Homily on the 26th Sunday of Pentecost. Lk 18:18-27
St John Chrysostom writes, “ The young man believed that what was said to him by the Lord was true, and this is why he went away full of sorrow. For he had not the strength to carry it into affect. For there are many who believe in the sayings of the scriptures, but do not have the strength to fulfil what is written.” (The Philokalia)
When one interprets Holy Scripture out of the context of our Apostolic faith, which IS orthodox, it can lead to false information and misleading understandings. I would like to take a quote from our Most Reverend Father Archbishop’s encyclical classed “Faith",
“Thus, faith is not a matter of thought because to think encourages freedom of interpretation – which in this case leads to heresy (departure from that which has been established as truth) eg: the tendency to make God in our own image and likeness rather than knowing him as revealed to us in the faith of HIS Church!” The same principle applies when one interprets Holy Scripture unassisted!
A few key words here, sell and treasures. When our Lord says to “sell”, He’s saying “ in order to live in the fullness of Gods Glory you must rid yourselves from your self-obsession. This is mostly common when one attains an elevated position in society and the authority gets the better of them. Sadly we see this within the ranks of the clergy when they become to big for their shoes and begin too look down upon their flock, seeing themselves as superior and the community as inferior.
Secondly the word “treasures.” When we meet or know someone whom we love and cherish we may refer to that person as a treasure. When Christ speaks about these treasures in heaven he refers to the people we have met through His the love and Mercy. (to reach out)
Before Holy Martyrdom of Archdeacon Laurence of Rome, the Romans officials asked the Saint where they could find these treasures and what they consisted of.
The Holy Spirit revealed to the Saint throughout the ages, that treasure of the church is in actual fact the souls who cry out to God (people who are truly in need). Hence the Archdeacon revealed The Roman officials the people of the town “the poor in spirit, the mourners, the pure in heart, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted and those who have been vilified via evil word’s.” (The Beatitudes)
I would like to discuss a topic that we can all relate too, and perhaps having experienced it a few times in the past. There are times in life where the worries of the world get to us. Understandably so! In today’s society, everything is constantly on the go. We are expected to run at a hundred kilometres per hour; sometimes seaming as we don’t have a chance to stop and catch our breath.
As some may know, two week’s ago my wife Archdiaconisa Lianna and I welcomed our second daughter into the world Lucy. Due to a small non life threatening medical condition, she has spent the first few weeks of her life at the Royal Children’s Hospital, where the staff have and are doing a remarkable job; and their work must be acknowledged!
At the start of the week I recommenced my secular job, I had two weeks off to spend with my family and as one could imagine, after not working for two weeks it took it’s toll on me.
After work I have been visiting Lucy, trying to spend as much time as can with her. I then go home, have a quick bit to eat, shower and go to bed at a much later time than what I would normally.
As a result of such long and busy day’s, I had become slightly stressed over what I was going to write for this weeks homily, if I had enough time to do so and if I had enough to write about.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him. Psalm 28:7
I am in No way trying to toot my own horn as we say in our Australian slang, or trying to communicate that I am the only person going through hardship, there are many out there doing it tougher than I and with the bear minimum.
However, we Must pray for such individuals because they need our prayers, and when the occasion arises we Must help them by leading them to our Saviour via our actions, for they need the Lord's Mercy (to reach out) to mend that which is broken in their lives, for He is the physician of our human condition and author of life. (taken from the priestly prayers from the Divine liturgy)
There have most likely been times in our lives where a friend, a family member or even a stranger needed help with a struggle they were dealing with, and they turned to us for advice.
We have all heard they saying “quality Not quantity”. At times, we may become so fixated in what we need to say to someone, that we over think it; the amount produced is abundant but their lacks the quality making it useful/profitable for the sake of the person.
However, the smallest act of good will, goes a long way! The fact that we have made an effort to be present and giving that individual the time of day is massive in itself. It shows the commitment we where commanded by Christ to keep, “love thy neighbour”. Mt 22:39
And He said “The thing’s which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
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