Sermons & Homilies
There is rejoicing when the saints are praised, says the wise Solomon (Prov. 29.2), for whose spirit is not roused when they hear the exploits of the saints. Not only do their august deeds excite the soul, but their feats turn our attention towards Him for whom they labored – Christ, the pleased Master of faithful servants, the King of loyal subjects, the Bridegroom of the chaste Bride; the Judge who crowns the victors of the race.
If there is anything America, or rather the whole world desperately needs right now, it is saints. It is the saints who call down God’s mercy and grace on the world. It is the saints who keep the sun shining, the world turning. The saints truly are the salt of the earth, preserving it from rotting away.
Today, we commemorate all the Saints who have ever existed. The reason for this is not because we might have missed some throughout the year, but to show that this is God’s desired end for all of humanity, not just the American land, not just the Russian land, not just the Serbian land, but for all lands and for all time. The net of holiness encircles the multitudinous variations of our human race. From the peasant to the prodigy, the idiot to the intelligent, the homeless to the hierarch, the monogamous to the monk; from the Patriarch Moses to Lazarus whose sores the dogs licked, the grace of God reaches out to all people, making sinners into saints.
As we celebrate today the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, let us also rejoice in the assurance that that same Holy Spirit has received our dear father into the life of heaven, and that through that same Holy Spirit, we are ever united with him and with Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness to my spirit that the love wherewith Fr. Seraphim loved me and each one of us, individually and collectively—that love is stronger than death.
We can’t love someone we don’t know. This is why the Church always fights against heresy, against false beliefs about God. How meaningful and deep can our relationship be with someone when we think of him as something he is not? This is why the Church fights heresy and triumphs in her victories several times throughout the year.
