7th Sunday of Luke, Luke 8: 41 – 56
Even in a small parish like ours, it is not hard to see that people are different from one another in many ways. We have different interests, personal backgrounds, and opinions on all kinds of things. We do not all look or dress alike. But what we have in common as Orthodox Christians is far more profound than any of that. Our salvation is not in any conventional human characteristic or endeavor, but in the healing mercy of Jesus Christ. Continue reading
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October 21, 2018 · 12:38 pm6th Sunday of Luke, Luke 8:26-39
If you are like me, you often do not recognize yourself in your own words, thoughts, and deeds. Sometimes we see how we fall short in an instant, while other times it becomes clear to us in retrospect, perhaps even years later. Regardless, it is so easy for us all to be so consumed by anger, pride, lust, envy, and other disordered desires that we lose control of ourselves and act more like a bundle of inflamed passions than like a person created in God’s image and likeness. And then when we calm down and come to our senses, we are understandably ashamed and embarrassed. It is a great blow to our egos to recognize how easily our sense of self disintegrates before the passions that so often run wild within us. Continue reading
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~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
Saint Peter the Damascene writes: “We all receive God’s blessings equally. But some of us, receiving God’s fire, that is, His word, become soft like beeswax, while the others like clay become hard as stone. And if we do not want Him, He does not force any of us, but like the sun He sends His rays and illuminates the whole world, and he who wants to see Him, sees Him, whereas the one who does not want to see Him, is not forced by Him. And no one is responsible for this privation of light except the one who does not want to have it. God created the sun and the eye. Man is free to receive the sun’s light or not. The same is true here. God sends the light of knowledge like rays to all, but He also gave us faith like an eye. The one who wants to receive knowledge through faith, keeps it by his works, and so God gives him more willingness, knowledge, and power.”
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“Be ever more obedient to God and He will save you.”
St. Pachomius
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Saint Gerasimos was from the Peloponnesus, the son of Demetrius and Kale, of the family of Notaras. He was reared in piety by them and studied the Sacred writings. He left his country and went throughout various lands, and finally came to Cephalonia, where he restored a certain old church and built a convent around it, where it stands to this day at the place called Omala. He finished the course of his life there in asceticism in the year 1570. His sacred relics, which remain incorrupt, are kept there for the sanctification of the faithful.
The question of “spiritual growth” is a serious one; we speak about it all the time, but we do not all have the same understanding of what that really means. Continue reading
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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Why does the Church give such veneration to St. John the Baptist, even fixing a strict fast day in his honour? Here are ten reasons:
1. Our Lord Himself said that St. John was the greatest prophet “among those born of women” (Luke 7, 28). Some hearing these words are surprised. They ask: Surely, Christ Himself is the greatest man born of women? However, Christ was not born of a woman (i.e. a married female), he was born of a Virgin. Therefore, in obedience to our Lords words, that St. John is the greatest born of women, the Church duly honours him. In fact, there are no fewer than six feasts of St. John in the Church Year. The first is his Conception on September 23/October 6. Then comes his commemoration on January 7/20, the day after the Feast of the Baptism of Christ. The third is the Second Finding of his head on February 24/March 9. His next feast is the Third Finding of his head on May 25/June 7. The fifth is his Birth, or Nativity, on June 24/July 7, and finally today’s feast, the last in the Church Year, his Beheading on August 29/September 11. Continue reading
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~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
Whoever hates his sins will stop sinning; and whoever confesses them will receive remission.A man cannot abandon the habit of sin if he does not first gain enmity toward sin, nor can he receive remission of sin without confession of sin. For the confession of sin is the cause of true humility.
(St. Isaac the Syrian, Homilies, 71)
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By obedience a man is guarded against pride. Prayer is given for the sake of obedience. The grace of the Holy Spirit is also given for obedience. This is why obedience is higher than prayer and fasting.
(St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, XV.4)
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~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
No matter how much we may study, it is not possible to come to know God unless we live according to His commandments, for God is not known by science, but by the Holy Spirit.
Many philosophers and learned men came to the belief that God exists, but they did not know God. It is one thing to believe that God exists and another to know Him.
If someone has come to know God by the Holy Spirit, his soul will burn with love for God day and night, and his soul cannot be bound to any earthly thing.
~ St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, VIII.3
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Matthew 19: 16-26
Let Go!
A person accidentally slipped and fell of a cliff. On the way down he grabbed hold of the branch of a tree and remained suspended there. He started praying as he had never prayed before: “Lord, save me! Lord, Lord!” Suddenly the Lord answered, “Yes?” The man pleaded, “Save me, Lord!”
“Have you attended Church?” asked the Lord.
“Yes, I did whenever I could, but I promise never to miss if You will save me.”
“Have you kept the ten commandments?”
“Yes, as much as I could. I promise to obey them to the letter if You will save me.”
“Have you said your prayers every day?”
“Yes, Lord, but just get me off the side of this cliff and I’ll be the best praying man in the world.”
“Have you given generously to the work of my Church?”
“Yes, I think I have, but I’ll give even more generously in the future. Just get me off the side of this cliff.”
“Do you trust Me?”
“Yes, Lord, of course I trust You — completely.”
“Then let go the branch.”
Let go the man-made crutches you hold onto. Replace them with a tight grip on God. Let go the sin that has possessed you. It seems that we become so accustomed to our sins that we feel comfortable with them and refuse to let go. Continue reading
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God is greater! Greater than your illness whatever it may be. Greater than your deepest disappointment. Greater than your greatest worry. Greater than your worst enemy. Greater than your most difficult problem. Greater than life. Greater than death. God is greater! Believe it! Live by it! Affirm it! Claim it by faith and use it as a pillow to rest your weary soul. God is greater! If your God is not greater, then the God you believe in is too small. He is not the God the Church believes in. ~ St Isaac the Syrian
Bring your children along to learn of their rich Orthodox faith and to come close to God and His Love.
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