Hold Nothing Against Them

As Christians we are taught not to judge. More than not to judge, we are taught to forgive. The two issues are more related than you might imagine. I hear people all the time say, “I can forgive them because God will ‘take care’ of them.” That is not the example of the Saints. When…

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Episode 477 – Faith Courage and Action

A priest delivering a sermon during a religious service, holding a book.

When we have faith like Joseph of Arimathea who buried Jesus, and courage like the Myrrh Bearing Women, who went in the darkness of the night to anoint Jesus, our actions are blessed by God for the glory of His Church. Through faith, courage, and action, we will go out in the darkness of the…

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Power Before Our Eyes

For many years I used to wonder why so many people do not believe in Jesus Christ as God. He has presented Himself to the entire world through direct personal interaction, and through the Gospel and the Church. Still, so many choose not to believe. This is what comes to my mind when I read…

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Who’s the Boss?

We all have someone we listen to; someone we obey out of love and loyalty. It may be our spouse, our parents, or even the ‘boss’ at work. If we’re being honest there is one boss we obey, but it is not out of love. We obey the government out of fear. Fear does not…

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Do What He Tells You

Every Orthodox Christian is taught that obedience is a blessing. We are taught to be obedient first to God, then to the Church through our spiritual father. There are many stories of blessings that come from obedience, not the last of which is eternal life. In today’s readings I was reminded of obedience. Take a…

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The Danger of Rejecting Truth

Just one week ago we sat in Church commemorating Jesus in the Tomb. Holy Week witnessed Him arrested, tried, crucified, buried and then gloriously resurrected. We came out in thousands to celebrate. All this was just one week ago. Will we be in Church tomorrow? It can be too easy to excuse ourselves from being…

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I was hungry and you gave me a dollar

Many years ago, I was blessed to volunteer at a downtown mission center in Denver, Colorado. The mission center offered clothing and food supplies to the homeless and indigent population surrounding the ‘old church’ in the city. I learned a great deal from the nun who was director. She used to say to me, “God…

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Believing is Living

Christ is Risen! They say seeing is believing, but I say believing is living. We are now enjoying the 5th Day of Pascha. We still greet each other with ‘Christ is Risen’ and we still sing the hymn. Soon enough, unfortunately, we will grow lax in our celebration and life will return to normal. I…

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Greater Things to Come

Day Four of Pascha and, if you’re like me, you have been working through your favorite foods. You may even be a bit bloated since fasting is forbidden this week. Fear not! There is plenty of time for fasting next week. This week we celebrate the promise of greater things from God. At that time,…

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Christ is STILL Risen

What an amazing week we all had together. Even if we were in different cities on different continents, our journey through Holy Week and Pascha was a common journey together in Christ. We fasted together and then we celebrated together. Now, we’re exhausted. For our lack of sleep and celebration yesterday, Christ is STILL Risen…

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