“If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” How do we cultivate this mysterious belief?

http://www.orthodox.net/sermons/great-lent-sunday-04_2014-03-30+if-thou-canst-believe-all-things-are-possible-to-him-that-believeth_mark9-17-31.mp3 In the healing of the demoniac boy, context is important. The healing occurred immediately after the Transfiguration and the failure of the other disciples to cast out the demon. There is an important lesson for us. God is very near, even though we do not always (or even often) fell Him. Things can change… Continue reading “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” How do we cultivate this mysterious belief?

“They that observe vain and false things have abandoned mercy for themselves.” Sobering and comforting at the same time.

he Biblical Odes are used especially during Great Lent. and during weekday matins, this verse, from ode 6, is always said: “They that observe vain and false things have abandoned mercy for themselves.” This is one of my favorite parts of the matins service, because this pithy verse describes the reason for ALL our problems, and the simple solution. It is sobering, rebuking, but also comforting. It reminds me of the oft read scripture: ” For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39) Nothing can separate the sinner from God, except if the sinner observes vain and false things without repentance.

3 homilies: On The forty Martys, The Third sunday of Lent, and “Before Thy Cross”:

What is “life”? You cannot understand the cross unless you understand life.

We cannot understand the cross, and the way of the cross unless we understand life. What is life? Most people do not know the answer to this simple question or understand why the way of the cross is the only way to have life, or understand what is meant when we are told to “lose our life”, or that everything in our life is an exchange – with life or death.

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