I Sunday after Pentecost All Saints

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew Apostles and Evangelist (Mt 10:32-33, 37-38; 19:27-30)

“Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.

And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.

Then Peter answered and said to Him, "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore, what shall we have?"

So, Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last first”.

Reflection

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to you all peace and blessing!

On this first Sunday after Pentecost, the Holy Church of Christ invites us to

reflect several passages from the Gospel of Matthew.

The Lord begins his speech by promising us that, if we recognize him before men, he will recognize us before the heavenly Father. This implies that we must witness to our faith without fear, without hiding or denying it, but on the contrary, confess it with courage and conviction.

Being a disciple of Jesus requires a lot of courage and determination and it is not easy at all. We are often tempted to hide our faith for fear of the judgment or derision of others. But Jesus exhorts us not to deny him before men. Our witness of faith can have a profound impact on the lives of others. When we are willing to recognize Jesus as Lord, even in the most difficult circumstances, we can be an example for those who observe us so that they may be converted.

However, Jesus also warns us of the consequences of denying or denying our faith before men. If we choose to hide our Christian identity out of fear of the consequences, he will do the same to us before God the Father.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we are called to be strong and courageous in our faith and without fear of confessing Jesus as our Lord in the world. May our life reflect our faith, and may our witness be authentic and transforming.

Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus addresses to us profound and binding words about our love and dedication to him. He says, "He who loves father or mother more than I is not worthy of me; he who loves son or daughter more than I is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follows me is not worthy of me."

These words of Jesus, which may seem harsh at first glance, are a reminder of the absolute priority that we should give to our love and our commitment to him. Faith in Christ requires total love and complete dedication. He is not saying that we should stop loving our families or caring for them, but he is highlighting the fact that love for Him must come before any other earthly bond.

He invites us to put his love and teaching first, for only in him do we find true life and eternity.

Moreover, Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow him. This image of the cross represents the commitment and willingness to joyfully carry the challenges and sacrifices that accompany the journey of discipleship. Taking up our cross means embracing our duty to bear witness to our faith, even when it involves personal costs or persecution.

Beloved, do we love God above all else? Are we willing to carry the cross and follow Christ, even when it requires sacrifice?

But what does this choice of following Christ lead to?

Peter, in a sincere way, turns to Jesus asking him what will happen to those who have left everything to follow him. Jesus' response is a promise of reward and glory in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus promises that those who have left everything for his name will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. This is an extraordinary perspective: God will not only abundantly reward those who are willing to sacrifice everything for Him but will also grant them eternal joy and a sharing of His glory.

However, Jesus also adds a perspective of the reversal of human hierarchies where in the Kingdom of God, the values of the world are reversed and those who put themselves at the service of others are considered great in the eyes of God.

Dear brothers and sisters, this promise of Jesus is an encouragement for us today. It impels us to reflect on the priority we give to God in our lives and on our willingness to put him first above everything else. It also invites us to be ready to serve others with love and humility, as Jesus taught us. Just as all the Saints of God whose solemnity is celebrated today have done.

While for the Latins celebrate the feast of All Saints on 1 November, for the Church of God, which is Orthodox, is linked to the mobile cycle of Easter, because it is intimately linked to the feast of Pentecost: All Saints' Day is always the first Sunday after the feast of the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The saints are, after all, those who knew how to live devoutly and spiritually according to the commandments of God, are those who sacrificed themselves for Christ, those who were killed for God, those who abandoned everything to follow the Lord, those who taught and protected the Straight Way against the tumultuous waters of the various heresies in the world. They themselves are, practically, the fruits of the Spirit himself.

Immense are the possibilities to become operators of the Vineyard and to serve the Lord in the most useful and fruitful way for the time and the place where God calls us to live.

Beloved brothers, the Saints throughout their lives have professed the same Christ One and Triune that we all proclaim in the recitation of the Symbol of our faith to every divine liturgy. Therefore, today the Church commemorates the First Ecumenical Council.

Commonly known also as the Council of Nicaea, which took place in 325 A.D. in Nicaea, in present-day Turkey, is one of the seven councils. The council was convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I with the aim of resolving the Arian controversy that threatened the unity of the Church.

The main issue addressed during the Council of Nicaea concerned the doctrine of the identity of Jesus Christ to combat the Arian heresy.

According to Arius, Jesus Christ was considered a divine creature, created by the Father before time, but not consubstantial to the Father. In other words, Arius argued that Jesus was of a substance different from that of the Father, and therefore inferior to Him. This Arian doctrine undermined faith in the Trinity and the full divinity of Christ.

During the council, the bishops met to discuss and define the Orthodox faith regarding the nature of Christ. There were about 300 bishops, mainly from the Eastern Roman Empire. The council rejected the Arian doctrines and, under the leadership of Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria, adopted the Nicene Creed, which affirmed the consubstantiality of Christ with the Father.

The Nicene Creed emphasizes that Jesus Christ is "true God from true God, true light from true light, generated, not created, consubstantial to the Father". For this reason, it represents one of the main pillars of the Christian faith.

I would like to share with you an event that happened a few months ago:

I work in a psychiatric and rehabilitation community, and together with some of my colleagues, after working, we went for a beer in the bar in the country where I live.

Between one conversation and another we came to talk about interreligious meetings.

I said: "We Christians cannot pray together with people who profess different religious beliefs for peace because true Peace is only and exclusively Jesus Christ. It is in him that Love and Mercy have embraced!

He is the prince of peace and that is why prayers for peace are recited throughout the advent period."

At this point, the owner of the restaurant of Moroccan origin, interfered in our conversation saying, "God is only one".

After I finished drinking my beer, I said, "It’s actually Triune! Here you, see? It is not possible to have an ecumenical meeting with other religions with the excuse 'so much we pray the same God'. This is a crazy nonsense!".

And when I spoke to the holder, I said, "You believe that Jesus is only a prophet, but he is not. He is the Son God, our Lord, and he is the second person of the Most Holy Trinity!"

Hearing these words, he became so annoyed that he forced us to leave.

Ah, how much the truth hurts for those who are stubborn and hard to care.

When I was a teenager, I remember that during the holidays or the various Sunday lunches my father used to put a little red wine in my glass and then added water.

This is what happens to our faith when we approach reckless practices such as various interreligious encounters.

It, just like the wine inside the glass, loses all its value.

We, as true disciples of Christ, have the duty to ensure that the wine (the true Faith handed down to us by the Apostles and their successors) remains wine without someone extending it with water and losing all its qualities.

Beloved, all faiths must be respected because we all grow differently and that the difference varies in culture, race, and creed, but when it comes to common ground (faith in the divine) we need to understand that there are contradictions and if the divine is eternal, then there can be no contradictions.

It is a good and just thing to be peaceful, loving, and compassionate to everyone, but unfortunately, on our way we crossroads with no way out. And it is precisely these paths that stop when, speaking of religion, the different faiths contract with each other.

Just like Islam: Muslims believe that Christ is only and exclusively a prophet and not the Son of God; however, they believe that Jesus Christ will come at the end of time to judge the world. But in this way, they contradict themselves because in doing so they profess that Jesus is God. And only God can judge! So, this whole story that Jesus is just a prophet is all a joke!

And it is precisely in this contradictory climate, since we who are in the Truth, cannot gather and pray together with believers of different religions, but we can instead pray for each other and vice versa!

Beloved brothers and sisters of God, let us all pray today, with one heart, that the Holy Spirit may give us the strength and courage to bear witness to our faith at every moment and in every situation. Let us ask God to give us a burning heart to proclaim the Gospel and to give us the grace to recognize Jesus as our Saviour before the whole world.

May the words of Jesus in the Gospel passage that we have heard urge us to live an authentic, courageous, and uncompromising faith.

May God bless us and sustain us in our journey as disciples of Christ and bless us now and always.

Archdeacon Michele Alberto Del Duca.