On Perseverance in Grace Healing of the Blind men

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to the Father. Through the years, I guess

you would know this. I've been so deeply involved

in the lives of so many of you. I've seen your

times of trouble. seeing your joys, seeing the

obstacles that you have to overcome. Perhaps

you would have overcome some of those obstacles

and carried things a little bit easier if the

love coming from me was stronger, if my faith

was more vibrant. But in any case, my point is,

while you probably don't know, awful lot about

me, although you see me all the time, I know

a lot about you. You come to confession, I have

a glimpse into your soul. It's not a balanced

relationship in some way, but on the other hand,

it's my duty to help carry, to help encourage.

So I haven't mind today, hearing this gospel,

to speak about something like that. To speak

about three things, what I have in mind is, well,

as Metropolitan Colossus Ware used to tell priests,

only preach, if you have, with three points.

Not four, not two, not one, but three points.

So I have in mind three points to share with

you based on this gospel. The first point would

be the rejection of grace. Rejection of grace.

The second point would be being receptive to

God's grace. And the third thing, perhaps the

most important thing, is perseverance in God's

grace. We heard from chapter 9 of the Gospel

of St. Matthew. Remember, after Pentecost, we

launch... Right into the Gospel of St. Matthew.

We read that all summer long. And we get to a

point in October where we switch to Luke. And

then we go through Luke all the way up just before

Christmas. And then we start reading about the

feast. Well, here in chapter 9, what has just

happened? Jesus has healed a demoniac, a man

with a legion of demons. The demons said to Jesus,

recognizing who he is, have you come? Have you

come to destroy us or torture us or to deal with

us before the time? So the old gospel, you're

seeing Jesus do these marvelous works. And who

is rejecting him? And who? Seize him for who

he is. Well, the demons are not heretics. They

hate God for sure. But they know everything.

And they hate us. But they know who Jesus is.

And they say that in the gospel. And then Jesus

has just raised a young girl from the dead. Hi,

Ace. Just raised a young girl from the dead.

And healed a woman with an issue of blood. and

healed the demoniac, and healed blind men. And

what he says to the blind men, for a very specific

reason, he says, don't tell anybody about this.

And they go out, and they're so happy, of course

they're going to tell people, and they glorify

God. And what do we read next? Why Jesus said

don't tell anybody, the Pharisees and the religious

leaders say, he cast out devils and does these

healings by the prince of the devil. This is

skating close and maybe has actually happened,

this sin against the Holy Spirit. That is, when

something true, real, beautiful, Godly has happened.

You deny it. This is the denial of grace. Brothers

and sisters. You can talk to somebody. About

Jesus Christ. And you should. But if grace does

not touch their hearts. Because they are closed

to it. Because their life. has some sort of corruption,

and we're not to judge them or condemn them.

Only God's going to do that, is to judge them.

God loves everyone and wants all to come to the

knowledge of the truth. But unless they have

some grace, your words will not touch them. You

could do miracles all day long downtown Santa

Rosa. True miracles by the power of God and the

Holy Spirit. Nothing fake. But unless someone

is touched by the grace of God, they won't follow

the Lord. It will make no difference to their

life. Why are people closed off to the grace

of God? This is a great mystery. Probably we'd

take a semester to figure that one out. But it

has to do with sin. It has to do with fear. It

has to do with shame. And it has to do with just

rejecting Christ because he will change your

life. And so many don't want that to happen.

Let's go now to the reception of grace. Jesus

comes to these men. The blind men came to him,

actually. And Jesus says, do you believe that

I'm able to do this? Do you believe? Do you trust

me? And they say, yes, Lord. And he touched their

eyes saying, according to your faith, let it

be to you. And their eyes were opened. Jesus

wants to affirm us. He wants to build up our

faith. He says to us, do you believe? What does

that mean? It means despite everything you see,

in spite of all the philosophies and the social

things going on, do you trust in Jesus Christ?

Do you trust him? That's what it means. Like

St. Lawrence, who we commemorated yesterday,

in the prison. And he's healing the prison keeper.

He's baptizing the prison keeper and healing

a blind man in the prison, and other blind people

start to come to him in the prison. He is not

bewailing his situation. He is not saying, God,

you have abandoned me. I thought this was going

to go another way. No, God... expects us to be

a light in a dark place, and that only happens

if we are receptive to grace. And that happens

when our conscience is clear. That's why we have

confession. That happens when we create a space.

Yes, we have to respond to God. It's all his

grace, but we have to open up a place in our

beating heart. so that the Spirit of God can

work within us. So we fast. Right now, we only

have a few days left for the fast before the

great feast of the Mother of God, or Dormition.

The greatest feast of the Mother of God, perhaps

the greatest feast of the year, the Summer Pascha.

Brothers and sisters, I'll say this. I know I

might be disappointed, but I'm going to say it

anyway. We have a vigil on Wednesday night. Wouldn't

it be marvelous if we showed our love for the

mother of God and for this event of her dormition

by all coming together to pray. You all can't

come on Thursday to the liturgy. People work,

I know that. And of course school starts right

on Tuesday or Wednesday. But do what you can

to show your love. This is how we create space

in our heart. This is how we trust in God. We

see his marvelous work and his love in our life.

And finally, I want to say something about perseverance

and grace. In the epistle to the Corinthians,

right at the beginning, St. Paul says this. He

says, we were burdened. We were crushed beyond

measure, beyond strength. So that we despaired

even of life. Now we hear often, we hear this

verse from St. Paul, and they're both true. There

is no temptation taking you but such as is common

to man. For God is faithful. He will not allow

you to be tempted above that which you are able.

But will, with a temptation, also make a way

to escape so you can bear it. On the one hand,

he says, we were crushed. It was beyond my strength.

I wanted to die. It was too much. On the other

hand, he says, God will never allow us to be

pushed beyond what we can bear. But we don't

know what we can bear until we enter into that

furnace and to that trouble and that difficulty.

The great apostle who wrote those words endured

things we cannot imagine. Shipwreck, being beaten,

whipped, imprisoned, betrayed. And he wore those

as a badge to say this is the mark of a true

apostle, to be a light in that darkness. He knew

that he had to pass the boundary. From this life

to the life to come. If he was truly going to

carry his cross and follow the Savior. Every

soul, it's different. Every single soul is different.

This Romanian elder, Father Rafael. He wrote

this. You are speaking about those moments when

we are taken to the limit. At the end of our

strength. And I dare to add, beyond our strength.

I can't give you a formula, he says, because

a formula doesn't exist. This is about a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ. You as a person

and God as a person. This is what saves you in

those moments when God takes us beyond our limits.

When we're looking for grace to uphold us and

give us consolation and hope and patience. And

what did we just hear in the epistle today? Through

the scriptures, we have comfort and patience

and consolation. And we pass that threshold.

And you see that your limits have been enlarged.

And your heart is enlarged. And something happens

with your faithfulness to God. Like those blind

men, all their lives blind and finally reaching

Christ. Think about Lazarus. He was a friend

of Jesus Christ. Close friend. Christ loved Lazarus,

it says in the gospel. And Christ heard that

Lazarus was sick and delayed. He delayed. He

didn't come to heal him. But he left him and

Lazarus died. And then Lazarus' flesh, his body,

began to decay for days. And Christ raised him

not just out of death, but out of this decay

with the divine power which created everything

out of nothing. Lazarus was his friend. And to

a certain degree, you and I are like Lazarus

in the moments when it seems like it did to Martha

and Mary, that Christ was indifferent to them.

When they were stretched beyond their limit,

they were crushed, despairing even of life, as

St. Paul says. With God, that's not indifference.

With God, that's not silence. With God, he is

speaking to you through the cross itself. I'm

speaking like this today because each one of

us, at some point in our life, will bear a burden

that we know is too much. And we need to hear

words that will encourage us that it will be,

with God's help, not a better day tomorrow. We

don't know that. But that the power of the resurrection,

which dwells in us, will give us the comfort

and the hope and the consolation to sustain us.

And we will show faith in Christ. We will be

like those blind men. Yes, Lord. I believe, and

the storm is raging around us, and we stand firm

no matter what. No matter what kind of crazy

stuff is going on. And there's plenty of that.

We will be like St. Lawrence, able to be the

light in the dark place. And one final thought.

There is only one miracle at this point in our

lives. Brothers and sisters, to be given to us

who have been baptized, who know the gospel,

who know the mother of God, who know the saints,

who take part in the divine liturgy, the mystical

sacrifice, who are lifted up each and every week

to the kingdom of heaven. Let us lift up our

hearts and we are there seated with Christ in

the heavenly places. There's only one miracle

that we need to think about. And that has to

do with allowing grace to always enter our heart.

The miracle we need is that correction and openness

of the heart, the renewal of our life, and the

spiritual resurrection which only our Lord can

give us. To him be glory now and ever, to ages

of ages. Amen.