Category Archives: Sunday Homilies

July 8, 2018 · 12:18 pm

Sunday Homily for 6th Sunday of Matthew – Healing of the Paralyzed Man

6th Sunday of Matthew, Matthew 9: 1-8

I affirm in your presence this day that we’re witnesses of a beautiful miracle this morning: through the living word of the Gospel, we see a paralyzed man who cannot walk on his own, healed of his paralysis by God, He who had made his legs in the first place and given this man his first heart-beat in his mother’s womb. For, as the Psalmist David says, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb” (Ps. 138). Christ God, as the Logos (Word) of God, through whom all things were made, knew this man and loved this man with a fatherly love even before he was presented to him. Continue reading →

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July 1, 2018 · 12:57 pm

Jesus Do Not Disturb Me!

5th Sunday of Matthew, Matthew 8: 28-34—9:1

When you stay in a hotel or motel, there is a little sign that you can hang on the outside of your door that says, “Do Not Disturb!” How many of us have taken one of these signs and used them at home? Do Not Disturb! This is basically what the two demoniacs say to Jesus in today’s Gospel reading from the Fifth Sunday of Matthew (8:28 – 9:1). As they came out from the cemetery, ’29 Suddenly they shouted, “What have You to do with us, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”(v.29).’ When they say “before the time”, they are referring to the time of the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ when He will destroy Satan and all his demons and establish His heavenly kingdom forever (see the Creed). It reminds me when I was a teenager and my parents would wake me up to go to school or to church on Sunday. No matter when it was, it was always “before the time”; it was always too early. I wish I had a “Do Not Disturb!” sign. In the Gospel, the demoniacs were not the only ones saying do not disturb us. After the swine herders saw Jesus expel the demons, they went into the town – ’34Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their neighborhood.’ Continue reading →

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June 23, 2018 · 5:15 pm

There Is Hope for Us All: Homily for the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Orthodox Church

None of us can tell the story of our lives without pointing to particular persons we have known and who have shaped us. In our families and friendships, people are not interchangeable, for we are all unique in our relationships with one another and with God. We play particular roles that are colored by our character, personal history, and distinctive blend of strengths and weaknesses. That is also how it is in the life of the Church. Particular people matter. Continue reading →

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June 16, 2018 · 8:15 pm

The Eye is the Lamp of the Body

Third Sunday of Matthew, Matthew 6: 22-33

One summer a tailor toured Europe. Somehow he arranged for a meeting with the Pope. When he returned to work, his friend eagerly asked, ‘Tell me, what kind of man is the Pope?’ He pondered a moment, then answered, ‘He is a 39 short.’

It is one of the truths of life that we see as we are. The painter sees the world in color, the sculptor in form; the musician perceives the world in sound, and the economist in commodities. Show two people the very same painting and each will notice something different in it.

Jesus begins today’s Gospel Reading, Third Sunday of Matthew 6:22-33, by saying, ‘22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!’ Continue reading →

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June 3, 2018 · 12:23 pm

Sermon for the Sunday of All Saints

Matt. 10: 32-33, 37-38, 19: 27-30

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God. (Amen)

Brothers and Sisters, on this day we observe a very meaning-filled celebration, after the many radiant Sundays of Great Lent and of the Season of Pascha, leading up to the glorious feast of Pentecost. Pentecost, as last week’s Gospel reading told us, was “the last and greatest day of the feast,” in Saint John’s words, and, as it was celebrated by the Jewish nation in the time of Christ, it was a very festive holiday celebrating the harvest. Special offerings and sacrifices were prescribed by the Law for this holiday. Continue reading →

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May 27, 2018 · 12:34 pm

Pentecost – Trinity Sunday

John 7: 7-52, 8:12

Today is the Feast of Pentecost. I think that today’s feast is one of the most under-emphasized and misunderstood Feasts in the Orthodox Church… as a matter of fact, Pentecost is among the most important Feasts. We might even dare to say that Pentecost is as important as Pascha itself! As important as Pascha, because Pentecost makes Pascha accessible to us. Pentecost makes Pascha relevant. Pentecost is the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church, and without the presence of the Holy Spirit, Christ’s resurrection is, at best, a historical fact. Yes, Jesus rose from the dead. Yes, Death could not contain Him. Yes, He is God, who created heaven and earth and He emerged from the tomb after three days, but what does the fact of Christ’s resurrection mean to me, Can I know this Jesus, who rose from the dead, Can I have a relationship with Him that is meaningful. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit, the answer to these questions is, “no.” Think about it, right after He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven. How then would the disciples, let alone us who live 2,000 years later, have a relationship with Jesus. He was taken up into the sky. I often imagine the disciples after the ascension, looking at one another, saying, “Where did He go”? Continue reading →

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May 19, 2018 · 7:20 pm

Fathers of the 1st Council

John 17: 1-13
“All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.”

In today’s gospel we hear the great and profound prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today’s reading is the culmination of a discourse given by Christ to his disciples at the Last Supper, which effectively begins in Chapter 13 with Jesus washing the feet of the disciples and culminates in Chapter 17 with the prayer that all his disciples may be one so that the world may believe in Him who sent Christ into this world. For, as Christ promised, the disciples would behold Christ’s glory that had been given to him through the love of the Father before the foundation of the world. Continue reading →

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May 12, 2018 · 5:12 pm

THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD: Ascending with Wounds into Heavenly Glory

With all the problems in the world today, as well as the challenges in our own lives and families, it is tempting to lose hope. It is easy to think that the best we can do is simply to cope with the difficulties that we face from day to day. We may think that there is no alternative to living in terms of whatever helps us make it through the day in the world as we know it. Continue reading →

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May 6, 2018 · 12:58 pm

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman – The Courage to Face the Truth

SUNDAY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN – John 4: 5-42

Christ is Risen!

It is strangely appealing to define ourselves by our failures, especially when others know that we have stumbled and treat us poorly as a result. As well, our own pride often causes us to lose perspective such that we obsess about how we do not measure up to whatever illusion of perfection we have accepted. People are often their own harshest critics in ways that are not healthy at all. Continue reading →

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April 28, 2018 · 6:15 pm

Sunday of the Paralytic – John 5:1-15

Christ is Risen!

On this fourth Sunday of the season of Pascha, we remember Jesus Christ’s healing of the paralytic, the paralyzed man who had not been able to move for 38 years, probably his entire life. He had seen others healed miraculously in a nearby pool of water, but he had no one to help him get there when the angel stirred the water. So he was stuck, unable to move, unable to heal himself, and unable to receive God’s blessing. Continue reading →

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