His Eminence Metropolitan SABA Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America, His Grace Bishop Alexander
Pastor: Fr John Vazquez | (518) 462-0579 | fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com | stgeorgealbany.org | 1 St George's Pl Albany, NY
Office Hours: Mon/Fri 10am-5pm | Confessions: After weekly services (Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun) or by appointment
Wednesday, November 6th—8am—Divine Liturgy
Wednesday, November 6th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, November 8th—8am—Orthros
Saturday, November 9th—5pm—Great Vespers with Bible Study to follow
Sunday, November 10th—Orthros and Divine Liturgy POTLUCK AND PIES AFTER DIVINE LITURGY (FEAST WITH US AND JOIN IN A PIE CONTEST BEFORE THE NATIVITY FAST BEGINS)
Monday, November 11th—8:15am—Coffee with the Fathers at Alias Coffee on North Pearl St in Albany.
Sermon 11.3.24—The Rich Man and Lazarus
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
We hear in St Paul's epistle to Timothy, that our Lord desires that all be saved in come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2.4) and we hear in the gospel today a very stark example of what happens when we're not saved—when we are not united to our Lord—when we see the rich man go to hades
And the man, Lazarus, who was at his gate, begging for food—just a crumb as it fell from the rich man's table—he is comforted in Abraham's bosom.
Our Lord says that he desires that all men be saved…
For us, it is very easy to be comfortable with those who we like, who are like us, who think like us, who look like us, who dress like us, who go to church the way we go to church
We can get into this comfort zone and be unable to see those who are in need of the love of a fellow human being and also the love of Christ. Because when you receive the love of Christ, one of the ways you receive the love of Christ is through other people.
The rich man is not able to see Lazarus as a human being and to share in love, right?
In the Church paradise is imaged to us as a heavenly banquet.
An image we have of this from the Saints is this big long table and everybody has a spoon that's too long for their own bowl and the only way to feed yourself is to be fed by another. When each person feeds the other you are satiated and filled and this is paradise.
In hades, it is the same situation but each person in selfishness is trying to feed themselves but is unable to because of the awkward length of the spoon and all the delectable food is spilled and no one gets any.
We also have this holy Eucharist that we share with each other every Sunday. And we share this meal together in communion, in common.
So we see that the rich man is not able to reach out to share a meal with the poor man Lazarus who is other…
There could be multiple reasons why.
One, reason why could be fear, right? Pride could be another reason.
"That person is not like me and I'm afraid of that, and I'm afraid to reach out to that person, and I'm afraid to share and afraid to understand how this person is suffering."
Or in pride—"you know what, that person is just below me, and I'm not even going to talk to them."
So fear and pride can be two sins that keep us from having communion with other people who are not like us—who don't look like us, who don't dress like us, who don't go to church like us…
As Christians invite all to participate in the heavenly banquet.
We step outside of ourselves—of our pride and fear and we try to be how our Lord is and to share with those who are in need.
How does the idea of the heavenly banquet and going outside of ourselves look like in our lives?
I shared an email this week about when our Metropolitan SABA met St Paisios on the Holy Mountain.
St. Paisios said if you would pray before and after you eat together, as a family every day this strengthens you, gives you a foundation for your spiritual life.
When Metropolitan SABA first heard it he thought maybe St Paisios didn’t understand because the question was about living a spiritual life. What can I do when things are difficult and hard? And St. Paisios’ answer is, if the foundation of praying before and after eating together as a family is laid this will be a great help in the spiritual life. Why?
What's behind that answer is what we're doing here right now. We're preparing to take the Holy Eucharist, we're participating in the banquet of the kingdom, right?
And we need to take that into the rest of our lives. That begins with being together as a family. How hard and difficult is it to do that? It is really hard. People have a lot of different schedules. We're running here and there. Kids are doing this. Our spouses are doing this. But to make that time sacred, at least a few times a week, where we eat together and we sit down and we have a meal together, and we share together.
From this practice of sharing a meal together as a family we learn to share with others—to reach out to others.
So our banquet, our practicing of our hospitality amongst ourselves cannot just remain among ourselves. It has to go outside to those who are in need. Inviting others over who are not, like us, or who are different to me, or who need a friend.
The fact that this basic necessity of life—feeding ourselves—is actually how we gain salvation, by partaking of the Holy Eucharist. This reality permeates every aspect of our life, and so we share this with other people the best way that we can. Invite, invite people over to your home.
Invite people into your circle. It doesn't necessarily have to be a meal. It could be a meal at home. It could be a meal at work. It could be going for a walk with somebody. It could be sitting down for coffee with somebody. These are all ways we can share and set aside ourselves to share the kingdom with other people and to hopefully be able to be like Lazarus and be an Abraham’s bosom rather than hades
So may our Lord strengthen us to desire the salvation of all because if we don't, we are not Christians—we are not those who are like Christ—if we don't desire the salvation of every single person. May our Lord strengthen us. Amen.
