What time is it anyway? As we set our clocks back, Fr. Joseph is reflecting on our obsession with time as a culture and the impact it has on our priorities.

What time is it anyway? In this classic podcast from the last time we set our clocks back, Fr. Joseph reflects on our obsession with time as a culture and the impact it has on our priorities.

What do Charles Dickens, Buzz Lightyear, Vladimir Lossky, the Carolina Panthers, the Baltimore Colts, Angels, Shepherds, George Frideric Handel and Kawasaki all have in common? Surely to goodness nothing but this podcast! Fr Joseph is visited by another "ghost."

What do you do when God ain't good enough? Now that's a softball question! In this week's episode, Fr. Joseph is still looking for that softball.

At a 1,500 year "disadvantage" -- Aarr! -- St. Anthony the Great missed out on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But, Fr. Joseph imagines what the desert dwelling Father might have said to disciples of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Just a few more weeks until the Nativity feast. With the fast, the shopping, the preparations ... how are you doing? Let us prepare? Yes. But regardless of how prepared we are, let us be thankful.

A vision of Brett Favre, along with the surprise of a Pittsburgh Steeler, join Fr. Joseph (a husky seventh grade boy) on the playing field of ... priestly ministry.

Fr. Joseph visits The Tonight Show—really!—and dreams of hosting, guesting and side-kicking (featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Conan O'Brien, Carnac the Magnorfodox, David of Wales, Red Skelton, "the world's greatest grape catcher," and more)!

The audio version of the book, "We Came, We Saw, We Converted: The Lighter Side of Orthodoxy in America" is the perfect gift for that special someone (you know, the one who's hard to buy for, and you might as well get them something for free!). Fr. Joseph is giving away free copies to those who send him their funniest Christmas Story—listen closely to this encore (re-gifted?) episode, "The Ghost of Past Christmas Presents" for details on how to win your free audio book download!

Fr. Joseph revisits "The Tonight Show" and dreams of hosting, guesting and side-kicking (featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Conan O'Brien, Carnac the Magnorfodox, David of Wales, Red Skelton, "the world's greatest grape catcher" and more)!

Due to a knock on the noggin, Fr. Joseph finds himself fast-forwarding toward Pascha and holding hands with a green elf at midnight in a church where everybody is clothed in their pajamas and the iconostasis has been replaced with ... dirty laundry?

In the last episode, Fr. Joseph encountered a little green church elf, Elton John, Lady GaGa, Archie Bunker, and Buzz Lightyear in pajamas. In this concluding episode, he tries to make sense of it all (with the help of Ol' Scratch).

Whether in tuxedo or collar, whether playing the role of smart aleck or slow learner, one thing is certain: Stuff happens. Be prepared. Say your prayers . . . and wear clean underwear.

Fr. Joseph says, "I'll have you all know that I took time out from reading Scripture, visiting the sick, and saying my prayers to record this podcast—now with more banjo!"

The Great Commission just doesn't apply to us, right?

It is only September, but stores are already displaying their Halloween "goods." What are we to make of this holiday as Orthodox Christians?

Fr. Maximos McIntyre, a ROCOR mission priest in MA, talks to us about the challenges of bi-vocational ministry and shares warnings about ghost hunting. And he knows what he is speaking about; he spent several years as a paranormal investigator working with some of the big names in the field.

In this episode, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Gregory Jensen talk about some of the themes in St. John Chrysostom's On the Priesthood. Enjoy the show!

Join Fr. Anthony as he talks with Fr. Gregory Jensen, PhD, to get some advice on the role of the priest/pastor in crazy times. It's a difficult conversation, but it's important for us to have trusted friends in our lives who will tell us things we don't want to hear. Fr. Gregory is wise, experienced, and courageous enough to say things that will satisfy precisely no one. Enjoy the show!

Join Fr. Anthony and Amon Sul co-host Richard Rohlin as Richard shares his origin story (the spider bite was a bilingual household!), some thoughts on kata, and his love of language. This edition serves as a warmup for their upcoming conversation on the need to get the stories of ourselves, our nation, and the cosmos right. Enjoy the show!

Fr. Anthony talks with Fr. Gregory about scientific theories about the origin of thoughts and how the Orthodox understanding covers and improves on them both theologically and practically. This should not be surprising as Orthodoxy grounds anthropology within the fullness of the faith and monastic wisdom is the practical fruit of this theology as it has been lived, developed, and preserved for many generations. Enjoy the show!

Elissa reminds us that we are temples of God, meant to light up and become a lamp for the world.

Elissa discusses how the parish and Sunday school can help support the family throughout Lent.

Elissa talks with Alisa Rakich-Brooks, author of Let There Be Light, the first in a new series of Orthodox children's books, about how our children are experiencing the relationship between religion and science and steps we might take to frame scientific inquiry in an Orthodox light.

We tell them that God is Love, but do we go a step further and teach them what it means to actually love other people? Literally, how do we show love? I think we assume that people know that already, but maybe they don't—or maybe we could do better.

Fr. Michael discusses "the dark night of the soul," an expression coined by St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Spanish mystic.

Fr. Michael addresses disappointment—what it is and how we should deal with it.

Fr. Michael talks about how our thoughts influence our lives. "This is success: to become by grace a God-filled human being, to become all that God has called us to be."

Fr. Michael uses the illustration of rock climbing to talk about fear and freedom.

Fr. Michael shares an article by Abbess Victoria of St. Barbara's Monastery (Santa Paula, California) on ways to handle worries and distractions while praying.

Fr. Michael talks about the sin of becoming "too righteous."

Fr. Michael continues his discussion from last week. "We should not teach our children that anything outside us can defile us.... The defilement is already in our hearts and what we avoid, we avoid because it stirs up the disordered passions of my heart."

Fr. Michael shares from St. Isaac the Syrian. "St. Isaac advises us that when we find ourselves confronting either tedium or despondency, we need to call to mind why we are doing what we are doing. Why do I pray? Why do I read my bible? Why do I do any spiritual discipline that I do? I do it because I desire the hidden, spiritual realities. I desire to know God. St. Isaac tells us that we must allow this desire to generate expectation in us: expectation that God will come to my aid, expectation that soon something hidden will indeed be revealed to me; expectation that this simple act of being diligent and hanging in there will indeed bear fruit."

Many of us have had mountain-top experiences at one time in our life or another. We have had times when God seemed right there, so close that, at that moment it seemed like nothing to offer God everything, to sacrifice all for the sake of Christ. These mountain-top experiences, at least for me, are very few and far between. It is a kind of miracle when this happens. But like most miracles, it happens not so that we don’t have to suffer, don’t have to slog through the rest of life on the plains. Rather, God gives us these moments as signs, as encouragement to keep us on the way, as a foretaste so that we know what the coming main meal will be. But the wonderful experience of nearness to God soon passes and we find ourselves back in the world, back in the arena of our salvation, back now having to fulfill the promise of giving our life to God. On the mountain top it seemed that it would be so easy, but on the plains, in the mud and snirt (a Canadian term referring to snow mixed with dirt), in the messiness of the lives we actually live, giving our life to God is much more difficult and messy than we ever imagined it would be.

"St. Isaac the Syrian’s homily 44 is one of his several very difficult homilies. It is difficult not because it is hard to understand. Exactly the opposite is the case. It is quite straight forward and easy to understand. I understand it, and I am offended by it." Here is a link to the book that Fr. Michael mentions at the end of this blog: http://www.orthodoxchristianebooks.com/grace-of-incorruption

St. Isaac the Syrian refers to zeal as a guard dog. He refers to sinful and unwanted thoughts and impulses as birds that fly around our soul. Zeal is the guard dog that barks and warns us that these unwanted thoughts are there and motivates us to chase these birds away.

What should lay people do when they have a priest whose words or behaviour is unworthy of the grace of the priesthood? What should any person in authority do to better hear the voice of those under their care, especially when that voice is critical of them?

Fr. Michael discusses how to relate our faith to those who need to hear it: spreading the crumbs that have fallen from our master's table (Mt. 15:27). How do we share our talents with those in need?

Fr. Michael Gillis shares about anger. "If I were to venture a guess as to the most commonly confessed passion that I hear in confessions, I would say that it is anger. Just about everyone is angry. According to many of the saints, anger and misdirected desire are the two main passions from which all vices and passions come."

Fr. Michael Gillis reminds us, "Like the prodigal and the harlot and the publican, we bring nothing except failure and a strong sense that we are not worthy to be received. But we come nonetheless. We come because the greatness of our Father’s love extends to the lowest hell of our misery. We come expecting nothing, but asking our merciful God for mercy. We come knowing that we are a compete mess, but that we are God’s nonetheless. We are God’s, mess and all."

Fr. Michael Gillis uses a gardening analogy to discuss dealing with the deep-rooted sins in life.

Most of the time, caring for our inner garden is more a matter of attention than of effort. The weeds of sinful and passionate thoughts can be pulled out pretty easily by merely recognizing them as sinful and turning your attention to Christ in prayer. The Jesus Prayer is probably the most common, or at least the most famous, form of prayer used by Orthodox Christians to turn their attention to Christ and away from sinful thoughts. However, sometimes the weeds get out of control. Sometimes weeds grow in the back corners of our garden where we don’t pay a lot of attention—until it is too late. Suddenly we realize that a pattern of thought that we had not looked at very carefully turns out to be harboring some pretty nasty sinful passions.

I want to make clear to everyone that we will not be asking anyone about vaccination status. As in almost all matters, so with government health mandates, it is possible (probable) that very godly, intelligent and well-meaning people will disagree. Let’s not let self righteousness—and her children, fear, anger, and judgement—keep us from loving one another and believing the best of one another, even if we don’t see eye to eye on this or any other political or medical matter.

Someone recently asked me about how to understand the evil thoughts they experience.

The movement of thoughts in a man originates from four causes.

Fr. Tom takes us to the Letter to the Hebrews which tells us why Jesus is the perfect sacrifice or offering.

If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one (I John 2). Fr. Tom explores what the Scriptures mean by this term.

One of the great "I Am" statements in Scripture is in John's Gospel where Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world" (John 8:12). Today Fr. Tom explores the word "light" and the significance of Christ's claim.

In our Troparia for Nativity, we sing "Your Nativity, O Christ our God, has shone to the world the Light of wisdom! For by it, those who worshipped the stars, were taught by a star to adore You, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know You, the Orient from on High. O Lord, glory to You!" In today's episode, Fr. Tom reflects on these terms for Christ.

This week, Emma and Christina read (and watched) A Light Between Oceans. Join them as they discuss the danger of spiritual delusion, the path toward true love and repentance, and how the film adaptation missed the heart of the novel. They close with their Top 5 Worst Book-To-Film Adaptions.