Dear Brothers and Sisters

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. Two weeks ago we heard in the Gospel reading how we are called to serve God first and foremost. Last week the apostles showed us, by their example, that it is actually possible to leave worldly things, even our parents, our jobs and our property, etc, on a secondary plane and serve God first. The same theme, that is, service to God before all else, is expanded upon in today’s Gospel. We heard that it is not possible to serve two masters, that is, concurrently to serve God and to be captivated with everything worldly. One must admit that these words are quite stern and should fill us with fear because, in reality, each of us serves 'two different masters.' Who out of us does not worry about how he will live, what he will eat, in what he will dress, how his children are raised and educated, etc.? Who doesn't go to work every day so as to earn some kind of wage to provide for a quiet life for himself and his family? Each day our life is filled with such cares. Are we too tied to everything worldly? Have we not chosen for ourselves the wrong master?

Each of us must himself examine his heart and decide what is most important in our lives – our comfortable house, a calm lifestyle, a good education for our children, or Christ? St. John Chrysostom mentions that riches and a comfortable, calm life do not in themselves negate the possibility of a righteous and holy life. He notes that the Old Testament saints Abraham and Job possessed immense wealth, but were in no way slaves to their riches. What is important is our relationship with worldly comforts. It’s bad if we think only (or most often) about material things and the world constantly pulls us from God. This is serving Mammon. On the other hand, if we live comfortably, possess everything that is necessary for our physical well-being, but at the same time our thoughts, our prayers, our worries are more often than not directed towards God, it means we are serving Him. How good it would be for us to nurture in our souls such a passionless attitude towards everything worldly, so that when we must make a choice about who our Lord is, we easily answer: We are servants of Christ and everything earthly (my good house, new phone and fast car) is nothing!

Today, in many dioceses in Russia, the memory of the local saints are celebrated. Here in Canada we don't have such a feastday since, as of now, we do not have any officially-glorified Orthodox Canadian saints. Sts. Tikhon Patriarch of Moscow, John of San Francisco along with the newly-glorified Serbian saints Sebastian of San Francisco and Mardary of Libertyville all visited Canada. Although there are no officially-canonized Canadian saints, without a doubt there are many people who lived and laboured here, found favour with God and are now standing before His throne interceding for us. Chief among these is Archbishop Joasaph (Skorodumov), one of the great hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, a humble and meek monk and a loving pastor. There were many other priests, monks and lay people who lived righteously and contributed much to the strengthening of our Church in Canada. Each of us knows of such people.

Today let’s especially pray for the repose of these local righteous men and women and ask them to intercede for us, to multiply in us our love of God, and to strengthen our families and parish in peace.

priest Alexis