Category: Audio homilies

2 Homilies on the cross: What is the way of the cross? Why this epistle which does not mention the cross?

Two homilies on the Precious Cross:
The entire Gospel is important, but some passages are absolutely critical to understand and follow. This is one of them. It explains what the way of the cross is, and teaches a principle that we must use literally every moment of our lives – to learn to always make a good “exchange”. We explain what the Lord means when He commands us to “deny” ourselves, and what the answers to His questions: “What shall it profit a man…” and “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” must be. These are not rhetorical questions – you must answer them.

The Epistle for the Exaltation of the Cross never mentions the cross. There are many epistles that mention the cross; why was this one chosen?

What Shall a Man Give in Exchange for His Soul? 3rd Sunday of Great Lent – Holy Cross Mark 8:34-9:1

Brothers and sisters, this is now the midpoint of the fast, the Sunday in which we exalt the All-Holy Cross, the third Sunday of Great Lent.

In this gospel that we read today, there are many important points, and there are important questions which you must answer. I think the most important question is this: What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? The question before it is: What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? But that is sort of, more of a general question.

The question that follows it, what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul, applies to every moment of your life. It’s not just a general theoretical question. These are not rhetorical questions.

A two-fer today: Homilies on the two Sunday Gospels and St Gregory Palamas – sin,sickness,faith,healing,perfection – it’s all in there.

A two-fer today: Homilies on the two Sunday Gospels and St Gregory Palamas

St Gregory PalamasSynopsis: This is an important discussion, too wonderful to believe for most Christians, but absolutely true, and the main teaching of St Gregory Palamas: To be Christian is to become perfect. The Gospel for St. Gregory teaches this in a hidden way, when it says: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. Let us look in wonder at his teaching, the Gospel John 10:9-16, and the Matins Theotokion: “Adam’s nature was made Godlike O Virgin, when without undergoing change, God took flesh within thy womb, and we who were deceived of old by the hope of becoming Gods, have been set free from the ancient condemnation”, and how we are to pursue perfection.

Synopsis: Why do we speak of the Paralytic borne of four during Great Lent? It is because we must learn that we are paralytics because of sin, and the relationship of sin to sickeness, physical and mental. We must also learn what saving faith is and that we must help out our brother.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy must occur in the heart, and will be because of doing simple things, as the Gospel teaches today

Orthodoxy and life is very deep and complex, but the essence of Christian life is simple. The Gospel today teaches us a simple way, and if we obey the simple apostolic command, we will not be confounded. If we think too much, we will always be confused. We look at the calling of Nathaniel and the simple way he was told to approach his doubts; this applies to EVERY doubt and difficulty in our life. “Come and see!” is the only door to the triumph of Orthodoxy, that is, the fullness of the indwelling of God, in our hearts.

How to learn to forgive. Sunday of Forgiveness, 2012

On Forgiveness Sunday, on the precipice of Great Lent, we hear in the Gospel the last important piece of essential information for preparation for Great Lent and salvation in general. Forgiveness is the most important topic here, after we have been taught about in the preceding Sundays about the Judgment, the process of sin and repentance, and the deadly sin of judging others. The first and last Sundays of preparation are like bookends, because the man who judges will not forgive, and the man who forgives will not judge. We talk about, mainly, how we can learn to forgive others. This is mostly from us knowing ourselves. This skill is not optional, because our Lord said “if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”.

A personal note: I get very little feedback about my homilies, but this one “felt good”, and later I was told by someone whose opinion I trust that this was one of my best homilies

Do not make friends because of evil & Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Week of the Last Judgment: Thursday

The week before Great Lent begins, we visit the Passion of the Lord; we will of course look at it in great detail Holy Week. The account of the passion is so full and rich that we learn something new from it every time we read it. Today we look at the friendship of Herod and Pilate – it has much to teach us about our friendships. We also look at Jesus’ last great teaching by example: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

Cheesefare Wednesday Feb 9/22 2012 Joel 2.12-16; Joel 3.12-21

The time of Great Lent should be a period or repentance and change. This reading from Joel sums it up quite well: “Now therefore saith the Lord: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. 13 And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, patient and rich in mercy, and ready to repent of the evil.” (Vs 12,13)

This explains the purpose of fasting ? to be converted. Fasting helps us to “turn to the Lord God”, for various physical and spiritual reasons. Of course, fasting must be coupled with prayer and repentance, or else the faster will only be hungry. Try fasting with seriousness and vigor, and you will understand….

This explains the purpose of fasting ? to be converted. Fasting helps us to ?turn to the Lord ? God?, for various physical and spiritual reasons. Of course, fasting must be coupled with prayer and repentance, or else the faster will only be hungry. Try fasting with seriousness and vigor, and you will understand….

Sunday of the Last Judgment (Meatfare Sunday). Our Father will come to us in our repentance, and He will question us about our changes.

The Sunday of the Last Judgment gives the 3rd piece of important information to us in our preparation for Great Lent. We have learned that to be saved one must not judge others, and feel the weight of personal sins and ask God for mercy. We have seen the process of repentance, from the onset of sin, its destructive affects, self-realization of sin, and the importance process to "arise and go" to our Father, and the critical detail, without which we would never complete our repentance and be saved – our Father will go to us, as we are trying to change, and comfort us and empower us to complete the good work we have started. Today’s Gospel about the last judgment shows the end result of true repentance, and also the "flip side" – the outcome for those who do not repent. It is a frightening spectacle, and not a pleasant one to meditate upon, but absolute necessary for us to remember. Lets us talk about how Jesus Christ came the first time, how His second coming will be, and what we must do to hear the blessed words: " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world".

“Meat commendeth us not to God” exegesis of epistle reading for Meatfare Sunday.

Perhaps one of the best remembered scriptures among those who do not fast and do not read the scripture much is the well known phrase of Saint Paul: “But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.” We look at the context of this true statement, and its application to our day. The entire passage is about sensitivity to our brother’s weakness, and how the phrase “when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ” is quite similar to the one in today’ Gospel: ” ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” We also discuss why we fast – it is a natural requirement of our human nature, and is an easy and readily available way to train ourselves in self-control. Without self-control, we cannot make any progress in the spiritual life.

The Apostle of Love’s teaching on love, being born of God and the commandments. Today’s Epistle 1 John 4:20-5:21

This selection from the end of the First Letter of St John the Theologian, the “Apostle of Love” contains many important passages, and we discuss some of them in detail: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”, “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not;” St John teaches that the becoming “born of God” is a process, and is only completed when we reach perfection, that is when we no longer sin. He also teaches us the way to learn to love God – love our neighbor. He also teaches the Christian understanding of the commandments of God, which is not well known, or understood: we follow the commandments out of love for God, and not because of fear of punishment.