Luke 18:18-27

Glory to Jesus Christ, in the name of the Father,

and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There

are times in a person's life, whether it be a

nationally applicable or just personally applicable,

where you take a new road. You embark upon a

new adventure where something captivates your

heart, your soul, your mind, your whole being,

and you have to follow. Nationally, maybe I can

think of, in the past, that horrific event of

December 7th, and people hearing on the radio,

it's just iconic for us even now, FDR saying,

December 7th, 1941, a day that will live in infamy.

And then the result of that speech and the result

of that horrific attack on Pearl Harbor was that

countless young men and women then came to the

recruiting office, signed up. It was horrible

things they would experience. But they took a

new road. They were imbued with courage. They

were imbued with a love of their country and

many other things perhaps. Personally, you know,

and I was reflecting on this because yesterday

was our 38th wedding anniversary, the backwards

anniversary since we were married in 83 and it's

38 years now. You see somebody and There's a

thought, some kind of powerful movement inside

the mind or something deeper. And then you get

to know that person if God grants. And then you

fall in love. And then that cements it. And you

take a new path in life. Your heart is captivated.

There's nothing else you want. There's nothing

more important. You change. Well, let's apply

this approach to a young man going to church

about the year 270. He was 18 or 20 years old.

His parents had died. He only had a sister. It

was a wealthy family. Lived in Egypt, a place

called Coma. It's not on the map anymore, probably.

He went to the church, and he heard the gospel

reading that you and I heard today. But a rich

young man who went to Jesus, Master, what must

I do? And you know the rest of the story. And

Jesus put his finger on the heart of that young

man in the gospel and the heart of that Egyptian

young man in the year 270. Sell? If you want

to be perfect, sell everything. Give to the poor

and follow me. And Jesus looked at the young

man in the story we heard from Luke. And it says

he loved him. The young man didn't go away condemned.

He went away sad. And Jesus was sad. But this

young man in Egypt. this 20 -year -old man whose

parents had died, heard this story, and his heart

was ignited. And he said, that's me. That story

was him, and us too, because there's something

in between us and Christ for a full, complete,

intense, loving... There's something we have

kept back that won't allow us to go on. For the

young man, it was his riches. He had collected

things. He had lots of things. Oh, I followed

all those commandments from my youth up. Well,

he was a teenager at some point, so probably

not. And he went away sad. But this young man

in Egypt, Anthony, Went out of the city. Having

taken care of his sister. Having sold all his

things. And he went and lived in a small hut.

Some ways out. And he began to visit righteous

people to learn how to pray. To learn how to

repent. The next time he went to church. He heard

these words. Why are you anxious about these

things? Don't you know your Heavenly Father will

care for you? And he said, that's it. I'm going

deeper. And out he went into the deep desert,

into a mountain. And for years and years and

years, and with people following him all the

time, because of his wisdom, because of the beauty

of his spirit, he was out there and he... hid

himself in a tomb, a cave, and he fought with

the demons. They attacked him every night. And

you know what he said? He said, you creatures

are pitiful. You have to come in a mob, because

one of you can't do a thing, and the mob just

has a front of hideousness. You're... powerless

before Christ. For St. Paul said that Christ

came to destroy him that held the power of death,

that is the devil. And you come in these appearances

like a lion and a bear or some woman. You're

pitiful. You can't do anything. And at the end

of these years of his life as a hermit, like

St. Seraphim, he came out. And this is what the

life of St. Anthony the Great, written by our

great father St. Athanasius. Fresco of St. Athanasius

is here. Fresco of St. Anthony is right there,

standing next to Paul of Thebes. I thank the

one who commissioned that. This is what happened.

He came out. He emerged from his desert retreat

after 20 years of isolation. St. Athanasius says

he came forth from a kind of sanctuary, initiated

and born up by God. And the people were amazed

that saw him, that he had neither grown flabby

or thin or emaciated from fast and struggles

with the demons. And the character of his soul

was pure of blemish. He was fully natural. He

became like Adam. In the garden. And through

him the Lord healed the bodies of many that were

sick. And many that were demonically afflicted.

And people were comforted. Those who grieved.

And other people were reconciled. Those who were

at enmity and strife with one another. The difference

between the young man. And the story. The gospel

story. And St. Anthony. Is that the young man

heard. If you want to be perfect, go sell everything.

And that's it. What St. Anthony heard was, if

you want to be perfect, sell everything and come

and follow me. Why follow Jesus? His heart was

captivated by the one who is our creator. Why

follow Jesus? Brothers and sisters, Think what

we've been given. Listen to what St. Paul wrote

to the Colossians, which you just heard. That

we should give thanks to God the Father who has

made us, he has equipped us, he has made us worthy

to be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints.

That is saints like St. Anthony. The great ones

that we cannot even approach in our thought.

We share their life. Through God. And then St.

Paul says, the Father has delivered us from the

power of darkness. Note, it's in the past tense.

It's done. We have been delivered from darkness.

We just have to live in the light. He has translated

us. It's past tense. He has done this for us

already. He has translated us to the kingdom

of his dear son with whom we have redemption

through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

This is what should captivate our heart, set

us on the path which we should not turn aside

from. St. Paul also goes on to say that he is

the image of the invisible God. that he made

all things, and all things came into being through

him. We trust him, whatever situation we are

in. We have been called from the kingdom of darkness

into the light. We have been redeemed. We have

been given the precious blood. We have the forgiveness

of sins. Christ is the one who has made all things,

like St. Anthony heard. Why are you anxious about

so many things? Being a citizen of the kingdom,

brothers and sisters, changes everything. Otherwise,

how would it be that we honor, we venerate this

man, Anthony, lived to 105 years old, died sometime

in the 350s? Why would we remember somebody living

in the desert? It's because the grace of God

goes out from those who love him, no matter how

weak that love might be, how often we might sin.

and get up again the grace of god and mercy and

healing is in this world through the saints and

through the life of the church christ says saint

paul is the head of the church and we are its

members so rejoice brothers and sisters let the

light of the kingdom of god shine within your

heart love god as you love that person that you

were that your heart was captivated by that you

couldn't live without that's how we are to love

god amen