Sermon preached by Dn. James Wilcox on Sunday, October 6, 2024 Scripture Readings from Luke 7:11-17 and 2 Cor. 6:16-18; 7:1 When Jesus meets the funeral procession spoken of in today’s Gospel reading, He does what we commonly see Him do when encountering a person grieving the loss of a family member. He has compassion on them. For review, Jesus and the disciples are entering the ancient city of Nain, while a group of mourners
Sermon preached by Subdeacon JD Swartz on Sunday, July 20, 2025 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Liturgically the Church is in a time between fulfillment and the promise of fulfillment, between the feast of Pentecost which we celebrated last month, and the feast of the Transfiguration which approaches next month. We move from the reception of the Comforter toward the vision of the Uncreated
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”
~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2013 I don’t know if you knew Professor Jaroslav Pelikan. He was a wonderful historian, a theologian, a Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy in the last part of his life. He was an amazing man. He said something that I’ve kept in my mind since I heard it: that “the problem with the church is that we have lost a sense of the cosmic
~Sermon Preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, October 2, 2005 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! And just as you want men to do to you, do also to them. But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to
~Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, November 14, 2021 I think we Orthodox priests are far too reticent to speak about contemporary issues in our sermons. Perhaps it is because, for the most part, we don’t like to dally with politics. Some, of course, do with great gusto. But in this time when everything is politicized, it is hard to find a way to speak that doesn’t sound partisan. Still, the Gospel must
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, April 3, 2022 The Church is a hospital for the sick and a place of refuge for the lonely and dispossessed. In the Church we should find the same love and compassion that Jesus shared when he walked this earth. If we do not, be sure that there are egos blocking the flow of compassionate energy. Richard Rohr notes that, “The ego moves forward by contraction, self-protection,
Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, June 11, 2023 Gospel: Matthew 10:32-33; 37-38; 19:27-30 I want to begin with a different quote from Mt. 12:46-50 because scripture is a seamless robe as my Systematic teacher once told us. One verse will shed light on the meaning of another. To understand the parts is to understand the whole. “While he was speaking to the crowds, look: his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to
By Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, December 21, 2014 We read …the genealogy of Jesus from St. Matthew’s Gospel. It is different from St. Luke’s genealogy and there are reasons for this which we do not time to talk about this morning. I would rather spend time on the point of this Gospel and that is, God became man to save everyone and everything. It is as Thomas Merton speaks of this using the metaphor
By Fr. Antony Hughes (Mark 10:32-45) In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ! I would love to make NEW SEEDS OF CONTEMPLATION by Thomas Merton the great Trappist monk and mystic required reading. It is a continual source of inspiration for me. I will refer to it in today’s sermon. When James and John heard Jesus tell of his coming
© 2026 Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
