Homily Notes

Today after church Fr. Savvas, one of Geronda Ephraim's spiritual children who is a monastic missionary, came and gave a beautiful homily.

He spoke so many words of wisdom that I am hoping to post all of them at once but there were a few things I wanted to make sure I shared with you tonight.

Once upon a time, in a village far away, there lived a cat. The people of the village loved the cat very much and decided to carry her to the Royal City and make her an empress. So they all picked flowers and dressed in their best garments and gathered in the town square. They placed the cat upon a beautiful carpet and the procession to the Royal City began. The cat was so excited! She couldn't believe she was going to live in a real castle and be a real empress!

On the way to the Royal City, the procession of people cut through a forest. Inside the forest were many mice. Once the cat saw the mice she quickly forgot about reaching the Royal City and jumped off the carpet and began to chase the mice. Soon she became lost and realized what she had done but it was too late. In her despair, the cat could not find the path again and so she hid herself in the forest until she died.

In this same manner, Christ calls us to be saints in His Kingdom. We begin our journey and before we know it we find ourselves distracted by all the temporary pleasures of this world. We fall off the path in pursuit of those pleasures and before we know it we are lost as well. However, let us not despair like the cat. Let us return to the path, repent of our sins and be careful not to stray again so that we may enter His Kingdom.

Another thing he said that really stood out in my mind was that "This lifetime is a teardrop in the ocean compared to eternity." Something about the way he said that and the image it created in my mind, really touched my soul.

He also quoted a very well known theologian from Greece, Demetrios Panagopoulos of blessed memory, who once said,

"The devil eventually wants to kill all people who sin, to have them die without repenting. But God will not surrender this person when there is someone who is praying for them."