What is it that makes a home a home? Luke 19:1-10 Walk in – can you tell (that a place is a home)? The feeling? Feelings and intuitionare unreliable; generally, they are the way the subconscious mind puts together other indicators But to the sense our feelings are reliable, some places are haunted by memories […]
Homily Notes: Sunday before Theophany
January 15, 2017 By
Mark 1:1-8 With thanks to Fr. Antony Hughes Christ is Born! Gospel of Mark: not an infancy story. St. John the Baptist (last of the OT prophets: classic) John the Baptist: Two messages First: repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins Second: about the Messiah that was coming Was holier than him (thong of […]
Homily – Sunday after Nativity
January 8, 2017 By
Matthew 2:13-23 Summary of today’s Gospel: God humbles Himself to save mankind, leaving His rightful inheritance as God and becoming man; being born as a baby in Bethlehem. And how does the world He has come to save greet Him? Is He born in a temple? In a palace? These would have been seemed more […]
A Nativity Homily
January 7, 2017 By
Christos Rojhdayetsya! Slavite Yeho! Christ is Born! Glorify Him! Let us celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord! As St. John Christostom says in his Nativity homily (SJC-NH); “Bethlehem this day resembles heaven” The Sun of Righteousness lays in a manger. We hear less the cattle lowing, than the shepherds proclaiming in full-voice the Glory of […]
Homily: On Gratitude
December 18, 2016 By
Because this Sunday was also the commemoration of St. Savas, one who “made the tears with repentance”, I worked the theme of tears of repentance then gratitude (i.e. the second baptism) being the only thing that allows God to make the desert of our hearts and lives fertile. This is not reflected in the notes. On Gratitude […]
Homily: Walk Worthily of Your Calling
December 11, 2016 By
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as […]
Homily Notes: On the Transfer of Holiness in the Economy of Salvation
December 4, 2016 By
The main thing that has always struck me about this feast is the dynamic of transfer from holy place to holy place that is going on. Given: that God is holy and he seeks to meet us within a dedicated Holy Place. Places are sanctified by the presence of God. They should be set aside […]
Homily: Achieving Unity with God
November 30, 2016 By
St. Luke 10:25-37 (Good Samaritan) St. John 1:43-51 (Philip and Nathaniel) The goal and necessity of the human life is union with God; the Good News is that this is possible through Christ (e.g. Vladimir Lossky). Should amaze us. Doesn’t? Perhaps because we have already made ourselves gods Or at least conceived of divinity as […]
Homily Notes: A Thorn in the Flesh
October 30, 2016 By
The Balance of Mystery and Persecution 2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9 (Epistle) The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. [In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; but I was let […]
Homily Notes: The Law of (Joyfully) Sowing and Reaping
October 23, 2016 By
A Universal Law (cause and effect): Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly; whoever sows bountifully will reap bountifully. (2 Corinthians 9:6) Explain metaphor. What is sowing? What is reaping? What are WE supposed to sow? Ourselves. The Gospel. (same thing) What are we going to reap (what is a bounty? What will we really enjoy?!) […]
