The stoty of the Myrhhbearing women and Joseph and Nikodemus is fundementally about boldness, and doing the right thing, without regard to how it will get done. Here is a small excerpt: To become bold doesn’t mean you do something without being scared. It means you do something despite the fact that you’re scared, or confused, or whatever. That’s what courage is. Courage is to do things regardless of how you feel, and that’s what the Myrrhbearing Women did, and that’s what Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus did, and that’s what we must do. And there will be moments in our life when we have to be bold, not just one, but many moments.
Category: Audio homilies
“Having become bold” – What made Joseph, Nicodemus and the Myrhhbearers bold?
The Scriptures tell us that Joseph “became bold” and asked for the body of Jesus from Pilate. He did a dangerous thing, which would likely cost him his life, as did the Holy Myrhhbearers when they went to the tomb on the day of the resurrection, to anoint a dead man. Why did they become bold? This is very important! They did not quite ” get things right”, since Jesus was not dead, so it is not so important that we get everything right and understand everything, but we must &become bold”, because of love, and God will cause everything to work to the good. Also, at the beginning, an instruction about praying for people during the most sacred part of the Divine Liturgy, which is an obligation for all Orthodox Christians, and not only the clergy.
Exegesis of the 3rd Matins Gospel, Mark 16:9-20, and chronology of the day of the resurrection.
Exegesis of the 3rd Matins Gospel, Mark 16:9-20, and chronology of the day of the resurrection. The most important points are the spiritual ones – the resurrection was not witnessed by anyone. What does that mean? A lot!
Is a liberal seminary student as smart as a little girl! No! Children’s sermon on John 5:24-30 and Christology.
A children’s sermon on John 5:24-30, and important Christology that 7, 5 and 4 years olds know and liberal seminary students do not!
Why are the altar doors open on Pascha? When are they closed and what does it mean?
Why are the altar doors open on Pascha? When are they closed and what does it mean? An explanation in text and audio. “When the doors were shut and the disciples were gathered together, Thou didst suddenly enter in, O our almighty Jesus our God, and standing in their midst and granting them peace Thou didst fill them with the Holy Spirit and didst command them to wait and in no wise to depart from Jerusalem until they were invested with power from on high. Wherefore we cry out to Thee, O our Enlightenment, Resurrection and Peace, glory be to Thee.”
The core teaching on the Sunday of Thomas: always stay close to Christ no matter what the understanding says, because of love.
The story of the “unbelieving disbelief” of Thomas, always read on the Sunday after Pascha, and also several other times during the year has one core message that applies to every human being. We look at this, and the only reason Thomas stayed with the Apostles through the eighth day, when He saw Christ – love. Without love, and the actions of Thomas replicated in *our* lives the resurrection will be of no good effect for us. the Christology and theology in this selection is deep and important, but the example which we must learn is of even higher importance.
Impious Judas with avaricious thoughts … falls away from the light and accepts the darkness. A warning to us and a way to avoid losing ourselves.. Great Tuesday 2012
Six and a half important minutes using Judas as an example to teach us how not to “accept the darkness” Commentary on the Sessional Hymn from Great Tuesday Matins:
“Impious Judas with avaricious thoughts plots against the Master, / and ponders how he will betray Him. /He falls away from the light and accepts the darkness; / he agrees upon the payment and sells Him that is above all price; / and as the reward for his actions, in his misery / he receives a hangman’s noose and death in agony. / O Christ our God, deliver us from such a fate as his, // and grant remission of sins to those who celebrate with love Thy most pure Passion.”
The Lord is at hand! Why do we read this epistle on Palm Sunday, since it is not about suffering, or the cross or the resurrection?
Why do we read this epistle on Palm Sunday, since it is not about suffering, or the cross or the resurrection? There are many other epistles about these things, but this epistle contains instructions that must be applied during Holy Week in order to truly benefit from Pascha. We can understand how to apply the Apostle Paul’s instructions by looking at the good and bad examples in today’s Gospel, such as Mary, who annointed the Lord, Judas, the people, and the high priests. There are many lessons here, and all of Holy Week will contain many more. The Lord is at hand!
Great Monday:The cursing of the fig tree teaches that we must bear fruit or we will wither and die and that we have no excuse for our lack of fruit; faith comes from obedience.
The whole point of Great and Holy week is to prepare us to fully understand and live in the resurrection – not just during the approaching Pascha, but in all of our life. We must listen to the Gospels and hymns with this objective. In Great Monday Matins, the Gospel contains the story of the fig tree that withered; this very short homily explains the spiritual meaning of this passage. The more obvious teaching of this action of our Lord is that we must bear fruit – growing in the virtues and holiness – or else we will wither away. There is much more: the season in which the Lord cursed the fig tree allows us no excuses for our lack of fruit, and we learn that faith is built upon obedience and the bearing of fruit.
“O brethren, let us fear the punishment of the fig tree, / withered because it was unfruitful; / and let us bring worthy fruits of repentance unto Christ, // who grants us His great mercy.” (Great Monday Matins, Aposticha, T8)
Repentance, humility, leadership, learning – it is all in there in 2 homilies for the 5th Sun of Great Lent, 2012
Another “two-fer” today. Homilies on St Mary of Egypt, and the Sunday Gospel for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent. As is always the case, the Scriptures have a lot to say about how we should live, and St Mary is the quintessential example of how to repent.
Synopsis: The 2 epistles for the 5th Sunday of Great Lent describe well the life of St Mary of Egypt, and also how we must live. Truly, after her repentance, she “Put on Christ”, and had her conscience purged from dead works. We look in some detail at her life and how these scriptures will fulfilled in her life, and must also be fulfilled in ours.
Synopsis: The Gospel for the 5th Sunday of Lent not only sets the stage for our Lord’s passion, which we will shortly go through on our way to Pascha, but also teaches two important truths. Firstly, learning takes time. This may seem like a simple and obvious truth, but it is often an ignored truth. Second: without humility, there will be no learning at all.