Sermons & Homilies
We must take an example from St. Symeon who waited so long in faith. This was an active waiting. It was a daily trial. He had plenty of time to doubt the prophecy. He had plenty of time to give up. He had plenty of time to forget what he was still living for. He had plenty of time to bury himself in mindless worldly consolations, distractions, and preoccupations. However, he kept faith. This was not easy. This was not automatic. There is so much hidden within one line of the Scripture which simply states that he would not die until he saw the Lord’s Christ.
Today, Our Lord Jesus Christ fulfills His promise to send the Holy Spirit into the world. The dust He once formed in the beginning to make man and into which He breathed the Breath of Life fell through the deception of the devil. Christ took upon Himself this dust, becoming man, uniting it to Himself, to deliver us from bondage to the devil. And through sending down the Holy Spirit, He makes man, once fallen and worse than dirt, to become god.
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Today’s Gospel, in short, shows us an icon of deformed humanity—ungratefulness, lack of good stewardship, laziness, greed, jealousy, vanity, hatred, and pride. All of this ends with the killing of Christ, the son of the Householder—the killing of God Incarnate!
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Let us make this yearly renewal of the vows we took in baptism, for Christ did not shed His Spirit upon us so abundantly to no purpose, but rather that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works (Tit. 2:14).
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We are called Christians because we are chrismated with this Chrism, gifted with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is the purpose of all Christ’s work!
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