Sunday Before Exaltation

This week, one of our members, Laura Mayo, fell

asleep in the Lord. Most of you probably don't

know or did not know Laura. She had a very long

illness with cancer. I am thankful that she received

Holy Communion just before she reposed. May her

memory be eternal. And yesterday, our dear brother

Niles was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia.

Yesterday also, 20th anniversary of that tragedy

of 9 -11. And you know all the tragedy that continued

after that. We live in a world, as you know,

of suffering and death. I receive emails frequently,

and now we have a parish on our parish website,

a place to click if you want to ask for a prayer.

I receive emails constantly for prayers, people

not in this parish, far and wide. Suffering,

sick, lost a loved one, a loved one took his

or her own life, and so on and so forth. But

there's also, and I don't say this in the trite

way, but in the most profound way, because we

believe in the one who has given us life, who

came into the world, not to condemn the world,

but to save the world. We have hope, and we have

trust. And we have faith that new life is always

coming too. I received a call recently that a

woman conceived a child. The family is growing

now. Someone else gave birth. Someone else came

to the church. Someone else wants to be a catechumen.

Someone else did a good deed silently, quietly,

secretly. A very profound thing that they did.

In the church, isn't it glorious? Isn't it such

an amazing miracle that whether we live or we

die, whether we suffer or whether we are well,

whether we rejoice or lament, at every step of

the way in the church, We are given consolation.

We are given hope. That what Jesus said, that

the Son of Man didn't come to condemn the world,

but to save the world. We're given hope that

that's an actual, that's a truth, that's a reality.

We just celebrated, and today we're doing the

leave -taking of the Nativity of the Theotokos.

We celebrated her conception in December and

her birth just the other day. This is a birth

that changed the course of the world and changed

every life here. Each one of us. Each one of

us was changed profoundly by that birth. And

then through her life. And now through her intercessions.

This is the life of the church. And today we

have this Sunday, we celebrate the Sunday before

the feast day of the elevation, the exaltation

of the precious cross. Again, God is with us

through our suffering because we bear our own

crosses and in our death. Because when we were

baptized, we died to sin and death and we rose

to eternal life. And when we put this body down

and we die, We will enter into life eternal and

then be raised to glory. That's the story of

the cross. That's why that feast day is so important.

But St. Paul, and this is my sermon today on

this verse, St. Paul in Galatians, which you

heard, was encountering resistance to the cross.

Those people in Galatia, many of them were ashamed

of the cross of Christ. God decided to save the

world not through wisdom and not through power,

but through weakness. Because God's weakness

is stronger than the strength of this world.

God's foolishness is wiser than the wisdom of

this world. St. Paul writes, God forbid that

I should boast in anything except the cross.

What's he mean by that? He says he has to write

this in his own hand in large letters. You know,

he dictated his epistles. He had someone take

it down. And he's at the end of the epistle,

he's writing the words himself. God forbid that

I should boast except in the cross of our Lord

Jesus Christ, for whom the world has been crucified

to me and I to the world. He means. That now

he's dead to whatever criticism, whatever anger,

whatever sickness, whatever terror, whatever

evil and sin. He's dead to death because Christ

has saved him. The world can't scare him. And

his opponents, those who are ashamed of the cross,

he says in another part of his letter, because

they were promoting circumcision, he says, I

hope they castrate themselves. St. Paul could

be pretty rough. That's how deeply he felt about

this. But can anything separate us from the love

of God? He says no. But then why, brothers and

sisters, are we so afflicted with hopelessness?

Why do so many of us find our knowledge, our

information, not in here, not in the divine services

in which we are given consolation from birth

to death, but in the evening and morning news?

Replace the evening and morning news with evening

and morning prayers. and your soul will be relieved

of so much trouble. The Church of Christ announces

hope to those that are gripped with sin, who

don't know the cross, to those who have anger,

to those who are immersed in the ugly politics

and division. to those who are sick, to those

who feel hopeless. The Church of Christ, the

Word of God announces, and we should announce

by the way that we live our life, hope. We should

have those fruits of the Holy Spirit that St.

Paul mentions, that we can have now, not in the

life of the age to come, but now. Love, joy,

peace, long -suffering, goodness, kindness. faithfulness,

gentleness, self -control. We remember when we

hold our cross, when we place our cross on us,

when a child is baptized and given a cross, that

Jesus, this is important, takes part in all our

sufferings and he makes them easier. He helps

us with our struggles against temptations by

the power of the cross. And sin is forgiven.

He strives with us. Can you believe that? Believe

it. He strives with us in our quest for virtues,

for love, joy, peace, long -suffering, gentleness,

and so forth. And he uncovers our true nature.

who we are under the pile of sin that might be

on top of us. And until the end of the world,

says St. Maximus the Confessor, whose fresco

is right over there, he always suffers with us

secretly because of his goodness according to

and in proportion to the suffering found in each

one of us. Count on it. You will have resistance

to the gospel. That's what St. Paul is saying

in that verse from Galatians. Count on it. You're

going to have resistance. I'm going to tell you

a story, a short little scene. Some of you have

heard me say it. This is from... The life of

Father Felaretos of Mount Athos. He died in 1965.

He was a monk for 60 years at the monastery of

Costa Monitou. He was sitting outside on a bench,

looking downcast, looking rather blue, and a

novice came up to him and says, Father, Why are

you looking sad? Because Father Filaretos was

a man of deep, profound prayer, had experienced

the uncreated light, was a river of God's love.

When he would serve the Divine Liturgy, it was

said that in the small chapel where he was assigned,

sometimes he would stop, and the singers knew.

The curtain was closed, the door was closed.

And for one hour, he was in prayerful ecstasy.

So that's not going to work in a parish. I know

that. So besides, I'm not Father Philaretos.

But he was looking extremely blue. And the novice

said, Father, what's on your mind? Why are you

so sad? He said, Son, God's abandoned me. The

novice was shocked. God's abandoned you, Father.

What do you mean? He said, Son, no temptations

today. Now, is this man neurotic? No. He knew

that in the world you will have tribulations.

In the world, if you hold the cross of Christ

close to you, you will have resistance from yourself,

from the devil, and from... the fallen angels,

the demons. You will have temptations. You will

have troubles. You will have difficulties of

all sorts. And he was saying, didn't happen today.

What's wrong? Am I slipping? Is my heart not

with the Lord? Let's get our hearts with the

Lord, brothers and sisters. Remember that there's

always going to be a tension with the world when

we hold the cross. Don't be ashamed of the cross,

but do your Christian work. Because when a Christian

does his or her work in this world, it's done

in union with Christ. It's not just us. It's

Christ. When we fast, it's Christ who fasts in

us. When we pray, it's Christ who prays in us.

When we give alms, it's Christ who gives alms

to that person. Christ longs to fast within us.

He longs to pray in us. He longs to show mercy

in us. The church, as I said, this glorious body

of grace, it's not about a list of rules, a prescription

for behaving ourselves. Like this man in the

gospel, the first gospel you heard. Master, what

do I need to do to inherit eternal life? I remember

last year it occurred to me and I said to you,

that's like a man coming up to a woman that's

really attractive and says, what do I need to

do so you fall in love with me and marry me?

He misses the point. It's about total commitment

and love. The commandments of Christ are Christ.

I'll leave you with this wonderful verse, which

gives me heart. Stand fast, therefore, in the

liberty by which Christ has made us free. Do

not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Amen. To our Lord be glory, now and ever, to

ages of ages.