Second Sunday of Great Lent 2022

Glory to Jesus Christ. Glory to God. I greet

you all on this second Sunday of the Great Fast,

Great Lent. We celebrate the memory of St. Gregory

Palamas, the great archbishop, the teacher of

prayer, 14th century, and his icons here in the

middle of the church. That's why you heard, in

honor of his memory, you heard two Gospels, the

second one from the Gospel of John about the

Good Shepherd, which St. Gregory epitomized in

his life. But I think we'll speak about the first

Gospel, that story from Mark, which I think is

very familiar to all of us. The four men carrying

their friend, they can't get into this house

where Jesus is preaching. They manage to go onto

the roof. They remove the roofing material and

they lower their friend down before Jesus. And

he immediately says, son, what a wonderful way

to be addressed by God. Son, your sins are forgiven

you. And of course, the Pharisees are shocked

because only God and the temple can forgive sins.

Jesus sees into their heart and says, oh, you

think because there's no sin meter that nobody

can check. That I said, your sins are forgiven

you. Like, it's not that big of a deal for me

to say. Who can say? And then he raises the paralyzed

man. Well, we hear this gospel on the second

week of the fast, and we have to ask ourselves,

how's it going? A number of you have told me

it's not going well. I understand that. And I

also know that during such times, when it's not

going well, we gain experience, which teaches

us. Besides, I know that it's not going well

for our dear brothers and sisters in Eastern

Europe and Ukraine. Our Lent can't possibly...

be as difficult in any way as what they're experiencing.

We continue to pray for them here, and I hope

you continue to do so at home. When we fail,

let's say Lent is not going well, we're not fasting

that well, have we done any of the list of things

that we heard in Matthew 25, visiting the sick,

not to mention the imprisoned, giving drink?

to the thirsty, food, have we done any of that?

We learn a lot about ourselves, about God's mercy,

and about love when we fail, don't we? Failure

can teach us humility. Failure can teach us how

to rely on God, not on ourself. Failure can teach

us our weaknesses, which we need to know. or

else we can never progress. Failure can teach

us empathy for others. As it concerns Great Lent,

let's remember that fasting and praying and almsgiving,

these three pillars, it's not an end. Those things

are not ends in themselves. Knowing Christ and

him crucified and risen is the goal, and to be

his servants during Lent, to be his image. That's

the path there. I've discovered once again, doesn't

take long, the second week we'll give you this

information. I've discovered my own failures

as I usually do and see that I have a great deal

in common with the paralyzed man in the gospel

today. It's hard to turn away from self -centered

habits. To become oriented towards Jesus. To

give. To give precisely in whatever way I can

give myself to Christ. I want to give myself

to myself. But I should give more attention to

prayer and fasting and generosity. But this is

extremely difficult because I'm used to And I

perceive things and I know things through my

physical senses. And my spiritual senses remain

somewhat on the low side. They need to awaken.

We sang a hymn on Friday at Matins and it jumped

out at me. And it told me about my spiritual

paralysis, exactly what I needed to hear that

day. We sang these words. Tone 8. in case you're

interested. Putting to death the passions, which

are those sinful impulses and negative habits.

Putting to death the passions, this time of fasting

brings promise of healing to those wounded by

sin. And lo and behold, we hear in the gospel

today this account about Christ forgiving and

healing sin. Then the hymn, the hymn goes on.

It advises us like this. Let us not choose deliberate

self -indulgence, but let us rejoice with the

church. Let us not be hypocrites like the Pharisees,

but in the spirit of the Gospels, let us put

on the beauty of holiness, glorying in the cross

of Christ, who is the deliverer of our souls.

How beautiful. The beauty of holiness. If you

ever meet a saint, you will see that beauty.

Some folks don't hear that statement about the

beauty of holiness, about Christ the Deliverer,

about glorying in the cross of Christ. What they

hear is sin, sin, and more sin. All we talk about

is sin. Some people claim that the church is

too focused on sins. And that's just depressing

and overwhelmingly negative aspect of the church.

I can't be part of that, I've heard. I know some

that think that. But it's not that the church

is fixated on the negative aspects of human existence.

Christ tells us, and you hear it every Sunday,

blessed are the pure in heart, for they... shall

see God. If we don't deal with removing the paralysis

of sin the paralysis of the soul we are not going

to get very far on the road of purity of heart

and the vision of God. The paralytic in the gospel

needed some friends, as we do too, to remove

what stood in the way of getting to Jesus, going

up to the roof, removing all that stuff, and

then humbly going before Jesus. The same for

us. This gospel has a very powerful memory for

me, very powerful meaning for me personally.

I remember when our dear brother in Christ, Gabriel,

was dying. He went into a coma on the Feast of

Transfiguration and never fully awoke. His vital

organs began to shut down. And I went with a

number, maybe it was four of us, to UCSF to serve

an unction for his healing. And this is it. very

profound, profoundly moving service. It takes

all of our focus and energy, and when we're done,

we feel completely crucified. And we prayed,

and we anointed him seven times, the Gospels,

the epistles, the prayers, and I could see, I

could understand when I got close to him that

he knew what was happening. But then we went

home. And feeling somewhat downcast, of course,

but downcast because Gabriel was not being physically

healed. I complained. I expressed this to a brother

priest who said, don't be stupid. What you did

with those people was like the four friends.

Going to the house with their paralyzed friend

and bringing that man to Christ. That's what

you did, and you better believe that he was healed

of his sins. And at the second coming, his soul

will be glorified, and his body will be raised

and be united, and he will be with Christ, and

he will meet Christ as he comes. So, when I hear

this gospel, I understand that if the forgiveness

of sin doesn't come first, then brothers and

sisters, don't be caught without repentance at

your death, without having made a confession,

and without a recent communion. You don't know

the day or the hour when the Lord comes. You

also don't know the day and the hour when you

will meet him. Gabriel was not prepared, but

we went and we took him and we brought him to

Christ. This cost a lot. Don't be in that position.

Find Christ every day. We might be weighed down.

with all kinds of addictions and dysfunction

and ignorance about Christ and the Father and

the Spirit, we might have self -destructive behavior,

ignorance about ourself, ignorance about God,

about being human, about human nature, male and

female, and this is, of course, under serious

attack. All kinds of sin and error and passions

need healing in me first. Only then, can I experience

the glory of the kingdom of God and the resurrection,

where there will be no sickness or sorrow or

sighing, but life everlasting in a body that

is completely spiritual and immortal. We need

each other for Lent, for sure. Maybe more than

four friends in our case, in my case. But there

are four friends in Lent that I see. that each

one of us could make an acquaintance with a little

more closely. Prayer, let that be your first

friend. Fasting, which gives wings to prayer

and self -discipline. Works of mercy for others.

People don't see God because they don't see God

in us as his reflection. And finally, the last

friend. Prayer, fasting, alms, confession. Dealing

with those sins so that our spiritual senses

awaken. Our paralysis is seen. We know that Jesus

says to us, son, daughter, your sins are forgiven.

Then we might be inspired hearing Christ say

true but almost unbelievable words. Which we

are afraid to act on. This promise. If anyone

loves me. He will keep my word. And my father

will love him. And we will come to him. And make

our abode with him. And I will manifest myself

to him. This one. This Jesus so humble. Experiencing

the. cynicism and the opposition of the Pharisees.

We trust him because he is the one who as we

heard in the epistle today the father says to

the word Jesus he made the worlds. He is the

brightness of the father's glory. The divine

imprint of his person. His throne is forever.

Who in the beginning laid the foundation of the

earth and the work. The heavens are the work

of your hands, O Lord. They, the creation that

is, will perish, but you remain. And they will

all grow old like a garment. Like a cloak, you

will fold them up, and they will be changed.

Amen.