We’re reminded today of this truth: Who you believe Jesus is will make all the difference in your life, regarding who we are and our ability to find a way out from all the common dead-end patterns of brokenness that result from sin and a life lived without knowing and obediently following the One true […]
11th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Forgiveness
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Thus Jesus taught His disciples to pray and in praying to forgive. These words are indelibly marked on our consciences as they have been on all our Christian ancestors before us since Christ first spoke these words, even as we may struggle to […]
10th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on What Shall I Render to the Lord
One of my favorite communion hymns is from Psalm 116, in which St. David asks, “What shall I render to the Lord, for all His bounty to me?” His response Is: “I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord.” Consider all the gifts that God has given […]
9th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Christ Walking on the Water
Often, we think of God’s will as some overarching plan for our lives. We tend to focus on the big picture and forget that God’s will for us is revealed every day; it’s discerned through a daily, if not moment by moment relationship and participation in the life of the Holy Trinity through His Church, […]
8th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Unity
Increasingly we see that our society is polarized, that there are many things that divide us today on religious, moral and political grounds. Sadly, this is true even in the Church, where other sources of our identity, be they political, ethnic, or other, as well as our sins, can divide us, causing great harm to […]
7th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Healing of the Two Blind Men
We witness through the Gospel today the healing of two blind men.. And through this life-changing encounter in which Christ’s power is in full evidence, we’re presented with the opportunity to grow to a fuller understanding of our own healing and salvation. Responding to their plea for mercy, the God of mercy, Jesus Christ, receives […]
6th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Paralytic Restored
We’re witnesses of a beautiful miracle this morning: through the living Word, Jesus Christ, we see a paralyzed man who cannot walk on his own, healed of his paralysis by God. Christ God, as the Logos (Word) of God, through whom all things were made, knew this man and loved this man with a fatherly […]
5th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily to the Plebes
We remember this Sunday those courageous Fathers of our Faith who through the first six of the seven Ecumenical Councils of the Church, boldly and courageously proclaimed anew the timeless truth once delivered to the Saints that is Christ and our life, our salvation, in Him. They testify to the truth that Jesus Christ is […]
4th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Proper Relationship to Sin
“The wages of sin is death,” St. Paul proclaims to us in today’s Epistle. Sin is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity today. A whole host of psychological complexes emanate from this misunderstanding. In some Protestant circles, sin is identified with legal transgression and salvation with justification and atonement, or appeasement of God. […]
3rd Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Apostles
Blessings of the Feast! We’re reminded on this day of the Feast of the Holy Apostles that God came to give us salvation, life with Him for all eternity and that God receives and restores the penitent. We’re reminded of what’s really important in life, why we’re here: to seek first the Kingdom of God […]