Our Gospel reading today presents us with a story of friends of someone in need, coming to encounter the power and authority of God, lovingly manifested in forgiveness and healing. We are told that Our Lord Jesus Christ crossed over the Sea of Galilee in a boat and entered into his own city – meaning […]
Nativity of St. John the Baptist
While we celebrate the lives of most of the saints on the day of their deaths, or rather on the day that they entered into the life to come, we also celebrate their birthdays in the church calendar: the birthday of Our Lord (on December 25th), of His blessed Mother (on September 8th), and of […]
A Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation (II Cor. 6).” We are now in a time of preparation for Pascha, when the love of God destroyed the ultimate power of sin and death. The Church calls us to increased prayer and fasting, to increased almsgiving, to self-examination and confession. […]
Septuagesima Sunday
Frequently, throughout the year, the introit, the first chant sung by the Choir at the beginning of Mass, sets the tone for the day. The introit for today clearly reminds us that something has changed. The choir sang these words of Psalm 18, “The sorrows of death compassed me, the pains of hell came about […]
A Sermon for Palm Sunday
“Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Today, with our celebration of Palm Sunday, we enter into Holy Week. This week, beyond all other, is a time of revelation, of showing us all about God and all about ourselves. This week we will see revealed before us […]
A Sermon for Low Sunday
Today, in the Church, we have another one of those days with many names: first today is called Low Sunday in contrast with the high of Pascha. Then Quasimodo Sunday – from the Latin incipit for today’s introit (where we heard that like new born babes we are to desire the spiritual milk of God’s […]
A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Advent
St. Paul lived in Rome for two years under house arrest. He had been arrested in Jerusalem, accused of starting a riot. When he learned of a plot to assassinate him on the way to his trial in Jerusalem, he invoked his rights as a Roman citizen and appealed to Caesar, meaning that he […]
A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent – in time of a pandemic
To put it mildly, we live in an uncertain time, perhaps a historic time. A generation from now, students may look back in their history text books and see that this was a time of a severe medical crisis across the entire world, and a time of world-wide panic and confusion. Of course, in addition […]