Paschal Priests’ Sermons: “I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”

 

 

We have forty days of joy ahead of us, and that is such a temptation! It is a greater temptation than fasting even, because only a courageous and a truly faithful person can be happy when they feel pain, when someone wronged them, when everything is falling apart. May God grant you this joy, which no one and nothing can take from you. […]

 

We have to be extremely cautious during this period of celebration so that we don’t lose our way. We did a lot of fasting somehow but now we may begin to forget that the enemy is lurking around and gnashing his teeth; he stands behind our backs watching our every step. If we relax even for a single moment, we will immediately face a temptation. We should be aware of the fact that everything is fine only when a person does not lose his connection to God. As soon as he loses it, he is already lost. You can’t tell how far astray he will go. This is why you should stop in your tracks immediately and cry out like children who lost their parents do, «Mom, Dad, where are you?» We cry «Lord, where are You? I’m lost!» Of course, the Lord will reply, «Come here, I am near». Take care, don’t get lost. Don’t hurry if you are not sure. Keep silent if you don’t know something. If you are angry, you should go and reconcile first, and then come to conclusions and act accordingly. Therefore, my dear friends, let us learn to fight the sin, fight the devil, fight this sinful world and defeat it with God’s help.

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The Lord told Apostle Nicodemus that one has to be born again in order to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. There are extremes on the road to the Heavenly Kingdom. Extremes aren’t from God. However, there is also the royal way in the middle, and we should take it. What makes one suffer the most? Either pride, when one is proud, unaware that everything he has is sent by God, or melancholy. Melancholy also stems from pride because it means that we lack faith and trust in God.

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The Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life(John 14:6). He has everything. He has everything we will ever need. If we properly get what He wants to teach us, if we do not wander in darkness instead of light — the light of Christ — all other things will be added unto us, God will send them our way. On the one hand, it sounds too easy, and on the other hand, it is easier said than done. The Lord whispers into our ears, and sometimes we cannot hear his quiet voice. One has to stop and be quiet in order to maintain peace and silence inside his heart and be capable of hearing the Lord’s voice. Only then we will be able to hear what the Lord says. […]

 

Pascha is a holiday that must be permanent. It must never stop. Saints used to say that one should always keep Pascha in his heart. It is possible because there are examples of saints who greeted everyone with, «My joy, Christ is risen!» We have to learn to greet people like this and not in a rude and brusque manner. When we make people happy, the Lord makes us happy, too. This is a fundamental law. Lord promises to repay us a hundredfold for any good that we do.

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We should be always asking ourselves: are we ready to refrain from retaliation? Are we ready to stand up for God’s righteousness until the end? Are we ready to forgive betrayals, treason, offences and misunderstandings — that cup that Jesus drank when He walked the earth? […]

 

The Church lives in the healed time, where the compartmentalisation between the past and the future is no longer an issue, where death, time, and distance are overcome. This is hard to grasp but that’s the Church experience.

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People are looking for earthly things, but God came into this world and became human in order to take us to the Heaven, to unite us around gratitude and praise to him. We come to church, praising God and thanking him in the Sacrament of Eucharist. The word Eucharist means «thanksgiving». Here we come together and become one family — the Church of Christ.