In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God is one. Amen.

The readings today from the eighth chapter of the Gospel of Mark and the second chapter from the Letter to the Galatians fit together well. Together these two readings from the New Testament offer us a challenging approach as to how we can best live our lives.

St Mark cites the words of Christ that if we wish to follow Our Lord, then we must deny ourselves and take up the crosses in our own lives and follow Him. St Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, who lived in the fifth century asked in his Sermon 159, “What does this mean? ‘Take up a cross’?” He answers his question very simply and clearly, and I quote: “It means [if we] will bear with whatever is troublesome [in our own lives], in this very act [we] will be following [Christ],” concluded St Caesarius. Now, children, teenagers, adults and older people like me, think about “whatever is troublesome” in your life. Don’t tell your neighbour, just tell yourself honestly and silently what is troublesome in your life. Children, you might find it helpful to tell your parents what you are finding troublesome in your life, because if you pretend nothing at all is troublesome in your life, it will be hard to grow stronger. We all face challenges; and when we admit we have challenges in our lives and face them openly, we grow stronger.

My experience is that we grow up in three ways. First, in the world and in our relationships with other people. Second, within ourselves, as we understand better and better what we like and dislike, what we are good at and what gives us problems. Third, in our awareness of the presence of God in each of our lives. Sometimes we grow up slowly; at other times we have growth spurts and sudden insights into own abilities, into other people and into God’s will for each of our lives. One member of our congregation said to me on New Year’s Eve, “Tomorrow, I can say that next year I will be 90!” We can all now pretend it’s New Year’s Eve, December 31st.  I can start by saying, “Tomorrow, I can say, ‘Next year I will be 82.’” I tried that with seven of my grandchildren; and they immediately shouted out their ages, two years older than they were. We can all do that. Children and teenagers, you can shout. Adults, you can be a bit quieter, if you wish. On the count of three, let’s say, “Tomorrow, I will be—and add two years to your life.” 1-2-3. “Tomorrow I will be xx.”

Right! Now, we are all growing up really fast, however old or young we might be today. We do have situations and personal faults and people that are troublesome in our lives—whatever our age. Those troubles will not go away unless we face them honestly with prayer. If we choose to live on paths filled with secrecy and the deception of others and especially the deception of ourselves and our limited abilities, we will destroy any possibility of drawing closer to Christ and serving Him and His Church and serving those in need. We will also fail to grow up into mature adults.

The word “deception” comes from a Latin word meaning “to deceive,” that is, “to mislead or to lie to someone.” To keep our problems secret from ourselves leads to those problems staying with us for the rest of our lives. That will cause a lot of trouble, both for ourselves and for others. To live in denial is to refuse to face an emotion or an idea or a truth that is especially painful and hard to come to terms with. Not facing our problems and living a life of denial—as can happen at times to any of us—means quite simply that we will not be able to find God’s will in our own lives. Why? Because we would be trying to live out what we will, what we want. We would be selfishly puffing ourselves up trying to impress others, when we are simply being selfish.  At times, we all have problems. So how can we best face those problems?

St Caesarius of Arles offers some helpful advice, and I quote: “When the Lord tells us in [this] Gospel [of St Mark] that anyone who wants to be His follower must renounce himself [that is, give up his own wishes and worldly desires] the [command from the Lord] seems harsh [because] we [might] think [Christ] is imposing a burden on us [that is, something that is heavy and hard to bear]. But [such] an order,” continues St Caesarius, “is no burden when it is given by [someone] who helps in carrying it out. To what place are we to follow Christ,” asks St Caesarius, but to “where He has already gone? We know that He has risen and ascended into heaven; there, then, we must follow Him. By ourselves, we can do nothing, but we have Christ’s promise…. [Anyone] who claims to [live] with Christ ought to walk as He walked. Would you follow Christ?” asks St Caesarius, “Then be humble as He was humble. Do not [reject] His lowliness if you want to reach His [heights]. Human sin made the road rough, [but] Christ’s resurrection levelled [that road]. By passing over [that road] Himself He [changed] the narrowest [of] tracks into a royal highway. Two feet are needed to run along this highway; they are humility and charity. Everyone wants to get to the top—well, the first step to take is humility…. Begin with [that] first step, humility, and you will already be climbing,” concluded St Caesarius. I would add that the word, “humility,” comes from the Latin word humus, meaning “the ground.” What humility does is grounds us in the Lord, and not in ourselves—in the will of God, not in our own wills.

In the other reading today, from the Letter to the Galatians, St Paul wrote one sentence which summed up his life; and I quote: “I have been crucified with Christ; [so] it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” St John Chrysostom points out what an amazing claim St Paul is making. St John Chrysostom asks, and I quote, “What are you doing Paul, making … your own and claiming for yourself what was done on behalf of the whole world? For [Paul] says not ‘who loved us’ but ‘who loved me.’” St John Chrysostom continues, “In just this way did the prophets [of the Old Testament] often make the universal God their own, [as in the words of Psalm 62 (63).1] ‘My God, my God, I [call out to] You.’ Paul shows,” continues St John Chrysostom, “that each of us ought to [offer] as much thanks to Christ as though Christ had come to [each of us] alone. For God would not have withheld this gift [of love] even from one person. {Christ] has the same love for every [person] as for the whole world,” concluded St John Chrysostom.

So there we are. Two Orthodox saints from the fifth and sixth centuries, St Caesarius of Arles and St John Chrysostom, are showing us how we can live with Christ today and tomorrow and for the rest of our lives on earth. It really is possible for each of us to forget about ourselves and our whims, our wishes, even our hopes. Instead, we can trust Christ alone. We can each learn to trust Christ and understand that he died and was resurrected and ascended for each of us—old or young, priest or lay person, female or male. Christ died for you and for me. Yes, all of us face different problems at different times in our lives, BUT we can face those problems honestly in prayer. Then we will each be resurrected with Christ in our lives on earth and ascend with Him to heaven when we die.

So be it, as we ascribe as is justly due, all might, majesty, dominion, power and praise to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, always now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.