3/29/2016
Fr. James Guirguis
St. Leo of Rome tells us that as Christians we should always be focused on preparing for the end of our earthly life.
The Lord in speaking this parable reminds us that we have a part to play in our own salvation.
It is said that before the end of the world the temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and someone will enter that temple to receive worship. This will no doubt be an anti-Christ or The AntiChrist. But as Christians we are reminded that we have no need of a temple since we as Christians become the temple of the Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus tells us that the one who does not forgive another is essentially putting that person into a type of prison.
Christ Himself is the Word of God. By the word of the Word, all things are done and accomplished. So He created the universe by His word and He recreates each of us by His word.
St. Apostle Paul takes an earthly reality and he uses it to bring to light an even greater spiritual reality. He uses this language of freedom and slavery with a completely different purpose.
His test was simple and straightforward. He gave them a directive and a promise and they would either respond with obedience in faith or they would reject His invitation.
Acknowledging God as the Light of the world and pursuing that light, through His body, which is the Church, is the way to begin seeing the world through fresh new eyes.
We think it is just a basic detail that Joseph took the body of Jesus down from the cross, but it wasn’t. It was a very powerful act of faith.
We incarnate the life of Christ by dying to ourselves knowing that God sees our daily sacrifice and pours out grace upon us to multiply and bless our work.
How are we sick? We are sick because our souls are disordered.
When we are in the presence of God nothing can help us but the love we have acquired and shown to others.
The whole universe of God’s mercy and forgiveness is open wide to receive those who will repent and return.
Zacchaeus utterly demolishes our understanding of what it means to welcome Christ into our lives.
The parable of Our Lord is an invitation, a calling, a warning and a promise.
Where do we go when life becomes impossibly difficult? What do we do when it seems that everyone has left us and that even the very universe itself is conspiring against us?
I would like to briefly focus on three methods of preparing and softening the heart.
I want to assure you that God plans to fill the nets of your life and He will provide for you because He loves you more than you can imagine and not one day of your life has gone by without many many gifts from Him.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is telling us that He will become like the bronze serpent for the whole world. He will be the antidote and the remedy to the deadly serpent who threatens the whole world and who threatens our lives.
As we draw nearer to this light of Christ we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ became a man precisely in order that He might share this light with us in a special way.
“I am not worthy.” Is there any more rare saying in our current age?
True worship of God starts from a place of truth.
If we pay close attention to this teaching about the last judgment we are surprised both by what is contained and by things that are not mentioned at all.
One day you have to choose to make the things of God a priority for you.
St. Paul had come to understand that there is only one criteria of importance for humanity. Either you belong to Christ or you don’t.
We simply open a door for the Lord and He enters and as we have seen in today’s story, there is no place where Christ is present that isn’t forever altered and changed and sanctified. Wherever the light is present, the darkness is vanquished.
The things that unite us in Christ are much greater than the trivial and childish things that cause us to separate from one another.
Our problem is the lack of righteousness and holiness. This is man’s only real problem.
The saints are those who have given their hearts fully to God.
Through her life Photini had learned about God, but she had never had a relationship with Him until this very moment at the sixth hour of the day. You and I are not so different from her.
Why does the whole world celebrate Christmas? Because God invited humanity to share in the divinity of His only Son through the incarnation or the humanity of His Son. What an invitation!
We can say that the fruit of the Spirit is the sign that we are living in, with and through God.
The Lord tells us that He Himself became as the bronze serpent. We can say that the bronze serpent was a prefigurement and foreshadowing of Christ Himself.
We see some storms happening in the world around us. Sickness, disease, lawlessness, tyrannical governments, and much more. In our own lives we struggle with the trial of our own fallenness and we deal with our brokenness and the resulting broken relationships with others.
What St. Paul is telling us is that each one of us has a part to play within this story of life. Each one of us has been placed here by God in order to serve and to love and to help one another.
What are we thirsty for? What are we hungry for? If the Lord encountered one of us at the well, what conversation would He have with us, and how would we respond in return?
We are encouraged to go to the deep place where we are sick and tired and hungry and feel unworthy and once we are there we transform all of those feelings of weakness and defeat intoacry to the Lord, “Jesus, have mercy on me!”
Our Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t tell us to do the things that are easy or come naturally, He tells us to do what is quite difficult and will take work for us in our current state. Have you ever known someone who loved their enemies? Or does that seem like a foreign concept to us?
Sometimes we are at wits end and we look up to the heavens and say “Lord I cannot do it any longer, I cannot bear this cross!” At this very moment, we are encouraged not to deny our crosses and run away from them, but to have faith and focus our gaze on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
What does St. Paul mean when he says “Be watchful”? We can often study other parts of Holy Scripture in order to illumine the meaning of hard to grasp phrases. In particular we should hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the gospel according to Matthew the Lord Jesus says “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.
We are living through a time of great worry and anxiety. We have almost worried ourselves sick. How did this happen? Is it because there is a nasty virus going around? Yes, in part. But there are bigger issues.
People are lost now precisely because they have lost what united our countrymen for so long. Many have lost the Christian faith.
What I find to be unique about the story of the resurrection is that it continued and expanded in its reach and power across the whole Roman empire and the whole world despite the fact that it seemed completely unbelievable.
May we be like St. John Climacus and allow the wilderness of our hearts to become fertile soil for the grace of God to work, through our struggle and even through tears.
The criteria for a whole and complete Christian life is how well do we love.
When I hear the story of Zacchaeus, I cannot help but feel that a mirror is held up to each of us.
After His comforting words, the Lord does something that no one that day expected or foresaw.
We see that the promise of the Lord was fulfilled in the disciples. They became men of truly great faith. They who could not help a struggling boy, later were filled with the Holy Spirit and did indeed raise men from the dead and heal the sick with their very shadows. This promise is given to all of the children of God.
If a wealthy man walks up to you on the street and writes you a check for one million dollars and hands it to you, does that make you a millionaire? No.
Rating: 9|Votes: 21
It is so interesting that the while the Lord is the true shepherd, He tells the disciples to pray for more laborers to receive the harvest.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 16
For a saint, or those who desire to be saints, each and every day we are forced to choose between the flesh and the spirit.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 28
This is a verse that can bring us great joy in the midst of our struggles. It can be our fuel when we think that we have nothing left in our tank.
Rating: 8.5|Votes: 15
On this day, we celebrate the Holy Fathers of the first ecumenical council which was assembled in Nicaea in the year 325ad. Why was this council convened? What did it mean? Why was it so important?
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 29
When Christ is not the light of your world, everything is darkness. But when Jesus Christ is the light of your world, you begin to see clearly. Everything takes on a new look, everything is exposed and healed by the light of Christ. As Christians, it is very important that we take this seriously.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 14
It becomes clear to us that the Lord has come specifically to heal this woman and give her life. He can see and has known her thirst for God.
Rating: 8.4|Votes: 14
The simple fact remains, according to the words of the Lord “Without Me you can do nothing.” Christ asks each of us if we want to be healed, let’s not fall into the trap of looking for healing in all the wrong places.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 17
The work of God requires a concerted prayerful effort of each member.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 21
My beloved, we are now in the joyous season of Pascha. It occurred to me that perhaps some of you do not know why we call what is known in the west as Easter by this term Pascha. What does it mean? Where did it come from?
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 49
This is the one week of the year when we spend the most time in the church and I want to take a few moments to talk about what we can do to make the most of this time, to gain great benefits.
Rating: 9|Votes: 26
In a brief paragraph that is dripping with spirit-filled wisdom, St. John all but hands us the keys to the kingdom. He shows us what is required if we want to live in communion and fellowship with the Holy Trinity.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 10
One of the worst things that can happen to us is to begin thinking that if we love God or have true faith, that somehow our life will be easier, or less painful or have less suffering.
Rating: 9.4|Votes: 57
I’m amazed every year when I’m reminded that St. Gregory Palamas was once called “the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church.” Now imagine that he was called “the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church” by the Patriarch of Constantinople himself.
Rating: 9.4|Votes: 21
The culmination of the great lenten struggle is found in the glorious events of the crucifixion and resurrection of Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. According to Christian teaching these are the most important events in the entire history of the universe. Yet, in order for them to be understood as more than myth or legend, something must anchor them to reality.
Now I would like to share with you some more practical tips for getting the most out of Great Lent.
Rating: 10|Votes: 13
The Church knows that we as her children often lose our way. We often lack focus. We lose track of time. We lose track of ourselves. But the Church does not lose track of us. She is like a good mother who is watchful, and patient and gently teaches and corrects and makes sure that her children are on the right path.
Rating: 10|Votes: 21
This is only the beginning. Let this not be another day in your life, but the day that you recommit yourselves to live only for Jesus Christ and what is profitable for your salvation.
Rating: 8.8|Votes: 15
So how might we be like this mad tyrant Herod?
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 30
The Lord became part of this family tree in order to save this tree, to heal this tree and to allow this tree to bear fruit that would feed the whole world, and indeed, the whole universe.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 20
We might be quick to say “Father, I do not worship idols.” And it is true that you may not have a stone statue of the buddha or krishna or some other deity in your home (at least I hope you don’t), but we worship things by the focus of our attention, our love and our resources. Whatever I give my time, my energy and my money, is a true and sure sign of my priorities.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 46
Today we hear the story of the rich man and Lazarus. It is a story that ought to make us stand back and take account of our lives and see whether or not we are on the right path. Why should we do this? Because Jesus our Lord offers us a reality that we in the modern world do not really accept.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 19
Why does one person become a saint and another choose a different way? Why does one person seek goodness, beauty, truth and life while another runs towards evil things and death? Why do some people live their lives toward God and others spend their lives running from Him?
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 16
What the Lord has done for this young man, He offers to each of us; He takes our lives and our situations which often seem bleak and He transforms them just as he transformed the casket from a place of death into a place of new life.
Rating: 9.4|Votes: 17
There is a powerful teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ that is well known as the “golden rule.” Our reading today begins with this golden rule.
Rating: 10|Votes: 12
How did the master of the vineyard respond to this? He sent even more servants in the hopes that he might get a different result. But it was no use. The result was the same. And finally the master decided to send his own son while he said to himself “They will respect my son.”
Rating: 9|Votes: 9
St. John is an amazing prophet and the Lord Jesus actually calls him the greatest born of a woman. Imagine just how important St. John must be that the Lord would speak so highly of him!
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 37
Pray that our country will wake from the fog of ungodliness and that the Lord would remove the demons that possess our culture and offer us His healing and sanity in their place.
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 19
In every person’s life there are moments where making a certain choice or decision will forever change the course of their life.
Imagine the deep desire of the Lord Jesus Christ for unity. Imagine the love that He has for His Church! His prayer is not for Himself but for His followers. His goal is our unity. When someone loves God he desires peace and unity everywhere.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 26
Have you ever noticed that it is really easy for people to become addicts? We look all around us and we find that people are addicted to all sorts of things.
Rating: 9.6|Votes: 14
Today’s reading paints a vivid picture of pain and suffering and the hope of healing.
Rating: 10|Votes: 9
There are times in the life of a Christian when he or she must either say “yes” or “no”. They are two simple words but they hold within them many possibilities.
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 15
St. John’s Ladder tells us that all our life is a struggle to climb towards Christ. It is so very easy to fall, but always a struggle to climb.
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 23
Now is the time to choose a path and there are only these two paths available to us.
Rating: 10|Votes: 7
One of the beautiful things that we learn from the lives of the saints is that there is not one right way to live the life of a saint or become a saint.
Rating: 8.7|Votes: 13
These are precious words of our Lord Jesus Christ and they remind us that what is contained within the 4 gospels is more important than anything that has ever been written in history.
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 26
Why do these things matter to the Lord Jesus? Why are they required of us?
Rating: 10|Votes: 26
It is a great temptation to see the world around us and to try to fix it. We see the troubles, the trials, the suffering and we attempt to apply our human logic in a productive way to address the many problems of our world.
Rating: 9.1|Votes: 22
In today’s reading, given to us on this the eve of the New Year, we hear these words “Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” If that is not a worthwhile New Year’s resolution, I am not sure what would be. Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. But what does that actually mean for us? What is this path that we need to make straight? What is the way of the Lord, and how do we prepare it?
Rating: 9.5|Votes: 17
When our religious practices don’t start with the love of God, they become like weapons. They no longer can do good for us or for others. They no longer help us to heal but cause wounds.
Rating: 9.6|Votes: 8
Thankfully St. Paul gives us a way out of such a mess. He says “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but expose them.” There are many ways that we can expose our sins but I will focus on the most important one, the one that the Church provides for all of it’s people, free of charge. The sacrament of confession.
Rating: 10|Votes: 25
As a change of pace today I thought I would take some time to tell you about Saint James the brother of the Lord and some of his work.
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 24
There is however one potential, what happens when two different groups of Christians each claim to be following the word of God and yet they come up with dramatically different interpretations and ideas based on the same texts?
Rating: 10|Votes: 19
Both of our readings today give us a clear indication of what is required of us to be considered sons and daughters, the children of God.
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
We are also watchful when we take care that we don’t neglect our own spiritual lives and lose our focus. The Lord Jesus says that if we are not ready for His coming, it will be “like a thief in the night.” We can meet our king at any moment. The apostle asks us to be watchful so that the moment does not catch us off guard.
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 20
All statistics point to a significant change happening in the fabric of our society. Today there are more atheists in the United States than at any time in history, that is a statistical fact. Why does this matter?
Rating: 10|Votes: 8
The saints, those who love God and obey His teachings, are also much more alive than we can imagine.
Rating: 8.8|Votes: 25
Often people who come to the Orthodox Church for the first time are quite amazed at the number of times they will hear us pray “Lord have mercy” at every service and especially at the Divine Liturgy. This is no accident but a purposeful habit that the Church, our mother, is trying to form within us.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 4
Today’s gospel passage about the 5 loaves and the 2 fish is a great reminder that God doesn’t need much in order to accomplish His will. But there is one thing that He requires…that we entrust everything to Him.
Rating: 9.9|Votes: 9
Nothing attracts others to God like people who are genuinely faithful to God and to His commandments. In fact, it is sometimes said that people have no problem with Jesus but that they have a problem with the followers of Jesus whom they’ve encountered.
Rating: 6.7|Votes: 3
When does the Lord visit us? Every time that we have a thought that reminds us of God. Every time that our conscience speaks to us and attempts to correct us. Every time that we think about praying.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 10
God’s grace is something that we speak of but do we realize that this energy and healing presence of God is very near to us?
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 19
What is the beginning of sainthood? According to the Lord, it is the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ before others. How do we acknowledge our Lord and master on a daily basis before others? It is a really important question that is worthy of reflection and a thoughtful answer.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 13
Today we celebrate the Holy Feast of Pentecost. We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Disciples and Apostles of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But what about us?
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 3
There is in our society a concerted effort which begins at the university level, to discredit the idea of absolute or objective truth. In the life of a Christian there is nothing that is more important than the absolute truth.
Rating: 9.8|Votes: 10
I would like to focus on some of the difficult things our Lord Jesus Christ says to the woman at the well. In our society we are being very well trained not to cause any waves with the things that we say. We are taught to be politically correct with all of our speech. We are taught that there are no absolute truths and objective realities only opinions and feelings are relevant.
Rating: 10|Votes: 2
I suspect that if I ask you if you want to be cured of your anger, you will reply “Yes, I want to be cured.” But in the depths of your heart is that true?
As we draw near to Holy Week we should take a few moments to reflect and meditate on this amazing Messiah, this Christ who loves each of us so dearly that He is willing to accept the worst that we have to offer in order to give us the best of what belongs to Him.
The Church reminds us during this fourth Sunday of Lent that none of our efforts will go to waste.
Let’s stand with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and just imagine what would’ve happened if Our Lord said “Crucifixion is tough, I will run away.”
He was once called “the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church.” Now imagine that he was called “the cause of all disorders and disturbances in the Church” by the Patriarch of Constantinople himself.
Rating: 2|Votes: 1
“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” These are the words of our Lord God and savior Jesus Christ given to us today as we are now at the edge and preparing to leap into Great and Holy Lent. Our Lord has this amazing way of reorienting our thinking and even removing our blindness in order to help us to see.
Rating: 7.6|Votes: 7
The teachings of Our Lord, God and savior Jesus Christ are often quite difficult for us. In fact, it cannot be any other way since God is speaking to man. God is attempting to raise man from his earthly nature which makes him similar to the beasts, and He is trying to raise him to the level and stature which alone is God’s. We do not take lightly the idea that God desires to call us “sons and daughters.”
This parable is about each of us. We have each been rebellious in our lives. We have each fought God in order to have freedom on our own terms.
Zacchaeus demonstrates his willingness to struggle to know God. He may look foolish as a grown man who is climbing into a tree. He probably got sweaty and dirty. It took effort. But it was all worth it wasn’t it?
Rating: 1|Votes: 1
Here we are confronted with the ten lepers and we see their reverence. Why did they have such reverence?
Rating: 10|Votes: 3
The evangelist St. Matthew has left a wonderful present under the tree and he teases us to contemplate it and think about it and perhaps even to peek into it and discover something of the mystery of this joyous feast.
One of the things we learn from Our Lord, God and savior Jesus Christ is that outward observances don’t matter, in fact they are downright evil, when they do not transform those who practice them. We encounter just such a situation here.
Who are we as Christians, even, as Orthodox Christians…to be dismayed or exuberant over the winner of a political contest?
Rating: 5.3|Votes: 180
As Christians we learn to be at peace with the presence of Christ in our lives as we grow in our relationship with Christ and then we do not have to be tortured and tormented and caught off guard like the demon possessed man.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 9
The teachings of Jesus Christ are often radically different than those of our culture. It seems that if we only obeyed the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ we could probably fire most of our politicians.
Rating: 8|Votes: 5
We each have struggles and difficulties and crosses in our lives, some of them are quite painful. What is the thought process that we go through when we encounter difficulties?
Rating: 7|Votes: 6
One of the worst ideas that has ever been circulated about Christianity is this idea that God is full of wrath and that He is actively seeking people to punish and throw into a place called hell.
What God demands of us seems like too much. But what God asks of us, He has already done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated the ability to forgive even in the midst of His ordeals and great suffering upon the cross! He cries out Father forgive them, for they know not what they do! By demonstrating such an ability, the crucified Lord affirms that it is indeed possible for us to do the same. And by opening up this possibility of forgiveness, God will open to us the doors of His heavenly kingdom and He will allow us to dwell with those who have suffered injustices and triumphed through forgiveness.
In today's gospel we are witnesses to another encounter of Jesus with a family that has suffered. A father has just brought his son to the Lord Jesus because he is an epileptic who “suffers terribly”. This father has to bring his son to Jesus Christ because the Lord's disciples had failed to heal the boy. After the Lord has healed the boy, the disciples are curious as to why He was able to heal when they were unable to do so. Jesus' answer to them is also an answer to many of our problems “because you have no faith.”
Rating: 5|Votes: 1
Last week we spent some time speaking of what it takes the build up the Church and specifically this church in this particular place. We were reminded by the Holy Apostle Paul that each and every individual within the Church receives divine gifts by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s epistle we hear some of the words of encouragement from the great Apostle St. Paul to the Christians of Rome. These words are a beautiful reminder to all of us who are here together to build this mission and spread the Orthodox faith.
Rating: 9.6|Votes: 12
What is this one word that the Lord spoke? What is this one word that changed the lives of two troubled men? What was this word that troubled a whole city? What was this word that caused the Lord to have to leave again for His own city?
Mammon is wealth or money but in this case it is understood as having the potential to greatly influence our moral compass as well. We live in a world that requires us to make money. We need financial resources to do much of what we do. The Lord understands that completely. The issue here is not whether or not we need money.
Rating: 8|Votes: 6
Let’s be faithful to acknowledge Jesus Christ in word, in deed and in thought. Let us love nothing more than we love Christ. Let us each carry the cross with faith that God sees our personal sacrifices and numbers each of them and will never forget them, but will truly reward us by pouring out His Holy Spirit upon us and transforming us into people who are filled with the love of Christ, into people who are illumined, into people who are glorified as real saints.
The Holy Spirit is not some magical gift, but a personal encounter with the person of the Holy Spirit through His energies. The energies of God are given to us by His grace and not because we deserve them. Although this is the case, there are certain dispositions and attitudes that will allow God to magnify His grace within us.
Who is this Jesus? Is He simply a man or something more than that. If He is something more than a mere human, how is this possible? What does it mean that He is both human and divine? What does it mean when we call Him the “God-Man”?
There is no doubt that we each need a life changing encounter with the Lord, and there is no doubt that we are each capable of having this because the Lord in His grace is hungry for this relationship with each of us. He is present, but where is our heart? Do we recognize that we are sick and have been enemies of Christ through our own sinfulness and pride?
In today’s gospel passage we recognize and celebrate the virtues of the Myrrh bearing women. They are known for their dedication and service and these are truly important attributes that everyone can learn from and imitate. But what is not thought about often is the exceeding strength and courage required of them.
Rating: 5.3|Votes: 4
We have just celebrated Pascha or Easter as it is otherwise known and the celebration that we partake of for 40 days is the celebration of Life over death, of Good over evil, of Light over darkness, of Holiness over sin. In the midst of our celebration it is easy to lose focus and to forget that this is not just a story that has been passed down to us for 2000 years.
We are now entering into the busiest week in the life of the Church. This is the week where we witness the turning point to the greatest story of the human race.
They had followed Him daily, for at least three years. They had heard His teachings and seen His wisdom and godly insight and yet, they didn’t believe and they didn’t absorb and assimilate the information that He had just shared with them.
We all want to change, we want to become better humans, some of us want to know Jesus Christ more intimately, some of us want to become saints. These are all big results and if you want big results you better have big faith. And if you want to have big faith you better exercise that faith through prayer and fasting.
This Cross is not magic. It is the remembrance of Christ Our Lord’s sufferings and trials at the hands of sinners. It is the remembrance of the manly, heroic courage of Our Lord in the face of unrestrained evil. But the reminder is of a dual nature. We are reminded of Christ’s heroic struggles on our behalf and the demons are reminded of their ultimate defeat at the hands of the Holy Son of God.
This Second Sunday of Great Lent teaches us so much. We learn that the work of the body is important work. We learn that we are saved together as an integral whole, body, mind and soul. We learn that when we harness our hearts, minds and souls to agree on working together towards knowledge of our Creator, we are then able to truly share in the benefits of the title “Child of God.”
