A homily primarily about the life and times of St Joseph the Betrothed.
Category: Homilies
We worship Thy Nativity, O Christ! Show us also Thy divine Theophany. Audio.
Synopsis: At the Vesperal Divine Liturgy on the Eve of Nativity, a homily about on of the hymns of the Royal Hours. It expresses the connection between Nativity and Theophany, and especially how we must feel and what we must desire as we contemplate the incarnation.
“Today He Who in essence is God intangible and holdeth all creation in His hand is born of the Virgin and creation in His hand is born of the virgin and wrapped in swaddling bands. He lieth in a manger Who established in a manger Who established the heavens by His word in the beginning. He is fed at the breast with milk Who rained down manna upon the people in the wilderness. The Bridegroom of the church summoneth the magi; the Son of the virgin receiveth their gifts.
We worship Thy Nativity, O Christ!
We worship Thy Nativity, O Christ!
Show us also Thy divine Theophany. “
How to react to evil. Sunday after Nativity. 2011
On the Sunday after Nativity, we commemorate King David, Joseph the Betrothed, and James, the Brother of the Lord. The Gospel reading is about the Flight into Egypt. It teaches us how to react to evil. This is the opposite of the way the world reacts. We must learn this way if we are to understand anything about God – this is the way of meekness, the patience of faith and humility.
The Wonder of the Incarnation St Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzen)
Read this homily of St Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzen) carefully! It is a materpiece of Christological theology and rhetoric, and while accurately declaring important dogmas, it also captures the wonder of the incarnation. We MUST feel this wonder if we are true Christians.
Nativity of the Savior. The Meaning of Christmas: Abba Father. Audio.
LISTEN NOW Synopsis: During the Advent season, the "Meaning of Christmas" is often referenced, and most of the time, it is far from the truth, and even hackneyed and shallow. This homily does an almost line by line exegesis of the Epistle Read on Nativity and one of the Epistles read the day before, explaining… Continue reading Nativity of the Savior. The Meaning of Christmas: Abba Father. Audio.
Sunday Of The Holy Fathers, Saint John Of Kronstadt, and The Purpose Of The Incarnation, Ye shall be children of the Highest.
On this Sunday before Nativity, St John of Kronstadt is also commemorated, and the Gospel for him and his life perfectly describes the purpose of the Incarnation. This Gospel contains our Lord’s admonishments to love, using concrete examples, and concludes with the promise “And ye shall be children of the highest”. This is the purpose of the incarnation, and examining this Gospel along with St John’s life, which struggled to fulfill it illuminates this purpose for us, therefore, on this Sunday when we read the “Begats”, it is appropriate to delve into what is means to be children of the highest, and how and why we can attain this high calling. We also suggest another way to describe the “Golden Rule” and what should be our inner motivation for loving our fellow man, and doing anything that is good in this life.
Sermon by Bishop Peter on our feastday.
Bishop Peter visitied our parish for our feastday (St Nicholas) this year. His sermon during the liturgy is short and excellent. We caught most of it on video. He talks about intimacy with God and how it is obtained in the Christian life.
The Reason for the Season, by Fr David Moser
This excellent homily by Fr David Moser explains the "reason for the season" is fully laid out by the scripture read today. First of all, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners". The reason and effect of the incarnation is succinctly explained, including how the Lord calls to each one of us, and an example of its effect is given – the woman with the infirmity of 18 years, in which her physical infirmity is like the infirmity of the soul – bent over because of sin – and the only solution to this infirmity is the incarnation of the God-man, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. What is sin. Audio Homily 2010
The epistle read today succinctly sums up the reason for the incarnation of the God-man: “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners”. To understand this, we must understand what sin is. Most have a great misconception about sin and only think that is is something that offends Almighty God, and do not understand that the reason God is offended is because all sin darkens us, and makes us “bent over”, unable to see God and know Him. The effect of sin is well shown by the woman with the infirmity of 18 years. Lets us explore what sin does to us, and the only solution to our terrible predicament.
Thinking we always have “time”. The Remembrance of death.
An excellent homily by Fr David Moser on the parable of the harvest of the Rich man and the remembrance of death. Let us compare oursleves to the rich man and see if we also live as if we had plenty “more time”.
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From the moment of our birth, we begin a journey through this life which inevitably leads to our death.
There is no escaping that fact that it is appointed to all men once to die. It is also true that no man truly knows the day and hour of his own death for it can come at any moment. Oh yes, we all believe that we will live to see tomorrow, or next year, or even the next 50 years, but it is not certain. Our lives will end, but we do not know when or where this will occur.
Most people respond to this uncertainty with simple denial – it just won’t happen to me. Most people never think of their own death, and in fact, it is a breach of polite manners to even bring up the subject of death. Death, especially our own death, is something that we prefer to tuck away out of sight in a place where we won’t have to think about it.
The rich man of the parable was just this sort of person….