Reflections in Christ

In the Orthodox Church, the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee [Luke 18:10-14) is the first of a cycle of appointed Gospel readings that inaugurates the pre-Lenten season.  In other words, on an annual basis, precisely four weeks before Great Lent begins, we hear this parable proclaimed in the Liturgy.  The intentions of the Lord in…

“The aim of the Christian life is to return to that perfect grace of the most holy and life-giving Spirit, which was originally conferred upon us through divine baptism”—Saint Ignatius Xanthopoulos and Saint Kallistos

Our recent celebration of the Great Feast of Theophany—the Baptism of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ—provides a fitting…

In the Service of Prayer for the New Year, we offer the following prayerful petitions to God:

“That He will mercifully accept this present thanksgiving and supplication of us, His unworthy servants, on His most-heavenly Altar, and compassionately have mercy on us, let us pray to the Lord.

“That He will bless the beginning and continuance of this…

Within the Orthodox Church, the Sunday between December 11-17 is called, simply enough, the “Second Sunday Before the Nativity of the Lord,” and more specifically, the “Sunday of the Forefathers.”  This liturgical preparation for the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity—something of a build-up—is a conscious echo of the lengthy time of preparation,…

Not long ago, I ran across a copy of my granddaughter Nadia’s edition of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”—a book that she had thoroughly enjoyed when she was younger.  That brought back memories of having read the Dr. Seuss classic and having watched the TV version in my own childhood.  And this further gave rise to some fantasizing on my…

In the Orthodox Prayer Book under the heading “Before Sleep,” we find “A Prayer of Saint John of Damascus, said pointing at the bed.”  This particular prayer begins, “O Master Who lovest mankind, is this bed to be my coffin?  Or wilt Thou enlighten my wretched soul with another day?”

As Saint John was a monk, we could, of course, dismiss or ignore…

Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “legion;” for many demons had entered him.  And they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.  Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged Him to let them enter into these.  So He gave them leave.  Then the demons came out of the man and entered…

Christians of East and West will agree that one of the premier preachers in the entire history of the Church is Saint John Chrysostom—the “Golden-mouthed.”  His “presence,” of course, is most alive in the Orthodox Church as we celebrate the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom on a weekly basis, find his icon adorning the apses and naves of many…

From my personal—and, admittedly, “subjective”—perspective, there is nothing quite like the fall among the four seasons.  For me, this season’s greatest attraction is found in the flaming red, orange, yellow and golden leaves that transform familiar trees into a series of neighborhood “burning bushes,” each one seemingly brighter than the other. …

I recently came across this very intriguing text that I wanted to share:  “I knew you that you existed but did not believe it was so real.”

To my mind, this anonymous text has a certain “modern” feel to it—as if somehow similar in meaning and intent to the title of C. S. Lewis’s autobiographical work, Surprised by Joy, in which he describes his…

Throughout this week, we continue to our celebration of the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy and Lifegving Cross of the Lord.  At the festal Divine Liturgy this past Sunday, we venerated the “life-giving wood” of the Cross, and hopefully we are continuing to do so in our domestic prayers, alone or with our family members, through the…

We are approaching the Feast Day of the Universal Exaltation of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross—to give the Feast its full title – this coming Sunday, September 14.  This is the day that we liturgically commemorate and venerate the Cross that will be placed in the middle of the church toward the end of Great Vespers on Saturday evening.  The…

Recently, I was reading and studying what has come to be called “the Sermon on the Plain” found in Luke 6.  In this passage, we come to the very heart of Christ’s teaching, to the words that penetrate both the mind and heart, and which have drawn countless people to Christ from the time they were first uttered and throughout the centuries up to our…

While looking through a catalogue recently from a Christian publishing company, I came across a rather intriguing title: Too Busy Not to Pray.  I say intriguing because this is a theme that I think about often and one that I have raised with others before. Read that title again carefully, because it does not say Too Busy to Pray, but precisely Too…

The Sunday of All Saints fittingly follows the Sunday of Pentecost, for the saints of the Church are the “fruit” and manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence among us.  They are the living icons that are transparent to the glory of God that shines in and through each of them as a gift of the Holy Spirit.  The saints—literally, the “holy…

Pentecost Sunday is also called “Trinity Sunday.”  The One God is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit—One God, therefore, worshipped in three Persons.  Pentecost is the final realization of that truth, following many “hints” of God’s Trinitarian nature in both the Old and New Testaments.  We are not Unitarians, but we believe in,…

In my humble opinion, the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman (John 4:5-42) may just be the most profound and amazing dialogue ever recorded in human history. There are, of course, the incredible Platonic dialogues that present the attractive and irrepressible figure of the philosopher Socrates and his quest for moral and ethical truth. …

Today finds us at the exact midpoint of the sacred 50-day period between the Feasts of Pascha and Pentecost.  So, this 25th day is called, simply, Midfeast or Mid-Pentecost.  Pentecost (from the Greek pentecosti) is, of course, the name of the great Feast on the 50th day after Pascha, but the term is also used to cover the entire 50-day period…

“And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour” [Mark 15:33].

“And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen” [Mark 16:2].

Saint Mark the Evangelist is rather precise when he narrates that the Lord was crucified at the third hour (15:25); that darkness fell…

Christ is risen!

Recently, I posed a question to the faithful of our parish:  Is there life after Pascha?  Another question has formed in my mind this morning:  Is there Lent after Lent?  Before proceeding any further, I need to offer two points of clarification:  1.) I apologize if I just happened to unsettle anyone with the frightening prospect…