On this Forgiveness Sunday, the Church draws our attention to a passage in Matthew's Gospel that offers us a Warning, some Wisdom, and the Way! Entering Great Lent without these insights will hamper your ability to truly celebrate the Resurrection. Suffice it to say it has everything to do with being forgiven and extending forgiveness!

Every year before Great Lent we hear the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. But each year we should. All because it is so easy to allow the Power, Purpose, and Perspective of Great Lent to be lost in either a mere religious habit or, worse yet, total disregard. And that's because we humans are so very vulnerable to hiding from the truth that we need God and His transformative Presence to continually make us like Him.

The central truth of the Orthodox Christian faith is Gratitude. If we can learn to live a grateful life, we will truly be shaped into the character of Christ and will reflect the life of Christ i.n our lives as well. But this life of gratitude is difficult in a world where we so easily dismiss our faith or reduce our faith to smaller ideas. How do we escape this all too easy temptation? By observing what is our initial reaction to being blessed with God's grace! What is our initial reaction to God's kindness to us? What is our reaction to the benefits of gifts? This internal clue reveals our true character!

The Apostle Paul reveals the central purpose of our Christian life together as Church when he tells the Ephesians that all the ministries of the Faith are meant to "attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

The celebration of the Enfleshing of God at Christmas is nothing less than a Divine Invasion of Creation by the Creator for the purpose of rescuing all of Humanity.

Your memory is filled with all kinds of thoughts, some good and some bad. How do you choose to remember your life? Do you only focus on the bad things, stew about revenge, or do you ignore all the bad things and live in the delusion that "everything is fine." Well, the Faith invites us to deal with life in a realistic manner, always informed by the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The Good News of Jesus Christ invites us to such a radical departure from the fallen vision of our true purpose that confronting this message invariably challenges us. This challenge will be received differently by each person based on the true nature of their heart.

When Jesus shares the parable of the man who invited his friends to a banquet and they all made excuses as to why they couldn't come, the Lord put's these words in the man's mouth: "None of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." When God invites you to be at His Banquet, will you make an excuse?

Father's homily today deals with the invitation to "Come and See." This is a dynamic and involved participation in the living out of the Faith. This is a purposeful Orthodoxy that demands not mere observance but actual practice of our faith. Tow men answer two different questions with "Come and See" and today we are invited to find out why!

The only place in the Bible where God Himself calls a man a fool! And it was because this man was so blinded by his possessions, he thought nothing of his mortality! How foolish! Are you living a foolish life?

St. John the Baptist declared he was unworthy to untie the sandals of the Lord. He also promised that, while he baptized with water, the Lord Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit! And this is both Good News AND terrifying News! Especially because Fire does more than illuminate!

The monks on Mt. Athos use to greet one another, not with "How are you?" or "How are you doing?" but with "How is your prayer?" St. Paul tells the faithful at the Ephesian Church that the gifts God has given to His Church were meant to bring each of us to the unity of the faith, to maturity, to the full stature of Jesus Christ. So, is that what is happening in your life? If not, why not?

When Jesus heals 10 lepers, He opens the door for us to learn a valuable insight into a consistent life in Christ. The two lessons learned from a grateful leper who was also a foreigner is meant for us all.

St. Paul warns the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain.

Sunday of the Publican and Pharisee.

Sunday of the Prodigal Son.

On this Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, we are confronted with a theology that invites us to know ourselves by seeing what God looks like in flesh!

On the Sunday of St. Gregory of Palamas we celebrate the wisdom of the Orthodox Faith to marry the physical and the spiritual and escape the false dichotomy of the created and the Uncreated. In other words, no more cubbyholing our lives into the sacred and the secular!

On the Sunday of the Cross during Great Lent, the Church gives us the miracle of suffering as the medicine that will carry us to the joys of Pascha. Halfway through Lent we look to the Cross for strength and joy THROUGH suffering, not escape from suffering!

On Palm Sunday a crowd shouted out their praise for Christ. This popularity at the beginning of Holy Week won't last. So, why are we humans so fickle?

When Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath Day, His act of love and mercy reveals the deep spiritual poverty of others whose hearts are gripped by mere rule keeping. This revelation is an invitation to you and me to examine our own attitudes towards our faith!

In a society where the noise factor of our lives threatens to drown out the loving Voice of God, learning to listen for that "still, small voice" that tells us who we really are is even more important.

The Sunday of the Samaritan Woman sees the Lord gently confront a dear lady who didn't realize Who she was speaking to, and this blindness to just Who Jesus is means she is missing the real point of her life!

On the Sunday of the Fathers of the 1st Ecumnical Council at Nicea, the Church calls us to consider the powerful prayer of our Lord Jesus in John 17. It turns out eternal life isn't a situation as much as it is a relationship! Being connected to life gives us life. Are you connected?

The Feast of Pentecost.

The two seas in the Holy Land are both fed by the Jordan River. One sea is alive with all kinds of fish and plants and birds, and the other is Dead! The reason why this is so is the same reason why some people become saints and some don't!

You are the light of the world!

St. Paul tells the Romans that our God is the God of Steadfastness AND Encouragement. It's this vision of God that makes all the hard work of faithfulness worth all the effort to stay focused on a daily practice of the Faith. And it's only that kind of practice that will be a worthy legacy to pass on to our children!

Jesus refuses to allow the lack of faith of His disciples to send the crowd away. He tells them, commands them "You feed them!"

The work of the Faith is meant to cleanse your spiritual eyes so you have 20/20 vision about what's most important in your life.

Both sickness and even death is made well by faith. But this message isn't about any physical sickness or even physical death but the spiritual sickness and death that grips us and enslaves us to a life of self-centered choices. Being free from that sickness and death is the only path that leads to authentic human life! It's the only path to a renewed mind!

Jesus confronts the people and the disciples when they can't heal a little boy!

The distance between what I know and what I do causes such frustration in my life, and the confusion of seeing the world, the nation, the community, the family I love suffer due to the weaknesses of all of us causes even more frustration. But, in the end, this frustration flows from my own broken life!

Jesus commands some outlandish behaviors. He says love those who don't love you. Do good to those who don't do good to you. And even lend to others expecting nothing in return! How can we do this? By embracing the One True Center of our real lives!

Jesus tells the parable about a man who is doing so well, he has to tear down his old barns to build bigger barns. And God confronts him with his mortality! This is the only way to avoid the Passions for Distractions!

When the rich young ruler meets Jesus, he asks the only question worth asking. How sad he didn't like the answer.

Jesus heals a woman on the Sabbath Day and this reveals the hypocritical hearts of those around Him!

St. Paul tells the Colossians the greatest danger to their spiritual lives is Idolatry. But what is Idolatry? Turns out it is much deeper than an idol!

The Orthodox Church teaches that Jesus Christ is more than a great teacher, more than a good man. The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh; born of a Virgin, and come to save the world! You are part of that vision for humanity!

We are at the start of a new year. We celebrate the circumcision of the Lord and the life of St. Basil. By doing this, the Church offers us a challenge to change the way we think about time!

Jesus Gives us the 5 fold Ministry of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers to help us get used to the Eternal Light of His presence so we will enjoy being with Him!

St. Paul tells his faithful in Collasse that the Good News of Jesus means no more divisions between Jews and Greeks, between slaves and free men. Christianity is the death of racism!

On this Sunday of Zacchaeus we start our preparation for Great Lent. And our first labor is to examine our motives. So, what motivates your faith?

On this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Lord Jesus gives us an insight into a sober and humble way of life. But our world is intoxicated by anger and fear, and all our choices are hampered by anger and fear. What's the way out? The Way of Repentance.

The Sunday of the Prodigal reminds us that repentance is never too late, and the Father wants us back every time we stray.

On the Sunday of the Last Judgement we see both the Righteous and the Unrighteous as the Lord the Same Question!

On Forgiveness Sunday we remember Adam and Eve being sent out of the Garden of Eden. Why? For Punishment? The answer may surprise you!

On the first Sunday of Great Lent the Church calls us to recall the victory of Orthodoxy over the heresy of an invisible God! Now that God has become visible for our sake, we are invited to Come and See!

On this Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas, we are confronted by the Scriptures with the dangers of distraction. By avoiding being distracted by life and focus on our Christian living we will avoid the pitfalls of distraction.