One of the most wonderful realities we can have in this life my brothers and sisters is true communion with God. And not just true communion with God, but we can also store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, the kind of treasures that will never corrupt, never become stale, but will always remain pure and valuable. This communion with God is intimate, loving, and deep, and these treasures that we store up for ourselves are indeed valuable beyond comparison, and far more wonderful than we can understand and comprehend.

How then can we have this wonderful gift that comes from God then? How then can we store up for ourselves true heavenly treasure, and how can we have true communion with God? It is by the Grace of the Holy Spirit through Asceticism that we can have this wonderful life with God, and have these valuable heavenly treasures.

Where do you think my brothers and sisters is Christ revealed? Christ is revealed during the Holy Liturgies, in the Scriptures, and in our prayers to God, in the same manner that Christ our Lord taught us on how to pray. We have come to truly know that our Lord Jesus Christ is The Way and the Truth and the Life. Knowing this then my brothers and sisters, it is only through our Lord Jesus Christ that we can truly have heavenly treasures and true communion with God. This is the first step in having true communion and heavenly treasures with God: in order to have these wonderful things, we must get to know our Lord Jesus Christ. And he is revealed through prayer in the way he taught, revealed in the Holy Liturgies, and revealed in the Holy Scriptures, the Gospels, and the Epistles. Let us therefore search for Christ our Lord in these things. Let us therefore seek him, and we shall find him, for when we draw close to God, he will draw close to us.

Once we get to know who Jesus Christ is, every word he said, every teaching he taught, every action he took, we know that everything he did was to serve a purpose. Every teaching he taught is straight to the heart, every word he said is meant to be taken seriously and with a sober heart, and every action he took is meant to be imitated. In order to have true communion and true riches with God, it is very important for this step, that is loving God. Christ himself did say, "If you Love me, Keep my Commandments." And furthermore he did say, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love." Do you see now? If we keep Christ's commands in Love and devotion to him, then we experience true communion with God. He says to love our enemies, so we do, and in this way we imitate Christ, and so abide in his love. We remain in him, and he remains in us. This is true communion with God. Jesus Christ says to be reconciled with a brother before offering your gift upon the altar, so we do, and we experience true communion with God. Every single teaching Christ taught is meant to bring us into true communion with God.

However, if you mindlessly keep his commandments as in a legalistic way, a checklist, something that you are obliged to do, then this is worthless. If you want to have true communion with God, you must keep his commandments with Love and Devotion. Why? Because Jesus Christ himself lovingly and devotedly kept his Father's commands, and you can clearly see that after all the Love and Devotion he had to keep his Father's Commands, he was raised back to life three days after his death by crucifixion. Therefore, it is very important to keep his commandments, for his commandments are simply love to us. And when we keep the commandments and teachings of Christ with love and devotion, then we have true communion with God.

A good example of a Church/Community like this is found in Saint Paul's letter to the Philippians, where Saint Paul addresses the Philippians in the very beginning of his letters as this, Philippians 1:5, "for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now . . . " the word that is bolded, fellowship, this word in Greek implies true and deep communion, so what is essentially happening here is that Saint Paul, a legitimate Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, is praising the Philippian Church's love and devotion to the Gospel. Everyone in this Church is devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to those entrusted to teach in his name, namely the bishops and priests. Everyone with love keeps the commandments of Christ, and everyone in this Church is devoted to love to one another, devoted to lay down their own lives for the sake of others, and loving just as Jesus Christ loved. As a result, they have the Holy Spirit, they have true communion with each other and with the Risen Lord, they have power to thwart all demonic energy, they have power to resist temptation, and they have power to stay faithful to God, and endure even the toughest of trials. In this way, the Philippian Church shows themselves as true Christians, not only calling themselves Christians, but also actually living as Christians, with living faith in the Risen Lord. In this way therefore my brothers and sisters, they are going to be perfected in the way of Love by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, and so therefore store up for themselves valuable heavenly treasures and in this life and the next, experience true communion with God.

And so now therefore my brothers and sisters, get rid of everything that stands in your way of love and devotion to the Gospel, and ask the Lord to perfect you in God's Love, and being faithful, God will do it. He will protect you when you ask for protection, he will strengthen you when you ask him, and he will perfect you in his love when you love the Lord in the way that he said you are to love him.

Have a blessed day my brothers and sisters in Christ. Glory to God, and let his peace rest on those who love him. Amen.