March 22nd, 2026: 4th Sunday of Great Lent

Dear friends, at the door, there's plenty of

room up here. If you would like to sit down,

there's plenty of room. Beloved of the Lord,

we've now reached the fourth, let's call it the

port of call. One of our priests referred to

a hymn saying that Lent is a great voyage on

the sea. So we're at the fourth port of call

in our Lenten voyage. The Sunday of St. John

of the Ladder, John called Klimakos. Klimakos,

it means ladder in Greek. And the Sunday of the

Gospel of St. Mark with that desperate father

asking for, who believes asking for more faith.

You know, in a way, each Sunday of Lent brings

us on a journey. It's called a journey for a

reason. And we know that the final destinations

of that journey are Bethany, raising of Lazarus,

Palm Sunday, Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane,

the place where the Lord was tried, the pavement.

the empty tomb, Golgotha, the empty tomb, and

the ultimate destination, which we have a share

in today, as we have every Sunday and every liturgy.

And that is the table in the kingdom where we

meet and we know the risen Lord and the breaking

of the bread, holy Zion, the city of the living

God, the divine liturgy of Pascha, of which all

liturgies are... are connected. The heavenly

Jerusalem, an innumerable assembly of angels,

the festal gathering, says St. Paul, the assembly

of the firstborn who are registered in heaven.

We are looking forward to Pascha, at which point

we will receive from the Lord that Pascha communion

and demonstrate and be enlightened and be blessed

in our action of receiving that community that

we are orthodox Christians just as the Hebrews

in ancient times demonstrated that they belonged

to this new gathering that God made his people

in Egypt and the angel of death passes over just

as they did we do without that are we Christian

without that Eucharist are we Christian He who

eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me

and I in him. So that defines us. That's very

important, especially on Pascha. You know, the

Hebrews were not considered Jewish if they didn't

celebrate Passover. With us, without Pascha,

are we Christian? The old approach doesn't disappear.

This is our hope. We're on our way. That's that

final port of call. You know, commemorations

begin somewhere, don't they? Looking back, the

restoration of the icons on the first Sunday

of Lent, we could say, that's Constantinople,

where things had gone so wrong by the imperial

power and authority, and then they were set right.

And then, Constantinople, Christian city, gone.

Gone. Lamentable. It's gone. The second week,

we could say, in honor of St. Gregory Palamas,

we were at Mount Athos, the Holy Mountain. Last

week, that week of the cross, we were in Jerusalem,

the Church of Jerusalem. Today, we ascend Mount

Sinai, or at least we go to the bottom of Sinai,

and to Mount Tabor also, which I'll explain in

a moment. Showed his glory to his disciples.

Our saint for today. Saint John. Wrote this book.

The ladder of divine ascent. And lived most of

his life. At the monastery of Saint Catherine.

At the foot of Mount Sinai. Where we are today.

And that's where he reposed. On March 30th. The

year 649. We don't know much about Saint John.

This book. It has been considered for 13 centuries,

to have my math right, as a Christian survival

guide for the days of confusion and sorrow and

anxiety. And praise God, the reason it's held

up today, and St. John is held up today, one

of them is because it has been the guide. for

countless numbers of Christians to learn repentance,

to learn the gospel life, to have a guide. And

for anyone, monastic or otherwise, who wants

to believe and to pray and to fast and to gain

the godly virtues and to defeat the devil and

to appropriate the victory of God and Christ

by the Holy Spirit in our human life, To discover

the gift of Great Lent, anybody would do well

to study repeatedly this book along with the

scriptures. And we are doomed to just a superficial

reminder of St. John and this book on the fourth

Sunday of Lent each year, unless we actually

read this book and engage in this book and try

to live according to it. And become. Become.

Loving Christians, do you know what the last

chapter of this book is? Anybody? Love. 30 steps,

one for each year of the Lord. 30 steps with

the top step, love. Not just how we feel, but

godly love. Coursing through us, through our

hearts. Through our souls. So that we can share

God's love. That's why it's the top step. And

the most difficult one to achieve. So let's,

brothers and sisters, let's take it seriously

what the church suggests. And read. Read this

book. Get a copy. Will you understand everything?

I guarantee you, no. Does that matter? It does

not matter. Because what you do understand, you

will benefit from. And there on Mount Sinai.

The foot of it where St. John lived in this monastery,

which still exists, St. Catherine. Mount Sinai,

of course, is the place where the prophet Moses

ascended to stand before God. We have his fresco

right there. You can't see it too well from here.

Taken up. At the top of the mountain. Into the

kingdom of God. The divine assembly. And shown

the mysteries of the worship of God. In this

incredible vision. And coming down from the mountain.

With the commandments. His face shining with

the uncreated light. What did he see? What did

he see? His people. Worshipping an idol. The

golden calf. And having an orgy. If you take

my meaning. Now, why am I telling you this? Because

it's not in the gospel readings for today. Because

St. Mark wants us to, I believe, wants us to

make a connection in his gospel, which you did

hear. The Lord has just come down from Mount

Tabor. The day of their transfiguration. St.

Mark is telling us. He's reminding us of that

event. And the sorrowful chaotic mayhem that

Moses saw. In the same way as Jesus comes down

from the mountain. What does he see? He sees

absolute chaos. The three disciples had a glimpse

of the glory of God. And at the bottom. And we

see how quickly we forget the providence and

the promises and the grace of God in our lives.

The bottom, St. Mark writes this. He says, there

was a great crowd around the nine other disciples

that stayed, that did not go up to the mountain.

And the scribes were arguing with them. And immediately

upon seeing Jesus, the crowd rushes over. They

were greatly amazed, says St. Mark, and ran up

to him and greeted him. And Jesus asks them,

what are you arguing about? Imagine the scene.

Yelling and this boy writhing on the ground.

This is probably a young man by this point. And

someone from the crowd says, teacher, I brought

you my son. For he has a spirit that makes him

mute. He's got a demonic spirit. And whenever

it seizes him, it casts him into the fire. And

he foams and he writhes about. The nine disciples

had been given the power, the authorization,

the glory, the grace to heal this boy. They could

not do it. And you know the very touching and

heartfelt plea of the Father. If you can do anything,

have compassion on us. If. Do we ever say to

Christ, Lord, if you can help? There's no if

with Christ. It seems to me, looking in my own

soul and my own experience, we so often want

our Lord. It's Jesus coming down from the mountain.

It's not Moses. It's the Redeemer of our souls.

It's the Savior of the world. It's the Word of

God. It's God incarnate in the flesh with all

power, both in heaven and on earth, he says.

And we want God to control. Outward circumstances

most of the time. And certainly in our heart

there's things that we should ask for that. But

we neglect that one thing needful that God can

do for us that would change our perspective in

everything in our life. You know, the disciples

like this talk of healing. But as soon as the

Lord speaks about the cross, they back off. And

it says, They didn't understand what he was saying

and were afraid to ask him. We want God to control

the outward circumstances, but what he can do

for us is to change the inner direction to heal

us of whatever passions, whatever impulses, whatever

obsessions we have. Little by little, his word

guiding us, and he is trustworthy. You heard

in the epistle, immutable, changeless. Oh God,

we say at the funeral service when someone is

brought in singing Psalm 118, Thy law, O Lord,

I love with my whole heart, for it is forever.

This is what we need to ask God. Lord, I believe.

And I don't mean an intellectual understanding

of the Holy Trinity and St. Gregory of Nazianzus,

St. Basil the Great, and the three holy hierarchs,

what they said about hypostasis and homoousias.

And what St. Cyril says about the Theotokos,

all essential and important. That's not what

I mean by belief. I mean, do you have the experience

of the encounter with Jesus Christ that this

man in the gospel had on that day? And he says,

I believe, O Lord. Now he starts to see Christ.

And he knows something can change. For us, it's

not this scene of a crazy child who is demon

-possessed. Certainly, that's an encouragement

for the catechumens who did have that exorcism

and are preparing for baptism. For us, it's that

inner man that needs to change. Lord, I believe.

I want to know you more deeply. One saint says

something startling, which kind of worries me.

He says, when you pray, do you have distraction

when you pray? Now think about that. Think about

you get up in the morning or in the afternoon

or whatever, and you pray. Oh, heavenly king,

the comforter of the spirit, and you're doing

Psalm 50 or whatever, where is your mind? He

says, what I find challenging and worrisome,

he says, if you pray with the distractions, you

don't love God. Thinking, well, that's pretty

harsh. And then he says, imagine you're in the

embrace of your beloved, and you're thinking

about something else. Do you love that person?

Or is there another love, more powerful, that

has captured you? So this is what our Lord can

do for us. Do we love God enough? And if we don't,

Lord, help our unbelief. Grant us the experience

of your presence so that we feel embraced and

joyful. We know we have this gospel. We have

this book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, to encourage

us at this fifth of week, at fifth Lent of week.

And we have the catechumens preparing for holy

illumination. And for us that are trying to fast,

to pray more, to do works of mercy, may Christ

answer the prayer of the Father for us. Lord,

I believe. Because belief, faith, trust is gained

by knowing and loving Christ. information about

him. We experience all the turmoil and the suffering

that everyone in the world experiences. All the

fears, all the sicknesses, the weakness, the

passions, the anxieties, addictions, desires,

the ignorance. All mankind has this. Yet we have

an anchor, wrote St. Paul in that epistle today.

Jesus Christ. And that anchor is pulling us.

It's keeping us in connection with the Lord.

So we also have a goal. We have a hope. We have

a destiny. We have the risen Lord. And despite

our sinfulness and our troubles and cares, we

have experience of the good news. We don't just

wait for the magic fairy faith to come down and

wave something over us to make us more faithful.

We can, number one, practice endurance. We can

endure the things that happen in our life that

will strengthen us. We can rely upon God instead,

not on ourself. The disciples couldn't heal this

man. They thought they had the power. Number

two. We believe in the immutable counsels of

God and know them and read them and understand

them and come to live by them. And number three,

let us practice prayer and fasting. And these

things will help us deepen our faith and make

us more faithful. And when the difficult times

come, the challenges come, we will be ready.

Sometimes we think we need to get everything

set before we can come to the Lord. No, it's

the other way around. When we're a mess, this

is the place we come. Not how we feel about it,

because God will change that feeling. Dear brothers

and sisters in Christ, how rich is our faith?

How much God loves us and wants to embrace us,

to believe in us, to believe in him, to rely

on him, in order to give us the comfort and the

challenge of faith. Let's enable this in our

life. let us trust that God is worthy of our

attention. To him be glory now and ever, to ages

of ages. Amen.