To Be With Him

On the day of my travel, I invited the brethren to a meeting in Church. A number of them accepted. There were feasts of Saints, among whom was the Virgin Martyr Saint Seraphima of Antioch. I am not a racist. However, I believe that we are responsible today, more than ever before, for ending alienation from some of the saints of Antioch for whom no feast service exists in our books (rather, sometimes they are not even mentioned)! We celebrated the Divine Liturgy. Then we went out into the hall. I had to say something. From the Gospel of the day, I drew Jesus’ word: “He who is not with Me is against Me”. The brethren know that the meaning of life is to be with Jesus. I know that their memory is alive. Nevertheless, I reminded them of the mistake of deeming it easy to categorize people into who is with Jesus and who is against Him, and of the mistake of thinking that whoever seems to be against Him will remain so forever. This made it easier for me to ask that we be more and more diligent in the service of all the brethren. He who is with Jesus does not despair of anyone, but rather spends his life serving so that people be with Him. There is nothing more beautiful than the meeting of brethren. “Until we meet again”.