A Word for the 20th Sunday After Pentecost

Today there was read the Gospel of Luke on the Lord’s raising of the only son of the widow of the city of Nain, who, in her great sorrow, wept bitterly over her loss. The Lover of mankind «had compassion on her, and told her: do not weep. Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He declared: young man, I say to you, arise. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying: a great prophet has risen up among us; and God has visited His people» (Lk 7:11-16). Here today’s Gospel ends. A short reading, but how much instruction, how much edification is in it! What a wondrous, striking, and heartening account! The young man rose from the dead at the word of the Giver of life, and was restored, alive, to his mother, who had wept so bitterly, and who unexpectedly received back her priceless treasure, the support of her old age, the light and joy of her eyes. What divine power, overcoming death, which had held mankind so firmly in its fearsome bonds for so many thousands of years! What divine mercy, restoring to a mother’s love her tenderly loved child! This miracle of the raising of the young man, my brothers, was worked as an image of the future resurrection of all the dead, and to confirm our faith and our expectation of the general resurrection.

Let us, then, remember and rejoice that by Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, death has been overcome, changed into sleep, and resurrection has been granted to all of us, which will surely follow at the time appointed by God. But, sons of the resurrection, remembering our own future resurrection, let us take unfailing care that we may all rise again to joy and eternal life, and not to shame and everlasting contempt, as the Prophet Daniel says; that at our resurrection we may be counted worthy to stand at the Lord’s right hand, and not at His left, and to hear not a fearsome voice, sending us into the eternal fire, but a voice calling us to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Let us strive, according to our own strength, to imitate the mercy of our own Lord, to comfort the sorrowful in whatever way and by whatever means we can, to visit orphans and widows, especially the poor and helpless, to help the poor, to ease the hard state of the unfortunate, for almsgiving, according to Scripture, delivers from death and cleanses every sin. Let us recognize that each of us has his own dead person—namely, his own soul, dead through countless sins, within a living body—just as the Lord, in one place, called certain people dead, though they were alive in body, saying to a certain man who wished to follow Christ, but first to bury his father: «let the dead bury their own dead» (Mt 8:22), but you go and preach the kingdom of God—or as the Lord likewise says to a certain ruler of a church: «you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead» (Apok 3:1).

Yes, every sinner has a dead soul, which may perish forever, without ceasing to exist, but remaining without end in fearsome torment. This dead soul of the sinner, in this present life, only Jesus Christ can raise—through faith and heartfelt repentance. And this great miracle—the raising of the souls of sinners—the Lord works often; sometimes, within a single day, even a single hour, He calls back from death to life this same soul, which is dying through its own sins and passions, and rising again through sincere repentance. Oh, how many great miracles the Lord works every day in the souls of believing and repentant sinners—so many that, because of their sheer number, these miracles sometimes seem like very ordinary inward occurrences! O abyss of God’s mercy! O inexhaustible sea of the wonders of God’s goodness and long-suffering! Glory to You, O Lord Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, who take away our sins, who destroy the death of our soul and grant it life by Your ineffable goodness! But, sinners, let us not abuse God’s mercy, adding sins to sins, growing stagnant in the same sins for many years, but let us hasten to bring sincere, unwavering repentance; let us, by the grace of God, overcome our own evil inclinations and habits, and bring to the Lord fruits worthy of repentance.

Behold, He waits so long a time from us for good fruit; let us hasten to repentance, I say, lest He cut us down like a fruitless fig tree and cast us into the unquenchable fire. Amen.