Mary of Egypt, whose Sunday we celebrate today, valued all the temporal ‘attractions,’ the way of the world and the lusts of the flesh more than all else. Running away from home at 12, she made herself a harlot. For seventeen years, she was self-abused—she didn’t see the image of God in herself or in others, […]
Weekly Update and Bulletin From Fr. Robert Miclean – April 14, 2019
The Last of Lent:Lent is quickly drawing to a close. Next weekend we enter Holy Week. I encourage you now to make the most of the short time that remains for your healing and growth. While everyone who comes at the 11th Hour is welcomed and loved, we want to sow abundantlyso that we can reap abundantly. […]
4th Sunday of Lent – Orthodox Homily on the Ladder of St. John Climacus
We hear in the Holy Gospel of St. Mark today, “Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that […]
Weekly Update and Bulletin From Fr. Robert Miclean – April 7, 2019
“To fast is to do violence to nature. It is to do away with whatever pleases the palate. Fasting ends lust, roots out bad thoughts, frees one from evil dreams. Fasting makes for purity of prayer, an enlightened soul, a watchful mind, a deliverance from blindness. Fasting is the door of compunction, humble sighing, joyful […]
Weekly Update and Bulletin From Fr. Robert Miclean – March 31, 2019
Our Lord speaks to us today through His Gospel, saying, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 8:34). The cross stands in the middle of the Fast to spur us on, to remind us of this very truth: Without the cross, there is no […]
3rd Sunday of Lent – Orthodox Homily on the Message of the Cross
Our Lord Jesus Christ gives us these convicting words today, “Whosoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” The very idea of denying ourselves anything sounds foreign to us, yet here is Christ’s call confronting us with his truth. The death of Jesus of Nazareth is […]
1st Sunday of Lent – Orthodox Homily on the Triumph of Orthodoxy
Today is the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy. On this First Sunday of Lent in 842 A.D. the iconodules—our “right believing” forefathers from East and West, upheld the fullness of the Apostolic Faith entrusted to them by Christ. On this day, they celebrated their victory over the heretical beliefs of the iconoclasts, the “icon-smashers,” who had […]
36th Sunday after Pentecost – Orthodox Homily for Zacchaeus Sunday
Today is Zacchaeus Sunday, the Sunday before the Triodion, the three weeks prior to Great Lent. Zacchaeus Sunday is an invitation that is not to be missed as you will soon see why. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, a sinner. In our Lord’s day, tax collectors didn’t only collect the taxes due to Caesar; they were also extortionists, […]
33rd Sunday after Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on What is Faith?
Faith is one of those things that the modern rational mind has such a hard time contemplating. In a society where humanists believe that the scientific method is the end all and be all of what we can ‘know’, of what is ‘true’, faith seems almost quaint, if not irrelevant to many who prefer the calculations […]
Weekly Update and Bulletin From Fr. Robert Miclean – January 20, 2019
Today we reflect on Christ’s miraculous healing of the blind man, who repeatedly and undauntedly calls after Christ God for His mercy, using the messianic title, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Undeterred by those who would silence him, the man catches Christ’s attention who rewards him for his faith in the living […]
