“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard…” (Luke 7:22)
Blind faith is not Christian faith. John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was really the Messiah they had been waiting for. Instead of giving a Tinker Bell answer of “just believe,” Jesus takes the…
Today’s epistle is familiar as the reading at marriages,“ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her…” St Paul goes on to say that Christ’s desire for the church is that she would be purified of defects. Now, anyone who…
“The best laid schemes of Mice and Men oft go awry,” wrote Robert Burns. I had planned to get back to the Chancellor’s Diary properly today but events yesterday and a too-early flight to Denver today got in the way. I arrived a little while ago…
This has been a grueling week of meetings with the Metropolitan Council (which ended yesterday), and this morning I’m at St Vladimir’s Seminary to do a presentation with Dr Albert Rossi to seminarians on healthy boundaries, spiritual abuse and sexual misconduct. So again this will be a short entry for the Chancellor’s Diary.
The MC meeting…
Hello everyone,
This week I am heavily involved in the meetings of the Metropolitan Council, that go from morning till night today through Thursday. So I apologize in advance that postings to the “Chancellor’s Diary” will be spotty.
Today began with Divine Liturgy for the feast of Saint Sergius, patron of the Chancery chapel, served by Bishop…
When Jesus first spoke in his hometown synagogue at Nazareth the congregation was amazed at his wisdom, “and all spoke well of him.” But as they started to ruminate it didn’t take long for their admiration to turn to suspicion. “Just where did…
We usually think of mystery as something secret and hidden, but in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which we begin reading today, mystery is a great and glorious wonder that is now uncovered and revealed. It is a “mystery” because it defies explanation…
“And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9)
At the very start of his public ministry, after being baptized by John, Jesus is led by the Spirit not to crowds and teaching and healing, but into the desert by himself, to…
Freedom in Christ, freedom in the Spirit, freedom from the “curse of the law”—Saint Paul is constantly emphasizing the freedom of the new Christian life. But this shouldn’t be confused with license to do whatever we want or freedom from constraints as many in Corinth…
Late yesterday afternoon, in Saint Sergius chapel on the eve of the Elevation of the Cross, Father Eric G Tosi was serving and at the end said a few words. He recalled walking through an airport wearing his cassock and cross, a woman rushed up to him, pointed at the cross…
Tomorrow is the feast of the Elevation of the Cross and we therefore have a rich set of readings today.
Hebrews 3:1-4 underlines the faithfulness of Jesus to his vocation. He is the apostle, from the Greek word meaning…
“And He called to them the twelve, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics…So they…
I do not set aside the grace of God. (Gal 2:21)
Before being ordained a priest in 1984, I used to work for Bankers Trust in New York, next to the Twin Towers. At lunchtime I would often walk across the pedestrian bridge that connected the bank to the World Trade Center and get something to eat from…
And they ridiculed Him.
(Mark 5:40)
Jesus repeatedly faced ridicule, mockery and insults. In today’s gospel about Jairus’ daughter, it was obvious to everyone around her that the little girl was dead, not “sleeping,” as Jesus said. “And they ridiculed him.” Jesus takes this in stride…
Galatians is St Paul’s most biting and passionate letter. More than any other it shows what he most valued and was willing to fight for. The situation in Galatia was this. Paul had brought the Good News to Gentiles (non-Jews) in this province in Asia Minor. The core of this gospel was…
I am back home in Ottawa for Labour Day weekend, a wedding, completing a book-editing project and dealing with long-neglected domestic duties around the house. The Chancellor’s Diary will resume publication on Thursday, September 6th. May God bless the start of the school year for all students, parents, teachers, school administrators, support staff…
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”—because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”…
The Acts reading today for the Beheading of John the Baptist comes from Saint Paul’s first missionary sermon in Asia Minor, when he was invited to preach in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch. His words about the promised Messiah electrified the…
Today’s gospel recounts the choosing of the twelve apostles. Jesus “called to him those whom he desired…and he appointed twelve to be with him.” And among those he chose was Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. I find this strangely comforting because it means that even Jesus was not a…
In today’s epistle, Paul is still dealing with the aftermath of the troubling situation in Corinth that provoked a sharp earlier letter. We don’t know what it was precisely but it involved someone who had caused grievous offense and been let off too easily, while the person who had been wronged…