“Thoughts in Christ”

A young man asked me if Jesus had a sense of humor. I told him that there’s little evidence of it in His words from the gospels. But as I reflected on it later, I’m not so sure. Granted, some scholars point to the exaggerations He made, such as the above comment on the wealthy, or others like it: “Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a…

Study these sentences and you will learn much about the Holy Trinity. The first lesson is the connection between love and obedience. Ours is a culture where defiance is acceptable behavior in many places: Children defying parents and teachers, adults defying the Church and its teachers, nearly everyone challenging the laws of society, all affirming…

When man fell and went astray, hopelessly lost and even unaware that he had a direction, goal and purpose for living, God in Christ emptied Himself, as St. Paul put it so clearly. But when Christ came to put it aright, offering a new and glorious way back to the Father, and when He ascended from the earth, then the Holy Spirit descended upon the…

Something is new under the sun. A great mystery is revealed—the birth of the Church with the coming of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is accidental to those who live by the light of Christ, and it is not by accident that Pentecost is celebrated by the Church near the time of graduation from schools and universities in our secular society. Pentecost is…

It pleases me to listen to the chanting in our churches done in English by those whose native language is not ours. They don’t get our articles right, especially “the.” The “th” comes out with a French “z” or a harsh “d,” but no matter. They try. They work at it, and to me it’s a beautiful accent. Better than to flow along in Old World tongues,…

Once I was asked: “Why should I say that I’m the ‘first of sinners’ in the prayer before Communion? I’m not the first. I know many people who are worse than I.”

I told the communicant that it’s a direct quote from St. Paul who felt that way about himself, and I wasn’t sure he was ready to put himself in the class of the Apostle. I understood,…

What we know of Titus comes mostly from his worth to St. Paul. He called Titus my trusted son. He meant by that Titus was initiated into the faith and maybe even baptized by the great apostle. When he was going up to Jerusalem, knowing he was distrusted for his former persecution of the Church, disliked and suspected by many of the Christians there,…

While the choir is singing and the Royal Doors are shut, and as I stand before the holy altar cutting the sacred Host into pieces to place them in the chalice, I worry that they will be sufficient for the multitude of communicants—and they always are. What a glorious privilege it is to be appointed distributor of the Body and Blood of Christ. I…

It’s time to rise, Mom, and leave the earth behind you
Rise up from the casket and pass on through
Your legs now work again; you may run if you choose
Like the little girl you once were—but there’s precious time to lose

Oh, go Mom, go and don’t turn around
For you’ll see now what we cannot, we creatures still earthbound
It’s all brightness there;…

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Christian churches had distributed bracelets to their children with the letters on them: WWJD. In each situation they found themselves they were encouraged to ponder the acronym: What would Jesus do? What’s wrong with that? Perspective! It turns prayer into simple reflection. It makes Jesus a memory rather…

If I could speak just a single sentence to comfort the hearts of my spiritual children, it would be: “You are never alone, because your guardian angel is always close by.” Each of us at our birth has an angel assigned to our spiritual care by our heavenly Father. It is also our misfortune that from that time the devil is out to separate us from God…

Orthodox Christians not only listen to the reading of the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Good Friday. They feel the emotion of his funeral. They share the mystery of burying the Source of life by reenacting the Lord’s entombment. The bishop or priest in full vestments paces beneath the Holy Shroud held above him. He then leads the…

It’s early morning, hours before dawn. Again I cannot sleep. It was exactly fifty years ago less a few months when Mom and I would bundle young John in a blanket and toss him in the back seat of our Chrysler, then drive around anywhere and nowhere until the blessed sunrise would allow us to face the day without Dad. Now it’s the same feeling, only I…

Sin is not everyone’s problem—only for those who love and fear God. Sin is separation from the Lord. Those without the awareness of God elect themselves perfect as they are. The people of God pray for their enlightenment and release from the darkness of ignorance.

We learn in the Bible that the priests’ duty is to offer sacrifices for God’s…

The poet Dylan Thomas, pondering the way one faces death, counseled: “Do not go gentle into that good night.” Orthodox Christians would disagree with that emotion. For us, death is a celebration of a life lived as well as the deceased was capable in following the will and the steps of the Lord. In another sense it’s a birthday party, since the date…

The letter to the Hebrews was written by a Jewish Christian who wanted his fellow Jews to return to Jesus as the Christ and to keep them from falling away. It was written sometime before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. and after 64 A.D., the persecution of the Christians under Nero. One might imagine given the close-knit family ties of the…

Today is the time when many have forsaken “sound doctrine” and find new teachers who will “suit their own desires.” It’s always been like that. In these days, however, religion faces new challenges. The prestige of the altar and its servants is long lost, and the authority that goes with it has disappeared. Here’s what a contemporary writer has to…

Imagine the man standing in the garden. The woman approaches, puts her arm on his shoulder and whispers something in his ear. He hesitates. He lowers his head. She says, “It’s alright. The serpent told me it will be a good thing for us, and he’s been here long before us.” The man looks long at the tree, and then he sees something between himself…

Who of us has not been awakened from sleep by a horrible fantasy? That which we fear the most comes to provoke and intimidate us: Serpents or monsters, grotesque beasts or crawly, slimy things…thoughts of death, precarious situations, men come to kill us, or just ourselves, helpless to respond to the situation. But the ultimate nightmare is given to…

The opening motif of the Prodigal Son tale reveals the problem God has in dealing with any of us. The parent in the story symbolizes the heavenly Father, and the Prodigal in the same way stands for each of us who has been entrusted with a precious heritage of blessings which we had done nothing to deserve, along with the dignity of freedom to do…