Archive for March 2018

Today and tomorrow are a bridge between Great Lent and Holy Week. Great Lent ended last night, and today and tomorrow are feastdays in the Church. Today is the Saturday of Lazarus, which commemorates the raising of Lazarus from the dead. He had been dead for four days when Jesus spoke just a few words…

Now that we have come to the end of Great Lent, (tomorrow and Sunday are Feasts in the Church) it is a good time to remember sometimes our life includes mundane topics such as “Why Easter is not the same.” In the next week you are going to see many posts attempting to explain why…

You hear it all the time. “Fasting isn’t about reading the labels,” or “If you’re going to spend so much time worrying about what day it is on the calendar, you’re fasting incorrectly.” What if I told you that fasting IS about reading labels, and searching the calendar? What if I told you that fasting…

We’re deep in the Great Fast and there is PreSanctified Liturgy this evening in most places, so I wanted to address fasting. I mentioned last week that you shouldn’t choose your own fast, and today I want to expand upon that. It can be difficult to navigate the Great Fast, especially if you are new to…

This past Sunday, although it was not included in the Divine Liturgy as we were celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation, we honored the memory of Saint Mary of Egypt. Her life is an example of complete and total repentance after a life of complete and total depravity. In her willingness to repent from her…

We grow up learning about the saints of the Church. We learn about our patron saint, the saint of our local Church, and the saints that made history. Unfortunately, we also grow up thinking saints are something from the past, but today is the feast of Saint Raphael of Brooklyn. YES….Brooklyn, NEW YORK. Did you even…

If there is one thing we can learn during our Great Lenten Journey, is that God will always be present among us. During the weeks of Great Lent our patience is challenged, our hunger is tested, and our endurance to maintain the faith is constantly confronted. Yet through all our difficulties during Great lent, God…

The Archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to God. There was only one condition. She had to say yes. God gave her the complete free will to accept the struggle to accept His offer. Every day we are faced with the same option. God has a plan for our…

No matter how many times I have walked the Great Lenten Journey, the week before Holy Week is always a bit of a boost for me. At this point, there is no stopping my journey. There have been some grueling moments in the past 36 days, but Great Lent will be over in four days,…

Every day and during every service of the Church, we pray the words, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” These words found in the Lord’s Prayer, given to us by God are the root of our entire Christian life. These words are also the foundation of every spiritual struggle as…