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Sunday of the Prodigal Son. So It Shall Be With Us

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, February 20, 2022 The question behind much of the great Karl Rahner’s work is this: “which do we love better: the little island of our own certainty or the ocean of incomprehensible mystery?” I find in the Parable of the Prodigal Son two essential ingredients in the recipe for grace. I have mentioned them before. They are Radical Acceptance and Unconditional Positive Regard. Who in Holy Scripture

The Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent. Saint Barbara the Great Martyr

Saint Barbara was from Heliopolis of Phoenicia and lived during the reign of Maximian. She was the daughter of a certain idolater named Dioscorus. When Barbara came of age, she was enlightened in her pure heart and secretly believed in the Holy Trinity. About this time Dioscorus began building a bath-house; before it was finished he was required to go away to attend to certain matters, and in his absence Barbara directed the workmen to

The Sixth Day of Christmas Advent. The Word became flesh (John 1:14) A Sermon on the Nativity of Christ

Saint John of Kronstadt The Word became flesh; that is, the Son of God, co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, became human — having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. O, wondrous, awesome and salvific mystery! The One Who had no beginning took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man — without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One

The Path of the Good, the True, the Real

~By Father Stephen Freeman, July 25, 2023 Imagine a character in a story who is wraith-like, barely existing. His every move threatens to draw him deeper into non-existence. As it stands, others around him are only able to see him moments at a time. He often disappears for whole days at a time as he lapses into such ghostly non-being that he cannot be seen at all. Each step he takes either diminishes his existence

The 9-11 Cross at Ground Zero

When someone says 9-11 almost everyone in America will know that it refers to September 11, 2001, the day of the infamous attacks on the United States by 19 hijackers who flew two airline passenger jets into the World Trade Center in New York, one into the Pentagon near Washington DC, and one that crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, while it was undoubtedly bound for the Capitol or White House. 9-11 became a

Sunday of the Holy Cross. The Image of the Cross

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, April 4, 2021 I picked up my copy of the book MYSTICAL CHRISTIANITY: A PSYCHOLOGICAL COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN the other day. It is a brilliant book by the renowned psychologist John A. Sanford. I turned to the chapter where he speaks about the Cross and read something that piqued my interest. He spoke of the image of the Cross as a mandala. Now I

The Second Tuesday of Great Lent. And Not to Judge my Brother

~By Protopresbyter Georgios Dorbarakis It’s a constant exhortation on the part of the Church, all the year round, but particularly during Lent. Indeed, the prayer of Saint Efraim the Syrian is a powerful reminder which we repeat on a daily basis: ‘And not to judge my brother’. And how could it be otherwise, when Jesus Christ himself, the head of the faith, gave us the commandment which expresses the existence or absence of love towards

The Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent. Saint Stylianos, The Protector of Children

Saint Stylianos was born in Paphlagonia, Asia Minor, between 400 and 500. He was blessed even from his mother’s womb. As he grew up, by the grace of God he increasingly became a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit. From childhood he displayed the rare qualities of his blessed life. When he was young and still an adolescent, although, of course, he was of the flesh, he never allowed desires to pollute his spirit and soul.

August Theophanies

Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, August 10, 2014 The Reading is from the Gospel of St. Matthew. (14:22-34) The month of August is a month of theophanies. A theophany, from the Greek, literally means a “revelation of God”, not “from God”, but “of God.” The Transfiguration of Jesus is a theophany. God reveals himself present in Jesus Christ in this world. He shares his light and energy with us and with all

ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN! The Third Monday of Pascha: When Death Dies

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, February 22, 2022  Christianity is not reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life. Christ is this Life. And only if Christ is Life is death what Christianity proclaims it to be, namely the enemy to be destroyed, and not a “mystery” to be explained. Religion and secularism, by explaining death, give it a “status,” a rationale, make it