Sunday of All Saints 2022 Fr. Nicholas Carr

Well, a week ago, a week ago today, last Sunday,

we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost, the

day on which the Holy Spirit filled the apostles

and disciples, and they spoke with tongues that

gave the good news to everyone in their own language,

bringing the good message, the message of salvation

that you and I are a part of. It was and is the

birthday of the church, Pentecost, when the Holy

Spirit comes upon us all. And so last week we

celebrated a birthday and it was fitting to have

a week fast -free like a birthday party. And

then today we have All Saints Day. Now, Father

Michael Margitich of blessed memory, I remember

in the altar one time he came to me and said,

Happy Names Day. And I said, I don't think it's

my Names Day. He said, it's everyone's Names

Day because it's All Saints Day. And although

perhaps we have the small s. and not the capital

S of saint as we work towards our sanctification.

It is. It is our names day. And we are happy

belated birthday to the church last week. Happy

names day. And to all the fathers and godfathers,

happy father's day. And what a great day to be

in church today. And we're not alone. It's in

the epistle reading. It talked of the cloud of

witnesses, all those that have come before us,

back to the apostles, all the way forward, almost

2 ,000 years, and yet we're all together, and

who knows how many more years, and people that

we've never met who will be in the church because

they'll be born after we are gone. Many saints

have come before us. Many who were hierarchs,

others who were monastics, others who were holy

martyrs, and each one of them unique as you and

I are unique. And yet God loved every single

one. He sought them out. He called them and they

responded. And the same thing happens for us

this very day. The fact that you are here. It

means you are responding to God's call to you.

Most of us, as we have heard the call and responded,

though, have some struggle which hits us. You

would think we have the Holy Spirit. It's all

over. But somehow there's still a struggle. Perhaps...

We lose our temper and an unkind word comes out

of our mouth. Or perhaps some lust hits us or

gluttony or something. It seems that we have

to struggle still. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk has

said, The man who has received Christian faith

and baptism has both an old or fleshly birth

or spiritual birth, and therefore he has two

births. And because of these two births, the

war of spirit and flesh arises in him. I know

this battle, and I expect you do too, the battle

between spirit and flesh. And it is reflected

in our choices that we make in our life as we

live. The flesh calls us to eat, drink, and be

merry, to excess, to have self -focus, self -excess,

and the spirit calls us to self -denial, self

-control, to the love of others, as well as to

the love of God. What can we do? Imagine, if

you will, that there is a sled. a dog sled that

runs on the snow and the ice and there are two

rows of dogs on one side is a row of dogs which

would pull the sled in the way of the spirit

and then the other side is a row of dogs that

would pull the sled in the way of the flesh and

they both are struggling to dominate the direction

of that sled. Well, which dogs will be dominant?

The ones that you feed. Doesn't it make sense

that those that you feed would be stronger and

those that you don't feed would be weaker? You

may want the spirit to pull. If you're feeding

those fleshly dogs all the time and ignoring

those spiritual dogs that are pulling the sled

of your life, why should it be a wonder that

we have the fleshly dogs take over the sled?

And so the answer becomes, deny the fleshly row

of dogs. Don't feed them. Instead, feed the spiritual

dogs. Come to church as you are now. Pray more

in your life. Seek out God even every night before

you go to bed. May your last thought be of God

and not of some other distraction. Feed the right

dogs and starve the wrong dogs. But remember,

first and foremost, that what you need in this

battle between flesh and spirit is the presence

of the Holy Spirit. To fight this battle on your

own, maybe you would have some success, but ultimately,

without the Holy Spirit, we are doomed to fail.

It's like a boat on a river. If there's no rowing,

the boat will go in the way of the current. That's

the flesh. It has had control over us. But if

you take the oars and you begin rowing, and that's

the Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit, coming to

help you and rowing the boat for you, you will

move away. Saint Tikhon of Zidane says this,

Our nature can sin easily, being corrupted, and

it does sin. but it is entirely unable to stand

against sin or to defeat it. For this, we need

to seek help and strength from the conqueror

of death and hell, Jesus the Lord. And as we

have just celebrated ascension, where Jesus ascended

to heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father,

and Pentecost, where the Holy Spirit is sent

down upon us, let us... Reach out for that help

when these struggles come to us. That is the

purpose for us to be in the church, to be sanctified,

to be made holy, to be brought closer to God.

And all those that will turn to God and ask God

to come close to them, God will come close to

them. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. One last

analogy for you. A sailing vessel floating on

the ocean. An entire sea of water can't sink

a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly,

the negativity of the world can't put you down

unless you allow it to get inside you. Don't

be filled with the things of the world, which

are like that water that would sink the ship.

Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be enabled

to sail on the journey that Christ has called

you to, one of salvation, one that, as was in

the gospel today, leads, it tells us, it leads

to eternal life. Make the right choices in your

life. Be filled with the Holy Spirit, and when

the temptations of the flesh hit you, it will

be water splashing off the hull of the ship.

Tomorrow begins the Apostles' Fast, which will

end on the Feast of St. Peter and Paul. May we

all strive to walk in the Spirit during this

fast when temptations come. Reach out and call

to the helper, the Holy Spirit, to give you strength.

Glory to Jesus Christ.