Delivered from Affliction - Fr. Paul - January 31, 2021

Failure, worry and illness are but a few of the afflictions we experience in our contemporary lives and all of them have a profound influence in engendering within us a spiritual distress. Father Paul begins his sermon today by quoting Psalm 34:19, which says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all.” The how and why we are delivered are the topics of this sermon given today on the Sunday of Zacchaues. The Gospel lesson comes to us from Luke 19:1-10 and communicates to us that which we must do to overcome life’s troubles. Zacchaeus was a wealthy tax collector of short stature whose desire to see Jesus led him to climb into a sycamore tree hoping to catch a glimpse of Jesus as walked along the road. A desire to see Jesus and strengthen our relationship with Him through Christian disciplines is the first step in deliverance from afflictions. And like Zacchaeus we must repent of our sins and have a change of mind and heart, about those things that keep us from a relationship with God. Saint Silouan the Athonite tells us if we want to know God then we must have faith, observe His commandments and repent of our sins.