Catholics Archives - Saint Sophia

The Fourteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Have a Dickens of a Christmas

11/28/2025

~By Father Stephen Freeman, December 12, 2022 In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest.1 However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the cultural response to the feast and, in 1870, Christmas was declared a federal holiday

Saint Longinus the Centurion

10/16/2025

~ Who was Saint Longinus and what is his story? By Zachary Porcu “Longinus” is the name given to the Roman centurion who had been serving under Pontius Pilate, the governor who oversaw Christ’s execution, and was said to have stood at the foot of the cross, witnesses Christ’s death. According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, St. Longinus was the one who said, “Truly this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54) following the earthquake that

Sacrifice and Worship

10/27/2023

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 21, 2017 In the 1970’s, the BBC did a series, “The Long Search,” in which Ronald Eyre explored various religions. To my mind, it remains the best such series I’ve seen. When it came to Christianity, the series wisely presented three separate treatments: the Orthodox, the Catholics and Protestants. In its program on Orthodoxy, Eyre traveled to Romania, which was then under the boot of Ceausescu and official “atheism.” The

God Is Doing New Things

02/23/2023

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, July 25, 2021. …. So, I want to…say a few words about one verse in particular, “You are the light of the world.” Ilia Delio is a brilliant theologian and scientist in the mold of Fr. De Chardin, creative and most provocative. Let me begin with a Delio quote: “God is doing new things, Jesus proclaimed, but only those with new minds and hearts can see a

Beneath Her Compassion

08/08/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 19, 2016 Among the greater mysteries of the New Testament are those surrounding the Mother of God. A large segment of modern Christianity has become tone deaf in this regard, a result of centuries of antagonism towards certain aspects of older tradition. It is a deafness that grieves my heart, primarily in that it represents a great gulf within the broader experience of the faith. A few years after my

A Bunch of Stuff We Don’t Know

02/11/2022

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, March 25, 2016 Reading discussions about life after death, it is easy to get the impression that people actually know what they’re talking about, that perhaps they have been there, seen what goes on and therefore authoritatively opine on the nature of things. But, the truth is that we mostly don’t know. We have a few things given to us in Scripture, and even those few things are often somewhat cryptic

The Eighth Day of Christmas. The Circumcision of Christ: At the Name of Jesus. Feast of our Holy Father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Happy New Year!

01/01/2022

By Stephen Freeman, January 1, 2018 On the eighth day after His birth, the eternal Son of God, in accordance with the Law, would have been circumcised and given His name. The name He received was quite common. It is the same Hebrew name as “Joshua.” It means, “God saves.” No other name is spoken as often with such tenderness and devotion. The name itself has become a prayer. We are told that “whoever calls

The Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Have a Dickens of a Christmas.

12/03/2021

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 24, 2019 In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest.1 However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the cultural response to the feast and, in 1870, Christmas was declared a federal holiday

Contemplative Consciousness: Divinization

06/30/2020

By God’s divine power, God has given us all the things we need for life and for true devotion that allow us to know God, who has called us by God’s own glory and goodness. In this gift, God has given us a guarantee of something very great and wonderful. Through this gift, you are sharers in the divine nature itself. —2 Peter 1:3-4 Spirituality is primarily about human transformation in this life, not just salvation

Put the Dickens back in Christmas

12/19/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, December 20, 2017 In the late 1600’s in colonial Boston, the celebration of Christmas was against the law. Indeed, anyone evidencing the “spirit of Christmas” could be fined five shillings. In the early 1800’s, Christmas was better known as a season for rioting in the streets and civil unrest.1 However, in the mid-1800’s some interesting things changed the cultural response to the feast and, in 1870, Christmas was declared a federal holiday

Archive

The Fourteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Have a Dickens of a Christmas

Saint Longinus the Centurion

Sacrifice and Worship

God Is Doing New Things

Beneath Her Compassion

A Bunch of Stuff We Don’t Know

The Eighth Day of Christmas. The Circumcision of Christ: At the Name of Jesus. Feast of our Holy Father Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. Happy New Year!

The Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent. Have a Dickens of a Christmas.

Contemplative Consciousness: Divinization

Put the Dickens back in Christmas

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