This Sunday of All Saints of North America shines especially bright for us because we rejoice in a new saint in the church. Olga of Kwethluk, Alaska. She was glorified this past week in her home village of Kwethluk with a multitude gathering, crammed in to this tiny little church in a very small and remote village where she had led the choir all her life.

We hear in the gospel today the Lord's call to a small group of fishermen, that he would make them fishers of men. And to hear those words, it rings with a particular emphasis when we think about St Olga living in a village whose whole livelihood is hunting and fishing. To realize what it is that our Lord is speaking about—you know, we like to think metaphorically: “isn't that nice?” Or we think about fishing like, “that's something I love to do when the weather's nice, take that Saturday afternoon and go fishing. I like fish…” But to actually have that as your dependence, as how you feed your family, and to take that image and take that dependency, how you feed people—and Jesus is saying this is what I'm going to do for you, for the whole world. That you are going to take care of all my people, and feed all my people.

And so to take this to how St Olga herself lived: she took that responsibility herself to care for those entrusted to her. This priest wife, this village teacher, mother of thirteen children. We all wonder about our own families, whether any of us can manage with any number of children whatsoever. Caring for thirteen is impressive and perhaps something of a challenge to us, that perhaps we can set our sights, our ambitions a little higher in terms of what is worth doing for the sake of others. And all this she did quietly, humbly, patiently teaching. Enduring suffering for the sake of others. So that 50 years after her death she is still remembered with awe and with love by so many whose lives she touched.

Brothers and sisters, many of us, perhaps all of us are worried about the state of the world. About what's going on right around us, in our own neighborhoods, in our own families, in our country, and in places far around the world. We can see in the news today that things are not well with the world in so many ways. And we may wonder, how do we make things better? What are we supposed to do? What is anyone supposed to do? What difference of ideology, of politics, of program, of ordering the world? What are we supposed to do to marshal the resources, to make the changes, to impose the values, that will make things better, make things right? And God gives us a different answer. He sets for us a different agenda. One that in many ways is not what we find satisfying. When we think about what changes the world we think about might, power, influence, fame, wealth, strength. The things that are noticeable, that excite people and drive them and make them do things. And Jesus the Son of God comes to us setting aside all his glory. Taking the form of a slave, to serve us. To give us what it is that we need. To work salvation in us with great power—not as the world understands power. And Jesus—as we see here in the gospel—as God has always done, Jesus seeks out those who are easily overlooked, easily dismissed. Fishermen, tax collectors, women of no particular importance, and so on. These are exactly the ones that he delights to raise up as his champions, his leaders in the Church that he establishes, and that's his answer. You want to know what's going to change the world? It's the Church. Sorry, there’s no other cavalry coming to do it. This is what God established, to bring life. To bring salvation. To bring hope.

He speaks about the kingdom of God like yeast that is worked through the dough. It's hidden. You can't see it anywhere, and yet you know its presence because what before was lifeless flour now rises up and becomes something that can feed a family. And so it is with the Church that he has established and the people in it whom he has chosen, his saints. And the pattern that he sets for us to follow so that we can actually be yeast to make the dough rise. So that we can be those who can share food for the world—good things that can nourish because we ourselves receive them. We are given a pattern to follow, the one that Jesus himself lives out and which he lays out for us very clearly. Something we hear all the time—maybe again we hear it so many times that it just kind of blends into the background, we don't think that much about it, but we heard it twice already today—the beatitudes. This way of blessedness for you to follow. For you to follow so that you may be blessed and that you may be a blessing for others around you.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who long only for the riches of the kingdom of God, for those good things that come from above. Blessed are those who mourn, those who know in the bottom of their hearts that this world is broken and needs healing that can only come from God. Blessed are the meek, those who refuse to return evil for evil, trusting in God's goodness, his righteousness, his power to work all things for good for those who love God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are not satisfied with the way of the world as it is right now. Who pursue good for its own sake, not because they get something out of it, not because they're expecting someone else to do good first, but because it's worth doing. Blessed are the merciful: receiving and sharing mercy that we have already received from the merciful God. Blessed are the pure in heart, those who do not set themselves according to the standards of this fallen and darkened world, but seek to be pure because our God is pure, that he is holy, that he is light and in him is no darkness at all. And so we allow ourselves to be cleaned up, to be made sparkling and bright so that we can see clearly the light shining upon us, and through us others might be able to see God as well. Blessed are the peacemakers, those who do not take sides, one against another. Who do not promote enmity and division and hatred, but pursue diligently with great hope and persistence, reconciliation, forgiveness, understanding, peace. These are the ones that can be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ, because, brothers and sisters, this is how we share in the cross of the Lord and its power—and its power! Because you see, this world knows how to make changes. The way it knows how is through tyranny. Through manipulation. Through force and abuse and manipulation and lies, deception... persecution. It’s satisfied when it overcomes resistance. But Christ has shown us that we do not need to fear this, that he has endured all things already for our sake. He was trampled down and stands upright—more than this, he now has taken up that glory that he set aside and sits at the right hand of the Father still bearing the marks of the cross upon the body that is risen from the dead. There is no power on this earth that can separate us from the love of God. And if we stand fast in faith and in hope and in love, persecution does not harm us but rather strengthens the witness of the gospel to show to others this other way. This way of faith, of hope, of love that the world does not understand and which is exactly what changes the world, what makes it new.

Brothers and sisters, we've been given all these great witnesses here in our own land. We don't have to look far away, we don't have to look long ago to find examples. We can look to St Herman, his icon, his shrine, his relics, right here. We can look to the life of the missionary saint, bishop Raphael. To St. John of Shanghai in San Francisco, a devoted archpastor who cared for his flock in a time of terror and confusion and brought them to safety. We can think of St Innocent, a brilliant and devoted, courageous and determined pastor of Christ, witnessing to the gospel in a new land, in a new time. We can think of Saint Tikhon, the confessor, the patriarch of Moscow who set a way for us to follow here in America, for us to witness faithfully to the gospel right here, and then went from there to witness to the gospel in the face of one of the greatest tyrannies that the world has ever known: the Soviet yoke in Russia. And we can look to this quiet woman St Olga of Kwethluk, Alaska, who shows us that anyone, anyone has the capacity to turn her life over completely, thoroughly, transformative, to the love of God and the love of the ones that are entrusted to us.

St. Olga reminds us to pay attention to the little things, the little ones of our life because it is exactly in this way that you, you are given the chance to help cooperate with God in changing the world. In bringing light and life and salvation to everyone that we meet. Amen.

Glory to Jesus Christ, glory forever!