Transfiguration About the Blessing of Fruit

But you see that we have this custom of blessing

the fruit after the liturgy. It's not just something

nice, we give thanks to God for the fruit. It's

something much, much more and much deeper than

that. The blessing of fruit reminds us that everything

in nature bears a stamp of the presence of God.

And we give thanks to God for that. Everything

that exists. exists from the beginning for communion

with God. So we say to the Lord, bless this fruit.

And it's a means of a simple communion. No, it's

not the Eucharist. That's something ultimately

and essentially different. But it's the sanctification

of nature, starting with us, the fruit, the water.

The grapes, the property, the rivers, the seas,

the mountains, the animals. Everything is blessed

because we have responsibility to care for it

and to return it to God because it's his. There's

transfiguration, but there's disfiguration too.

And the problem with the modern age is... It's

bent on disfiguring nature, us, our bodies, and

the meaning of what it means to be male and female,

husband and wife, but also the nature that God

has given us. That's being disfigured at an alarming

rate, just the same. And you know, there's a

principle. You will go against nature, and sooner

or later, it's going to go against you, because

it's from God. And so we have to be very diligent

in blessing everything in our life and giving

thanks to God because it's all his and it all

bears the stamp of his holiness. We are going

to be like that someday. But so is the rest of

the universe going to be covered in God's light.

So we're rejoicing on this day to celebrate that

fact. You know, we actualize. What that means,

the transfiguration, the Mount of Tabor, the

disciples being there, we actualize that in ourselves

when we receive the Eucharist at the liturgy,

and we leave here having had something of that

experience. A little light, we sang last night,

of thy divinity, O Lord.