When we accept the invitation to become saints, we must also accept the challenge of a life willing to give it all up for God. We must live the life of the Church which has been guided by the Holy Spirit since Pentecost. A life of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is meant to help us take up our cross and become saints. It is not an easy life, but it is the life of the Saints.
Transcript:
My brothers and sisters, today we are celebrating the Sunday of All Saints so I want to begin by wishing everyone a Chronia Polla because it is everybody’s name day today. Not just because our saint is one of all the saints, but because we are called to be saints. We are celebrating today our own, if I can be so bold, our own sainthood, with a small S, because God calls us all to be perfect like our father in heaven is perfect. He calls us all to be saints. And the important thing, the way we become saints is first and foremost for us to remember what the word saint even means. In Greek Agios. It means not worldly.
To be a saint is to live a life not focused on the world. This is why in this morning’s gospel Christ says, “Therefore, whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.” You see, there’s this heavenly reality to being a saint, and yet we’re stuck here on earth. Our life day after day, week after week is stuck on the earth.
So Christ continues, he says, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it and he loses his life for my sake will find it.” You see, my brothers and sisters, to be a saint means to be willing to give it all up for God. Willing in our society that is growing evermore antagonistic toward the church and Christ. Willing as we are, as Orthodox Christians, to lose a business deal, maybe to even lose a job and have to go find a different job because more and more of our society is fighting against Christ and his church. This is why Christ says if we love any of these things more than God, we’re not worthy to be called His disciples. We’re not worthy of Him. We become worthy when we live the life of the church because the life of the church, as we celebrated last week, is guided by the Holy Spirit.
The life of the church is the life of truth in Christ. And if we are going to accept the call and invitation and I would even say challenge to become saints, then we have to roll up our sleeves and live the life that the church gives to us. A life of prayer, a life of fasting. Tomorrow is the beginning of the fast of the Holy Apostles and I invite all of us to fast for the rest of the month, starting tomorrow until the 29th.
When we fast, we learn how to give things up, right? We learn how to live heaven being more important than the earth. We learn these things by fasting given to us by the church, not choosing our own way of life. If we are left to ourselves, if we choose our own way of life, it is not inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is inspired by our own ego. So a life of prayer and fasting, a life of alms giving, taking care of the poor. There are so many in need in our society. If we are going to live as saints, we have to live the life of love. Loving God more than ourselves even.
Saint John Chrysostom says, “When we fast, we learn how not to want. When we know how not to want, then we can be generous to other people.” It begins with the life of the church.
Christ offers us this challenge, my brothers and sisters. Let’s take him up on his challenge. It’s not going to be easy by any means. This is why we talk about the life of the cross. The Christian way of life is not the easy way of life, but it is the holy way of life. It is the life of a saint with a small S. And maybe God willing, someday one of us in this church will be so successful in living that life that generations from now they’ll turn back and one of us in this church will get the title with a capital S because that’s what today is all about, striving to live as saints by God’s power and the truth of the Holy Spirit. Glory to God.
