Sermons & Homilies
Our faith can only reach full maturity in the crucible of the desert, in droughts of consolation, in periods of dryness and doubt. If we fail to engage in the struggle of prayer and fasting as the Lord urges us to do, then we will ultimately succumb to unbelief.
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That God was with Elias is obvious, but how did Elias live; how did he live so as not to drive God away from him, to live as one who pleased God and in whom God was pleased to dwell? In answering this question, we will understand why he is a model for Christians and especially a model for ascetics and monastics.
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Look at the life of the saint that we commemorate today, St. Seraphim of Sarov. In spite of the fallen world that he lived in, he achieved perfect peace and union with God and all mankind. How could such peace and unity happen in this fallen world? Because through a life of prayer and asceticism he achieved union with Christ in this life. He transcended this life. You might say that he connected heaven and earth in his own person.
“Bless and curse not!” says St. Paul in today’s Epistle. We see both the fulfillment of, and the disobedience to, this command in today’s Gospel.
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Even though Orthodoxy does not penetrate America’s national identity, even though from the historian’s point of view, it is of marginal significance, we should not think that we have little to celebrate and give thanks for on this present day.
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