Showing posts with label homily. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homily. Show all posts
Friday, June 15, 2012
20120615 Orthodoxy and Genetics
Fr. Anthony gives a pep-talk in memory and honor of all the saints, then shares an interview with a way-cool-genetic researcher, Dr. Deborah Sirko-Osadsa. They talk about everything from chickens to cancer research to how easy it is to be a rational, scientific Orthodox Christian. Enjoy!
Thursday, March 1, 2012
20120224 Eating Pig Pods, Excellency, and the Seventh Wave
In this episode, Fr. Anthony shares his dismay at the way we have convinced ourselves that we really like eating trash (metaphorically speaking), lets Pawlo Amerikanchuk talk about his cousin Venamin Franko, and talks about the consequences of breaking the law (of love).
Saturday, January 14, 2012
20120113 The Spirituality of Nativity and Theophany
In this edition, Fr. Anthony talks about hesychasm and the Nativity, shares a couple of bogus commercials, covers a few news items, and finishes with a Volya segment on Theophany and the sacramental theology of the Orthodox Church. Enjoy!
Monday, September 22, 2008
20080921 Humility and Offering
20080921 Humility and Offering: The Nativity of the Theotokos
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Philippians 2: 5-11
St. Luke 10: 38-42; 11: 27-28
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity (the birth) of Our Holy Lady, Mary. In the hymns for the feast, we sing that on this day the barrenness of Joachim and Anna has been removed. It is also the removal of barrenness from the world – the one who is born today is the gate through which Christ the Messiah, the salvation of the world, enters. This means that we are celebrating something much more than the birth of a great saint today: we are celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. For without the Incarnation of Christ, the birth of even this most blessed Lady would not adorn our calendar; nor, for that matter, would her icon adorn our walls.
To make this point, the iconography of the Church rarely depicts Our Lady separate from Her Son. [Notice above you: this, like this one on my right, has her holding Christ. Even the one over the altar has her bowing to Him.]. Nor is this is not an insult to Our Lady. No icon is EVER written without reference to Christ – for when we reverence any saint, we do not reverence them, but the Christ who is in them; who has purified them. So today’s celebrations of Our Lady’s birth is proclaimed not just as the joy of her parents or of the holy life the newborn child would eventually lead, but within the context of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the salvation of the world, and the salvation of all who believe in Him.
In the birth of Mary, you have a juxtaposition of weakness and strength; the weakness of the elderly and heretofore barren Joachim and Anna, [and] the weakness of their newborn babe; with the strength of God and the inexorable tide of history leading through their small efforts to the grand climax of the world’s remaking. St. Paul reminds us today of another juxtaposition, when he says that “Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” The point St. Paul is making is that Jesus Christ was one with God the Father. He was God. All glory and honor were His natural due. But He did not cling to this; rather, He humbled Himself to also become man.
We have much to learn from this example. There is so little humility in the world today. Whereas God did not cling to the glory and honor that really were His due; we devote all of our energy clinging to things we do not even own. I do not just mean the culture of debt through which we are destroying ourselves and our economy; we cling greedily to everything that lies within our reach: our homes, our cars, our collections, our time, our reputations, our children, our pride. Do we not realize that none of these things are ours by right? That even the good things in our care are just ours “on loan”; given to us by God in our roles as His stewards? Only a thief clings so hard to things that are not really his.
Everything really was God’s; but as St. Paul goes on to say in today’s epistle; “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” God gave up so much; as Father, He gave “His only begotten Son”; as Son, He gave up His own glory to become man, then suffered immeasurably on the cross. God is shown to be so humble, so loving, that He gave up everything up for us. But there is more: not only was God willing to give up all the good things that really were His, He accepted pain and punishment for crimes He did not even commit. The death He suffered on the Cross was not for things He did: it was for our sins – it was punishment for what we have done. What a tremendous example and offering of humility and love!
But what about us? Just as we cling to all those things that are in our possession only through providence; so, too, do we reject all the punishment that we really have earned! How rare it is to meet a person in today’s world who will step up and take responsibility for the mistakes he has made! Rather, we like to present ourselves as victims of someone else’s crime, or of some huge conspiracy against us. We have created entire institutions to shield us from the results of our folly. We have come to the point where we do not even recognize “sin” and “heresy” as meaningful concepts. And as far as we are from taking ownership of our own sin, we are so much farther from being willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sin and mistakes of others.
In our greediness, our irresponsibility, and our lack of love; we are so utterly unlike Christ. And this is tragic. We are greedy and avoid blame because we are proud: we want to be recognized as good and worthy. Having lots of things and avoiding blame are signs of success here in this world. But here is the irony: the path of Christ, the one that takes us through poverty and self-sacrifice, is the one that really leads to Glory; as St. Paul finishes today’s epistle reading; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As Christian’s here at St. Michael’s, we have forsaken the ways of the world; we cling not to our possessions or our pride, but to the Truth. We acknowledge our own sins and we help others work through the consequences of their own. And through this, we receive glory. Through this, in Christ, we are perfected. Through this we look to a life of abundant riches, not just now, but for all eternity.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
Philippians 2: 5-11
St. Luke 10: 38-42; 11: 27-28
Today we celebrate the feast of the Nativity (the birth) of Our Holy Lady, Mary. In the hymns for the feast, we sing that on this day the barrenness of Joachim and Anna has been removed. It is also the removal of barrenness from the world – the one who is born today is the gate through which Christ the Messiah, the salvation of the world, enters. This means that we are celebrating something much more than the birth of a great saint today: we are celebrating the Incarnation of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. For without the Incarnation of Christ, the birth of even this most blessed Lady would not adorn our calendar; nor, for that matter, would her icon adorn our walls.
To make this point, the iconography of the Church rarely depicts Our Lady separate from Her Son. [Notice above you: this, like this one on my right, has her holding Christ. Even the one over the altar has her bowing to Him.]. Nor is this is not an insult to Our Lady. No icon is EVER written without reference to Christ – for when we reverence any saint, we do not reverence them, but the Christ who is in them; who has purified them. So today’s celebrations of Our Lady’s birth is proclaimed not just as the joy of her parents or of the holy life the newborn child would eventually lead, but within the context of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the salvation of the world, and the salvation of all who believe in Him.
In the birth of Mary, you have a juxtaposition of weakness and strength; the weakness of the elderly and heretofore barren Joachim and Anna, [and] the weakness of their newborn babe; with the strength of God and the inexorable tide of history leading through their small efforts to the grand climax of the world’s remaking. St. Paul reminds us today of another juxtaposition, when he says that “Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” The point St. Paul is making is that Jesus Christ was one with God the Father. He was God. All glory and honor were His natural due. But He did not cling to this; rather, He humbled Himself to also become man.
We have much to learn from this example. There is so little humility in the world today. Whereas God did not cling to the glory and honor that really were His due; we devote all of our energy clinging to things we do not even own. I do not just mean the culture of debt through which we are destroying ourselves and our economy; we cling greedily to everything that lies within our reach: our homes, our cars, our collections, our time, our reputations, our children, our pride. Do we not realize that none of these things are ours by right? That even the good things in our care are just ours “on loan”; given to us by God in our roles as His stewards? Only a thief clings so hard to things that are not really his.
Everything really was God’s; but as St. Paul goes on to say in today’s epistle; “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” God gave up so much; as Father, He gave “His only begotten Son”; as Son, He gave up His own glory to become man, then suffered immeasurably on the cross. God is shown to be so humble, so loving, that He gave up everything up for us. But there is more: not only was God willing to give up all the good things that really were His, He accepted pain and punishment for crimes He did not even commit. The death He suffered on the Cross was not for things He did: it was for our sins – it was punishment for what we have done. What a tremendous example and offering of humility and love!
But what about us? Just as we cling to all those things that are in our possession only through providence; so, too, do we reject all the punishment that we really have earned! How rare it is to meet a person in today’s world who will step up and take responsibility for the mistakes he has made! Rather, we like to present ourselves as victims of someone else’s crime, or of some huge conspiracy against us. We have created entire institutions to shield us from the results of our folly. We have come to the point where we do not even recognize “sin” and “heresy” as meaningful concepts. And as far as we are from taking ownership of our own sin, we are so much farther from being willing to sacrifice ourselves for the sin and mistakes of others.
In our greediness, our irresponsibility, and our lack of love; we are so utterly unlike Christ. And this is tragic. We are greedy and avoid blame because we are proud: we want to be recognized as good and worthy. Having lots of things and avoiding blame are signs of success here in this world. But here is the irony: the path of Christ, the one that takes us through poverty and self-sacrifice, is the one that really leads to Glory; as St. Paul finishes today’s epistle reading; “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
As Christian’s here at St. Michael’s, we have forsaken the ways of the world; we cling not to our possessions or our pride, but to the Truth. We acknowledge our own sins and we help others work through the consequences of their own. And through this, we receive glory. Through this, in Christ, we are perfected. Through this we look to a life of abundant riches, not just now, but for all eternity.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
20080907 Just Follow Me
20080907 Just Follow Me
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
St. Matthew 19: 16-26
What a wonderful day to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, could there be anything better than gathering together here in this beautiful temple and offering the first few hours of this new week in communal praise of God? No, brothers and sisters, this love that you feel – for one another and for Our Lord – is what we are made for and the thing that perfects us.
Evidently, the Christians at Corinth had forgotten this. They were a community divided, a community that was torn by division, immorality, and spiritual weakness. St. Paul addresses each of these in turn in his epistle, but today he goes to the very root of the matter: the Church at Corinth suffered because it had wandered from the fundamental Truth: “that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the Third day.” (1 Corinthians 15: 1-11) He knew that this fundamental Truth was not only essential for their salvation, but that without it, any of his attempts to reform the community were doomed to eventual failure.
[Nor did St. Paul offer this Truth as if it were his opinion. If he had, those who loved him might have listened, but those who did not – or were threatened by the message he delivered – would have treated it as the opinion of a political adversary and denigrated or dismissed it. St. Paul, like all true apostles and preachers, shies away from offering personal opinion, instead relying on the Scriptures, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and what he had seen first-hand. He does not think of himself as offering a “lecture on a moral theme” (the definition of homily) so much as he is simply “declaring the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 15:1), which is the very same thing being preached by the other apostles (1 Corinthians 15:11). The fact that the Orthodox Church follows in this tradition is attested to by the fact that the homily is offered in the same place as the Epistle and Gospel during our Divine Liturgy.]
Today St. Paul is reminding the Christians at Corinth of the only thing that really matters; that Christ died for our sins and was resurrected so that we might be perfected in Him. This Truth must order everything in our lives, and everything that pulls us away from this Truth must be stripped away lest it eternally tether us to this fallen world and limit our sanctification. We cannot allow anything – not brothers or sisters of father or mother, or wife, or children, or lands – to come between us and Christ. As God said with His own mouth: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (St. Matthew 19: 28-30). Of course those whose relationships with their houses, families, and lands, are based on Christ need not forsake them. But in order to grow, in order to survive, we must identify and purge all those things in our lives that are not of Christ.
This was the message that Christ gave to the young man, and he went away sorrowful. He went away sorrowful because he liked all of his possessions more than he cared about eternal life; more than he cared about the Truth. Can you imagine such folly? Please do not follow his witness! Choose joy and eternal life over sorrow; chose Christ over your possessions. As Jesus says; ‘if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Returning to the example of Corinth, we can see that this choice is not just faced by individual people, but their communities and parishes. At the time St. Paul wrote his first epistle to them, the community of Corinth was at a crossroad – it could either hold onto its possessions … or it could surrender itself completely to Christ and follow Him without reservation. One would lead to further divisions, sorrow, and death, and the other to unity, fulfillment, and eternal salvation.
This parish of St. Michael’s is committed to Christ. As such, it is constantly identifying those things that are essential to perfection and growth and embracing them. Because the world is changing, this sometimes means giving up things that we cherish in order to better witness to Him. Today is Ukrainian Sunday, when we offer up most of our praises to the Lord in the Ukrainian language. This is our heritage, how our founders came to know and follow Christ, and we celebrate it. It was not that long ago that every service was offered in Ukrainian, but we now offer almost all of our services in English because this is what it takes to spread the Gospel to our newest generations and to the broader community. I mention this because it speaks to the faith and strength of the people of this parish. Offered the choice between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and something very precious and dear and that had, indeed, so long been such an integral part of sharing that Gospel, it chose Christ.
This faith in Christ is our Heritage. It is what we are really celebrating today both here in our Liturgy and later during our festival. This is the faith passed to us through the Apostles, through our Ukrainian forefathers, and through those strong men and women who brought it to us here in America: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” May God continue to give us the strength as individuals and as a parish to continue to embrace this and to order our lives accordingly.
www.stmichaeluoc.org
www.orthoanalytika.org
1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
St. Matthew 19: 16-26
What a wonderful day to celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, could there be anything better than gathering together here in this beautiful temple and offering the first few hours of this new week in communal praise of God? No, brothers and sisters, this love that you feel – for one another and for Our Lord – is what we are made for and the thing that perfects us.
Evidently, the Christians at Corinth had forgotten this. They were a community divided, a community that was torn by division, immorality, and spiritual weakness. St. Paul addresses each of these in turn in his epistle, but today he goes to the very root of the matter: the Church at Corinth suffered because it had wandered from the fundamental Truth: “that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the Third day.” (1 Corinthians 15: 1-11) He knew that this fundamental Truth was not only essential for their salvation, but that without it, any of his attempts to reform the community were doomed to eventual failure.
[Nor did St. Paul offer this Truth as if it were his opinion. If he had, those who loved him might have listened, but those who did not – or were threatened by the message he delivered – would have treated it as the opinion of a political adversary and denigrated or dismissed it. St. Paul, like all true apostles and preachers, shies away from offering personal opinion, instead relying on the Scriptures, the testimony of eye-witnesses, and what he had seen first-hand. He does not think of himself as offering a “lecture on a moral theme” (the definition of homily) so much as he is simply “declaring the Gospel” (1 Corinthians 15:1), which is the very same thing being preached by the other apostles (1 Corinthians 15:11). The fact that the Orthodox Church follows in this tradition is attested to by the fact that the homily is offered in the same place as the Epistle and Gospel during our Divine Liturgy.]
Today St. Paul is reminding the Christians at Corinth of the only thing that really matters; that Christ died for our sins and was resurrected so that we might be perfected in Him. This Truth must order everything in our lives, and everything that pulls us away from this Truth must be stripped away lest it eternally tether us to this fallen world and limit our sanctification. We cannot allow anything – not brothers or sisters of father or mother, or wife, or children, or lands – to come between us and Christ. As God said with His own mouth: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” (St. Matthew 19: 28-30). Of course those whose relationships with their houses, families, and lands, are based on Christ need not forsake them. But in order to grow, in order to survive, we must identify and purge all those things in our lives that are not of Christ.
This was the message that Christ gave to the young man, and he went away sorrowful. He went away sorrowful because he liked all of his possessions more than he cared about eternal life; more than he cared about the Truth. Can you imagine such folly? Please do not follow his witness! Choose joy and eternal life over sorrow; chose Christ over your possessions. As Jesus says; ‘if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
Returning to the example of Corinth, we can see that this choice is not just faced by individual people, but their communities and parishes. At the time St. Paul wrote his first epistle to them, the community of Corinth was at a crossroad – it could either hold onto its possessions … or it could surrender itself completely to Christ and follow Him without reservation. One would lead to further divisions, sorrow, and death, and the other to unity, fulfillment, and eternal salvation.
This parish of St. Michael’s is committed to Christ. As such, it is constantly identifying those things that are essential to perfection and growth and embracing them. Because the world is changing, this sometimes means giving up things that we cherish in order to better witness to Him. Today is Ukrainian Sunday, when we offer up most of our praises to the Lord in the Ukrainian language. This is our heritage, how our founders came to know and follow Christ, and we celebrate it. It was not that long ago that every service was offered in Ukrainian, but we now offer almost all of our services in English because this is what it takes to spread the Gospel to our newest generations and to the broader community. I mention this because it speaks to the faith and strength of the people of this parish. Offered the choice between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and something very precious and dear and that had, indeed, so long been such an integral part of sharing that Gospel, it chose Christ.
This faith in Christ is our Heritage. It is what we are really celebrating today both here in our Liturgy and later during our festival. This is the faith passed to us through the Apostles, through our Ukrainian forefathers, and through those strong men and women who brought it to us here in America: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” May God continue to give us the strength as individuals and as a parish to continue to embrace this and to order our lives accordingly.
Monday, August 18, 2008
20080817 Saved from the Storm
20081017 Saved from the Storm
http://www.stmichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.org/
I Corinthians 3: 9-17
St. Matthew 14: 22-33
The main lesson from today’s Gospel [at least for today] is NOT that Christ walked on water – although through this, He demonstrated once again His power over nature – but rather His interaction with Peter and the disciples. For it is not surprising that God can do amazing things – anyone with eyes to see must be struck by His Power and Glory – but that God cares for us as His own children.Christ had sent His disciples ahead of Him so that He could pray. They went out in the boat without Him and ran into a wind-storm. As they were being tossed by the waves, Christ walked out on the water toward them. They were afraid, but He told them to cheer up, and offered them His peace. Peter, the leader of the disciples, asked the Lord to command him to join Him on the water. Jesus agreed.
What came next is incredibly important: Peter began well, but was soon distracted by the strength of the wind, the depth of the sea, and the impossibility of his position. The world began to have its way with him, and he began to sink; just as the world has its way with all of us. Old age, illness, the suffering of loved ones, high prices of oil and gas, friendships betrayed, the cruelty of careless people; the many temptations of this fallen world surround us, make us realize that we are sinking into a darkness from which we will not return. Yes, we know Peter’s position as he began to sink in the storm.
But notice what Peter did in his trauma, because he did the only rational thing any of us should ever do: he turned to Christ Jesus and cried out from the bottom of his breaking heart; “Lord save me!” This is the only rational response because all others would, at best, only prolong his agony. Just as we can try to “do more with less”, or surround ourselves only with trustworthy people, or use our riches to isolate and protect ourselves from the bitterness this world offers as its fallen fruit, we must eventually taste this fruit, for until the world is remade in glory, everyone’s body fails. So even if you can avoid every other storm, your body will eventually give out on you, as will the bodies of all those you love.
Does this depress you? Does it scare you? Perhaps it should (for it is a warning): like Peter, the water below us is deep, the wind around us is strong, the waves so powerful as to push us over. But do not despair (for despair is the real unfathomable deep into which we truly sink), and do not fear, but do as Peter did, and cry out from the bottom of your own breaking heart; “Lord save me!” Because listen to what happened when Peter said this prayer; “and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus Christ is always there in the storm. He will not impose His will on you. He will not force you take His hand. But He saves all those with the sense and humility to ask for it. Nor does He leave them in the storm once He has saved them, for our God is a God of Peace. Notice that He took Peter into the boat and the wind ceased.
When you accept salvation through Christ, crying to Him “Lord save me”, He invites you into the boat that is His Holy Church. This is the place of safety and true sailing which Christ never leaves; where every enemy (even death) has been defeated (1 Corinthians 15: 26), and where we join all of the disciples [now Apostles] in worshiping Him, saying as they did and do; “Truly You are the Son of God.”
http://www.stmichaeluoc.org/
http://www.orthoanalytika.org/
I Corinthians 3: 9-17
St. Matthew 14: 22-33
The main lesson from today’s Gospel [at least for today] is NOT that Christ walked on water – although through this, He demonstrated once again His power over nature – but rather His interaction with Peter and the disciples. For it is not surprising that God can do amazing things – anyone with eyes to see must be struck by His Power and Glory – but that God cares for us as His own children.Christ had sent His disciples ahead of Him so that He could pray. They went out in the boat without Him and ran into a wind-storm. As they were being tossed by the waves, Christ walked out on the water toward them. They were afraid, but He told them to cheer up, and offered them His peace. Peter, the leader of the disciples, asked the Lord to command him to join Him on the water. Jesus agreed.
What came next is incredibly important: Peter began well, but was soon distracted by the strength of the wind, the depth of the sea, and the impossibility of his position. The world began to have its way with him, and he began to sink; just as the world has its way with all of us. Old age, illness, the suffering of loved ones, high prices of oil and gas, friendships betrayed, the cruelty of careless people; the many temptations of this fallen world surround us, make us realize that we are sinking into a darkness from which we will not return. Yes, we know Peter’s position as he began to sink in the storm.
But notice what Peter did in his trauma, because he did the only rational thing any of us should ever do: he turned to Christ Jesus and cried out from the bottom of his breaking heart; “Lord save me!” This is the only rational response because all others would, at best, only prolong his agony. Just as we can try to “do more with less”, or surround ourselves only with trustworthy people, or use our riches to isolate and protect ourselves from the bitterness this world offers as its fallen fruit, we must eventually taste this fruit, for until the world is remade in glory, everyone’s body fails. So even if you can avoid every other storm, your body will eventually give out on you, as will the bodies of all those you love.
Does this depress you? Does it scare you? Perhaps it should (for it is a warning): like Peter, the water below us is deep, the wind around us is strong, the waves so powerful as to push us over. But do not despair (for despair is the real unfathomable deep into which we truly sink), and do not fear, but do as Peter did, and cry out from the bottom of your own breaking heart; “Lord save me!” Because listen to what happened when Peter said this prayer; “and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Jesus Christ is always there in the storm. He will not impose His will on you. He will not force you take His hand. But He saves all those with the sense and humility to ask for it. Nor does He leave them in the storm once He has saved them, for our God is a God of Peace. Notice that He took Peter into the boat and the wind ceased.
When you accept salvation through Christ, crying to Him “Lord save me”, He invites you into the boat that is His Holy Church. This is the place of safety and true sailing which Christ never leaves; where every enemy (even death) has been defeated (1 Corinthians 15: 26), and where we join all of the disciples [now Apostles] in worshiping Him, saying as they did and do; “Truly You are the Son of God.”
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