Forgive me the sinner.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Last week when Elias and Asher were here visiting with us, Elias was soaking in all the icons lining the walls of the church.  Naturally, he wanted to know who they were.  And I said, as simply as I thought he might be able to understand, that these are saints.  Of course, he wanted to know what a saint is.  And, again, trying to keep it simple, I replied that a saint is someone who has a very special and close relationship with Jesus.  And then he asked the show-stopping question, “Papa, are you one of them?”  Wow!  “Papa, are you one of them?”  Out of the mouth of babes!  “I’d like to be,” I told him.  “I can only hope that maybe . . . . . . . . maybe some day.”

Our Father among the saints, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, in his commentary on the Epistle of 1 John, writes that “we have been promised that ‘we shall be like Him [Jesus], for we shall see Him as He is.’”  He tells us that because we cannot presently see this Jesus as He is that we are to nevertheless “make it [our] business to desire the divine vision.”  The good Bishop goes on.  “The entire life of a good Christian is in fact an exercise of holy desire,” he says.  “You do not yet see what you long for, but the very act of desiring prepares you, so that when He comes you may see and be utterly satisfied.”  He urges us to “continue to desire, for we shall be filled. . . . Such is our Christian life,” he says rather matter-of-factly.  “By desiring Heaven we exercise the powers of our soul.  Now this exercise will be effective only to the extent that we free ourselves from desires leading to infatuation with this world.”  He goes on,

God means to fill each of you with what is good; so cast out what is bad!  If He wishes to fill you with honey, and you are full of sour wine, where is the honey to go?  The vessel must be emptied of its contents and then be cleansed . . . even if you have to work hard and scour it.  It must be made fit for the new thing, whatever it may be. . . . Therefore, . . . we must extend ourselves toward the measure of Christ so that when He comes He may fill us with His Presence.  ‘Then we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is’ (Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church, 112).

          It seems to me this is the gist of all the Apostle offers us here in his litany of the saints.  This is the exercise of faith enumerated in the saints and illumined by the obedience of their faith wherever life found them.  By faith, Moses.  By faith, Noah.  By faith, Abraham.  By faith, Gideon and Barak and Samson and David and Samuel.  By faith, mothers and fathers and their children.  By faith, bishops and priests and deacons.  By faith, monks and nuns.  Some endured terrible suffering making tremendous sacrifices while others escaped such sufferings.  Yet, each one possessed, and was possessed by, a holy desire – the divine vision – that only faith in the true and living God can produce.  The Christian life, then, is holy desire.  And only this desire can overcome the allurements and alternative promises offered by this world as a substitute for the divine.          

“By faith Moses,” filled with holy desire and the divine vision, “esteem[ed] the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward,” that is to say, Moses’ faith “looked to the reward” promised by the divine vision.

In another place, our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ counsels us to, “’lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven,’” reminding us that “’where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’” (Mt. 6:20-21).  And, again, the Apostle earlier in this same litany of saints advises us that “without faith it is impossible to please [God],” but that all who come to God “must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hb. 11:6). And, again, it is Jesus Who assures us, “’Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice,’” He says, “’and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, . . . .’” (Mt. 5:11-12).

For all these saints, then, enumerated here for us today, and all those greater in number still not enumerated, yet “whose righteousness [nonetheless] lives with God” and is known only unto God (Sr. 44:9-15) – these all testify that there is Something or Someone of higher value that far exceeds anything this world can offer that is worth the sacrifices made here – even to the giving up of those very things nearest and dearest to our hearts – one’s life and home and family.  Did not our Lord indicate as much when He said,

‘He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.  And 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 after Me is not worthy of Me.  He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it’ (Mt. 10:32-39; Lk. 14:26-33).

          Is God and His Kingdom worth all this?  Is there anything more valuable to us, more near and dear to our hearts, than God and His Kingdom?  Recall the parable our Lord once told regarding God and His Kingdom.  He said,

‘Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it’ (Mt. 13:44-46).

          Really!?  Sells everything just to get the treasure hidden in the field?  Sells everything just to get one pearl and one pearl only of incalculable value – the mother of all pearls?  Is that us?  If so, how do we know?  Faith looks like something.  Hope looks like something.  Love looks like something.  They each have texture and form and substance.  Just how much do we want – desire – God and His Kingdom that has no end?  What does that holy desire look like and inspire us to do? 

          Returning to Elias’ show-stopping question, “Papa, are you one of them?,” I suppose the answer is: it will depend on just how much I truly desire God and all that He has for me in Jesus Christ so that I may be like Him at His Coming.  And, what am I willing to do to attain to that divine vision?  As living icons, the saints show us the way because they are illumined with divine glory.  How about you?  Are you one of them?          

Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.

           Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

PROPERS:

Hb. 11:24-26, 32-12:2

Jn. 1:43-51