The parable of the good Samaritan answers the question who is my neighbor. It also is the most perfect description of the incarnation in the Scriptures if the incarnation resonates in our hearts, there is no need to ask who our neighbor is.

We must encounter *everything* in our lives spiritually, or else we may miss a life-changing moment. We discuss two moments in the life of the people of the Gadarenes and the Monk-Martyr James (+Nov 1,1520). Their reaction to them was completely different. The people of the Gadarenes had no idea that they turned down an opportunity to have the light live within them. After a chance conversation, which he thought about spiritually, James became a vessel of light.

St. Paul teaches us how to think about ourselves, which completely determines how we live. The pastoral letter referred to in the homily is at orthodox.net/announcements/pastoral-letter_2020-11-08.html

What made the saints who they are? It was the true Christian faith that they kept, and held on to, and had the power to transform their lives. Not so the “various and strange doctrines” that St. Paul warns us about — the corrupting “gospel” of the world, so prevalent in modern culture. Know your faith so you can be on guard against the lies of this world.

Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain because He arranged everything toward this purpose. We do not know her name or the name of her son. We discuss this and bring in the book called The Bronze Bow which also depicts Jesus visiting an unknown person and completely changing their life. Although the book is fiction, it depicts something is happening every day for everyone. We are significant! If we understand this in the Christian way, not the way of the world, we will live with patience, without confusion, in a victorious and transcendent way.

Everyone knows the “Golden rule,” but very few understand the exact why we should follow it. As soon as the Lord gives this instruction, He explains the reason why. If we understand this reason is that we are children of the Highest and therefore it is absolutely and exclusively our nature to be merciful as our Father is merciful, we are not far from the kingdom of God, in fact, so very close that we are entering it, on the very threshold.

What is the key to having a fulfilled, happy life? Most people in the world don’t know. Most Christians in the world don’t know. St. Paul knows, and he explains it this portion of his epistle to the Corinthians. When we act according to who we are, we are happy. Therefore, person must know himself, and he will know himself if God abides in him. God made man in a specific way for a specific purpose. St. Paul talks about every man living according as the purpose of in his heart, and that is indeed the reason why we sow bountifully and reap bountifully, and abound in every good work. An exegesis of this passage from Corinthians makes it very clear why we do what we do and how beautiful it is.

On the Sunday after the Exaltation of the Cross the Gospel includes the Lord's invitation, ”Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” In order to make a voluntary decision to deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Jesus, we must know enough about life, and what is good and what is bad in order to make an informed decision. This knowledge must include understanding what is to save one’s life and what it is to lose it, and the answers to the questions: ”For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Near the end of the sermon, there was the patter of little feet and the distraction of the children caused a very important conversation about the importance of children in the church, and the admonition that all Christians in the church must consider all children to be their responsibility and their joy, and the absolute necessity of praying for one another.

On the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we read the words of Jesus Christ, which predicted His death on the cross: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” We talk about how Jesus on the cross draws all men to Himself. The answer is very simple, and is the open “secret” to victorious living and understanding the power of the cross and the way of the cross.

The celebration of the Nativity of the Theotokos is just before the Exaltation of the Cross, and these two feasts at the beginning of the liturgical year are two different kinds of beginnings. We also explain the Troparion and the Kontakion for the feast, why we say “Most Holy Theotokos save us," why we venerate the Theotokos so highly, and that we always think of the Theotokos in the context of her great ministry to humankind, being the birthgiver of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.