Archive for December 2017

Most of us enter the New Year making promises for a better life, but normally our promises are based upon the physical blessings of life rather than the spiritual. This year, take the lead from St John the Baptist, who Christ called the greatest man ever to be born of a woman. St John the…

Each year, on the second Sunday before Christmas, the Church commemorates the earthly ancestry of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ with special attention being given to the Patriarch Abraham to whom God first made His promise that he would be the father of many nations. The Gospel lesson for today is the Parable…

With God as our Father and the Church as our mother, we are all invited to gather in the Church for the banquet which has been prepared. As a Greek Orthodox family, we have been invited to be in Church every Sunday. If some make excuses, then we must reach out to the rest of…

“You broke the law! You should be kicked out!” While we don’t normally hear people use this exact language when discussing the Holy Canons of the Church, the attitude is quite common. Many of us get worked up about whether OTHERS are following the letter of the law, that we neglect to remember the love…

In the Gospel According to Luke we hear of a woman bent over, barely able to walk, for many years. Not being able to handle it any longer, she approached our Lord. “He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.” (Luke 13.13) On the surface, this sounds like…

In the early days of the Archdiocese, especially as immigration increased, the majority of Church members chose to live near enough to the Church that they could even walk. This was practical not only since most did not own their own cars in those days, but because the Church was the center of their lives.…

Sometimes we get stuck with our blinders on during important functions in the Church. Sometimes we forget the needs of those around us who need time with God for healing and peace. When we take to the streets with special Church services, or just going about our day, we need to remember our purpose is…

Imagine you are walking down Tarpon Avenue on January 6th during the Epiphany Procession and a stranger stops you and asks, “What’s all the commotion? Who is the guy in the gold robes?” There you are with a few hundred of your fellow Greek Orthodox Christians, walking the same path so many hundreds have gone…