April 25, 2021

“The joy of the Lord is my strength.” What is this “joy of the Lord” and how can we carry such joy throughout our lives? Read more »

April 18, 2021

Instead of reading the life of Saint Mary of Egypt in a simple manner as a sinful woman who deeply repented, maybe we should she that she possibly came from a traumatic past. Read more »

April 11, 2021

Life is a journey which has a particular destination but many people don’t use any divine GPS to guide them on the path and thus, end up not knowing where they’re going. They wander around, they travel down dead ends, they go in the wrong direction, and after many years and even decades they end up lost, no closer to the divine destination which God calls us to discover, a journey’s end into the Kingdom of Heaven. Read more »

April 04, 2021

Suffering is not a sign of God’s rejection of His beloved, an abandonment of His children, or the victory of evil. Suffering is simply a part of the path that can purify us on our journey toward God; carrying whatever Cross we may have in our lives can unite us even more to our Savior. Read more »

March 28, 2021

Union with God. Communion with our Creator. Here lies the focus and center of our Christian journey. Our goal in life is nothing less than this union with God. Read more »

March 21, 2021

When I come into the church on Sundays, I typically get here an hour before the Matins service begins, and the first thing that I do is go around to all the icons on the walls of our church and greet all the saints by kissing them. Read more »

March 14, 2021

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” does not mean God is unwilling to forgive us if we won’t forgive others. “But if, despite God's unfailing eagerness to forgive, we on our side harden our hearts and refuse forgiveness to others, then quite simply we render ourselves incapable of receiving divine forgiveness. Read more »

March 07, 2021

“Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. Let him do anything but act.” This is the guidance of Screwtape, who is a senior demon training his junior demon nephew on how to lead Christians away from God. Read more »

February 28, 2021

here is only joy in the return of a sinner, no matter when it happens in their lifetime. God patiently waits and then rejoices. He has no interest in punishing. He’s not giving the sinner what he deserves. He patiently waits, day after day, year after year, with hope that every sinner will come to his senses and turn back toward God. Read more »

February 21, 2021

Saint Anthony the Great’s words summarize the spirit we are called to attain: “Always reject pride and consider everyone more righteous than yourself.” Read more »

February 14, 2021

Humility. It’s not really a popular virtue today. It seems like our society promotes much more pride, egotism, vanity, even conceit and arrogance. Read more »

February 07, 2021

There are many other athletes that may have just as much or even more talent than someone like Tom Brady, yet they never make it into the professional leagues, no less win 7 super bowls. What can we learn from Tom Brady? Read more »

January 31, 2021

Do you know what makes you special? God created each one of us unique and beautiful, He created us in His image, He created each of us as beautiful as a rose. Read more »

January 24, 2021

How serious are we in our pursuit for the Kingdom of God? Before we answer that question, let’s reflect on the lives of a few of the saints we commemorate this month. Read more »

December 27, 2020

Did Christmas truly change the world? Did Christ come into the world to usher in a utopia? The Jews waited for a Messiah, whom the ancient prophets foretold would usher in a new era, fundamentally changing history? Yet let’s be honest, can we say that the world we live in is such a different place pre-Christmas compared to post-Christmas? Read more »

December 25, 2020

The year 2020 will be remembered throughout history as the year of the global pandemic. Not only disease and death. Corruption. Greed. Violence. Hatred. Divisiveness. Fear. Anxiety. The future surely seems uncertain. Is there Good News during difficult times? Read more »

December 13, 2020

During this year of a pandemic, when we’ve all quarantined and separated ourselves from one another, it’s so hard to stay disconnected from people. Fellowship and communion with one another offer us life, and yet, the pandemic keeps us apart! Where do we find joy? Read more »

November 22, 2020

What is success? How many of us think that success depends on what we possess, on how much we have? Read more »

November 15, 2020

It’s interesting how Jesus changes the dynamic from focusing on understanding “Who is my neighbor” to “Which of these three people proved neighbor to the man in need?” Read more »

November 08, 2020

As we come to a contentious conclusion of our presidential election, even though the aftermath of this divisiveness in our national politics may unfortunately continue, I really want to challenge all of us to take a step back and look deeply and honestly at ourselves and our actions over these past weeks and months. Read more »