All Saints of America 2022

and sisters you've heard the beatitudes countless

times haven't you but in the context of the celebration

of all saints of america they sound a little

different it tells us and the reason we have

this reading not only jesus inviting his two

brothers two sets of brothers to come and follow

him and they left the father holding the net

and the boat, and we have this reading from the

Beatitudes, it gives a very different key. It

tells us this is our path too. Now, Pentecost

came, and then the Feast of All Saints, because

sanctity is the fruit of the Spirit, and Pentecost

is the gift of the Spirit, of which we... have

participated and do participate. Saints known,

many thousands, however many, and more than the

known ones, those that are unknown. And today

we have this feast of all saints of America and

Russia or all saints of Greece or all saints

of Romania, depending where you are. It's not

for us to sit back and admire them only. To say,

oh, how inspirational. We are on the same path.

Jesus says, follow me. And this is what we're

going to do. We love him. Because he loves us.

Before we even knew him. He loves us. There are

some 20 or saints recognized. American saints.

You know some of their names. St. Herman, St.

Innocent. Saint Jacob, Saint John of San Francisco,

Saint Sebastian of Jackson, truly an American

saint, born in 1865, baptized in San Francisco.

When we hear from Saint Matthew today that Jesus

saw those two brethren, Simon, Peter, and his

brother Andrew, it's a fresco of Saint Peter,

and just around the corner, almost touching each

other, is Saint Andrew. He says, Follow me. He

said to them, I will make you fishers of men.

Not just fish. Cast in the net. Not a hook. A

hook brings in basically dead fish. Right? A

net brings in those that are alive. He includes

us in that invitation. Maybe not to be fishers

of men. Not to be apostles because there's only

the 12. But some will be evangelists. Some will

be priests. Some will be martyrs. So on. All

walks of life. The church is for everyone. The

Orthodox Church is for absolutely everyone. But

all of us, hopefully, will be humble disciples.

You can say the saints are magnificent. We paint

them on our walls. They're distant from us. We

don't feel a connection to them. Our life is

so different. That's true. But Christ came to

the apostles when they were doing ordinary things.

They were fishing. They were just doing their

job. Let me hold up for you an example of a saint,

not yet glorified, but certainly a saint, lived

in an obscure place, very poor. She died unknown

to most. Anybody, except her village. Life was

a daily struggle in that place. I'm speaking

of Mother Olga, Matushka Olga Michael, her last

name was Michael, of Alaska. She died, in fact,

on November 8th, the Feast of the Archangel Michael.

This woman was full of zeal and love for God,

full of faith and love for her neighbor. And

now we have many, many countless accounts of

her miracles for those who approach her for help

and sometimes who haven't even approached her

for help but receive her help not even knowing

who she is. She is known as a helper for those

with child. She was a midwife. She is known as

a guide and a consolation for those especially

women who have been abused, who have been assaulted.

who live in fear, and so forth. But in reading

her life, there's so much more. When we talk

about life in the church, we talk about leadership,

we talk about authority and participation. This

is our example, a humble, giving, saintly woman

whose life now started in a little bitty place

and has opened up. like this, and now encompasses

the whole world and anyone who calls upon her.

That's leadership in the church. That's the way

it works. Matryoshka Olga is a spiritual authority

for us and a wonderful saint, humble. On this

Sunday of All Saints, I'm going to offer basically

one piece of advice. An instruction, if you will.

It's this. Ask the Lord. Truly, ask the Lord

to grant you a fervor, a warmth, a zeal for love

of him. A zeal for love of your neighbor. And

a zeal for love of the entire creation. Ask repeatedly.

until he gives you this gift. Those of you that

were coming to dinner during Pre -Sanctified,

remember we read a selection from Elder Emilio

Nos, who said the spiritual life is so simple.

It's so simple. You just ask God, come dwell

in my heart. You ask him 100 times a day, he

said. Well, if you can't ask him 100 times a

day because you're busy, that's okay. Ask 50

times a day. Perhaps you're too busy. Your children,

your husband, your wife, your job, whatever.

Okay, 20 times a day, that's fine. God will hear

you. That's too much. Three times is fine. You

ask your father for a piece of bread, will he

give you a stone? No. You ask God to dwell in

your heart. If you give him room, he will come.

This is the spiritual life. This is what we need

to ask for, brothers and sisters. Ask repeatedly

until he gives this gift. When you ask, says

St. James, yes, there's a right way to ask. You

must believe and not doubt. Because the one who

doubts, says St. James the Apostle, is like a

wave of the sea. blown and tossed by the wind,

that person should not expect to receive anything

from the Lord. But having received from the Lord,

then follow him. Resolve to love him above all

things as he loves us, even to death on the cross,

to raise us up in the last day. No excuses, no

equivocation, no but, or this or that, no. God

pours out his love. All his commandments, it's

good to remember, let's say all, just for the

sake. All his commandments are contrary to our

fallen human nature. There's resistance within

us. The only way we can follow Christ is if we

invite his spirit into our life every day and

mean it. Initially, You may not find such a change

taking place, not much difference, but persistence

will pay off. And when that warmth and that love

and that zeal for God comes, that love for your

neighbor and for all creation, respond. We can

talk about saintliness. I can give you lives

of saints from now until next month, every day,

all day long. But let's recall what St. James

also said in this epistle, that true religion,

true faithfulness, is that which God our Father

accepts as pure and faultless, to look after

orphans and widows in their distress. That sounds

pretty simple, but pretty hard to do. Are we

doing it? Meaning, St. James' meaning, we look

after those in need, like Mother Olga did. We

look after and connect with those in fear and

anxiety and poverty. St. James adds the necessity

to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

You know the list. Each of us has a list of those

sins that pollute us. Don't need to go into that.

And St. James sums up his teaching by this. Faithfulness

and other religious belief and church going by

itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is

dead. I want to challenge us, this parish, today.

Thanks be to God that he has given us these saints

as an example. Thanks be to God that we can act

out of gratitude to God because he has given

us the church, the Holy Spirit, Holy Communion,

the knowledge of his presence, his guidance,

and the life of the resurrection of the kingdom

to come, which is here but not fully. Thanks

be to God that we can humbly reach out. I'd like

to... suggest, more than suggest, I'd like this

parish to take up the challenge of beginning

a new ministry. A new ministry to support our

mothers. I don't mean my mother. Mothers who

are expecting, mothers who are in poverty, whether

married or not, mothers that are single. Why

do I say this today? Well, on the feast, of the

holy forerunner, John the Baptist, which was

Friday, you know what the Supreme Court ruled.

The abortion debate is very old and it's contentious.

It was not settled even before Friday, no matter

what anybody says. And the Supreme Court decision

doesn't end the contention. If anything, it reignites

it. It has never been a debate in the Orthodox

Church, however, even if some members resist

its teaching. It has never been a debate, not

from the beginning. For the whole history of

the church, abortion has been resisted. Human

life begins when? That's just biology. But brothers

and sisters, we know also that God has endowed

us. endowed us with his image and his likeness.

And because of the resurrection, each and every

person, each and every human being is precious

and beautiful, even if they're covered with sin.

Remember, the apostles, when they were called

by Christ, and they were taught for three years,

and they received the gift of the Holy Spirit

on Pentecost, they went into the Roman world,

which had less than zero respect for the life

of women and children. Zero respect for infants.

Perhaps we moderns are not so righteous in that

regard either. My challenge to you is to begin

this ministry, because as Orthodox Christians,

our task in all this is not about debate. It's

about helping to do what we can't do because

we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And with

God, all things are possible. We can make conditions

for life for those who are suffering favorable

for growth and holiness and just life. And in

that act of faithfulness, we too shall be sanctified.

Let's end with the words of St. Paul in Hebrews,

which you heard a few moments ago from the 12th

chapter. Therefore, since we are surrounded by

so great, so great a cloud of witnesses, let

us lay aside every weight and every sin which

so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance.

It takes effort to run, doesn't it? Let us run

with endurance the race that is set before us,

looking to Jesus, the author and finisher, the

perfecter of our faith. To our Lord be glory

through the saints and through us, always, now

and ever, to ages of ages. Amen.