7th Sunday after Pentecost 2020 Fr. Lawrence Margitich

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to God. It may be a cliche, and people

quote it all the time, the words of the apostles

on the Mount of Transfiguration, but it is good

for us to be here. And it's good for us to be

here, more of us, than I've seen in church at

one time since March. That's a long time. That's

a long time to miss you and for us to miss being

together. We're not in the church, but keep in

mind what St. Maximus said, that each of us is

to be like a church. We all have our narthex.

We have the holy altar, which is our heart, the

holy place, which is our body, and we meet God

in the place of the heart. So this we strive

and we struggle to reach by God's grace in ourselves.

So while we may not be in the church building,

each one of you, what did St. Paul say? It's

the temple of the Holy Spirit. Each one of you

has been purchased by God through the cross and

the resurrection. Each one of you. It's to be

a reflection of Jesus Christ. Today I'd like

to speak a little bit about Father Jacob, St.

Jacob of Alaska, and a little bit about the epistle

to the Romans that you heard, the first epistle.

You heard four readings today. What a wealth,

what a banquet of consolation and hope. In this

reading from Romans, St. Paul says, That the

scriptures are the source of our hope. So a person

that has no hope is like someone that's anemic

or dying of hunger. You need food. You need protein.

You need iron. A person who has no hope needs

the scriptures. So I'll say a little bit about

Romans and a little bit about St. Jacob. This

noble, incredible man whose journeys... really

were like St. Paul's, very much so, and tragedies

and troubles. He came back to where he was going

to serve, and after his wife died, and his house

had burned down. One thing after another. He

asked a blessing in order to become a monk after

his wife died, and the bishop said, sure, we

can do that, but you'll have to wait until a

replacement comes, which never happened. He had

a diocese that was 2 ,000 miles, as much as the

diocese of the West, but as the only priest in

most of those territories. So we sang today,

O Righteous Father Jacob, Adornment of Alaska,

thou didst offer thyself as a living sacrifice

to bring light to a searching people. St. Jacob.

to those searching people, they lived a very

rudimentary village, Alaskan village, and harsh

life. But don't think for a moment they were

savages, either morally or spiritually. They

knew there was a creator. They knew that all

life came from this creator. They gave thanks

to God. the creator for all things that they

received. They knew that the world was a transcendent

place, that there were angels and that there

were demons. They knew that after this life,

their soul would move on. Heavenly things were

not strange to these people. Unlike our present

society, technologically obsessed and spiritually

and morally devolving, How can we believe in

evolution when we see what we see? Obsessed with

technology, spiritually and morally devolving

all the time. Unlike our people, ourselves, our

minds, our hearts are so fragmented, we can barely

pull a thought together to stand before God.

Unlike us, the peoples of Alaska discerned immediately,

almost immediately, a fulfillment and a truth.

about Jesus Christ who reveals God in the power

of the Holy Spirit. They accepted the gospel.

They knew this. They discerned this. Our contemporaries

can't see this. We have a hard time preaching

to people in our society. And of course, the

account of St. Matthew that you heard is relevant

there. The blind men, except... We don't go to

Christ. The blind men in the gospel went to be

healed. We think that blindness is natural. This

is our world that we live in now. The life of

St. Jacob says this. When he was clothed in the

garments of the priesthood, he was found to be

clad with zeal as with a cloak. And so he threw

himself completely into his sacred service. to

his parishioners, his deep love for God and for

his flock, was evident in everything that he

did. Having no anxiety in this life. Remember

the teaching from Matthew 6? Why are you anxious

for this and that? Having no anxiety for things

in this life. He experienced the harshness of

cold, wet, traveling long distances in that condition,

illness, hunger, exhaustion. For to him, Life

was Christ. Christ was his life, and his life

was Christ. And he knew, as St. Paul said, the

power of the resurrection in himself. And that's

why those who met him were so receptive to what

the gospel that he was preaching. It's exactly

what we heard in the gospel. In the epistle today,

this describes St. Jacob. Those who are strong

ought to bear the scruples of the weak. Strong,

by the way, means steadfast and confirmed in

the faith. And to bear with the scruples the

infirmities of the weak does not mean to put

up with them. As in, oh Lord, come on. These

people. It means something more profound. It

means to carry with love. God's love, not our

own. God's love to carry those who have moral

weaknesses, spiritual weaknesses, misunderstandings,

and yes, even prejudices. Those that are strong,

and if we think we are strong, probably not.

ought to bear with the infirmities of the weak.

St. Paul is teaching us, and the example of St.

Jacob shows us, demonstrates us, that we are

perfected. Yes, perfected. We've reached our

goal, made holy and like Christ, by struggling

to fulfill these words of St. Paul. Note well,

please, that the Christian life is one of common

union. Community. Together as one in Christ.

This is unity from above. This is not political

ideas, or because we like church music, or icons,

or vestments, or some kind of cultural thing.

This is unity from above. Unity of one faith,

One baptism, one Lord, and one Eucharist. This

means, brothers and sisters, that all of us that

share the same faith, the one Lord, one baptism,

one Eucharist, have sensitivities, perhaps hopes,

aspirations, weaknesses, all of which are indispensable

to my life. and your life. I'm saved through

my brothers and my sisters. And I am saved through

them. What we do, St. Paul is teaching us, we

don't do for ourselves, but we do for the spiritual

benefit of our brethren. Brethren is men and

women, by the way. It's the way St. Jacob lived,

it's what he shows us. It's what we've had since

the beginning of this month. St. Sergius on the

first Sunday. St. Paisios of the Holy Mountain

on the second Sunday. St. Seraphim of Sarov on

the third Sunday. St. Jacob of Alaska on the

fourth. Are we getting the message? I may not

make choices with only myself in mind. Let each

of us, says St. Paul, please his neighbor for

his good. To do good things. Leading to edification,

he says. Edification means building up, right?

The word edifice means building up. In our words,

actions, thoughts, opinions, we are to build

up our neighbor with our faith. To edify one

another. What we don't have, we can't give. It's

not sufficient either that I avoid scandalizing

you. That's not enough. And here, a word of caution

about social media. Once again, as I mentioned

months ago, I don't need to go into that again.

Our Christian way is hard. Some may think it's

too demanding. But let me be clear. What St.

Paul is telling us is this. If my neighbor is

not edified by me, not improved, it's not my

neighbor's fault. The moral failure is mine.

I'm responsible for building him up. Because

if I truly am a temple of the Holy Spirit in

Christ, it's possible. It's possible. Because

we depend upon Christ to do all things. It's

not that we add a little God to our own effort.

We have nothing without the Lord. We're the thief

next to Christ on the cross, unable to do anything

by our own power. But Christ says, you'll be

with me today in paradise. If you, like me, find

this kind of love for neighbor, lacking and you

find weakness and an inability to follow St.

Paul's words here, well, just don't say, well,

St. Jacob was a saint and I'm not. So, again,

it all comes from God. We aren't asking God to

add to my efforts. We depend solely on him. The

native peoples of the Yukon, didn't come to Christ

because Jacob was a nice man, although undoubtedly

he was, or had great arguments about theology

and logical answers. They came to Christ because

he was Christ to them. He reflected Jesus Christ

to them. He had light in himself. Radiating from

the prayer of the heart. The Jesus prayer. Lord

Jesus Christ. Son of God. Have mercy on me. He

had love and truth. Which is Christ. And the

presence of the Holy Spirit. He was the temple

of the Holy Spirit. Wherever he went. There was

the church. What to do for us. Keep this in mind.

And I'll close with this. Saint Nicodemus. Nicodemus

of the Holy Mountain, a saint of the 18th century,

says this, the grace of the Holy Spirit which

is given mystically to every Christian when he

is baptized acts and is manifested in proportion

to our obedience to the commandments of the Lord.

That is, if a Christian obeys the commandments

of the Lord more, grace acts with him more. While

if he obeys them less, grace acts less within

him. Talk doesn't do it. Action, motivated by

prayer, which bestows godly love, which bestows,

and this is the gift from God, peace of heart

and joy. Joy in each other. Joy in the life God

has given us. Joy in salvation. Joy in the liturgy.

Joy in communion. joy in the forgiveness of sins,

joy in this world that we live in, joy and hope

of what we have. Now may the God of patience

and comfort grant you to be like -minded toward

one another according to Christ Jesus, that you

may with one mind and one heart glorify the God

and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers

and sisters, receive one another, just as Christ

also received us to the glory of God. Amen.