We see before us today another miracle of our Lord that bears particularly and personally on your faith, on my faith, and on our church. Christ once again reveals Himself as God incarnate in this calling of His foremost disciples: Peter, James, and John to become “fishers of men.” It’s interesting to note that Christ […]
16th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Message of the Cross
The Gospel for this Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross confronts us with the paradox of our salvation: the instrument of Christ’s death has become the means of His victory over sin and death. The cross is, in the theology of the Church, “the trophy invincible, the weapon of peace because by it we […]
15th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Cross
We remember today on the fore-feast of the Elevation of the Cross the miraculous re-discovery of Christ’s cross in Jerusalem. The Empress, St. Elena, Mother of St. Constantine, was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and desired to uncover those buried, holy relics of Christ’s victory over sin and death. With God’s help, she found […]
14th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Parable of the Wedding Feast
The new Church year began September 1 and on this day we remember with thanksgiving the many ways that God made Himself present to us in the past year even as we look to grow in our Faith in the new ecclesiastical year that’s just begun. With the advent of the new Church year and […]
12th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on the Young Rich Man
Today in the Gospels, we hear the story of the young man who comes to Christ to ask Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Christ responds not with an answer to his question, but with a test of the young man’s faith, saying, ““Why do you call Me good? No […]
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 Thanksgiving and St. Herman
In Psalm 116, in St. David asks, “What shall I render to the Lord, for all His bounty to me?” His response to his own question is: “I will lift up the cup of salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord.” Consider all the gifts God has given us before we were even […]
9th Sunday After Pentecost – Orthodox Homily on Faith
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
St. Paul speaks to us today about unity and schism in the Church. Increasingly, we see that our society is polarized, that there are many things that divide us on moral and ethical grounds between believers and unbelievers. Sadly, this is true even in the Church, whenever other sources of identity—political, ethnic, or other, or […]