Sermon preached by Dn. James Wilcox on Sunday, September 15, 2024 In his magnificent book The New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton writes the following: “In dying on the Cross, Christ manifested the holiness of God in apparent contradiction with itself… If, then, we want to seek some way of being holy, we must first of all renounce our own way and our own wisdom. We must “empty ourselves” as He did. We must “deny ourselves”
One of the genuine heroines of third century Christianity was a lovely girl with the name of Kalliope who lived during the reign of the vicious Emperor Decius, an extremely calloused and pompous monarch who took delight in barbarous acts, chief among them the persecution of Christians. When Kalliope reached the age of twenty-one she had already passed the age when most women of that day married, but it was not for lack of suitors,
~By Stephen Freeman June 3, 2025 I was visiting a hospice patient back around 2000. The home was quite modest as was the woman who was the subject of my visit. We had conversations that ranged over her life and her family – the things that mattered most for her in her last days. The climax of our time together came when she pulled out her heavily worn Bible (King James) to show me something.
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 3, 2025 Reading this Gospel story 5 words stood out to me. I had never thought much about them. “This is a lonely place.” And because it was, Jesus decided not to send the crowds away as night drew near. He chose to help them then and there. He refused to turn them away. He fed them all. I am sure there is not one among
Sermon preached by Fr. Timothy Ferguson on Sunday, November 3, 2024 In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. One God. Amen. Good morning. God bless you all. I am Father Timothy. I want to thank Father Antony for inviting me to come and pray with you this morning. It’s an honor and privilege to serve among you. I want to talk a little bit about today’s Gospel,
~By Fr. Stephen Freeman, July 19, 2025 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Phil 4:8 +++ Some people tell me that they are scandalized because they see many things wrong in the Church. I tell them that if you ask a fly, “Are there any flowers
~Saint Symeon the New Theologian Discourse XXXIII. On the Light of the Holy Spirit In the third ode of the canon at Matins on the Monday of the Holy Spirit, the hymn has Christ saying ‘I shall send you the Spirit of me and of the Father’. We recognize three hypostases of God- Father, Son and Holy Spirit- and know that these are not confused. We do, however, worship One God and this text by
In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end—the achievement and fulfillment—of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us of the Holy Spirit, of the new life in Christ, of grace,
~By Father Stephen Freeman Pascha (Easter) comes with a great note of joy in the Christian world. Christ is risen from the dead and our hearts rejoice. That joy begins to wane as the days pass. Our lives settle back down to the mundane tasks at hand. After 40 days, the Church marks the Feast of the Ascension, often attended by only a handful of the faithful (Rome has more-or-less moved the Ascension to a
~Konstantinos Holevas, Political Scientist Five hundred and [seventy-three] years have gone by since that accursed day, 29 May 1453. When the cry “The City has fallen” rang out and the Reigning City, the City of Saints, Emperors and legends passed into the occupation of the Ottoman dynasty. Thus began the years of Turkish rule. The Greek nation survived, but Constantinople and Ayia Sofia (The Church of Holy Wisdom) remain in foreign hands. Today we honour
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