Archive for April 2019

Many sermons are preached from pulpits around the globe about Faith. “Have faith!” “It just requires faith.” “If you have faith….” Faith is a strong and necessary thing for our Christian journey, but is it a sin to doubt? In the Gospel According to Mark we hear a story of a father struggling with his…

For weeks Great Lent has been forcing us to focus on how to live our life. Whether it be fasting, extra prayers, helping the poor, or which services to attend this week, we have been forced to make choices. Of course, the Church would prefer us to choose to attend services tonight, but free will…

It has become popular to discount the Great Lenten journey with slogans half inspired by the Holy Scriptures and half inspired by our selfish desires. All the talk about prayer, fasting, and attending Church services during Great Lent, tends to bring out the ‘experts’ about what God ‘really’ wants from our lives. Today’s reading from…

By now, if you’re like every other Orthodox Christian, you can recall at least one if not several examples of where or how you have failed during Great Lent this year. You learned, probably weeks ago, that just because you say you want to fast this year, doesn’t mean that you will succeed every day…

When James and John asked Christ, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory,” Jesus responded with a challenge, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that…

One of the important aspects of Great Lent is to remember that our Orthodox Christian way of life is ancient and inspired by God. With an ever-increasing number of Christian “denominations” with traditions and customs established as recently as last month. The same cannot be said about Great Lent in the Orthodox Church. As we…

As we approach the final Sunday of Great Lent when the Church commemorates the repentance of Saint Mary of Egypt, it is a good opportunity to talk about what happens when we allow sin to get out of control in our lives. Left unchecked, sin can overtake our soul to the point where we may…

We have all heard about the righteousness of Abraham, and how God made His covenant with Abraham who would be the father of many nations. We have heard Saint Paul speak about the faith of Abraham that was accounted as righteous. But nowhere do we hear about Abraham being perfect. Is there a difference between…

Today we continue with the encouragement to have holy relationships with those around us, including our closest friends and family. Within our inner circle, it is much easier to allow our weaknesses to flourish. You’ve heard of the saying, “Familiarity breeds contempt,” right? We tend to be less thoughtful with family, thinking maybe that our…

It is easy during Great Lent to focus on food. It is called the Great Fast, after all, but there is so much more to Great Lent than just food. Great Lent is as much about how we act out our Christian beliefs in our relationships with others. When it comes to fasting, that means…