tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75018506217938945772024-03-14T02:31:29.413-07:00Pillar and Ground of the Truth"One hears that, in foreign lands, people are now learning to swim, lying on the floor, with the aid of equipment. In the same way, one can become a Catholic or Protestant without experiencing life at all--by reading books in one's study. But to become Orthodox, it is necessary to immerse oneself all at once in the very element of Orthodoxy, to begin living in an Orthodox way. There is no other way."--Fr. Pavel FlorenskyFr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.comBlogger259125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-58933565746627955852022-11-21T04:34:00.001-08:002022-11-21T04:34:50.115-08:00On the Entrance of the Theotokos to the Temple, 2022<p><span> </span> In his work <i>On the Holy Spirit</i>, St Basil the Great makes the distinction between <b>dogma</b> and <b>kerygma</b>. <i>Kerygma</i> refers to the public preaching of the Church, geared not only to her children but also to the pagans. <i>Dogma </i>refers to those things taught within the precincts of the Church, not intended to be spread abroad in public. Dogmas are the "mystery" concerning which we say in our pre-Communion prayer, "I will not speak of thy mystery to thine enemies; neither will I give thee a kiss as did Judas. But like the thief will I confess thee--Remember me in thy Kingdom."</p><p><span> We all recognise such a distinction, even in our everyday lives. There are stories in our family life that are shared with any who care to listen. There are other matters which are kept within the walls of our homes.</span><br /></p><p> Most of what the Church teaches about Mary falls on the <i>dogma</i> side of the kerygma/dogma divide. As early as St Ignatios of Antioch we read, "Now the virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world..." The things we teach about Mary provide sense and context to the public preaching, the Church as she faces the pagan world; but they are pondered and cherished <i>in</i> the Church, just as Mary herself pondered and cherished the things of her Son. They are not a matter of public discussion.<br /></p><p> The feast of the entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple is <i>clearly</i> a dogmatic matter, not one of kerygma. There is no explicit biblical text to support the feast; indeed, it seems to go against the notion that only the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year. If women were limited to an outer part of the Temple grounds, how is it plausible that a young girl might not only enter the Holy of Holies, but live there for nine years, sustained on food brought by an archangel? Even the liturgical texts for this day tell us that Zachariah, the high priest, was "beside himself" as he led her to the holiest place.</p><p><span> But history is full of such implausibilities. How is it plausible that Lincoln's box should be left unguarded at Ford's Theatre during a time of war? How is it plausible that an Assyrian army should disappear without a trace in the Sahara? Lee's planned invasion of the North was discovered by two Union soldiers wrapped around three cigars. Not plausible...but it happened, and had huge consequences.</span></p><p><span><span> I preached this homily yesterday at St. George in Grand Rapids. I hope it may be edifying for my Orthodox friends. I have no illusions but that Protestants will find it implausible. So be it.</span> </span><br /></p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;"> With each of my children, there is some event in their early years that gave us a window into their character. When my older son was 3, for example, he was sitting at the kitchen table staring at a box of Reynolds Wrap. “Mommy,” he told my wife, “if I take the ‘w’ from ‘wrap,’ turn it upside down, and put it between the ‘a’ and ‘p,’ it would spell ‘ramp.’ You won’t be surprised to learn that today he works with computer software.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Well, today’s feast is that event in the life of the Theotokos. Her parents bring her to the Temple at the age of 3. She follows the virgins in candlelight procession, then enters the Temple for a life of prayer, and contemplation of the light that no darkness can overcome.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Today, for the third and final time, the Ark of the Covenant enters the holy of holies. The first time was when Moses built the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. When all was done, the ark of the covenant was brought into the holy of holies, and the glory of the Lord so filled the tabernacle that even Moses could not enter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Centuries later, Solomon built a temple for the Lord. The last thing done was to bring the Ark of the Covenant from the tabernacle into the temple. The Lord’s glory so filled the temple that the priests could not minister.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">When Judah went into captivity, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared. Josephus tells us that when the Romans entered the holy of holies, they found it empty. Where did it go? We don’t know. But without the Ark in the holy of holies, there could be no glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">That’s why today’s feast is so important. Today is the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple. She herself is the new Ark. She is the capstone of the Old Testament and the foundation of the New. By her, God was made the Son of Man; by her, man is made the son of God. She is the Entrance, she is the Gate through which, without leaving heaven, God the Word humbled himself to our condition. She is the Entrance through which, while still on earth, we are made to share in the divine life. She is the True and final Ark of the Covenant, for she contains him whom the heavens cannot contain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Tradition tells us that Mary entered the holiest place at age 3, and stayed there till she was 12. And what did she do for those nine years? She heard the Word of God, and kept it. She learned that prayer and reflection that characterised the rest of her life. She came to know God, and to be his dwelling-place, not by deceptive human wisdom but by submitting herself completely and by loving him whose very being is Love. She was filled with the divine glory and grace. God fitted her in every way to become his most-holy Mother, the greatest, truest, and final Ark.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">We hear a lot these days about the status of women and their need for empowerment. Paradoxically, we also witness the disappearance of women as unique and distinct. But those things go together: “whoever wants to save his life will lose it.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Today’s feast is the <i>true</i> exaltation of woman—not only over man, but also over the very angels themselves. By silence, Mary is given grace to bear the Word of God. By prayer, the One to whom all prayer is directed, comes to rest in her. Let us rejoice, therefore, sons and daughters of Mary; and let us keep with joy this great feast, of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-28490565372003261012022-08-29T06:33:00.000-07:002022-08-29T06:33:56.374-07:00More from Florensky, with reflections<p> <i>That which claims to answer all questions has no place in Christianity.</i> (Crossroads, p. 6)</p><p><br /></p><p>1. It was Eunomius, the radical Arian, who claimed to know God as well as God knew himself. Orthodox theology confesses that God dwells in light unapproach<i>able</i>, not merely light unapproached. Hence the importance of the apophatic way in theology: we cannot know God in his essence, but only by his energies--the "back parts" of God, as St. Gregory the Theologian says. The confident Christian apologist who becomes an atheist is, by now, a trope. He has confused his map of the territory for the territory itself. If and when he finds some stubborn fact contradicting his map, he gives up the territory.</p><p>2. "Now we know in part," says Paul, and "through a glass darkly." Not only do we not know everything; even the things we know are known murkily, as it were. So the Christian speaks about most things with hesitation, tentatively, with gentleness. Just as the true scientist always has in the background "of course, I may be missing something," so also with Christians on most points. Humility is the watchword.</p><p>3. That's not to say we know <i>nothing</i>, or that <i>no</i> questions can be answered. "I determined to know nothing among you--except Jesus Christ and him crucified," says Paul to the Corinthians, the know-it-all community. Christ crucified is surely the heart and soul of all that we know; and if there is any murkiness here, it is not due to the fact, but to our own clouded hearts. We know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; we know that Christ is God and man; we know that Mary is Theotokos and the answers to many other questions. </p><p>4. The content of the message shapes the character of the messenger. There's an episode of <i>Fawlty Towers</i> where Basil is prepared to do a fire drill. Neither he nor the guests believe there is actually a fire, and so their attitude is nonchalant. But then a fire does break out in the kitchen. Manuel steps out of the kitchen. His message is the same as Basil's: "Fire!" But his demeanour is altogether different. His hair is disheveled, his gaze is intense, his message is clipped and focused. You can see wisps of smoke coming from his hair and his uniform. (The whole clip may be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IMlhu9fjVI). So when Paul addresses the Corinthians he says, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3<i> I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.</i> 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."</p><p><br /></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-49362087773197068372022-08-25T06:20:00.005-07:002022-08-25T06:20:41.380-07:00On the value of husks and of settings<p>NOTE: I posted this on FB today, but I thought it good to put it on my blog as well, for a record and remembrance.</p><p>--------</p><p> "The removal of its historical husk leads to Christianity's destruction, as in the case of Protestantism."--Florensky, "At the crossroads of science and mysticism," p. 5</p><br />A husk seems of little value. If we could produce grain without the husk, we would. The same is true of the leaves that surround the ear of corn. They exist for the sake of the fruit.<br /><br />The same is true of the setting of a ring. It works best when it is unobtrusive, and simply shows off the glory of the gem it holds. Some might say that since a setting necessarily covers a part of the gem, if we are to see the gem in its full beauty we must eliminate the setting.<br /><br />But the husk and leaves protect the grain and corn, and the setting both allows the jewel to be seen in its intended splendour and protects it from being lost.<br /><br />At its outset, Protestantism sought to reform the Church. (Here I assume, with the Orthodox, that the Roman pontiff was the first Protestant.) The setting of conciliarity, of sobornost, was peeled away to reveal the power (not just authority) of the Roman pontiff. The "first among equals" became "the first without equal." The Filioque was its first fruit.<br /><br />Almost immediately the western church fell into schism. Its Babylonian captivity in Avignon, the back-and-forth of the office among various powerful kings and families, and finally the spectrum of three popes reigning concurrently--all of these were the beginning of sorrows. Read the history. It's all there.<br /><br />A council was called to settle the issue, but because the fruit of the peeling away (the Filioque) was not renounced, the mere use of a council to restore the papacy did not restore the western church. Instead, the same move was made by dissident priests and monks (e.g. Luther) and kings (e.g. Henry VIII) as had been made by the Roman pontiff himself: the One asserted itself against the Many, the intellectual asserted itself against the Tradition, the Part against the Whole.<br /><br />To take but one example: Protestants rejected the already-narrowed tradition in favour of "Scripture alone." But within a single century, in the Protestant lands (Reimarus taught at Wittenberg; Semler was born in Electoral Saxony), arose the higher criticism that undercut the authority of that text. <br /><br />Protestantism is the inevitable result when a first among equals becomes a first without equals. Sobornost is but a husk. But the Church learned painfully--and may we not forget now--how important the husk is!<br /><br />Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-51998933447858298782022-07-31T18:02:00.003-07:002022-07-31T18:02:26.512-07:00Some Closing Thoughts: my announcement to my last Lutheran parish about my becoming Orthodox<p><span> </span>I have been going through some old hard drives on my computer, and came across one of the most important and difficult things I have ever written. The original dates from 17 July, 2005. I called a parish meeting in my Lutheran congregation to announce that I was leaving the Lutheran church and ministerium in order to be chrismated into the Orthodox Church. </p><p><span> Reading over the piece tonight, it brought back many memories. I post it on my blog as a remembrance. I am aware of my own mortality, and I thought it expresses clearly and pastorally why I took the decision I did. Perhaps some others will be interested, too.</span><br /></p><p><span><span> I've gone through it, obscuring the names of the parishioners which appear in the text because they are not relevant to the main point.</span><br /></span></p><p><span><span><span> May I say, it has been 17 years and 8 days since I became Orthodox. I miss many Lutherans, and those friendships broken by my decision. But I have not missed being </span>Lutheran a single day or hour. I am overwhelmingly grateful to the Church for receiving me. And God has faithfully provided for me and my family from that day till this.</span></span></p><p>--------------------</p><p> <b style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">SOME CLOSING THOUGHTS</span></b></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><div class="WordSection1"><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b> </b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>In the name of the Father, and of + the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.<o:p></o:p></b></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">When you called me some five and a half years ago, I wrote you a four page letter. In that letter I poured out my heart to you, telling you my vision for myself as a pastor and you as a congregation. I had received many other calls, but I recognized in the Epiphany family a very special group of Christians. It's not that you were perfect; but you were mature in Christ, had a sincere desire, like me, to be Lutheran, and above all, you were not afraid to say "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you" to each other.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">At that time I told you, "I want to try an experiment. I want to see if it is still possible to be a Lutheran pastor in a Lutheran church." I have found the answer to my question--an answer which is not at all what I had expected. I will say more about that later.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Who could have imagined five years ago how radically our world would change, especially on a bright crisp September morning in 2001? I will never forget K-- walking into our pastors' meeting to announce that one of the World Trade Center Towers had been hit by an airplane. The pastors had a quick prayer and got back to the meeting when, a few minutes later, K-- came back and said a second plane had struck the other tower. Then came news of the plane hitting the Pentagon, and suddenly the national tragedy came up-close and personal. Our Epiphany family came together around J--- and L-----, just as it has when any member family has suffered loss.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">Several weeks later, a memorial service held in Yankee Stadium became the cause of a great controversy in our Synod and in our parish. Dr. David Benke, the Atlantic District President, joined in the service<span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">C</span>an act which went against the core historic values of the Missouri Synod and violated a promise he himself had made just three years before. I thought his act was wrong, and said so; not all of you agreed, but that's all right. We talked about it together like a family, like a church.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">I wanted the pastors of our circuit to talk about it, too. So I begged, pleaded and cajoled to get it on the agenda. Our own circuit, like the parish and the Synod, was strongly divided on the issue. But I persuaded the brethren to adopt a set of rules that would make open discussion possible. No one would speak while someone else was talking. If someone spoke heatedly in response to another, the other had the right to say, "First, please, tell me what you heard me say." And finally, nothing that was said in the meeting would leave the meeting.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In order for you to understand, however, I must bend that final rule. You see, I thought Dr. Benke's act was wrong, but I wasn't so convinced of it as others. But I <i>was</i> convinced that the Synod ought to deal with the issue in a churchly way: through reflection on the Word of God, and prayer, and discussion. As I argued passionately for this, one of the brethren said something which struck me in the heart. "Your problem, Robb, is that you think the Synod is Church. <i>We're not a Church. We're a corporation!"</i> He wasn't attacking me when he said that. I still value him as a brother. But his words opened my eyes at once, and tied together a lot of things I'd struggled with for nearly twenty years.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In the time since that meeting, I have looked again at the Synod: what it is, what it does, and how it lives. It seemed clear to me that the brother was right. But I wanted to be sure. So I managed to get myself elected as a delegate to the Synod's convention. As the Convention approached, I saw how politically oriented the Synod functions. I received mailings from people I'd never met, telling me how to vote on this or that issue. I received videos pushing various candidates for office. I was contacted by organizers who were calculating how to turn out the Synodical President from office. All alike agreed the Synod was in crisis. What was more stunning was that all alike, on both sides, agreed that the solution to the Synod's problems was political: elect the right men to office, pass the right resolutions at Convention. Then came the Convention. Within an hour or two after it began, the truth of the brother's words came home to me. And I knew I could no longer bury my head and just live with it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: 0.5in;">In these last five years you have gotten to know me and my pilgrimage through life. I was born a Lutheran of Lutherans: baptized in the ALC and raised in the LCA. When I was a teenager, I left the Lutheran Church because I despised the liturgy, and went to the Presbyterian Church. There I learned the Reformed faith, and saw its strengths and weaknesses. After six months or so, I also began to realize the jewel I had lost. Lutheran preaching was adequate, but not brilliant; many of the people were characters; but above all I realized what a precious treasure the liturgy was. I realized how gospel-centered it is, how it protects people from the whims of preachers. So I snuck back and sat through the service, then went off to the Presbyterian Church.<o:p></o:p></p></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br clear="all" /></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"> I stayed in the Reformed faith for over five years, reading Calvin's <i>Institutes</i> and becoming involved in various subsets of that faith, including the charismatic movement. About two years into my involvement, I had a terrible crisis of faith when I read Jonathan Edwards's sermon <i>Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Private Prayer.</i> I began to question whether I was a Christian. For months I prayed the Psalms, I read C.S. Lewis, and sought help within the Reformed tradition. Some Reformed authors were Arminians, who say we have free will to accept or to reject Christ. They said, "Just believe in your belief." That struck me as a dumb answer—as if I were driving down the highway, felt a tire start to wobble, then drove faster. Other Reformed authors were Calvinist, who say that God has chosen some for heaven and others for hell. I read Jay Adams, a Calvinist counselor, who wrote that when someone is troubled about his salvation and comes for consolation, the counselor cannot tell the troubled man that Christ died for him, because the counselor doesn't know if the man is one of the elect. If the Arminian answer was stupid, the Calvinist answer was terrifying.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Then a professor who now teaches at Calvin unwittingly helped to turn on the light. In one of our classes, he remarked that when Luther was troubled by doubts about salvation, Luther said, "I instantly chase the devil with a fart." That made me laugh, and made me want to read more. So I got Luther's <i>Table Talk</i> and began to read. In his <i>Table Talk</i>Luther says the best thing he ever wrote was his Lectures on Galatians. I bought a copy and read it cover-to-cover like I had never read a book before. Luther taught me the sweetness of the Gospel, the centrality of Jesus Christ, the certainty we find in God's objective words and promises, and above all in the Sacraments. "I have been baptized," was Luther's answer to doubt, "and baptism is not <i>my</i> work but God's. I may be deceived about myself, but God can never deceive or mislead." <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I began to re-examine Lutheranism. I didn't want to make a hasty decision, so I read lots of Luther. I read the Book of Concord. I thought and prayed. When I graduated from college and got married, I took a year off school and read through Pieper's <i>Dogmatics</i>. Midway through volume 2, I said to Cindy "Who am I kidding? I'm a Lutheran." So we began to look for Lutheran seminaries. My pastors growing up had all gone to Capital Seminary in Columbus Ohio (the Missouri Synod was <i>verboten</i> in my family because many of them were Masons, and the Synod wouldn't accept Masons). I was stunned at what I saw there. The recruiting director said, "The Bible isn't the Word of God; it becomes the Word when the Spirit makes it alive to us." The New Testament professor said, "When I went to Seminary my New Testament professor dropped the Bible on the floor and kicked it across the room and said, 'the Bible is just like any other book.' I won't do that," he went on to say, "but that's how I want you to think about it." I was shocked, and began to consider the Missouri option.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I was impressed that the Synod had stressed the authority of the Bible. So we went to St. Louis to visit. If Columbus struck me as liberal, St. Louis struck me as fundamentalist. One student asked me what I thought of Billy Graham. The classes I visited were more like Bible studies than theology. Fortunately, near the end of our visit someone mentioned the sister seminary at Fort Wayne. We stopped by, then returned for a visit, and I fell in love. Here were professors who combined intellectual challenge with faithfulness to Lutheranism. I took in all I could get, and graduated in 3 1/3 years. When I graduated, I was convinced that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod was the true visible Church of God on earth.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">That conviction was shaken just a few months after my ordination, when I traveled from Akron to Cleveland to participate in ordaining another man to the Office of the Holy Ministry. I was stunned at what I saw. Laymen participated in the laying-on of hands. A woman who was vested in an alb also participated. I confronted the circuit counselor, and he said, "What was I to do? She came up to me just before the service, and I didn't want to make a scene." I didn't leave the matter rest, but brought it up at the circuit meeting the next week. The man who had been ordained said, "But the circuit counselor and I talked it over a week ago, and he said it would be all right." The counselor blushed, having been caught in a lie. But we discussed the matter anyway. I said that it had <i>never</i> been heard of that laymen should ordain pastors, and that women should participate. They responded, "You're relying on tradition. We believe in <i>sola Scriptura</i>, and the Bible has no commands or prohibitions about ordination, so we're free to do what we want." Once again, I was stunned, for they were using what seemed to be Lutheran arguments to attack the historic Christian practice. We agreed that in future, anyone being ordained or installed who wanted to do odd things would let others know, so they could make a choice about whether to participate.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">My faith was shaken. But what could I do? Where else could I go? A few years later, I went to Indiana University for graduate school. One of the 'perks' of being a student was that I could visit other denominations, to see what they did. I treasured the centrality of Christ, the Gospel, and the sacraments in the Lutheran Church. When I visited other denominations, I was struck by how little the Gospel was central, how little the doctrine of Christ was actually taught, how little the Sacraments were valued.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Then, on Good Friday of 1987, I visited two churches. One was an Episcopal church that had a three hour service at noon; a series of pastors from various churches preached. By and large it was good. Later that afternoon, I had heard of a little Orthodox Church holding a Good Friday service. That was one group I hadn't yet visited. So I went.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">It was a tiny mission; the church met in a garage converted into a sanctuary. Only about ten people were there, and half of them were clergy of some sort. The service went on for nearly two hours. I remember being impressed by two things. One, there was a little child in a car seat, who was awake the whole time and didn't make a sound. That was because there was constant motion in the service. Doors opened and closed, one of the clergy swung a pot of incense, and the singing was beautiful. The other thing that impressed me—indeed, it hit me like a punch in the gut—was that these people knew the Gospel as much as we Lutherans did. Christ and the Sacraments were <i>central</i> to their teaching and life. They had some strange things, too, especially how much they talked to and about Mary. But though they valued her, you could tell they didn't worship her.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I went home, stunned once again. That experience both shook me and gave me hope. It shook me, because I had thought that the Lutheran Church was the only place the gospel was preached in its truth and purity, and now I knew that wasn't true. It gave me hope, because as I saw the Lutheran Church more and more leave its historic doctrine and practice, just maybe there was a place where the Christian faith was still taught in its truth, purity and fullness.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">That day I began an intensive study which I have pursued for the last 18 years. What I found was this: in the central doctrines of the faith, the person and work of Christ, Orthodox and Lutheran teaching is identical. Indeed, <i>only </i>the Lutherans and Orthodox teach identically on Christ. And the Lutheran Confessions, which don't hesitate to criticize Rome and the Reformed, have nothing but good things to say about the Orthodox when they speak of them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">On other teachings the two seemed to differ. At first I was ready to say, "The Orthodox don't believe in justification by faith alone," and in a sense, that's true. I thought, like many, that they were Roman Catholics with funny accents and clothes. But the more I read, the more I realized that wasn't so. It wasn't so much that they disagreed with us; it was more that they were addressing different questions and concerns than we did. It was more like they spoke a different language. And fairness required that I learn that language before I criticized it. So I kept on reading, and still do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I compared the Western and Eastern expressions of Christianity, reading much that was written not only by Orthodox, but also and especially by westerners and Church historians. One refrain kept coming across again and again. Where the two sides of Christianity differed, almost <i>always</i> the authors would say, "The West changed this; the East kept doing what the ancient Christians did." To cite three examples: at some point the West stopped using leavened bread in the Eucharist and began to use unleavened bread; around the year 800 the West changed the words of the Nicene Creed; and around 1200 the West stopped giving the Eucharist to baptized children. In all these cases, and many others, the West changed but the East stayed the same.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I also noted how different the approach to Christianity was. For the West, the main problem is sin, which leads to death; the solution is forgiveness, but <i>then</i> what? For the East, the main problem is death, which leads to sin; the solution is not only forgiveness, but also the gift of God's life shared in our life. I could go on, but just share this for the purpose of example.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"> Fast forward to 2000, and my accepting your call. I saw this call as God's giving me the opportunity to be a faithful Lutheran pastor—faithful, not just to the Lutheranism we received from our fathers, the Lutheranism of the last 50 years, but to the whole 500 year history of our confession. Only when you read the Confessions, and Luther, and the first generation of Lutherans can you realize how far we've fallen, how generically protestant we've become.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">From the first day I came to visit, I've paid attention to the children of Epiphany. I remember them walking out to "Children's Church" that first Sunday, and wanting to go along with them. I think of the great privilege it is to bring them into God's Kingdom through Baptism. I'm not so sure about myself, dear friends, but I am rock-solid certain about them that they are truly Christians. And I want to say more about them later.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">You have surely noticed, over these last five years, a few things about me. I have tried, as much as possible, to keep my eyes focused on what has been given me to do. So I worked hard to restore the historic Christian and Lutheran practice of weekly communion. I restored Luther's order of baptism. I offered private confession to those who sought it, and encouraged more people to make use of it. I tried to preserve the historic liturgy, while making use of theologically good music written more recently. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">In all of these things, you have been willing to come along. Sometimes you questioned; some folks didn't care for this or that practice; but in the end, when I showed that something or other was the Biblical, historical practice you accepted it. Before I came, I was told to expect that up to 10% of a congregation leaves when a new pastor comes. By the mercy of God and your kindness, nothing like that happened.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Nor did you just "come along for the ride." You embraced these historic practices and made them your own. Like me, many of you hunger for the Lord's body and blood on a weekly basis. Many of you make the sign of the cross. Some of you have found comfort in private confession.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">More than that, you have welcomed and embraced me and my family. You opened your hearts and your homes to us. You encouraged us as we worked to adopt Vera and Marina, and you put your money where your mouth is. I have never met such a kind, loving, faithful Lutheran congregation. You have been a paradise, a heaven on earth for me. So, I concluded, it is possible to be a Lutheran pastor in a Lutheran congregation.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">At the same time, these past five years have produced a growing awareness in me that the Lutheran <i>Church</i>, as something bigger than the congregation, is dead. I've already shared with you my experience with the Circuit over the Yankee Stadium affair. But other things have come up as well. Let me share them with you, because they concern you as much or more than they do me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"> The Easter 2000 edition of <i>The Lutheran Witness</i> had an article on Christ's descent into hell. The article rejected as a false teaching the idea that part of the reason Christ descended into hell was to free the Old Testament believers who awaited his arrival patiently. What the <i>Lutheran Witness</i> called "false teaching" is in fact the teaching of the entire Christian Church from its earliest days, and the teaching that Dr. Luther himself presupposed in his sermon to which the Formula of Concord makes reference. So I drafted a short letter, calling the editor's attention to this fact. I had ten other LC-MS pastors co-sign the letter with me—some of whom even serve as doctrinal reviewers for the Synod. I received a letter back from David Mahsmann, the editor of the <i>LW</i>, stating that my letter was submitted to doctrinal review and did not pass it. In effect, that response said that I and those ten other pastors teach false doctrine. I don't agree, of course, but in any case nothing was done about it.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I myself became a doctrinal reviewer for the new Lutheran Hymnal project. One of the assignments was for me to review the order of Baptism. Now in reviewing a rite like Baptism, it's helpful to have another rite serve as a template, so that one can check the proposed rite against a standard. I suggested this, and used Luther's own 1526 rite of baptism as the background. This seems perfectly reasonable, since that rite is included in some editions of the Book of Concord itself. My doctrinal review was overturned, and in the context of that overturning it was stated that Luther's baptismal rite carries no authority for determining what a Lutheran baptismal rite should and should not include. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">More and more, too, I became aware of serious aberrations in practice taking place, even in our local area among certain congregations. Some parishes use disposable plastic cups, simply tossing what remains into the trash after their service is over. Other parishes have laymen offering a kind of absolution during the Sunday morning service. I set aside things such as puppets and dancing girls in the Divine Service, let alone the introduction of Reformed-style worship services and abandonment of the historic liturgy. I have asked our elders to go visit other LCMS parishes; they have, and can vouch for the truth of what I'm saying here. What's particularly bad about this is that the liturgy serves to guarantee that even if the pastor is completely foolish, the people of God will still hear God's word of Law and Gospel. A recent discussion with a friend's daughter, going to Concordia/Seward, shows that the pastor in that parish at least is preaching moralizing lectures about what Christians ought to do.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">All these things have given me a growing awareness that all I've done, not just here but also in my twenty years of ministry, will be swept completely away in a few short years. Because there is no one <i>over</i> the pastors, each man can do pretty much what he can get away with. Many congregations which were once liturgical have abandoned the liturgy for contemporary worship forms. "So what?" you might say, and I'll tell you. Repeating the same service again and again makes the service accessible to people of all ages, including our young children who can't yet read, and our old folks, who can no longer see.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">It's not that I haven't tried to deal with these problems. I have. In all my teaching and preaching and writing I have attacked these issues. Before the last Convention I began to contact the local pastors who permit such things, asking them to stop. I was rebuffed, and this past convention changed the rules of how such matters are pursued. Suffice it to say that for all practical intents and purposes, it is now impossible to pursue pressing charges of false doctrine. The problems we already have, now will not go away; and we have no means of stopping other problems which are coming.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">"What about the District Presidents?" you might ask. "Why can't they fix the problems?" The reality is that District Presidents are not churchmen. They serve no altar or pulpit. They are mid-level managers in a national non-profit corporation. Their office exists only by human right, not by divine right. And parishes can, by and large, ignore their district and synodical officials. If they keep sending in contributions, they will be allowed to do, in essence, whatever they want. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I have spoken, too, to men who are well-known in conservative, confessional circles about the great gaps between the Lutheran Confessions and the life of the churches which call themselves "Lutheran" today. To cite but two of those gaps: the Lutheran Confessions state that Lutherans do not abolish private confession—that no one is admitted to the Lord's table unless he is first examined and absolved. But the Lutheran church today, across the board, has scarcely any private confession. This is plainly a major change.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Again, the Lutheran Confessions state that, by divine right, pastors both absolve and excommunicate, and that congregations are bound to follow them. But the Lutheran Church today says that congregations excommunicate, and pastors are bound to follow them. The roles have been completely reversed.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">When I have spoken with well-known confessionals about this situation, I've been told, "We don't do those things any more, and we're not going back again." "Good," some of you might say. But the reality is that <i>if the Lutheran Church is that Church described in the Lutheran Confessions, then the Lutheran Church no longer exists.</i><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I am not alone in saying that the Missouri Synod is broken. Last September Matt Geelhoed and I went to a conference in Chicago. Nearly 500 pastors were there, from all over the Synod. They didn't travel there at their own expense because they think there are little problems. Everyone there recognized that the Synod is broken. Any number of conversations I've had with other pastors come to the same conclusion. The Synod is broken. She cannot be fixed. But where then shall we go? Where, then, shall we go?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">You might say, "Nowhere." After all, each congregation in the Missouri Synod is more or less independent. Congregations regularly thumb their noses at the Synod and do what they want. We could just do that here at Epiphany. But consider:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level1" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Missouri is the source of our pastors. You have no guarantee that the next pastor will not change everything here in a fundamental way from the way it's been. I'm told that the Council has decided to ask for another Confessional Lutheran pastor, and in a way I'm grateful. Yet think about what this means. No longer can you simply say, "Give us a Missouri Lutheran pastor." The fact that you must specify a certain type, and hold interviews, reveals that the Synod is broken.<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Level1" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Missouri receives our mission dollars. When we give money to the Synod, we're saying in principle that we agree with what everyone else is doing. That's as it should be, of course<span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">C</span>except that others are doing things we <i>shouldn't</i>agree with<span style="font-family: "WP TypographicSymbols";">C</span>like lay absolution, disposable cups and so on.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level1" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Missouri receives our transfers and sends them to us. This has been brought home to me recently in the cases of the S------ and Y------. The Y------ have been going to a church that uses disposable plastic cups. They tried to get that practice to change; they settled for a "compromise" in which the Lord's blood is put into two trash bags before it's disposed of. And many of you heard from B------ about him and A--- vainly trying to find a Missouri Synod parish in Minnesota that doesn't use disposable cups.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level1" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Over time, we will come to resemble every other Missouri congregation. Again, this is as it should be. Looking over the trends of the past 30 years or so, it is plain that most of Missouri is heading in a direction:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level2" style="mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>where alternative worship styles are the norm;<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Level2" style="mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>where open communion is practiced with disposable plastic individual cups;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level2" style="mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>where instruction in Christian doctrine is reduced to a minimum;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level2" style="mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>where women's roles are continually expanding, with the ordination of women as the only logical stopping-point;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="Level2" style="mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";">o<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>where the focus on Law/Gospel preaching and the means of grace as central is replaced with moralistic messages and the de-emphasis of the Sacraments—in other words, to a generic protestant church.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Others might say, "Join another Lutheran body." But every problem Missouri has, the other Lutheran bodies have. Still others might say, "Go independent," or "Start a new denomination." But those acts are called <i>sectarian</i>—they treat the Church as if she is something we make, instead of a gift we receive from God. What, then, shall we do? Where shall we go to keep the pure Gospel of Christ and the right practice of the sacraments? Where, in short, can we find the church?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">As the years have gone by, some convictions I have received in the Lutheran Church have grown ever deeper. They have served to guide me on my pilgrimage. They include: that Jesus Christ is central to the Christian faith, and the doctrine of Christ taught by the Lutheran Church is correct—unlike the doctrine of Christ taught either by Rome or the Reformed. A second conviction is that we must properly divide Law and Gospel. Proud sinners need rebuke. Broken sinners need comfort. As I've grown in this conviction, I've also grown in the conviction that Lutherans scarcely ever divide Law and Gospel rightly any more. Luther said that properly dividing Law and Gospel was hard, and that whoever could do it deserved a doctor's hat. But current Lutherans suggest that it's easy. And the Lutheran Church worldwide is plagued by a sickness called "antinomianism." That's a fancy title, but you'll recognize it by the description I draw from my daily life. "It's ok if I sin, because I know that Jesus will forgive me." A third conviction is how central to the faith the Sacraments are. We worship a God made flesh, and he wills to save us through earthly, physical means.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">The school of experience has taught me other lessons that have been harder—lessons about problems with the Lutheran Church that make it unable to resist the ever-rushing tides of modernism and unbelief. It is <i>wrong</i> that we do not have bishops, men who by divine right watch over congregations and pastors, guiding them and protecting them. Much of our current dysfunctionality grows and spreads because we lack such men. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">It is <i>wrong</i> that the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod views itself not as Church, but as a corporation. Christ did not come to found a corporation. He gave no promises to a corporation. But the entire way the LCMS runs itself, from top to bottom, is precisely as a corporation. To be sure, there is a religious veneer; the Convention had "devotions" every day. But peel away that thin layer, and the corporation lurked just beneath.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">It is <i>wrong</i> that the Lutheran Church has allowed itself to become disconnected from the teachings and teachers of the Church throughout the ages. You don't realize how wide and deep this problem is, because I have made a point always of pointing you to the Scriptures through the Fathers. But since the time of John Gerhard, nearly 400 years ago, the Lutheran Church has lived with a distorted view of the Bible, whose effects are only now beginning to become clear. I have written about this in detail for pastors, and can speak more about it if you like.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">And, I am convinced—your children have convinced me—it is <i>wrong</i> that we withhold the Lord's true body and blood from those who have been baptized at our font, and are being instructed by parents and/or pastor in the Christian faith. I have watched their eyes as they look at me expectantly, holding out their faithful little hands. I have watched those eyes begin to turn away as I offer them a man-made blessing in place of the heavenly gift God means them to have. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Many of my brothers in the ministry see the same problems I do. But they have chosen another way. They have chosen to say that there <i>is</i> no true, visible church of God on earth. For them, the true church is invisible. But they are wrong, for the Church is the Body of Christ. It has existed in this world for 2,000 years. When Christ rose, he told his wondering disciples, "Touch me and see that it is me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I do." Since the Church is Christ's body, it is not a spirit. It can be seen, and pointed out. But where is it?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">After 18 years of study and prayer, I have become convinced that the Church Christ founded is to be found in the Orthodox Church. Much about that group seems strange to us, for its history is very different from ours. The Western church has lived a protected existence, by and large, since 312 AD. But the Eastern Church has had to live under Muslim, and later Communist tyranny. They faced different challenges than the west—but more and more those challenges are being faced by us as well, especially the challenge of living the Christian faith in a hostile culture. Outwardly there are many differences. But the core of the faith is the same. And they have a stability that assures laypeople and pastors, their work in Christ will not be in vain, it will not be swept away by the next pastor, and when children grow and move away they can go to a church that prays and believes exactly the same as the parish where the parents worship.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">You have seen and heard echoes of that church already. The beautiful mosaic that graces our hall confesses the Bible's message about baptism. Some of the music I have shared with you sings the faith. In all of my preaching, teaching and serving I have relied on the teachings of the Fathers. And as I've gotten to know you, I see deep needs in each of you to which it speaks, as it has to me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">I do not want to stop being your pastor. But I can no longer be a pastor in a body that, as a body, has died. To do so would not be honest, to God or to you. I know that some of you may be thinking, "I told you so." Some of you may be angry with me. You may feel betrayed. I can only appeal to the God who knows the hearts of men that I have tried in every way to be faithful to the Lord and to the Lutheran Confessions. St. Paul says in Romans 7 that a man is bound to his wife as long as she is alive, but when she has died he is free. I did not break my vow to the Lutheran Church. I have been faithful, but now she is dead.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Some of you may share the convictions I've expressed in this letter. If enough of you do, then if the Lord is willing and the leadership of the Orthodox Church is willing, I am prepared to take on the task of being a mission priest. If that should be God's will, your desire, and the wish of his Church, I will obey. In any case, I am preparing to take myself and my family into poverty, with no certainty at all ahead of me except the kindness and mercy of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Let me thank you for all the kindness you have shown to my family and me since the day we met you—up to and including this time which must be so difficult for you. You are the best parish I have ever had. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 0.5in;">Let me also beg forgiveness for all the ways I have failed you and wronged you. I ask your prayers, though I am completely unworthy of them. And I pray that no matter what you do, God would protect you and keep you throughout this life, that we may praise him together in heaven.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Pastor Hogg<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><i>July 17, 2005</i><o:p></o:p></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-45515254400070528212021-03-08T06:47:00.006-08:002021-03-08T06:47:59.223-08:00Meatfare Sunday 2021<p>Note: Meatfare Sunday begins the Orthodox Lenten fast. After this Sunday, we eat no meat until Pascha. (Next Sunday, "Cheesefare" Sunday, we bid farewell to eggs, dairy, and fish until Pascha.) It's traditional to hear the Gospel on the Last Judgment from Matthew 25 on this Sunday; here is my homily from yesterday:</p><p><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The philosopher Seneca once told his friend Lucilius, “We are mistaken when we look forward to death; the major portion of death has already passed. Whatever years lie behind us are in death's hands.” Something similar could be said of the Judgment. We are mistaken when we look forward to it as something a long time from now. For the <i>basis</i> of the Judgment is happening right here and now, day by day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Christ in glory says, to those on his right, “I was hungry and you fed me; I was a stranger and you welcomed me; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me.” Those things don’t happen after death, or on Judgment Day. They happen today: here, and now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Sometimes when I’m getting off a freeway, I’ll encounter a beggar on the ramp. You know what the signs say: “Homeless.” “Please help.” “Unemployed.” There’ve been some creative ones, too, like “Have a Nice Day” or “Smile.” If the person is in my lane and there’s a red light, I may give him a dollar. But I rarely think of him as he actually is: the one who will judge me on the last day, for now wearing a disguise. If I did, I wouldn’t be so self-congratulatory. I might rather tremble in fear.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> A while back, I got to visit Constantinople. I saw St. Savior in Chora with its famous funeral chapel. Part of the iconography showed the wise thief, carrying his cross, and ushering people into heaven. Part of it showed the rich man in hell, all by himself. I found myself thinking a distressing thought: the rich man looked a lot like me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Jean-Paul Sartre once said that “hell is other people.” But the truth is exactly the opposite. <i>Heaven</i> is other people; hell is being by myself. Now, as an older man, I think back to the disciplines my parents used when I was a child. I got my share of spankings. I got grounded. But the worst punishment ever was the time they they told me to stand, facing the wall, and look at it, for thirty minutes. I could hear life going on behind me. But I was cut off, alone. I begged them after a few minutes: “Please just spank me and let me go.” Hell is like that. “Stare at the wall for eternity.” Heaven is the other people around us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The people I deal with every day have a hidden majesty—especially the poor and weak and foolish. Enfleshed God hides himself beneath them. “Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.” And this isn’t just Matthew’s idea. When Christ encountered Paul on the road to Damascus, he said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute <i>me?<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> The people on Christ’s left hand, who went into eternal torment, just didn’t get it. “When did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or naked, or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” And the King will say, “Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did not do it to me.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Christ can hide himself under these outcasts, because when he saw <i>us</i> in despair he didn’t leave us to ourself. Freely and willingly he took flesh of a pure Virgin, and was made man. Sometimes people will say, “Don’t put God in a box.” By that they mean, “Don’t limit God.” But God has put himself into something much more limiting than a box. He put himself into our humanity. He did that, sheerly out of love for us. He lived our life, and died our death—talk about limiting yourself—what limits more than a grave? But the grave could not hold him. He rose again to save us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> We need to stop thinking of the incarnation as the great Exception, and begin to see it as God’s way of working. Doesn’t the Old Testament teach us this? God walks in the garden in the cool of the day. He argues with Abraham, and wrestles with Jacob; he appears to Joshua, and Isaiah…and all these <i>before</i> he takes on flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> So if you want to see the Judgment, don’t look forward. Look around at the people you meet—especially the insignificant ones. Find him there, and love him there, and serve him there, and you will find life in his kingdom, to which may we all attain, through his grace and love for mankind, always, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.</span> </p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-10432150499116671442021-03-06T12:20:00.003-08:002021-03-06T12:20:30.622-08:001 Thessalonians 4:13f--First Soul Saturday 2021<p><span style="font-family: times;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The saddest two words in the English language are these: “No hope.” A mother can bear the pains of childbirth because she hopes for the delivery of a child. A soldier can endure hunger and pain and even death if he has hope that his cause will ultimately prevail. Once, when I was pursuing Cindy, she wrote me a letter that quoted Paul’s words, “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”—and it encouraged me to keep on trying—and I’m glad that I did.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Life without hope is no life at all; it’s mere existence, “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Is it any wonder that violence, and addiction, and political extremism are on the rise? When despair pierces the heart like a hook pierces a worm, there’s nothing left but to writhe and wriggle until death swallows us whole.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> In today’s epistle, St. Paul encourages us “not to grieve as those who have no hope.” What does he mean? Does he mean that Christians don’t grieve at all the loss of loved ones? By no means!--for when he who is the Resurrection and the Life encountered the tomb of his friend Lazarus, he groaned in spirit. “Jesus wept,” we’re told.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> We grieve. In part, it’s because we think of things we should have said or done differently than we did. In part, it’s because we think of things that might have been, that now can never be. Jesus’ grief at Lazarus was neither of those. But it <i>was</i> this: that he <i>loved</i> Lazarus, and for our sake he was grieved that death’s shadow should obscure the brightness of his love.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Love led him to stop death in its tracks. He called his friend back from death, and Lazarus’ rising was a foretaste of his own greater resurrection just eight days later. By his death, Christ has destroyed death. He has emptied Hades. He has brought life and immortality to light by his resurrection. Christ’s rising is no exception: it’s a foretaste of what is coming for all those who have died. He is the first-fruits of the resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> And so we grieve <i>in hope</i>. We live <i>in hope</i>. We love <i>in hope</i>. The Creed’s last words are these: “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.” <i>I look for </i>it. I <i>await </i>it. It is coming, as surely as day follows night. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">So it is right for us to remember our loved ones whom we have lost, and to pray for their rest and repose. We do it for them, today. Others will do it for us, before we know it. For as Solomon wisely said, “Love is as strong as death.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Soon, soon, our Lord will return. He has promised. He is faithful. And his promise feeds our hope. It helps us endure the pain, and hardship, and even the death we experience in this life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;">Hope won’t last forever, of course; like faith, it will have an end. One day faith will become sight, and hope will be fulfilled, in the presence of our God, who is love. Till then, we grieve, in hope.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-57848477225192231032021-02-28T13:23:00.004-08:002021-02-28T13:24:10.550-08:00Sunday of the Prodigal Son 2021<p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> This past year we lost a great songwriter and singer—John Prine. One of the last songs he wrote is called “Summer’s End”…a song he dedicated to those who have died of drug overdoses. The refrain of that song captures the heart of today’s text; you could hear the waiting Father say this to his wayward son: “Come on home; come on home; you don’t have to live alone; just come on home.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Those are the words our heavenly Father addresses to us at the beginning of Great Lent. They imply that we’ve wandered away, and all of us have. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Which son are you? Are you the younger son, who took his inheritance and went to a far country and wasted it on worthless things? Have you been starving to death, trying to satisfy that inner hunger with anything—even pods fit for pigs?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Or are you the older son—close in body, but far in soul from the waiting Father?—the son who worked hard every day, and justified himself to himself—who, like Little Jack Horner in the nursery rhyme, said to himself “What a good boy am I!”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> Maybe, like me, you’re a mixture of the two. The worst part of Covid hasn’t been the number of deaths, though they’ve been great. It isn’t the lost jobs, or the crashing economy, though they’ve been hard. No; it’s the way that our hearts have been laid bare like the framework of an old house after a hurricane blows through. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> If you think about it, both boys in the parable were dead to their dad. When the younger one wished for his <b>inheritance</b>, he was as good as wishing that his dad would die. And when the older boy sulked and complained, he showed his own rebellion—less obvious, but no less deadly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> And yet the Father is not dead toward them. Every day he waits for the younger son’s return. When the older son sulks and separates himself from brother and father, the father talks to him. To both of them, and to us this day, he has the same theme: “Come on home; come on home; you don’t have to live alone—just come on home.” Or, as Isaiah of old said it: “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. <b><sup> </sup></b>Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> And Isaiah says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; but the Lord has laid on him—Christ—the iniquity of us all.” In other words, the fare for our return trip has been paid. The father in our text killed the fatted calf; but our heavenly Father gave his own Son to bear our curse and taste death for us. The father in our text gives his son a fine robe; but our heavenly Father wraps us in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. The father in our text places a signet ring on his son’s finger; but our heavenly Father seals us with the gift of the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> When you get down to it, repentance isn’t about feeling miserable—wallowing in our passions or pridefully claiming that we’re smarter than our heavenly and earthly fathers. Repentance is about turning away from ourselves, and turning toward God and each other. “Come on home; come on home; you don’t have to be alone; just come on home.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-13983379437853092072021-01-09T06:09:00.004-08:002021-02-12T03:25:49.680-08:00Maxims<p> In this space, I will from time to time post maxims--short sayings that bear reflecting on. I make no claim that these originate with me; indeed, I am skeptical of anything I think of that has not been thought of, and tested, before.</p><p>These maxims occur in no particular order.</p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------</p><p><b>1. Any weapon you fashion and/or use against another, will be used against you.</b></p><p><span> </span>"Those who take up the sword, will perish by the sword." </p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>2. In this life, things are hidden under their opposite.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>3. What people <i>notice</i> in a situation reveals at least as much about them, as it does about the situation.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>4. Greater harm comes from the overcorrection of an error, than from the error itself.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>5. We do not know as much as we think we know.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>6. Suffering provides the opportunity for wisdom and salvation; ease provides the opportunity for folly and damnation.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>7. The world is far more chaotic than our maps of it suggest. All our maps lie.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>8. Stupidity is an equal opportunity employer.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>9. What you fear will happen, will happen. Choose your fears wisely.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>10. Most revolutionaries are broken-hearted lovers.</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>11. When narrative drives fact, problems quickly spiral out of control. (Chernobyl)</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>12. When power is concentrated, more progress is made. The question is, progress in which direction, and to what end?</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>13. One is never so close to sight as when one says, "I don't see." One is never in such deep darkness as when one says, "I see." (John 9; Socrates)</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>14. Truth stumbles, error marches. Truth whispers; error shouts. </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>15. He who discovers how death is overcome, never fears.</b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-15123672138213802532021-01-06T16:25:00.000-08:002021-01-06T16:25:17.975-08:00The Shepherd and the Thief<p> The holy fathers teach that we know a thing's <i>essence</i> by its <i>energies</i>. We know that Christ is truly man because he wept, he ate and drank, he slept, and he suffered. We know that Christ is truly God because he forgave sins, raised the dead, healed the sick and so on. (Others have also done those things, but <i>in his name.</i>) When St. John the Forerunner called people to repent, he told them to "bear fruit worthy of repentance," because repentance is manifest in actions. To use an everyday example, if I am in a room and hear laughter coming from the hallway, I can be sure that somebody is out in that hallway. The energy (laughter) is an infallible sign of the essence (a human being).</p><p><span> In John's Gospel, Christ told the people, "I am the good shepherd. The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." We can tell the difference between the Shepherd and the thief by the fruit they produce. You can be sure of this: where theft, and murder, and destruction is present, it has come from the Evil One. </span></p><p><span><span> So let me give to others freely, but not take from them by force; let me lay down my life for love of neighbour, but never wish his hurt or death, much less cause it; let me build up the lives of those around me, and not tear them down by words or works. "But they have wrong ideas!" Their wrong ideas will cause you no harm (unless you let them). "But they act wrongly!" They, like you, act for what they think is best. Pray for them, act kindly toward them, try as hard as you can to understand them. Choose wisely whose will you enact: the will of the Shepherd, or the will of the thief.</span></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-3076424399889253192020-12-28T11:58:00.000-08:002020-12-28T11:58:06.256-08:00 Four filters<p><span> Imagine how things appear to a newborn baby. The world he knew before was confined, ordered, peaceful. Then, in a matter of a few moments or hours everything familiar was lost. After the trauma of birth, a confusing complexity awaits his relatively untested mind and senses: loud sounds, strange colours and shapes, smells both pleasant and unpleasant... The task ahead is to bring order out of the chaos. It is a tribute to how "fearfully and wonderfully made" we are, that even before we are fully able to speak our world is mostly ordered.</span><br /></p><p><span><span> One of the most useful tools for finding order is the use of filters. In the technological field, a filter serves to make distinctions. Filters are used to sort by size. They are used to let the coffee out, while holding the grounds back. When I clean my room, I use filters such as "What is now, where it doesn't belong?" </span></span></p><p> Filters carry with them an inherent danger: if they are not well chosen, they may filter <i>out</i> something that would be important for us, or allow <i>in</i> something that would be harmful to us. Over forty years of ministry I've seen a number of marriages fail because, when the wife says "We have a problem," the husband filters the words out. Only when she says, "I've filed for a divorce" does he hear her; but by then it's usually too late. Likewise, when someone we value says something harsh or cutting, and we do not filter it out, words thrown out casually or in passing can do lasting damage to our self-understanding. The "narrative fallacy," in which people accept information that fits what they already believe, and reject information that goes against it, is another example of a filtering problem.<br /></p><p><span> Everybody has filters. It would be impossible to live without them. The only question is, which filters best help us navigate this brief time we have in the light?</span></p><p><span> Here are four filters I try to use, as I approach life. Perhaps they may be of use to others.</span></p><p>(1) The <i>Stoic</i> filter: I make a sharp distinction between things that are under my control, and things that are not under my control. When I encounter a situation, I ask myself, "What, in this situation, is something under my control, and what is not?" I have no control over the words or actions of others. I only have control over my own choices. So I ask myself, "What can I do?" If there is something I can do, that will improve the situation, I will do it. If there is not, well, one can always pray. I don't dwell on things that I can do nothing about, because there's no point to dwelling on those things. I <i>always</i> have a choice before me--even if that choice is to die with courage.</p><p>(2) The <i>Coolidge</i> filter: Calvin Coolidge is famous for his taciturnity. Once when a woman told him, "My husband bet me I couldn't make you say more than two words the whole night," he responded, "You lose." Coolidge famously said that he never had to apologise for words he didn't speak. When I encounter a situation, I ask myself, "Is my input needed?" If the answer is "no," I try to keep silent. (I find this very difficult.) If the answer is "yes," I strive to say what needs to be said, as briefly as possible. (When I was confirmed in the Lutheran church, my memory verse was these words from James: "Be quick to listen, but slow to speak, and slow to become angry; for man's anger does not accomplish God's righteousness.")</p><p>(3) The <i>Publican</i> filter: We waste a lot of time trying to justify ourselves, which inevitably involves comparing ourselves to others. The biblical story of the Pharisee and publican is instructive. The Pharisee, in praying, compares himself to the publican (tax collector). When he leaves the Temple, the Pharisee has justified himself. The publican says, in his prayer, only these words: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." He does not compare himself to others. He does not seek justice from God--only mercy. And Jesus comments, "This man went home justified." In my relations with others, it's a waste of time to explain. It's far better to admit my own fault. This is the "soft answer" that turns away wrath.</p><p>(4) The <i>Resurrection</i> filter: At the root of all the things I believe most deeply is this: a tomb just outside the city walls of Jerusalem in the first third of the first century, is empty. Christ's resurrection from the dead is the bedrock filter by which I judge everything else. I didn't always think this. My faith has passed through the furnace of doubt, to use Dostoevsky's expression. But a careful examination of the evidence convinced me. Only the resurrection can explain how a cowering band of friends could become a courageous group of confessors, within 50 days of Jesus' crucifixion. Only the resurrection can explain how Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle. Only the resurrection can explain the founding and growth of the Church for the past 2,000 years. Since Christ is risen, life has meaning and death need not terrify.</p><p>These are the filters I use. What filters do you use? How do you make sense out of the chaos into which we're thrust at birth?</p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-19570186390548930912020-12-13T14:48:00.003-08:002020-12-13T14:50:20.254-08:00<p><span style="font-family: arial;"> <span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">Our choices embody our priorities…indeed, we could almost say that what we</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><i>are </i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">today is the total of what we</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><i>chose</i><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif">yesterday...for good and for ill. What we choose is not a part of our life; it <i>is</i> our life.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span> The men in today’s gospel made choices. One chose to buy a field. Another chose to buy some oxen. Still a third chose to marry a wife. Now there’s nothing wrong with fields, and oxen, and getting married; but <i>these</i> choices came at a very high price. Their choices embodied poor priorities. They chose these things over the King’s gracious invitation. They chose what is earthly, over what is heavenly. They chose things that bring worry and care, but they passed up on the one thing that brings everlasting joy. They got what they chose…but oh, what they lost!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span> Not so with the men and women we commemorate today: the holy ancestors of Christ our God. Oh, some of them were wealthy, some had great power, some were great warriors. But they counted all these things as loss, for the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus. They traveled through this life as pilgrims, and kept their minds fixed on the coming of enfleshed God. And so they became partakers of the table of God and of the Lamb.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span> Beloved, we think of time wrongly when we think of near and distant past and future. Really there are only three days: yesterday, today, and tomorrow. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span> To <i>yesterday</i> belong the holy ancestors of Christ we celebrate today. To yesterday belong our departed loved ones, and those they loved. To yesterday belongs all our own life that has passed so far. You mustn’t think that the ancestors of Christ are somehow more remote and harder to access than last night in your own life. Neither is further removed from us than the other. Both alike are <i>completely</i> inaccessible to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in;"><span> To <i>tomorrow</i> belongs what will happen to the people we love and live with…to our neighborhoods and to our nation. You younger folk don’t realize how quickly the time goes. To tomorrow belongs the return of Christ in glory, and the judgment of the nations; the sending of the goats to eternal judgment, and of the sheep to eternal life. We err when we think of Christ’s return as far off in the distant future. It’s just tomorrow, my friends. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span>Tomorrow will come. But for now, it’s just as much out of our hands as yesterday. How foolish to live as if it never will come!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span>All we really have, is today. And we realize that every liturgy in the Precommunion prayer: “Like the thief will I confess thee: Remember me when thou comest in thy Kingdom.” We live, each of us, like that thief suspended on the tree beside Christ. We have our yesterdays, full of things to regret and be sorry for; we have our today, with its share of grief and suffering; and we have tomorrow, when Christ returns in glory. We <i>don’t</i> have time to delay. We <i>do </i>have time, right now, to repent; to turn to Christ and beg that he remember us in his Kingdom.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span>Do you remember how Christ answered the plea of the thief? He forgave his “yesterday.” And he turned his “tomorrow” into today: "Today you will be with me in Paradise."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span>Beloved, this is the day of salvation. Our King invites us to his feast. Let nothing else come first. Let us choose wisely, while it is still called “today.” Eternity begins today, here and now.<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-49437151808458396122020-12-12T04:56:00.001-08:002020-12-12T04:56:29.130-08:00Don't just do something...sit there.<p> <span> The Supreme Court has declined to hear the lawsuit filed by Texas in the matter of the recent presidential election. For all intents and purposes, this means that the legal controversy over the election is over, and Joe Biden will be inaugurated as our 46th President on 20 January 2021. </span></p><p><span><span> </span>I recognise that there is a microscopically small chance that something could happen when the Electoral College meets on Monday, or when the Congress meets on 6 January (!Theophany!) to ratify the Electoral College's vote. But let's assume, for purposes of this post, that nothing happens then.</span></p><p><span><span> Partisans on both sides of the issue are clamouring for further action. </span></span></p><p><span><span><span> </span>Some who supported President Trump are holding on to those microscopically small chances. Within that group, some Christians speak of a divine intervention to produce a second Trump term. (Are there stirrings in the soil around Simon Bar Kochba's grave?) Other Trump supporters want to have protest marches, or perhaps even darker responses.</span></span></p><p><span> On the Biden side, some are seeking reprisals against the congressmen who joined Texas' lawsuit as <i>amicus curiae</i>. There are claims that by joining the suit, these representatives have acted treasonously against the </span>Constitution; therefore they should not be seated, or they should be prosecuted. Others are seeking reprisals against those who supported President Trump, either by public endorsement or even by voting for him.</p><p><span> Both sides seem to agree that the old saying, "Don't just sit there...do something!" is the way to go. </span>But I'd like to propose a different course of action: <b>creative <i>in</i>action</b>. "Don't just do something...sit there!" </p><p> The Taoist tradition speaks about <i>wu wei</i>, or "effortless action." The <i>Tao te Ching </i>says that the sage "...<span style="text-align: -webkit-center;"> anticipates things that are difficult while they </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">are easy, and does things that would become great while they are </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">small. All difficult things in the world are sure to arise from a </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">previous state in which they were easy, and all great things from one </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">in which they were small. Therefore the sage, while he never does </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">what is great, is able on that account to accomplish the greatest </span><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">things."</span></p><p><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;"><span> The Stoic philosophers tell us to distinguish between things that are under our control (our own opinions and actions) and those that are not under our control (everything else: body, property, reputation, vocation). They tell us to focus on what is under our control, and forget about what is not under our control.</span></span></p><p><span style="text-align: -webkit-center;"> And the Sacred Scriptures teach the value of <i>hesychia</i>, or stillness. </span> </p><p> Isaiah 30:15 "For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, "In repentance and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength."</p><p>Psalm 131:1 "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. 2 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. 3 O Israel, hope in the LORD From this time forth and forever."</p><p>1 These. 4:11-12 "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you; 12 so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need."</p><p>When God delivered Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, Moses told the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 "The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent." (Exod. 14:13-14 NAS)</p><p>God entered the world in silence. "For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, 15 thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed..." (Wis. 18:14-15 RSV) And Mary's response was silence: "But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart." (Lk. 2:19 RSV)</p><p>God redeemed the world in silence. We sometimes speak of the "seven words from the Cross," but have we reflected on how little Christ spoke during those long hours on the Tree? All seven sayings, together, would take well under a minute to speak.</p><p style="text-align: center;">+ + + + + + +</p><p style="text-align: left;">So, while the country descends into frenzy and madness, let me recommend creative inaction. Be still. Listen; renounce the attempt to be understood, and try your best to understand. Pray. Love...especially those who are <i>not</i> like you. Repent of deifying politics and politicians. Believers do not live in a Republic; we live in a Monarchy. We always have. We always will.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-77278620848540364452020-12-04T07:55:00.003-08:002020-12-04T07:55:46.599-08:00I am a conservative<p> This morning, I posted a comment on my FB page. As I thought about what I had written, I realised that it sums up things I have thought for a long time. Perhaps it expresses what some others think, too. Here it is:</p><p><br /></p><p>I AM A CONSERVATIVE</p><p>I am a conservative, that's true.</p><p> I'm a conservative because I don't believe we're as smart as we think we are. (We're certainly not as good as we think we are.) </p><p>I'm a conservative because in a broken world, things which have stood the test of time should carry some weight. </p><p>I'm a conservative because history is littered with the corpses of those who thought themselves wise, right, or indispensable. </p><p>I'm a conservative because when I was little, I used to take things apart...and could never quite get them back together again. </p><p>I'm a conservative because I believe that people who can't get the hang of cleaning their room, or caring for their own families, probably shouldn't be trusted with cleaning the world or caring for others' families. </p><p>I'm a conservative because the price of being left alone by others, is to allow them the right to be left alone by me. I don't want to rule the world. I don't even want to rule others. Life is the most wondrous game, and I'm content to let everyone in it try to figure it out as best as they can. </p><p>I'm a conservative because I watched the Wizard of Oz, and read "The Emperor's New Clothes," and discovered rather early that we are masters at fooling others and ourselves. </p><p>I'm a conservative because I respect people who have skin in the game (parents, soldiers, entrepreneurs) more than people who don't (scam artists and many politicians). </p><p>I'm a conservative because even when people correctly spot problems, they aim too high (perfection/utopia) and are too committed to their own solutions (the narrative bias affects everybody) to actually fix what they see is broken. </p><p>So, yes, I guess I am a conservative.</p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-42444601426495785052020-09-13T17:46:00.004-07:002020-09-13T17:46:59.474-07:00Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, 2020<p> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">If our nation has ever been more polarized than it is today, it’s not been in my lifetime. This year has been a perfect storm, with COVID, and George Floyd’s death, and now wildfires raging across the west. And did I mention the election coming up? Scott Adams captured it when he said that it’s like we’re watching two completely different movies on the same screen at the same time. Each side—and there are more than two---has lost the ability to even understand what people of other views are talking about.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Look through the Scripture and you’ll see that times like this happen when God judges. In Babel, the people wanted to build a tower reaching heaven; but God came down and confused their speech, and the nations scattered. Gideon defeated the Midianites with only 300 men because God allowed confusion to come upon the Midianites, and they killed each other. We must face the facts, beloved: our nation is in a time of divine chastisement. When God turns away, everything quickly falls into the chaos from which it came: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">without form and void</i><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">: “tohu vabohu” in Hebrew. When that happens, order gives way to chaos, and meaning gives way to vanity. Life is now a puzzle.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> As St. Paul says in today’s Epistle, God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.” It is liable to get a lot worse, too, before it gets better. But it will get better, in God’s mercy. And that change can begin, here and now.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> It can begin when we turn back to the word of the Cross. “We preach Christ crucified,” says St. Paul, “Christ, the power of God and Christ the wisdom of God.” You might say that the solution to our puzzle is a Cross Word—or rather, <i>the</i> “Cross Word.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> What is this “Cross Word?” It’s simply this: that God the Son, in whose image we were made…when he saw that we had turned from God toward death, he came and took on our humanity, made like us in everything except sin. He entered our space and time; he made our history, <i>his </i>history. He freely choose to carry our sin, and embrace our death and when he died, he poured out his blood for the life of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Apart from Christ, “things fall apart,” as we see happening in our culture today. But <i>in</i> him, as Paul tells us elsewhere, all things hold together.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> The cross of Christ opens our eyes to see that all things in life are hidden under their opposites. We triumph in the Cross, but not the way the world measures triumph. We learn to glory in our weakness, that Christ might be our strength; we learn to be labeled as crazy, and bad, so that we might be in our right mind; we embrace sufferings, and hardship for Christ’s sake because we know that if anyone wants to follow Christ he must deny himself, and pick up his cross and follow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> So in Christ, I don’t have to justify myself any more. Indeed, whoever justifies himself <i>can’t</i> be justified by God. In Christ, and in his cross, I have a “weapon of peace” to fight against my sinful passions. In Christ, I need not fear even death. For death has lost its sting through his cross and resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Let the change begin here and now, beloved. Let the word of Christ dwell in us richly: Satan will be overthrown, we will be saved, and God will be glorified by the word of the Cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-24587062858888921202020-08-06T06:33:00.001-07:002020-08-06T06:33:33.708-07:00Transfiguration homily 2020<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Today is the Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. Today the veil is pulled back, and the eyes of the apostles are opened, that they and we may know who this is we deal with. Before his passion they see his glory revealed—glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth-- so they might know that Christ crucified is the Lord of glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> We call this day “Transfiguration,” in Greek <i>metamorphosis</i>, that we may know that nothing changed in Christ's nature, only in his outward appearance. He who for our sake took the form of a servant, here reveals his natural form and glory, to show us it is for us and for our salvation, that the Most High took on flesh; that he who knows no sin, was made in the likeness of sinful flesh to become an offering for our sin; that he who dwells in light unapproachable covers himself so that we may approach him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Today the point of the Scriptures is revealed. For Moses, who wrote in the Law, and Elijah, the chief of the Prophets, speak to Christ about his suffering; and three of the apostles bear witness to us. The Bible shows us Christ, teaches us Christ, leads us to Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Today the Holy Trinity is revealed. For the Son stands in uncreated light on the Holy Mountain, and the voice of the Father is heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, listen to him” and the Holy Spirit overshadows Moses, Elijah and the apostles in the shining cloud of his glory.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Today our eternal life is revealed as entering the cloud of splendor and sharing the life of the holy, consubstantial and undivided Trinity. The disciples fear; the disciples grow drowsy; the disciples say silly things—but for all that, they share in the divine radiance and splendor and testify, “Lord, it is good to be here.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Today even the creation is redeemed and renewed. For a mountain made in ages past bears the feet of the Ancient of Days, and even his garments shine with the uncreated light. The redemption Christ delivers is not for men alone and by themselves, but also for the whole created order. The creation groans in labor till this day, and because of Adam’s sin it is subject to futility and death and decay; but here on Mount Tabor we see that its sufferings will be ended, and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> We need to hear this, and to know this, as we share in the lowliness and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to know that these sufferings won’t be forever, and that they have a reason, as Paul says: these “light and momentary afflictions are thoroughly working out for us an eternal weight of glory as we look, not to the things that are seen but to those that are unseen; for that which is seen is temporal, but that which is unseen is eternal.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-family: times;"> Take some time, then, to tarry on the mountain today. Soon we must go back to the struggles and frustrations of our everyday life. But the time is coming, sooner than we think, when we shall say with David and with all the saints, “In thy light we see light”—the light of the glory and inexpressible goodness of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-2272597920848428132020-03-25T12:12:00.001-07:002020-03-25T12:12:20.002-07:00Homily on the Annunciation, 2020<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It's taken a tiny virus to remind us once again of all we have in common. Nearly half a million people, from nearly 150 countries, have been sickened—old Italian grandmothers, teens on spring break, and even Prince Charles of Great Britain. Tens of thousands have died, and the worst is yet to come. All the distinctions we make because of wealth, or heritage, or behavior—all alike are eliminated by this little creature, and we clearly see that all alike are subject to suffering and death, all alike share in flesh and blood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Now the tiniest candle can pierce the deepest darkness; and today we mark the lighting of that candle some 2,000 years ago, when a young Jewish girl said to God’s messenger, “Let it be to me according to your word.” He himself, God the Son, became a partaker of our flesh and blood. Without ceasing to be what he always was—God—the Son became what he had not been—Man. He took on our nature, not at the height of its beauty and strength when it was first made, but in the condition it was. Sometimes a real estate agent will refer to a property as a “fixer-upper.” Well this transaction involved the ultimate “fixer-upper.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Today we celebrate a new wonder in heaven and on earth: Man is in heaven and God upon earth. For God the Son took on our <i>nature</i>, not a human <i>person</i>. He is a Person, of course; but his Person is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. So we can truly say that Mary gave birth to God, and God hungered, and thirsted, and slept, and Pilate’s soldiers pulled the beard of God; that God was crucified, was under a curse, and died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And all this he did, not because he <i>had</i> to—even after taking on our flesh and blood he was God the Son, not subject to the Law, or to death. He did it because he <i>chose</i> to. He did not go to death as a hapless victim; by his own will he went to death as a conquering general goes to the land of the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">When he united himself to our flesh and blood, it was not a temporary arrangement. It was an unbreakable union, so that when people sometimes refer to God as “the man upstairs” it is no metaphor but the most literal truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But why? Why did he take on our nature and taste our death? St Paul says it was for two reasons: first, that through death he might destroy the tyrant, the devil. The Greek word for “destroy,” here, is beautiful. It’s made up of three parts: first, the word for “work”, then a prefix which means “not”, and then another prefix which implies “thoroughly.” <i>When Christ tasted our death, he thoroughly brought to nought the devil’s work.</i> All along, the devil’s great tool was our fear of death. But now that tool has been utterly shattered by the God who died. The devil still lives, of course, but he has no power of his own. He has only the power people give him when they yield to his temptations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">God the Son also took on our nature, and tasted our death, to set us free from fear of death. That is why Christians would rather die than deny Christ. That is why when plagues came in the ancient world, Christians alone would remain in the towns and serve those who suffered. It was this demonstration of love in the face of death that converted the world to Christ. <b>And it does so again and again, whenever it’s tried</b>. Since God shared our flesh and blood, and died our death, and rose again, we need no longer live in fear of death. His perfect love casts out our fear. And he who shares our flesh and blood, bids us now to share his flesh and blood, and walk no more in fear, as slaves, but in his love, as his dear children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-70011518043022405632020-01-20T12:38:00.001-08:002020-01-20T12:38:05.421-08:00Homily on the ten lepers, 2020<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> The lepers show us clearly the human condition. In two ways, all are alike; in one way, some are different. The question for each of us is, “Where am I in this story?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> All these men alike were lepers. All of them had a progressive, degenerative disease for which there is no human cure. Now it’s true that nine of them were Jews, and one a Samaritan. But in the face of their disease, the other ways men mark themselves as different had all faded away. All alike came to Christ, pleading for mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Friends, we spend a lot of time showing how we’re different than other people. They’re a different color, or ethnicity. They hold a different political point of view. They root for the wrong team. But when we ponder the disease of death and of sin, what difference do all those distinctions make? Death and sin are no respecters of persons. And so it was with these ten.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> So they cried out to Christ, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” The word for “Master” in Greek is <i>epistata</i>—a generic term for someone over you…rather like “boss.” They don’t call him “Lord.” They don’t call him “Son of David.” Just “boss.” It wasn’t what you’d call the deepest prayer, theologically.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Yet he hears their prayer, and answers them. “Go, show yourselves to the priests,” he tells them. They walk off in obedience, and as they walk, all of them alike are cured. And this is the second way they’re all alike. To all, alike, the Lord shows mercy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> So also with our human condition. God shows his mercy to <i>all</i> people. That doesn’t mean that everybody gets everything they want. Even Paul prayed to God to have a thorn in his flesh removed and was told, “No.” But God’s “no” was for a greater “yes;” the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you. My power is perfected in your weakness.” The prophet Jeremiah, seeing Jerusalem in ruins, could still say, “<i>Through </i>the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. <i>They are </i>new every morning; Great <i>is </i>Your faithfulness,” and again, “The Lord does not willingly afflict or grieve the sons of men.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Alike in misery, alike in receiving mercy. But in one way, these ten were different. Only one of them, a Samaritan, came back to give Christ thanks. The Lord is surprised. “Were not ten cured? Where are the nine?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> Here he teaches us a powerful lesson. He himself had commanded all ten to go show themselves to the priests. The other nine were doing what he had commanded. But he commends the one who came back to say “Thanks!” Listen carefully to the lesson. <i>The Lord values obedience highly; but he values thanksgiving more.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;"> The Greek word for “thanksgiving,” by the way, is <i>eucharisto</i>. It’s no accident that the central act of worship for the Orthodox people of God is the Eucharist. Here we gather to give thanks to God. And we strive to make <i>all</i> our life a thanksgiving; as Paul says, “In <i>everything</i> give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ.” When we give thanks, we give God what he values even above obedience. When we give thanks, we put the troubles and problems of life into proper perspective. When we give thanks, we open our eyes to see the mercies of the Lord. So let us follow the example of the one; let us be people of gratitude. As Alexander Schmemann says, “Everybody who is capable of thanksgiving is capable of salvation and of eternal joy.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-32430492185445213552017-08-30T04:00:00.001-07:002017-08-30T04:00:25.416-07:00Rich young ruler 2017<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> “What do you give to the man who has everything?” I
remember that question from an ad campaign back in the ‘60s or ‘70s. The funny
thing is, the ad had an answer—“Give him our product.” It made me wonder. If he
had everything, wouldn’t he already have their product? The only right answer
to the question, “What do you give to the man who has everything?” is “Nothing.”
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The young man in today’s text was just such a guy…almost.
He was rich; the text says he had “great possessions.” He was a decent
person; when Christ says “Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal,
don’t bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and love your
neighbor as yourself,” he answers, “All these I have observed.” And we should
take his answer at face value. He had one more thing going for him, that I’ve
noticed only recently: he was young. He had time—and let me tell you,
time is the most precious resource to have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The only thing he didn’t have was eternal life. So he did
what any decent young rich person might do: he went to Jesus and asked him how
to get it. It makes sense. If you want to learn how to be a good student, ask
one. If you want to get more money, ask a rich person how to do it. And if you
want to have eternal life—go to Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So he did. And Christ’s answer shattered him. “If you
want to be perfect,” he says—and “perfect” doesn’t mean “sinless,” it means “complete”—“Go,
sell all you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are some folks for whom Christ is like an item on a
checklist. Education? Check. Money? Check. Family? Check. Decent behavior?
Check. Christ? Check.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But Christ will have none of that. He will be Lord, or
he will be nothing. When, earlier in Matthew he said, “Seek first the
kingdom and all these things will be added to you,” he didn’t mean that life is
kingdom plus other things. He meant, “Forget about all those other things and
leave them to God.” When he said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from God’s mouth” he meant, “Man does not live by bread
at all, but only by the word of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We think that by having things, and decency, and
education that we come closer to having life. But let’s be honest with
ourselves. None of that satisfies. It always leaves the sense that
something’s missing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What’s missing is not something. What’s missing is
someone—Jesus Christ. Remember what St. Paul told the Philippians: “But
what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. <sup> </sup>Yet
indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ <sup> </sup>and
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which <i>is</i> from
the law, but that which <i>is</i> through faith in Christ, the
righteous-ness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and
the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being
conformed to His death, <sup> </sup>if, by any means, I may
attain to the resurrection from the dead…</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I do not
count myself to have apprehended; but one thing <i>I do,</i> forgetting
those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are
ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
Christ Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> At the end of every litany, we say “Let us commend
ourselves, and one another, and our whole life, unto Christ our God.” The task
before us is to empty ourselves of ourselves, that we may be full of Christ.
Not even God can give something to the man who has everything. So we loosen
our grip on our possessions, that Christ may feed us; we stop seeing
ourselves as better than others, so that Christ may forgive us; we
stop seeing our time as our own, so that Christ can use us. He
feeds the hungry, he forgives sinners, he strengthens the weak,
he raises the dead. So we must learn to see ourselves as hungry, as
sinners, as weak, as dead. All the things we think we have are <i>potentially</i>
useful; but they are only <i>actually</i> useful if we let them go, give them
over to Christ. Keep holding on to them, and lose him. Let go of them, and
receive him. “With men this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-36320186470067017322017-08-07T17:55:00.002-07:002017-08-07T17:55:23.892-07:00Homily on Transfiguration 2017<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I was ordained to the priesthood, someone told me a
saying I often think about. It goes like this: “For the first year after
ordination, the priest is afraid of the altar. After that, the altar is afraid
of the priest.” The newly ordained priest is aware of taking on a new role:
saying things he’s never said, doing things he’s never done. He’s very aware of
the people, watching what he does. But more than anything, he is very, very
aware of the awesome mystery which takes place through his hands and voice. The
King of all comes invisibly upborne by the angelic hosts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After a year or so, it can become familiar, comfortable…routine.
He will be tempted to change little things, to become perfunctory in his
performance. And so the altar grows afraid of him. Every so often, when he
least expects it, he remembers the hidden reality. You will know those times,
when you see him weep a little.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I thought of that saying when I read today’s Gospel
lesson, the account of the Transfiguration of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus
Christ. After the radiance, after Moses and Elijah speak with Christ, after the
luminous cloud, after the voice of the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son—listen
to him!”—after all that, Peter, James, and John fell to the ground. Then it was
that Christ touched them and said, “Get up. Don’t be afraid.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Now we misread Christ’s words if we think they mean that
fear isn’t part of our faith. In a few minutes you will hear the priest say, “With
the fear of God, in faith and love draw near.” St. Paul wrote, “Knowing the
fear of the Lord, we persuade men.” Every single time, throughout the holy
Scriptures, when someone encounters the living God his first reaction is to be
afraid. Solomon tells us “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and
even the wise thief on the cross asked his companion who reviled Christ, “Don’t
you fear God?” It is ours to fear; it is God’s to tell us, “Don’t be afraid.”
When Christ’s words “Don’t be afraid” become unnecessary, there is something
seriously wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Well might the three disciples fear. For <i>in this life</i>,
and <i>before the Resurrection</i>, they beheld the hidden glory of Christ made
manifest. They saw and heard Moses and Elijah. They entered the bright cloud
and heard the voice of the Father. Say what you want about Veggie Tales, but
when Christianity becomes all about tomatoes and cucumbers telling us to be
good people, it’s no longer Christianity. God did not become man to make us
good; he became man to make us God—to share his own divine splendor. And at
Christ’s return, he will not take us to some immaterial place. <i>This</i>
world will be transfigured in the radiant cloud of the Spirit, and the voice of
the Father will direct us to his Son.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The disciples had reason to fear, too, because of what lay
ahead. When they came down from the mountain, they were heading toward
Jerusalem and the cross. There they would see this radiant Lord naked, bloodied
and bruised, pierced by nails and a spear. Instead of a bright cloud, there
would be thick darkness. Instead of the Father’s voice, there would be silence.
Instead of life, there would be death. When they beheld Christ’s suffering,
they would understand that the one being crucified was the Lord of Glory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">We
mark the Transfiguration of Christ today because today is forty days before the
Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross. For us, the rest of summer is
marked by remembrance of Christ’s suffering for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">And
today is a big day in the life of Holy Cross. After liturgy, we will take a
vote on whether to move from these cramped but comfy surroundings to a new
place, with a new set of challenges. As the priest who started out this journey
with some of you at a Lutheran church, and others of you at a school, and still
others in these four walls, I want to tell you two things: First, be afraid.
And second, don’t be afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Fear
God. It doesn’t matter what you want, or what I want. It matters what his will
is. We don’t pray, “My plans be done,” but “Thy will be done.” Churches get off
the rails when they try to tell God how to do his business. Learn from the
Theotokos. When she said, “Whatever he says, do it,” to the servants at Cana,
she was speaking from experience and teaching us how to live.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Don’t
fear anything else. Don’t fear the distance, if we move. The drive would be
longer for some, but we are united in love for God and each other. No one will
be left behind. Distance is but an opportunity to show our love for those most
affected. Don’t fear the future, if we stay. He who makes all things out of
nothing, knows our needs more than we do. He will provide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Following
Christ means carrying a cross. So let us heed Moses and Elijah. Let us listen
to the Father as he says, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!” Listen to
him in fear as he tells you, “Don’t be afraid.” He will never fail us. He will
never forsake us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-91661304612300640132017-06-25T18:38:00.003-07:002017-06-25T18:38:32.354-07:00The healthy parish family<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Some years ago, when we adopted our
two daughters from Russia, I was searching for an Orthodox parish our eldest
might go to. (She had been baptised Orthodox.) I was concerned for her smooth
assimilation into American life, so I wanted to find a parish with a good youth
program. I phoned the local Romanian parish and spoke with Fr. Anton. I
explained the situation and told him, “I’m looking to find a parish with a good
youth program.” There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. Then Fr.
Anton answered, “We don’t shop for churches in Orthodoxy.” <o:p></o:p></div>
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Over and over again through the
years, the wisdom of Fr. Anton’s remarks has remained with me. The church is
not a commodity. It is not selling anything. Parishes are not in competition
with each other.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What, then, <i>is</i> the church? Rightly
understood, each parish is a family. What are the keys to a family’s health and
success? It isn’t rocket science. Here are a few:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Healthy families are always
open to gaining new members. When a baby comes home from the hospital, or a new
member is added by adoption or marriage, healthy families open to make room for
the new person. They are willing to undergo the temporary discomfort or awkwardness
that comes with new life, and they give thanks to God for the new life. They
are flexible, yet retain their own identity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Healthy families aren’t
focused on gaining new members at all costs. Growth should be natural. Those
with problems where they are should be told to go back and work on those problems
first, before coming. No one should be received without the blessing of their
priest. Baggage must be left at the door.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Members of healthy families
are committed to share a common life. Cal Ripken Jr., the man who broke Lou
Gehrig’s consecutive game streak, was asked the secret of his success. “The
key,” he said, “is mostly just showing up.” Joining a parish is committing to
sharing a common life. That <i>requires</i> engaging with all sorts of
different people. Some are outgoing, some are shy; some take part in lots of
things and others mostly pray. All are essential; none is superfluous.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Healthy families commit to
work through problems and challenges together. Everyone gets teary-eyed when
they read of long-married couples who die on the same day. But stories have
those endings only because the couple worked through many problems and
challenges throughout the years. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .75in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Healthy families have
differences. The goal, in a healthy family, is not to make everybody to be the
same. The variety of persons is revealed in a variety of gifts and, sometimes,
on a variety of viewpoints. Diversity is no threat, when we are all agreed to
journey together.<o:p></o:p></div>
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</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span dir="LTR"></span>Healthy families are
ordered. There are husband and wife, parents and children, older and younger
siblings. These roles are distinct and not interchangeable. Each lives for the
other. Love is given and respect is returned.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Perhaps you can think of other things that healthy families
share. I'd welcome your thoughts in the comments.<o:p></o:p></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-78019992068071413612017-03-10T19:34:00.002-08:002017-03-10T19:34:24.685-08:00The scandal of the cross Some years ago I attended a wedding between a man who had been raised as a Christian and a woman who had been raised as a Jew. The wedding was held in a nondenominational chapel. When the bride's father entered the space, the first thing he did was go to the altar and remove the cross. He could not abide being in a place that featured the cross--even if it had practically no theological significance in that place whatsoever.<br />
<br />
A few days ago I saw photos from a new Protestant 'church' building, posted on Facebook. The building is beautifully decorated; it has almost everything you could want. It even has beautiful art, like large poster-sized paintings of a lion and a lamb. But it's missing one thing which, to my mind, is the most important: it has no cross. It made me think back to that Jewish father. If his daughter were to be married now in most newer Protestant churches, it's likely he wouldn't have had to remove the cross. It was never there to begin with.<br />
<br />
What a contrast with apostolic Christianity. "God forbid that I should boast," said St. Paul, "except in the cross of Christ, by which I was crucified to the world, and the world to me." And again, he said, "I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." In a little over a week, the Orthodox Church marks the third Sunday of Great Lent--the Sunday of the Holy Cross. Our little parish is blessed to have a relic of Christ's cross, given us by our bishop. Still today the cross is a scandal--a stumbling block--but now, not only to Jews but also to many who claim to be followers of Christ.<br />
<br />
We Orthodox glory in the Cross of Christ. We even speak to it in one of our prayers:<br />
<br />
Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; and let those who hate Him flee from His face. As smoke vanishes, let them vanish; and as wax melts from the presence of fire, so let the demons perish from the presence of those who love God and who sign themselves with the Sign of the Cross and say with gladness: Hail, most precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord, for Thou drivest away the demons by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ Who was crucified on thee, went down to hell and trampled on the power of the devil, and gave us thee, His honorable Cross, for driving away all enemies. O most precious and life-giving Cross of the Lord, help me with our holy Lady, the Virgin Theotokos, and with all the Saints throughout the ages. Amen.Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-64740273367964806302016-12-11T12:12:00.000-08:002016-12-11T12:12:11.259-08:00Homily for the Sunday of the Forefathers, 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today we celebrate the Sunday of the Forefathers: those
men and women of the Old Testament who, in the words of the apolytikion, were “justified
by faith.” There was Adam, the first-created and his wife Eve; and Abel the
righteous, and Enoch who walked with God. There were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
and Rahab, and Ruth; David and Solomon, Daniel and the three holy children—all of
them, and many more besides, who were justified by faith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What does it mean to say they were justified by faith?
Nothing but this: that they were justified by Christ. He is their life. They
looked forward to him, longed for him, loved him, wanted nothing more than to
sit with him at his banquet table in the Kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We only understand the lives of the forefathers when we
see their connection to Christ. To take but a few: Abel makes the proper
offering and himself becomes a sacrifice. Rahab hangs the scarlet rope from her
window, proclaiming in advance the blood of Christ. Ruth forsakes her own
people to be joined to God’s people; her sorrow is turned to joy by Boaz.
David, the man after God’s own heart, sings constantly of Christ, his Mother,
and his Church; Solomon builds the Temple, which prefigures the Theotokos and
the Church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Christ is their life. And that’s the most important
reason we celebrate them. They looked forward to the coming of God in the
flesh, according to his ancient promise. What he spoke, they trusted. That
faith shaped the way they looked at life, and shaped the way they lived.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We celebrate them, too, because they teach us a valuable
lesson. They lived in anticipation of the Christ who would come; we live in
celebration of the Christ who has come. They stood between the first promise
and its fulfillment; but we stand between the fulfillment of the promise and
its completion. While we look back on Christ’s conception and birth, his
service and suffering, his dying and rising and ascending—we also look forward
to his return. As St. Paul says in our Epistle, “When Christ, who is our life,
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That hope, that anticipation of Christ’s return, shapes
the way we live from day to day. Our life is not measured by the ebb and flow
of politics, or the wars and rumors of wars, or the search for human justice.
Our life is measured by Christ: his mercy and grace and love for mankind. I saw
that life in action yesterday, as many people took time out of their busy
Saturday to help Deacon Michael and Mary move to their new home. I’ve seen that
life in action in countless other ways, and I could point to each and every one
of you and give examples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Level 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So let us be encouraged, brothers and sisters; let us be
inspired by the lives of those who came before and anticipated Christ. Soon,
soon, our wait will be over, our faith will become sight and our hope will be
fulfilled. “When Christ who is our life appears, then we also will appear with
him in glory”: in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-2990920297645292232016-10-09T15:49:00.002-07:002016-10-09T15:49:59.982-07:00Homily for 9 October, 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In this life, everything is hidden
under its opposite. That is a great mystery, and yet it is true. And if we
learned the lesson, it would revolutionize the way we live. The sorrows we face
could be tokens of mercy; the joys we experience could be calls to repent and
return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In today’s epistle, St. Paul draws a
remarkable contrast: “We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as
unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet
not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich;
as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On the one side he puts the way that
things seem. We <i>seem to be</i> imposters, unknown, dying, punished,
sorrowful, poor and having nothing. On the other side he puts the way things
really are. We <i>are</i> true, well known, live, are not killed, are always
rejoicing, making many rich and possessing everything ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>We Orthodox have a category of saint,
the holy fool, who embodies these words of St. Paul. St. Basil the Blessed, St.
Ksenia of Peterburg, St. Andrew of Constantinople—all these were given the
grace of Christ to live their lives as homeless, sometimes naked, always
disconnected from the ‘normal’ life around them but profoundly connected to the
life of the living Christ. If you’ve seen the movie <i>Ostrov</i>—<i>The Island</i>—you’ve
seen a depiction of a holy fool.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It doesn’t matter to me which side of
the political spectrum you stand on: liberal or conservative, Democrat or
Republican or Libertarian—every Orthodox Christian must see that if any time
and place called for a holy fool to arise, ours is surely it. Look where we
have gotten with our much-vaunted reason and education! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We have completely lost the human person. Women
are treated as objects. The unborn are ripped from the womb and left to die.
The poor are dishonored and disrespected. We identify ourselves with our greed
and desires, and enshrine them in law. We are caught between slogans like “Black
Lives Matter” and “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter.” We talk, but don’t
listen; we give advice, but don’t take it; instead of works of mercy to the poor,
we give words on social justice about the poor. We try to make the rest of the
world in our image, and do not deal with the problems at home. When Scripture
pronounces God’s harshest judgment, it does so in these words: “And so God gave
them up to their own desires.” Are we not there, friends? Are we not there?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">This is no time for nostrums, or pious
pronouncements. Nothing can save us now but repentance. We must give up trying
to look respectable. As St. Paul told the Corinthians, “Do not deceive
yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you
should become “fools” so that you may become wise.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">With repentance there is hope, even in the midst
of death. As we carry the corpse of western culture out to the cemetery…as we
see its promise end in silence…perhaps we shall encounter Christ again, as did
the widow in today’s Gospel. He raised up Russia after 70 years of atheist
Bolshevism. He can do the same for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So let us live in repentance, dear brothers and
sisters of Christ. Let us stop measuring with the world’s measure, and learn to
measure all things by the wood of the cross—the only truly straight edge. Let
us embrace, as we are able, the foolishness of him who foolishly gave himself
utterly and completely to ungrateful slaves. Let us embrace, to the degree we
can, the weakness and shame and scandal of the Cross. For as our Bishop
reminded us a few weeks ago, there can be no resurrection Sunday without first
knowing the pain of Great and Holy Friday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-35056274949778544792016-06-13T12:59:00.002-07:002016-06-13T12:59:47.475-07:00On Prayer and Personhood<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here’s a scary thought: Prayer reveals who we are. It’s
the most characteristically <i>personal</i> activity. Consider the Pharisee and
the Publican.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Pharisee, we’re told, prays <i>to himself</i>. He was a self-made man, full of
his own deeds, with no room for God or for others. “God, I thank thee that I am
not like other men; for I fast twice a week, and pay tithes of all I owe…not
like that publican.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The
Publican stood afar off and didn’t lift his eyes to heaven. He saw nothing
wrong that anyone else had done. He merely opens the depths of his broken heart
to the merciful and man-loving God: “God, be merciful to me, the sinner.” He
alone went home justified by God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But in both cases, <i>prayer
revealed the person</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What do my prayers reveal
about me?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Consider all that I do in the
course of a day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I
eat. I drink. I sleep. I feel pain and pleasure. All these reveal that I am an <i>animal</i>;
for I share all these with the animals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I
think. I plot. I plan. I read and write. All these reveal that I am <i>rational</i>,
like all other people and like the angels.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But none of these reveal <i>who</i>
I am; they only show <i>what </i>I am. Prayer alone reveals my person. Prayer
alone shows <i>who</i> I am. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Am I so busy pursuing animal
appetites and worldly concerns that I forget to <i>pray</i>? When I was a
little boy and sat down to lunch, I sometime started to dig in without praying.
My grandma would stop me, saying, “Essen, nicht fressen”—“Eat like a human, not
like an animal.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Prayer is that most personal
activity, because I open myself up before the Three-Person God. I open to him
the depths of my being, and seek the depths of his. I bring before him all
those other persons he has brought into my life, and offer my requests for
them, and give thanks for them. To put it simply, in prayer I relate to God <i>personally</i>.
That is why, when we pray, we begin with “Our Father.” Not just “Creator God,”
which would make me just a creation. Not “My Father,” as if I stand apart from
others, but <i>Our</i> Father. Here I include all those dear to me and not so
dear, all my fellow Christians…indeed, every man and woman and child for whom
Christ died and rose again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Today’s Gospel is the
high-priestly prayer of Christ—the <i>real</i> “Lord’s Prayer.” And it’s
precious to us, because it reveals to us Who He is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">He begins by calling God “Father.”
He doesn’t say, like we do, “Our Father,” but simply, “Father.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And in so doing, he reveals
himself the only Son of God, one in essence with the Father, as our Nicene
Fathers confessed. <b>He is the Father’s Son.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What is it, after all, to be <i>Son</i>?
What does that word mean?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A
son is the <i>same nature</i> as his father. Canine fathers produce canine
sons. Human fathers produce human sons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A
son is a <i>different person</i> from his father. I am <i>what</i> my father
was, but I am most certainly not <i>who</i> he was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">A
son is, in some sense, <i>from</i> his father…in a way that the father is not
from the son. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What about space and time? My
son is younger than I am. He occupies a different place than I do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">But space and time are
features of the <i>created</i> order. God is not a creature. So those don’t
apply in him. From all eternity, the Father begot the Son; they are co-eternal.
And when the Son became enfleshed, he did not leave the Father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">He is also our Savior.</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> Even though his Person is divine, the Second Person
of the blessed Trinity, that divine Person willed to join himself to our
created nature. Without ceasing to be God, he became man, that through his life
and death and rising we might share the divine life. Just as he is one in
essence with the Father according to his divinity, he is one in essence with us
according to his humanity. Begotten eternally of his Father without mother, he
was born in time of a Mother, without father.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">So he prays, “I have revealed
your name to those you gave me.” In the ancient world, to know a thing’s name
was to have access to it…to <i>know </i>it. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Jacob wrestled with the angel of the
Lord, he revealed his name to the angel. But the angel did not reveal his name
back. But Christ has revealed God’s name to us; and so we have <i>access</i> to
the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. And this, my friends, is to have
salvation: to share the life of the Holy Trinity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">He keeps and preserves us,
too. “Holy Father,” he says, “<i>keep</i> them in thy name.” You see, the cares
and pleasures of our body, and the worries and delights of our rational soul,
can work to draw us away from that saving name. So the Son asks the Father to
keep us in the name; and the Father answers the prayer of the Son by sending
forth the Holy Spirit, who prays in us with groans too deep for words…who
intercedes for us according to the divine will.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">And so we need not fear. For
the Son intercedes for us with the Father. And soon we will celebrate that great
day when He poured out the Spirit from the Father upon his waiting disciples.
What can we say in response? What can we do? What else, but to walk through
this life in prayer and praise and thanksgiving to the only true God: Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7501850621793894577.post-60894281462556972302016-03-26T05:39:00.004-07:002016-03-26T05:39:22.406-07:00Homily on the Annunciation
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Whose tongue is adequate to speak of what we celebrate
today? Whose mind can understand the power and riches and wisdom of God? For
today, the One who is begotten from eternity of his Father without mother, is
conceived in time of his Mother without Father. Today the one who covers
himself with light as a garment, hides himself in the womb of the Virgin. Today
the Word through whom all things came to be, creates a new wonder in heaven and
on earth, by taking flesh of his most pure mother.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Woman has two perfect states which are opposite each
other: the state of virginity, and the state of motherhood. Scripture praises
them both: for the virgin can dedicate herself completely to prayer, and yet salvation
is found in childbearing. But never before now have both these perfections been
combined in a single woman, as they are in Mary, virgin mother and birthgiver
of God. She is the glory of virgins and the praise of mothers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Our first mother Eve, whose name means “life,” brought
death to all her descendants when she listened to the Tempter’s voice and ate
the fruit and gave it to her husband. But today the second Eve gives herself
wholly over to the will of God, and thereby brings life to all by conceiving
the Word in her womb by the action of the Holy Spirit. When Gabriel announces
to her that she will bear God in the flesh, she answers, “Let it be to me
according to your word.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Our first father Adam, when he ate the forbidden fruit,
marred the image of God in us and destroyed the likeness by one act of
rebellion. But today the second Adam, the Son who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation, restores the image of God for us by
taking on our humanity. “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was
through the flesh, God <i>did</i>: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and <i>as an offering</i> for sin, He condemned sin in the
flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us,
who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> How shall we respond to the news we celebrate today? Once
when our Lord was teaching, someone from the crowd called out, “Blessed is the
womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you.” The Lord Jesus responded,
“Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” When he said
this, he was not speaking ill of his Mother; he was highlighting what true
blessedness is, and opening the door for you and me to share it. Mary is blessed
because she heard God’s word through Gabriel, and kept it by cherishing it and
acting according to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Mary teaches us to hear the word of God: to participate
in liturgy, and reading the Scripture…to give our attention to the mercy and
promises of God. And she teaches us to keep it: not to receive it in vain, but
to let it shape our daily life and relationships with each other. We cannot
give birth to God. That belongs to Mary alone. But to hear God’s word and keep
it belongs to us all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> When my wife and I were in Romania this past summer, we
traveled to the town of Sibiel and saw the museum of glass icons. It isn’t easy
to paint a normal icon; but glass iconography is even tougher. For the layers
of paint must be put down in opposite order, on the back of the pane of glass;
and the image must be done in reverse, so that when the light shines through it
looks like a standard icon. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> Something like that happened at the feast we celebrate
today. God reversed the normal order of things to accomplish his holy will.
What is impossible for us, is possible with God. And just as the rays of the sun
shine through the glass icons of Sibiel, so we, with Mary and all the saints, come
to see the light of the the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ his Son.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Fr. Gregory Hogghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01829108455227450650noreply@blogger.com0