Pentecost 2024

I congratulate you on this feast day. Notice

how the epistle started, the reading from Acts.

It said, when the feast of Pentecost had fully

come, fully come. In other words, it was a process.

It was a time of preparation. It wasn't just

a one -day thing. Exactly for us. We've been

celebrating in the Paschal season, as I remarked

last week, all the way through these 50 days.

Pentecost is 50. This is the fullness. This is

the day in which the feast has fully come, brothers

and sisters. Now, what does that mean for us?

Well, we're going to hear, we're going to pray,

we're going to participate at the end of the

Divine Liturgy in three. magnificent, and yes,

long prayers during which we kneel for the first

time since Holy Week because we've been celebrating

the resurrection. So we stand, we rise, we lift

up. But today, at the end of the liturgy, Vespers,

which should be later in the day, but we're all

here, so let's just do it. We will kneel. before

God. And you hear these magnificent prayers.

That's the sermon you're going to get today.

All I want to do right now is to congratulate

you. I want to affirm and that we have celebrated

together Lent and Holy Week and Pascha and here

we are on this incredible Day in which we celebrate

something. Fresco's right there. Which you heard

about in Acts. That changes everything about

human nature. It makes us free. The gift of the

Holy Spirit. Reveals Christ to us. Not as information.

Like okay we know that Jesus is the son of God.

We know that he is begotten from the father.

And that he was born of a virgin. That's important.

That's crucial for us. But in the first instance,

what is it that the Holy Spirit reveals to us?

That Jesus is Lord. And we can't say that without

the Holy Spirit. And when we say Jesus is Lord,

I don't mean just sort of casually throw that

off. But in the scriptural language, to say someone

is Lord means that absolute fidelity. To that

person. Love, honor, respect, service, and sacrifice.

We can't do that with Jesus without the Holy

Spirit. And what does Jesus give to us? Again,

it's not information, but he shows us who his

Father is, without which we cannot be free. So

this day, yes, we celebrate the Trinity. It's

called Troits, a Trinity, that the Holy Spirit

brings us to Christ, and Christ shows us the

Father how, his love. Last night at the vigil,

and I wish you were all there with us in San

Francisco, but you had the vigil here. I see

that the attendance was... Kind of on the low

side, but what you missed was this. At Vespers,

the clergy come out, bless the wheat, wine, and

oil, and all that, and then, for the first time

since Holy Week, you hear the reader say, cast

me not away from thy presence, take not thy Holy

Spirit from me, and the choir and the entire

congregation sings, O Heavenly King, the Comforter,

the Spirit of Truth, and in this moment, we are...

inspired we are united and we are comforted by

the spirit himself and the joy of all those voices

hundreds of people singing together that simple

hymn which is given to us as the beginning of

almost every service we ever do and every prayer

we ever do even on our own that speaks to us

of God's revelation to the human heart Notice,

dear brothers and sisters, after communion, what

do we say? We have seen the true light. We have

received the heavenly spirit. So this is a feast

not about information about God. It's a feast

of integration and communion with God. Can we

sing we have seen the true light? Jesus said

it. You heard the gospel today. The light of

the world. He who has me does not walk in darkness,

but as the light of life. Can we say honestly,

authentically, after communion, those words,

do they ring true for us personally? And if they

don't, then we're going to fall on our knees

today at the Vespers. to pray that they are authentic,

that they are true, that we have seen the true

light who is Christ. We have received the heavenly

spirit who unites us to the Father. Now we can

speak about deification and theosis, becoming

united to God, sharing in the uncreated light.

And whoever you've met in your life, whatever

holy person, you have met, whatever you've read,

however you've been inspired, the very first

steps of deification, theosis, to be like God.

We are his image and his likeness. That should

not be a surprise. To be like God means we start

with the simplest thing possible. The simplest

things. To love God with all our soul, all our

mind, all our strength, to love our neighbor

as ourself. There's a hungry person out there,

a poor person, a lonely person, someone who needs

shoes and clothes. Can you be like God to them

today? Can you be the revelation of God's love

to one of those persons today? Can you be the

revelation of love to your neighbor? the person

you're next to today, to be kind, loving, merciful,

generous, giving. These are all gifts from God.

Brothers and sisters, you don't have to generate

them on your own. If we are like God, by the

Spirit of God, the riches of his love will come

to you. Finally, Finally, knowing that our lives

with Pentecost are under sort of, let's say,

not the life of the world, but under new management.

That's the Holy Spirit. When we cooperate with

his will, which is about our attitudes, our desires,

our thoughts, when we cooperate, the more spiritual

grace we experience. And we begin to really want.

What God wants. That's he wants us. And it's

surprising to see this happening in yourself.

And it's a delight. And it's a joy. And we see

that he has a better plan for us than anything

we may have imagined. And our prayers become

less concerned with managing our outer circumstances,

our worries, our concerns in this world. which

are important, but they become more concerned

with managing our inner condition to his satisfaction.

Those are the prayers that he will answer. Those

are the prayers he will answer first. When we

say thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth,

meaning my life, as it is in heaven, this is

what the Holy Spirit gives us today. To our Lord,

who sends us the Spirit from his Father to dwell

in our hearts, to him be glory now and ever,

through ages of ages.