Holy Angels Anglican Church
Homily for the First Sunday after Trinity
(June 7, 2026)
St. Luke 16:19-31
Have You Ever Seen a Ghost?
Given by: The Rev. Fr. Vincent J. Varnas
Have you ever seen a ghost?
Several years ago, when Holy Angels was temporarily located in Pendleton, Oregon, I attended the Umatilla County fair in Hermiston and had a booth setup in one of the buildings attempting to attract newcomers to what was then called St. Paul (mission) Anglican Church.
If you have ever been to that area of the Columbia River Basin in August, you know how hot it can get and the building wherein my booth was located at the fair was not air conditioned! Like the rich man in today’s Gospel reading, but under different circumstances, I wished that I might, “… dip the tip of … [my] finger in water, and cool my tongue”
It was a particularly hot afternoon (about 104º outside: hotter inside) when a Hispanic Roman Catholic lady came to my booth with a remarkable story of ghosts infesting her home and wanted me to perform a major exorcism in hope that the ghosts would vacate her premises. She said there were three ghosts and that they were friendly but bothersome, always popping up when least expected in sometimes embarrassing situations!
She said, the Roman Catholic priest in her parish had not been very helpful. I advised her to contact the Roman Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of Baker and ask for assistance. I am not authorized to perform major exorcisms. On top of that, who knows, being unwelcomed, the three ghosts might have decided to hop into the back seat of my car and come home with me! I don’t think I would have enjoyed their company any more than did the lady who asked me to perform an exorcism!
Here’s another ghost story: yesterday was the anniversary of D-Day, the 6th of June, 1944, when Allied Forces landed at Normandy in France beginning a new phase of WWII that would result in victory over the powers of evil that had engulfed Europe.
Author Mary Beth Crain wrote a book entitled: Haunted U.S. Battlefields. In it she describes many incidents of ghostly apparitions on or near the Normandy Beachhead. One story is about the Ghost of the 116th.
From this book, the author tells the reader: “A young woman, we’ll call her Cathy, who was visiting Normandy with her grandmother, tells the eerie tale. ‘I went to France with my grandma in 1999. We went to Normandy to see all the villages there, and the place where D-Day occurred. Later that night, my grandma was awakened by a deep male voice that kept on repeating, ‘Help me … help me … my leg …’. Then it would stop. The next night, my grandma was awakened again and this time she saw the person clearly. She said it was a captain, he was in the 116th Division and was part of the first wave to hit the beach. He lost his leg when he was going up the beach. He was hit by a mortar and then was shot in the head. I asked her how she could know all that stuff and she said, ‘He told me’. From that day on, I was scared stiff.’” Theologically speaking, the Church neither accepts nor rejects the existence of ghosts.
Sacred Scripture is almost silent on the topic of ghostly apparitions. There are angels that appear, there is the Holy Ghost mentioned in innumerable passages and many references to “giving-up the ghost” (death), but clearly-identifiable stories of ghostly apparitions are not to be found, as such. However, the Gospel of St. Matthew (14:25-26) describes the reaction of the disciples when they saw Jesus walking on water: “… they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.”
Soon after Jesus’ resurrection, He appeared to the His Apostles, “But they were terrified and afrightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Lk. 24:37).
Perhaps best-known among the few “ghost stories” in the Old Testament is about King Saul and the “Witch of Endor”, a wizard. She was a woman “that hath a familiar spirit” and presumably was capable of summoning the spirit of the Prophet Samuel to consult with Saul (1 Sam. 28:7-25). The Book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 18, warns of the dangers of, “… consulting with familiar spirits …” (v. 11).
While none of these Scriptural citations clearly and unambiguously establishes the existence of ghosts, the strong reference to spirits or ghosts seems to imply their existence.
In his Supplement to the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas asserts that: “According to the disposition of divine providence, separated souls sometimes come forth from their abode and appear to men.” This is good theology because it is a precept of faith that we cannot and must not attempt to limit God’s power. If God directs or allows souls to appear to the living, it is for His divine purpose. St. Augustine of Hippo took an opposing point of view asserting that the dead do not return to visit the living and saying that he has no explanation for such sightings.
That brings us around directly to today’s Gospel reading from St. Luke.
The poor beggar Lazarus laid at a rich man’s gate and the rich man ignored Lazarus’ plight and material needs: most uncharitable.
Both of them die and Lazarus goes to the bosom of Abraham , while the rich man goes to Perdition. Apparently realizing the error in his sinful ways, the rich man is concerned about his wayward brothers who are also uncharitable and asks that Lazarus, presumably as a spirit, visits them with a warning. However, his request was denied. Then the rich man asks that someone else from the dead goes, “…unto them …, [that] they will repent”. Father Abraham also denies this request because the living have Moses and the prophets to guide and warn them from Scripture and says: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
Does today’s Gospel reading mean there are no ghosts and that there is no bridge between the living and the dead? Certainly not! It only means that some people set in their evil ways are stubborn and would not be easily frightened into a change of heart even by a ghost. Charles Dickens notwithstanding, a ghost is not likely to change the heart and mind of an intractable person bent upon selfishness. It is usually not fear that changes the hearts of men, but love, especially as found in the New Testament.
In our Anglican Church, we believe that everything necessary for salvation is contained in Sacred Scripture. No one “works their way to Heaven”. Neither is anyone irrevocably predestined for Heaven or Hell. God has predestined us for eternal life in His heavenly kingdom by the atonement made for us on the cross by His Son, Jesus. However, we can and often do “mess it up” through unrepentant sin unto death. Fortunately, God is both just and merciful and will always forgive the sinner who is truly repentant. But that must happen before death. The rich man appears to have repented of his sins only after he died and went to Hell and was in torment. Whether or not the rich man was truly remorseful is unclear and problematic. Perhaps his implied regrets were only induced by his suffering and not his evil life. Quite possibly he thought to himself: I am not really sorry that I was uncharitable: I only regret that I was sent to this terrible place as punishment for being uncharitable!
The rich man pleads: “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, [to me] that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame”. Father Abraham replies: “… between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence” (Lk.16:24,26). Judgment is final. The efficacy of repentance can come only before death. There are no “do overs” after dying! This is why we need Sacred Scripture accurately interpreted by ordained ministers in their sermons or homilies to give us what we need for salvation.
Attending church services on Sundays and other holy days and at other times is a gift from God through His Church to help us get to Heaven. It is not be seen as a burden. Rather it should be accepted joyfully and seen as a blessing and a gift of grace that we are or should be most thankful for receiving. Without Church, many more of us might find ourselves in the shoes of the rich man, cursing our eternal fate.
So, dip the tip of your finger in that holy water upon entering church and think of it as refreshing your hope for salvation in the liturgy that follows. But you don’t need to put it on your tongue!