In the kingdom of heaven, there is no need for human values or hierarchy. It is a new life, a new world and new relationships. We need to focus on Christ, Who came not only to give us courage, but also to teach us to live differently. To do this, we need to defeat death, which is around and inside us. We are talking about the resurrection.
Today is Radonitsa, a day when we commemorate our departed brethren. We come to a mound, under which lie the bones of our beloved and dear ones. It takes boldness and strength to speak of them as of the living, whom we continue to love and who still love us. This is our struggle for Resurrection.
Limited by the laws of this world and by the sin that lives in each of us, we dare to speak of a new life. This new life begins on this earth, because Christ has come here. Today, we enter it with every drop of the Blood of Christ and every small particle of His Body that we partake. This life must be lived through action. We will definitely lose it, but God will still love us. We will continue losing it again and again, but God will never stop forgiving and loving us. This is where the new life begins.
How can we learn it despite all our resentment, misunderstanding and rejection? How do we cope, if we still live wearing masks, do not mean what we say and smile, when we should really be crying as we watch this world go crazy? Yet we are talking about a new world, where Christ will be in everyone and in everything. Do we realize that this is an impossible task where no hero can be saved? Our only hero is Christ. We must follow Him, falling, stumbling and constantly losing Him. We must learn that He will always be with us and that He loves us the way we are today. We need to understand that the Church is not simply an organization, but it is Christ and His love. Nothing and no one else is truly here. When Christ comes, there will be the fullness of life.
We are living through the days when we have to celebrate and be glad for almost a month, because such is the blessing of the Holy Church. Everything hurts us, everything is not the way we want, everything is falling apart, but in spite of everything we must greet one another with the words of St Seraphim of Sarov, "Christ is risen, rejoice!"
We need to learn to live differently, but we are lazy and afraid of changes... We need to realize that there is nothing scarier than Judas betraying Crist for 30 shekels of silver. However, I do not want to talk about tragedy, I want to talk about joy. I think that our lives will change. We must overcome ourselves, with our flesh and blood; we must conquer this world, we must defeat the devil. Today we are in church where there is every opportunity for this. There is no one else here but Christ. We have no one else to follow but Him; there is no one to fear.
My beloved, go to the holy graves today and share with your departed relatives and friends everything that is inside of you. Today at the proskomedia, the blood of Christ washed the particles for your health and the continuation of your earthly journey, as well as in memory of your loved ones who have gone to eternity...
Christ is risen!
Preached on 3.05.2022
