Category: Faith

Homily, November 19, 2023

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

Homily

November 19, 2023

Travel lightly, my soul, through this world.

Carry only what’s truly needed, there’s no need to carry more, and what weighs you down only burdens the journey.

Travel lightly, my soul through this world.

Each thing you own will, in time, own you in return and precious moments will be spent being the servant of what you think you need instead of what you must truly possess.

Travel lightly, my soul, through this world.

How many have pierced themselves through with sorrows, working day and night for that which cannot, and will not, endure. Finding this to be true how great will be the remorse of one who’s given everything for nothing, the gain of the world for the loss of the eternal.

Travel lightly, my soul, through this world.

The goods of these days, at best, are a shadow of that time which is to come. Yet even that good can be twisted, an end to itself. Such things are like a well with water enough for only a day, empty when the next morning comes and thirst returns.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

Those who can give you what your temporary wishes crave also have power over you. They can make you work when you should rest. They can send you on a mad chase even as the heavenly path beckons. They hold out their hands to you but, far from generosity, it is the bait on a hook. They will make gods of themselves and you their worshippers and vassals. Promising happiness with a few keystrokes, the TV is their evangelist and the sweat of your brow the penance that always and inevitably manifests itself.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

You say you’ll build bigger and better and more to hold that which could never ultimately belong to you and yet, in death, everything will disappear, given to others or back to the Earth. Even your body will return to the elements from which it came, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

Everything here can be taken away because the powerful feed on the weak, the rich on the poor, the healthy on the sick, and the mad on the sane. Yet if there’s no excess to take, no desires to compromise, there is little to fear from their presumption of power. A sparrow, trusting God for its sustenance, is seldom the prey of eagles.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

There’s a freedom in simplicity and peace in becoming uncomplicated. The beauty that remains in this world, despite our sin, is seldom appreciated by those too busy trying to shelter their hoard. Too late we see beauty from our cubicle, grace in endless hours of work.  What does it matter if we have a beautiful house full of cars and furniture but empty of love? We were designed to be so much more than consumers destined to spend life only buying, selling, and then dying. Mindless accumulation is the death of all that’s most properly human.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

God knows your needs, food, clothing, shelter, sustenance of body and soul. In both your trust of this and due diligence the primal anxieties of our time will start to fade away. Anxiety is the marker of a godless age and how anxious we are in these days. The holiest of us, the Saints, walked gently on the Earth because they gave their cares to God, acted in that understanding, and showed us the path of contentment even in the valley of the shadow of death.  The soul bound to this earth alone becomes unsettled but the on that lives in the light of eternity knows rest.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world.

The chains with which you may have bound yourself are unnatural and unnecessary. You were designed to be transfigured, to shine with God’s grace, to live as immortal in the midst of mortality and timelessness in the middle of history. If your treasure is where your heart is, place your heart in God and everything given to you will be yours forever, everything you share will be held securely beyond the reach of moth and rust, and you’ll find the authentic wealth that even those with money may have yet to discover.

Travel lightly my soul, through this world and you will find your rest.

The Truth Is…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

most of us, almost all of us, will eventually be forgotten.

We’re born into a moment of history in a place and a time. Things happen to us and we change things ourselves in ways large, sometimes, but mostly small and then, when our time is done we exit. We go one way and the rest of the world another. The dead rest and fade away, even the tombstones will one day crumble to dust, and the living keep on living until their turn comes.

For a while we’ll be remembered and missed. But as the years march on the people who recall us will themselves be recalled and each generation that fades away dilutes the recollections. A fortunate few will leave something behind but most will not and all of us will become anonymous as time does it’s inevitable work. Even the Beatles will one day be forgotten.

We humans know this somewhere inside, in a place we don’t often visit and basically never want others to see. It makes us afraid, sometimes, to think of being extinguished or sorrowful in the recognition of our, sooner than we can imagine, disappearance. Indeed we rage against the dying of the light.

It would overwhelm us, it does overwhelm us, except for the possibility of Pascha, of something more, of resurrection. One can choose, I suppose, to be outrageous, to be affluent, to be infamous, to embrace celebrity even at the cost of our soul for the sake of being remembered, of being something more. Yet there may be more.

What if our memory, everything we will ever be, could be placed not in the human hands but God’s? What if our treasure, everything we could accomplish, could be stored away in a place currently invisible but most certainly real? What if this is just a beginning, this life, and not the sum total of everything there is? What if Pascha, resurrection, was not just an event of the past or a hope for the future but a way of life where existence is not measured in months and years but in eons and stages and everything we are, if its given to God, remains in His memory forever?

Tonight it will be Pascha again. Easter. For those who understand the Sun will rise at midnight and for those willing to grasp it comes the truth that there’s so much more, so very much more indeed.

Adios Facebook!

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I’m weary of the noise, weary of the half baked conspiracies, weary of the anger, and thinking about how much of my life was wasted has wearied me even further. It’s time for some detox, time for pure water from the Scriptures and the Saints to wash over and through me. Time for rest. Time to do good things. Time to exchange meaninglessness for grace.

Adios Facebook!

I often ponder…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

God’s unfathomable love for such a beligerent species such as we are.

How can God, knowing full well what we have done, to His creation, to each other, to ourselves, and knowing not just what is seen but even the darkest recesses of what is inside of us, love?

Who would, who could, blame God from erasing existence as we know and starting again in the hopes of something, anything, better? Who could judge God for saying “This experiment has failed it is now time for another?”

Yet God has mercy, even on those who hate Him to His face, those who would destroy, those who would deliberately promote evil on the Earth, and me when I am at my worst.

Unimaginable, yet real. Beyond understanding, yet available to any truly seeking heart.

Against the Darkness…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

I wish things were different. I wish the world I live in was different, less noisy, less angry, less obsessed. For now, though, this doesn’t seem to be its path.

Anger won’t help either. What would my anger do to help things become less angry?

There are times, as well, when I simply want to be left alone. And as much as a safe hiding place would be nice eventually I would be forced to come out of my bunker if, for no other reason, to get coffee. People aren’t my problem anyway.

I think the only thing to survive these days is to fill yourself with light. Go to church. Read the Scriptures. Bathe, frequently, in any holy waters you can find. Pray and absorb every small bit of God and goodness to fill the empty places and then live as much like heaven as possible.

Do that and the worst that can happen is joy and the best is that you join the Saints.