, the way does go through

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the cross. Jesus is telling the rich man, okay,

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you want the real kingdom of heaven and not just

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some assurance of eternal happiness in human

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terms, then do this, what I say. Jesus is not

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what we call seeker friendly. His sayings can

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be hard. But only hard because we want our own

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way so much. It's usually not that hard in and

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of itself. What makes doing God's will hard is

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the fact that I don't want to do it. Anything

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but that for the most part. And for this particular

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man, his possessions were the thing that kept

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him. He was speaking of the commandments, wasn't

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he? Which commandments? And he listed them that

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he kept. But it was keeping him from doing the

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first commandment of the Ten Commandments. I

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am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have no strange

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or other gods before me. And he did. And when...

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Jesus revealed what this man lacked. A vision

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of God and of true salvation and of eternity

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and of heaven. The man could not accept it and

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he wanted, like us, to retain control. He wanted

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his individualism to remain intact. He was a

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man who had done well and a young man. And he

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wanted to keep doing well. on his own terms,

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with Christ added respectfully somewhere near

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the top of his priorities. Perhaps the young

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man, like me, was a hypocrite, posing to Jesus

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as if he had actually fulfilled the commandments,

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as he said, from my youth I have kept them. Notice,

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which is why I ask you to come to the vigil.

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You'll hear so many things. At the vigils we

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sing, From my youth. Many passions have warred

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against me. But do thou help me and save me oh

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my savior. It's a bit of honesty there about

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our own condition. Do we keep the hope of God's

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kingdom. That we experience at those vigils.

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As Saint Theophon described it. As Father Zacharias

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tells us. The deep heart. The love and fear and

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wanting to be with God. Do we have that hope

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of God's kingdom revealed to us? Can we hear

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the good news and follow Christ? And it's simple.

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We simply go home today and we pray. If there's

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anyone that you need to forgive, you do it with

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your whole heart. Not expecting any kind of,

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I don't know, completion to that relationship.

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If there's anything that you have done, you ask

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forgiveness. It's like that. That's what we do.

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We prepare ourselves to be here, to be with each

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other. We try to love our neighbor. Any one of

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those things is not difficult, especially with

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the grace of God that inspires our heart, our

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hands, our voice, and our eyes and our ears to

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go forward in obedience to follow him. You know,

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eternal life is not something that one can acquire

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by doing something doable. It's by following

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the Lord. So if we welcome Christ in our heart,

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has he found a place within us to rest his head?

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Do we know this feeling of rest and repose? Or

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anxiety instead? Father Emilio Noce, a great

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elder from Athos, says, why do we bar the door

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of our heart to him? Why do we choose ourselves

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over God? We do not, it seems, want God to be

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justified in his word, as we say in Psalm 50,

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but rather we seek our own mind and our heart.

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But brothers and sisters, remember this. God's

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promises are true. We look at the saints, we

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read the example of those that have gone before

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us, we read the scripture, and we, like Abraham,

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we follow. And our heart will rejoice and be

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filled with the love of God and our neighbor.

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We cannot do it by ourselves. And we will have

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riches in heaven. There's nothing evil in itself

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about money. This is not about that. The love

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of money is the root of all evil, not the money.

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But this man could not distinguish. He could

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not remove that from himself. His heart had grasped

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it. Let not that happen to us. Our society, it

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can happen to us very easily. We can pursue this

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life of being comfortable rather than the life

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of the kingdom of God first and all other things

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we need will be given. Amen.