Homily One on the Second Day of Pentecost
By St. Justin Popovich
(Delivered in 1965 at the Ćelije Monastery)
By St. Justin Popovich
(Delivered in 1965 at the Ćelije Monastery)
Behold the treasury of all blessings, and the treasury of all divine and heavenly powers, and of that Kingdom of God upon earth. For the Church of Christ on earth is indeed the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God for me and for you; and the King ought to reign both in my soul and in yours. If the Lord Christ and His Holy Spirit reign within us, then neither sin nor evil nor the devil will reign. Then we shall be able to overcome everything that separates us from God and the Lord, everything that separates us from Eternal Life, Eternal Truth, and Eternal Righteousness.
The Church of Christ in this world is full of angels, full of Eternal Truth, the Eternal Righteousness of God, and the Eternal Life of God. How does she look upon the sinner? Just as the Lord said in the Holy Gospel: she looks upon the sinner as upon a sick man, and upon sin as our disease, the most terrible and dreadful disease. Yet nothing is easier than conquering sin; nothing is easier than being healed of this most terrible illness. How? Through the Holy Spirit and the Lord Christ.
You hear in today's Holy Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.”¹ If he does not listen — says the Holy Apostle² — then when your brother is sinking into sin, when he remains in sin, it is as though he is dying; then he ceases to be your brother, a brother in Christ. Remember what the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever does My will, the will of God, he is My brother, and My sister, and My mother.”³ By fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, by fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel, behold what honor and dignity are ours — we become brothers of Christ.
This is already a reason for a little fear in you and me: strive, gently and meekly and with understanding, to save your brother from sin and win back your immortal brother. If he does not listen to you, call one or two others, for the testimony of two witnesses. The Church is the supreme judge in this world. If he does not listen even to the Church, says the Savior, then let him be to you as a heathen.⁴ Then leave him in God's hands. He does not listen to the Church — the Church, which alone is all-wise, alone all-sinless, the only all-righteous judge, the all-Christlike judge. If he does not listen to the Church, let him be to you as a heathen.
Why should one listen to the Church? Because within the Church is the Holy Trinity, and the whole Church is the Truth of God, the whole Church is the Life of God, the whole Church is filled with Divine Eternity, Divine Righteousness, and Divine Truth. Therefore she is the infallible judge. The Holy Spirit — behold, He is the soul of the Church, He is the conscience of the Church, He is the mind of the Church, He is the understanding of the Church. Therefore the Church stands in this world as the most important and infallible judge. A judge, yes — but before that, a mother, a physician, and a hospital. She heals every sickness, every sin; she heals everything mortal; she heals death itself. In the Church there is even a remedy against death: Holy Communion, Holy Baptism — these are remedies against death. By being baptized into the Lord Christ and receiving Holy Communion, you become immortal; you are healed of everything mortal and of every death.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, everything that comes from the Church and everything that is in the Church immortalizes man. That means: it casts out from him everything that is mortal, sinful, transient, and demonic. The Holy Spirit, who on this day founded the Church of Christ and became her soul, united into one body all human beings, all angels and men. May the Holy Spirit also be for us sinners our Guide and Leader through the Gospel of the Lord Christ. May He teach us everything that belongs to Christ. May He grant us strength — spiritual strength — to fulfill the commandments of the Savior in this world; to acquire the holy virtues; to live according to evangelical faith; to live in evangelical love; to live in evangelical prayer; to live in evangelical mercy, meekness, humility, righteousness, and truth — in everything that is of the Gospel.
Then our life in this world will become a song and a hymn to the Lord Christ, and a thanksgiving that He created us as human beings, that He Himself became Man, and that the whole Holy Trinity descended into the earthly world and dwells in the Church of the Lord.
May the Good Lord help each one of us every day through His Holy Spirit, leading us from virtue to virtue, from spiritual struggle to spiritual struggle, and directing us toward the heavenly world, toward the Kingdom of Heaven. For while we are on earth, while we are in the body, living in the Church of Christ, we are in fact living in the Kingdom of God. We possess everything necessary to cast away every sin and embrace every virtue. We know where the holy virtues lead: they lead to Eternal Life, to the Kingdom of Heaven. But our sins lead us into the dark, black, demonic world.
May the Good Lord always comfort us in all our afflictions, in every carrying of our cross. For our life on earth is the bearing of the cross, suffering for the righteousness of Christ in this world. Yet our heart is always full of joy — full of joy because the Cross leads to the Resurrection, to the Ascension, and to Eternal Life, through Eternal Truth in the Kingdom of Heaven. Amen.
Notes:
1. Matthew 18:15
2. Matthew 18:16
3. Luke 8:21
4. Matthew 18:16–17
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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