Fr. Michael shares from Homily 24 from St. Isaac the Syrian. "“Everything that can be perceived by the senses, whether an action or a word, is a manifestation of something hidden within.”

As an Evangelical, I had been taught that everything that is really important (spiritually speaking) has to do introducing people to Jesus Christ. Presenting Christ was almost everything. I believed that once one was reconciled with God through Christ–which I understood to be a legal transaction–everything that was really important in one’s relationship with God had been taken care of. This assumption, or something very like it, pervades Evangelical writing.

Fr. Michael shares his reflections on St. Isaac the Syrian's response to the question, "If, after a man has greatly toiled, laboured, and struggled, the thought of pride shamelessly assails him—taking occasion from the beauty of his virtues—and reckons up the magnitude of his toil, by what means should he restrain his thoughts and achieve such security in his soul as not to be persuaded by it?"

Fr. Michael reflects on a sermon by St. Gregory Palamas about barbarian invasions and sexual sins.

Patience, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, can cut in half the adversity and affliction one experiences in trials, regardless of the source.

I feel a little crazy sometimes, like an idiot—not a godly, holy idiot, just a plain, old-fashioned idiot: the kind that boasts of humility and speaks about the virtue of silence.

When I can just be at peace with the fact that I am a mess, but that I am God’s mess (God’s beloved mess), then I don’t have to prove anything. Rather, I can just be my broken self.

There is strength in humility.

The guys get back to the classics, this week taking on the 80's film, Big! They discuss the difference between innocence and naïveté, how the grass is not always greener somewhere else, and the reality that relationships help ground us in who we really are. They close with their Top 5 Coming of Age Stories.

Christina and Emma take on the HBO series, Big Little Liars. They discuss the many reasons people lie, how repentance can improve even the most impossible situations, and how the ultimate goal of life is to be healed. They close with their Top 5 Big Little Liars.

The girls discuss the newest version of the classic story, Little Women. They take on topics such as death, the place and shape of gratitude in our lives, and the role of women in society. They close with their Top 5 Movies Based on Classic Novels.

Steve Christoforou and Christian Gonzalez open up for a vulnerable conversation where they share what they're struggling with, how they're doing, and how they're still finding God at work in the midst of a global pandemic.

To be Christ's disciple requires taking up a cross, denying oneself, and losing one's life in the world.

Fr. Philip LeMasters recounts the Christmas story that is for all humanity.

Christ came to restore sight to the blind beggars of the world. Let us embrace the disciplines and spirit of the Nativity Fast in ways that will help us see that that is precisely who we are. Let us acquire the humility necessary to receive and share the peace that He was born to bring to the world. That is how we must all prepare to welcome Him into our hearts and lives at Christmas.

Growing in humility is the only way for us to find healing for our passions, for our disordered desires ultimately root in the pride of not accepting the truth about who we are before God.

In response to Christ’s statement about how hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God, the disciples were amazed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” The Lord responded, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” That is true not only for the wealthy, but for us all.

Joachim, Anna, and the Theotokos were the complete opposites of the rich man in today’s gospel reading. His only concern was to eat, drink, and enjoy himself because he had become so wealthy. He was addicted to earthly pleasure, power, and success, and saw the meaning and purpose of his life only in those terms. In stark contrast, the Theotokos followed the righteous example of her parents. She was prepared by a life of holiness to agree freely to become our Lord’s mother.

Lent calls us to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” We must do so in order to accept the great dignity of beloved sons and daughters called to return to Paradise through His Passion.

To rise up, take up our beds, and walk home requires obedience to Christ’s commands, but not a legalistic obedience in the sense of following a code for its own sake. Instead, this obedience is like following the guidance of a physician or therapist who makes clear to us what we must do in order to regain health and function for our bodies.

When we truly know that we are the chief of sinners and recognize that our very existence is dependent upon the mercy of the Lord, then we will no longer be driven to condemn anyone else.

Christ calls us all to become like the Good Samaritan, binding up the wounds of our neighbors and refusing to narrow down the list of those whom we must learn to love as ourselves. Like St. John Chrysostom, let us refuse to think that we can rightly worship the Lord by confining our piety only to what we do in liturgical services. Instead, we must make every dimension of our life a point of entrance to the Kingdom of our great High Priest.

If we dare to call upon God’s forgiveness for our sins, we will condemn only ourselves as hypocrites when we refuse to forgive others.

As we continue to prepare to welcome Christ at His Nativity, we must keep our focus on becoming like those who first received Him with joy. That includes the Theotokos, whose Entrance into the Temple, where she prepared to become His Living Temple, we celebrated last week. That includes unlikely characters like the Persian astrologers or wise men, certainly Gentiles, who traveled such a long distance to worship Him. What better news could there have been than that the Prince of Peace was coming “to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”? (Lk. 4:18-19) As we sing during these weeks of Advent, “Dance for joy, O earth, on hearing the gladsome tidings; with the Angels and the shepherds now glorify Him Who is willing to be gazed on as a young Child Who before the ages is God.”

Unless we are very careful, it is easy to fall prey to the temptation of defining holiness in ways that serve our preconceived notions, which may have very little to do with finding the healing of our souls by sharing more fully in the life of the Savior by grace. We often see righteousness through the lens of our own sensibilities about worldly divisions and disputes in ways that have more to do with serving our own passions than with serving the Lord. Today’s Scripture readings challenge us to wake up from such delusions and to see ourselves clearly before His infinite holiness.

Fr. John discusses the importance of worship to Byzantium, the immense degree to which its culture was influenced by liturgy, and the significance of "facing East."

Fr. John looks at traditional Christianity's eucharistic rites in order to see how they served to reorient the world toward the kingdom of heaven.

Fr. John discusses the ways in which iconography was defined and produced in Byzantine Christendom.

Fr. John draws attention to a feature of Byzantine statecraft in which the Emperor persecuted and manipulated the leadership of the Church.

In this episode, Fr John Parker address same-sex marriage and homosexuality, in response to the frenzy of discussion on these topics today in the public sphere.

Fr. John speaks with Metropolitan Kallistos Ware about the importance of preaching, worship, and books in our call to evangelism. One of the books His Eminence recommends for those wanting to learn more about the Orthodox faith is For the Life of the World by Fr. Alexander Schmemann.

Fr. John Parker speaks on the rule of St. Benedict, and how it caries over into the role of the parish priest in his community.

Fr. John speaks with Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in Uganda. They speak about the Church in Uganda, and how the faith has spread in Africa.

The story of the “little man” Zacchaeus (Luke 19:10) is illuminated as we consider a psalm concerning the “sons of Abraham” (1 Chronicles 16:7-14) and the vision of the victorious “Son of Man” (Dan. 7:12-14; 17-18) who came to rescue those who were lost. 1 Timothy 4:8-15 then encourages the entire Christian community (not simply those who are leaders) to grow in godliness, representing the Lord to those who are around us.

Our readings for this Sunday, 1 Cor. 4:9-16; Matthew 17:14-23 are clarified in the Old Testament, in 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms)16:1-13; Micah 5:2-4. Here we see the great paradox of humility that shows forth greatness: we become, as G. K. Chesterton put it. “Straighter when we bend and taller when we bow.” Authentic reliance upon God is born of such humility, and so is authentic love for others. We see the examples in the cross-bearing Jesus, and in the apostle Paul, ‘father’ to the Corinthians.

Phil. 2:5-11, Luke 10: 38-42, Luke 11: 27-28 appear to be odd readings for the celebration of Holy Mary. Let’s consider, with the help of Isaiah 45 and St. John Chrysostom why they are so very “meet and right” in remembering the humble one who has been made “more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious than the seraphim.”

We consider the humility of Jesus and the Theotokos in the Presentation, as well as the reason why humility is so important, as seen in our readings for Divine Liturgy this Sunday (2 Timothy 3:10-15; Luke 18:10-14), in the light of Hezekiah’s plea before God in 4 Kingdoms 19:9-20 and our Lord’s own pattern in Philippians 2: 5-11.

This week we look to the Old Testament readings of Exodus 3 and Jeremiah 32-33 to understand the feast of the Annunciation, the words of Gabriel to holy Mary, and the meeting of the Theotokos with Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah. God’s glory is seen in humble places.

This week we understand the depths of Christ’s demolition of death, and the great reversal, in the light of Ezekiel 7, Jeremiah 7, and Psalm 125 (MT 126).

The prophet Habakkuk, who waits with us during the Paschal vigil, gives us much to consider in the fourth Old Testament canticle, taken from Habakkuk 3. Modelling humility, giving us grounds for hope by remembering God’s mighty acts in Exodus and Joshua, and lifting our eyes to the places on high, he continues to speak with force and poignancy even to those of us who know the fuller story of the Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension.

In this episode, we read Esther 4: 4:17a-x, which contains the remarkable prayers of Mordecai and Esther. We see these in the context of salvation history by reference to Psalm 1, Psalm 150-151, Daniel 3:2-45; 2 Kings/4 Kingdoms 19:14-19, Nehemiah 1:5-11, and the instruction of ancient theologians.

The Littlest Altar Boy by Jenny Oehlman, illustrated by Grace Brooks (Conciliar Press, 2012).

Welcoming the Christ Child: Family Readings for the Nativity Lent, "The Hospitality of Abraham and Jacob & Esau," by Elissa Bjeletich, illustrated by Jelena Jeftic (Sebastian Press, 2017).

The Drought, from The Adventures of a Little Ringtail Complete Series (2015). Anna Larsen Books. Available from the St. Anthony Monastery store.

An Amazing Pilgrimage, from The Adventures of a Little Ringtail Complete Series (2015). Anna Larsen Books. Available from St. Anthony's Monastery Bookstore.

Life in the Shed, from The Adventures of a Little Ringtail Complete Series (2015). Anna Larsen Books. Available from St. Anthony's Monastery Bookstore

Fr. Ted discusses the spiritual importance of icons, citing the Seventh Ecumenical Council.

Fr. Ted talks shares his thoughts on the Feast of the Three Hierarchs.

Fr. Ted urges us to focus on what we can give to others and to the Church, rather than what we can get.

Fr. Ted reminds us that we must cultivate our internal spiritual lives with patience in order to grow as Christians.