Category Archives: Sunday Homilies

Unity Through Wind, Flame, and Language: Homily for the Great Feast of Pentecost in the Orthodox Church

Pentecost Sunday, John 7: 37-52, 8:12

On today’s great feast of Pentecost, we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming upon the followers of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, which is the birthday of His Body, the Church. After the Saviour’s resurrection, He ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to His disciples so that they would not be cut off from Him and the new life that He brought to the world. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, fully divine and eternal as are the Father and the Son. By being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s followers participate personally and communally in the unity, power, and blessing of the very life of God by grace. Continue reading

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Fathers of the First Council, John 17: 1-13

In John 17:1-13, Jesus prays for us, His disciples that we may all be one – Christ prayed that we His followers would have a unity of love as exists between the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You . . . And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, which You gave me, that they may be one, even as we are one. . . . But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

St. Silouan the Athonite (d. 1938) poetically comments:

“The Lord said, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and ‘You are in me, and I in you.’ Our soul feels the Lord in us, and we cannot forget Him for a single moment. What mercy is this – that the Lord desires us to be in Him and in the Father!

But what have we done for You, Lord,
in what have we pleased You,
that You do wish to be in us, and for us to be in You? We crucified You on the Cross with our sins,
yet do You still wish us to be with You?

O, how great is Your mercy! I see Your mercy spread over me. I am deserving of hell and every torment,
yet do You give me the grace of the Holy Spirit.
And if you did vouchsafe to my sinful self
to know You by the Holy Spirit, then I beseech You, O Lord, let all people come to know You.”
~ St. Silouan the Athonite

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Sunday of the Blind Man, John 9: 1-38

Christ is Risen! Today is the last Sunday before the Feast of the Ascension, ten days before the Feast of Pentecost. Throughout the Paschal season the Priest holds the lighted three Branch Candlestick symbolic of the light of the Resurrection. We know from attending services during this period that the liturgical texts and hymns resound with the words of light, glory, brightness, radiance, and splendour. Continue reading

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On Sunday, the Orthodox Church prayerfully remembered the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, which once met in the city of Nicaea in order to investigate and judge the heresy of Arius. We know that in the first centuries of Christianity, the Church endured severe persecution, first from the Jews and then from the pagan Roman imperial power. But despite the fact that the persecution was bloody, despite the fact that thousands of Christians died under torture for their confession of faith, nonetheless, it was not dangerous for the Church. Continue reading

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Sunday of the Samaritan Woman, John 4: 5-42

One of the greatest things that the Orthodox Church has is a living tradition of Saints who are great examples, who preached the Gospel, and bring the faith to those around them. If they had not lived out a Godly life then many of us would have not been here today worshiping the one true God. Because of this we know that Christ is glorified through his Saints. One of those great Saints that received the light of Christ and passed it on was the saint we hear about today in the Gospel reading, the Samaritan woman, also known as St. Photini in Greek or Svetlana in Russian. It’s no wonder that her name translated means light specifically, because she was the one who received the light of Christ, transformed her own life and then brought this transformation to those around her. Continue reading

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THE SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC: A CALL TO CHANGE FROM WITHIN

Deep joy and heartfelt jubilation fill us as we read about Christ’s miracles in the Gospel. These readings convey His infinite power, providential care, and ultimate love for all men. But they also teach us important life lessons. So let us take a closer look at the narration about the paralytic.

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With a Courage Born of Love: Homily for the Sunday of the Myrrh Bearing Women in the Orthodox Church

Christ is Risen!
We have now been celebrating our Lord’s victory over death for two weeks. We will continue to do so for a few more weeks, saying “Christ is Risen” many times. But we must not let our celebration of Pascha stop there. For we want to live the new life that the Lord has brought to the world; we want to participate in His victory over sin, death, and all that separates us from life eternal. And we can learn an important lesson in how to do that from those who were at the empty tomb on Easter morning as the first witnesses of the resurrection to hear the word of the angel: “He is Risen. He is not here…Go tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

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13th SUNDAY OF LUKE, Luke 18: 18-27

In just about any activity, we can get so caught up in following the rules that we miss the larger point. Sometimes we do that due to our own pride, our sense that we simply have to achieve perfection in order to be worthwhile. Of course, what we are really showing then is that we think that it is all about us and our ability to be right by our own standards. But when circumstances arise that make clear that it is not all about us and that we are not perfect, it can lay us low. That is exactly what happened to the rich man who encountered Jesus Christ in Sunday’s gospel lesson. Continue reading

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The Rich Fool – Against Greed and Anxiety

9th Sunday of Luke, Luke 12:16-21

Life is a gift of God. No amount of possessions, however abundant, can make it greater or give it security. The notion that life consists in possessions, in ‘having’ (the constant requirement of more), is cut in this ‘pericope’ by the understanding that life cannot be secured by possessions, that existence is a gift outside human control. Continue reading

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Man’s Fall and Redemption

8th SUNDAY OF LUKE, Luke 10: 25-37

In Luke 10:25–37, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan, which many Christians have seen as a parable of man’s fall and redemption. Such an interpretation is usually elaborated in three steps.

First, there is the story of the fall, concerning which we are told, “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” This man started in Jerusalem, in the garden place of God’s presence. But he did not stay there. He made a deliberate decision to go down on a journey. No one told him to go. He made the decision on his own, as an assertion of his independence. “Man, though in honour, does not remain,” says the psalmist; “He is like the beasts that perish” (Psalm 49:12).

These robbers did not kill the fallen man completely. They left him half dead. Even fallen, he did not suffer total depravity. There was still some chance for him, though he had no way of saving himself from his terrible predicament. By this man’s disobedience, in fact, sin entered the world, and by sin death. Indeed, death reigned already in his mortal flesh. How shall we describe this poor man’s plight except that he was “alien from the commonwealth of Israel and a stranger from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12)? He had been left half dead, and there was no help for him in this world.

Along came a priest and then a Levite, men representing the Mosaic Law, but they had to pass by the fallen wayfarer, because by the works of the Law is no man justified. The priest and the Levite were hastening to the temple in order to offer repeatedly the same sacrifices that could never take away sins. Indeed, matters were made even worse, because “in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins” (Hebrews 10:3–4).

Secondly, a Samaritan, “as he journeyed, came where [the man] was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.” In the fullness of time, that is to say, God sent His Son to be a good neighbour to him who fell among the thieves. This Son, being in the form of God, did not think equality with God a thing to be seized, but He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant. Indeed, this Son became an utter outcast—in short, a Samaritan, a person without respect or social stand- ing. Although He was rich, yet for our sake He became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich.

What did the Samaritan do for the man that fell among thieves? He washed him in the waters of baptism, cleansing his wounds, and into those wounds He poured His grace in the form of anointing oil, the holy chrism, and the Eucharistic wine to prevent infection.

Our Samaritan did not leave beside the road this half-dead victim of the fall among thieves. On the contrary, “he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” And then he went away. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. This Samaritan is also the great High Priest that entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. But even as He went away, He said to the innkeeper, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.”

And this promise brings us to our third point. Our Samaritan says to the innkeeper, “when I come again.” He does not say, “if I come again,” but “when I come again.” There is no “if” about the return of this Samaritan. This same Samaritan, who is taken up from us into heaven, shall so come in like manner as we have seen Him go into heaven. We solemnly confess, then, that He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time, apart from sin unto salvation.

All of history is given significance by the two visits of the Samaritan. Only those who abide in the inn awaiting His return really know the meaning of history. The inn is the house of history, the Church where the innkeeper cares for the Samaritan’s friends.

This parable does not describe that return of the Samaritan. It says simply “when I return.” The parable leaves that return in the future. The story terminates in the place where the Samaritan would have his friends stay—at the inn. It is imperative for their souls’ health that they remain within this inn, to which our Samaritan has sworn to return. In this inn His friends pass all their days as in eagerness they await His sworn return.

~ Fr. Patrick Reardon

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