Sermons & Homilies
All of us are born into this world with a deep and insatiable longing for Paradise. Perhaps we are not even aware of it. Most of us bury it beneath the mire of our passions; we try to satisfy this pure and holy desire with the trinkets and amusements of this fallen world. We become as ships tossed to and fro, as wanderers amid the wasteland of this life, consumed by a gnawing hunger for we know not what. But no matter how we might try to slake our endless, unquenchable desire, we all — like the Prodigal Sons that we are — always end up finding ourselves enslaved to our passions, perishing with hunger, and very, very far away from home.
Today is the Second day of Nativity and is called the “Synaxis of the Theotokos.” The synaxis of a feast is the title applied to the commemoration that falls on the day after a Great Feast (but not all Great Feasts) which honors some person who is intimately connected with that feast. “Synaxis” means “assembly,” and today we assemble to honor the Mother of God.
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Today’s Gospel shows us two great wonders: one—a woman is healed from an affliction which she has suffered for eighteen whole years from an evil spirit; and, two—we see a hypocritical ruler of the synagogue completely blinded by spiritual delusion, earthly-mindedness and, not just numb to this miracle, but filled with indignation…bitter hatred and disgust; for whom? For God incarnate.
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In the troparion-hymn, this Feast is called the “the heralding of the salvation of mankind.” Why? Because, the Virgin will give birth to Christ, the Great High Priest, Who was not a Levitical priest, but a priest after the order of Melchizedek; He did not enter to minister in the Jewish temple, nor did He enter physically into the Holy of Holies. But, offering Himself as the Only True Sacrifice for our sins upon the Cross, He has resurrected Himself in our very flesh which He has received from the Virgin-Mother.
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Fathers, brothers, sisters although our theosis is a great mystery and its magnitude towers over our understanding, yet St. Gregory tells us simply keep the commandments and God will unite you to Himself.
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