Fr. Stephen observes that the real truth of our lives before God is best found in our weaknesses rather than in our strengths.

Frederica Mathewes-Green defends pro-lifers’ right to wear that name, and choose for themselves what causes to support.

Have you ever struggled with being content with your own life? Accepting your own strengths? This week Christian (with a little help from Kylo Ren) explores how we must live into our own lives if we have any hope of serving the Lord.

Fr. John Whiteford speaks on Psalm 50:10-12.

Fr. John Whiteford's sermon for August 25, 2024.

Bondage to sin and wrong behavior and struggling with things we can’t seem to overcome plague us all to lesser or greater degrees. Join Michael as he talks about three typical forms of bondage that grip us and what we need to do to overcome them.

Join Michael as he provides an in-depth discussion of the many spiritual aspects of patience that are critical to our salvation and the salvation of others, and how lacking this virtue is more spiritually harmful than we may realize.

Join Michael as he discusses how we should see and experience ourselves and others as living icons of Christ, and how we achieve this through the difficult task unknowing ourselves.

In this podcast we explore how to make small changes in our life to benefit our soul and body based on various practices that our Holy Tradition provides to us.

On this Sunday, Fr. Andrew asks why we are experts in everything except our faith?

On this Palm Sunday, Fr. Andrew shows how what sociologists have observed about how both kids and adults stay in church long-term is built into the Orthodox tradition.

Fr. Andrew discusses the House of Stephanas which Paul baptized and how we should emulate them.

Every day, we make hundreds of small choices that train us for selfishness. How does that affect our behavior, and how do we train ourselves to be like Christ instead? Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick explores some of our everyday experiences and what they mean for eternity.

What do those words in the liturgy mean? And how do we accomplish this? Fr. John enlightens us with the answers.

Fr. John Oliver reflects on how helping others helps us fight our own battles.

In this episode, Fr. Anthony talks about Great Lent in the Lehigh Valley (PA) and about how the Lenten disciplines - and especially the Prayer of St. Ephraim - can protect and heal us from the damage of war.

Fr. Michael addresses the passages in the gospels where Jesus instructs his disciples to buy swords, Peter's use of the sword, and our own response. "When you look at the Orthodox tradition, there is quite a mixed bag regarding violence and the use of weapons.... When we use force to oppose those who oppose us, when we end up fighting fire with fire, we destroy the ability of our enemy to hear. We cut off the ear of the very ones Jesus came to save."

Fr. Philip LeMasters calls us to offer ourselves to the Christ who offered Himself for the life of the world.

Fr. Philip LeMasters considers how the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee relates to our lives today.

It is sobering how easily we can corrupt any good thing, including faith in Jesus Christ. Some people fall into the delusion of thinking that they love God and neighbor, when in reality they serve only themselves. One symptom of doing so is to narrow down the kind of people who count as our neighbors such that we excuse ourselves from seeing and serving Christ in all who bear His image and likeness. When we do so, we disregard not only them, but our Lord Himself. Our actions then reveal that we do not truly have faith in Him because we are only seeking to justify ourselves.

We have all had experiences in which we have learned uncomfortable truths about ourselves. When that happens, we have a choice about what to do next. It is possible to recognize a weakness or failing and then to do what we can to overcome it. Too often, however, we give up hope and fall into despair due to our hurt pride. That is precisely what the man in today’s gospel lesson did when Jesus Christ gave him a commandment that he lacked the strength to obey: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

We celebrate the Presentation of Christ forty days after His birth, in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Theotokos and St. Joseph bring the young Savior there in compliance with the Old Testament law, making the offering of a poor family, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also recognizes Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

None of us has the power to fix today’s problems, but we all have the ability to offer ourselves in seemingly small ways to bless people by listening to them patiently, providing an encouraging word, and sharing our resources as we are able.

We must never think that the vocation to holiness is reserved exclusively for some people, perhaps the clergy, the monastics, or only the great saints.

The season of Pascha has only just begun. Because of His bodily resurrection, we must become holy in our bodies and treat our suffering neighbors accordingly. Let us continue to celebrate by participating as fully as possible in the joy of the empty tomb. Now nothing other than our own refusal can hold us back from becoming truly human, for “Christ is Risen!”

We must mindfully take the steps necessary to follow the Theotokos in becoming holy living temples of the Lord. That is the only way to celebrate this feast and to prepare to celebrate Christmas with integrity.

If we want to know Christ’s peace, which conquers even the fear of the grave, we must become radiant with His Light, which means that we must unite ourselves to Him in faith, hope, and love from the depths of our souls.

It is worth asking what we want to achieve by practicing our faith. Why do we come to church, pray, fast, give to the needy, forgive our enemies, confess our sins, and otherwise struggle to reorient our lives toward God? Perhaps we do these things because we want to put God in our debt so that He will do our will. Maybe we want to become socially respectable, making ourselves look virtuous in our own eyes and in those of our neighbors. It could also be the case that we want to distinguish ourselves from our neighbors, especially those we do not like, presenting ourselves as more pious and moral than we think they are. Of course, these are all distortions of true Christian faith, but the real test of our faith is not simply in what we generally want from religion, but especially in how we relate to the Lord when we face deep challenges that break our hearts and threaten to lead us into despair.

Today we continue to celebrate the Presentation of Christ, forty days after His birth, in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Theotokos and St. Joseph bring the young Savior there in compliance with the Old Testament law, making the offering of a poor family, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also recognizes Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Today we continue to celebrate the Presentation of Christ, forty days after His birth, in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Theotokos and St. Joseph bring the young Savior there in compliance with the Old Testament law, making the offering of a poor family, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also recognizes Him as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

It is easy to overlook how often the Lord used money and possessions to convey a spiritual message. Perhaps that is because almost everyone struggles with being overly attached to material things, for they can meet our basic physical needs and provide comfort and a sense of security. Due to our self-centered desires, however, they so easily become false gods as we make them the measure of our lives. As Christ taught, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also….You cannot serve both God and mammon.” (Matt. 6: 21, 24)

Fr. Ted explains that being a real Christian should not be fun.

Fr. Ted discusses the important of confession and the Eucharist. Without them, he argues, we are both dirty and starving.

Fr. Ted explains that when we fail to take part in fasting or the sacraments, we create an identity crisis within.

In the act of giving we free ourselves from our material possessions.

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos talks about the importance of looking only at our own sin as we enter into the Triodion in preparation for the Great Fast.

Reflections written by Fr. Nicolaie for the Sixth Sunday of Luke: the story of the farmer who wanted to build more barns.

It is always better to give than to receive. When we try to help other people, we tend to forget their need to also be able to give.

Fr. Emmanuel Kahn says St. Paul sets before us a model—that we should be as “beloved children”—that is children who are deeply loved by their parents and others, because God first loves us before we learn to love Him.

We are not called to set ourselves free, but we do need to want to be healed. We do need to praise God for coming into our lives—for joining us to Him and to each other in the Church.

Fr. Gregory Hallam gives the sermon for Sunday, November 18, 2018.

In this homily given on the Feast of the Dormition in 2010, Fr. Pat reflects upon the revelation of the Gospel disclosed in the human face