April 14, 2024

“We do not reach the Kingdom of God going from victory to victory but more often we have to journey from defeat to defeat,” notes St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. “After each defeat, however, we don’t bewail our misery but we get back up and continue the battle. We go forward in repentance and humility.” Read more »

April 07, 2024

The Lord said: "If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Let’s take a moment and reflect on what Jesus is saying here. It’s pretty radical and counter-intuitive. If any of us want to come after him, to follow him, to become one of His disciples, what’s the first thing we must do? Read more »

March 31, 2024

How many of you know someone who is seriously sick? Someone who may have a terminal illness? Do you pray for them? Why? Read more »

March 17, 2024

The pitcher of water is the same; yet each container receives the water differently. How much each container is filled doesn’t depend on the water being poured, but on the way the container receives the water! Read more »

March 10, 2024

I was at Project Mexico this past week with 18 students from HCHC for their Spring Break. What a meaningful way for college students to spend their spring break – in loving service building a home for a family in need. Read more »

March 03, 2024

Do you know that 1 out of 14 school age children in the USA have a parent who is incarcerated?!? 1 out of 14!!! That’s unbelievable! My dear friend, Patrick Tutella, who has worked for many years with prisoners, shared a story about his outreach to school children who have parents incarcerated in prison.  Read more »

February 25, 2024

“In God we Trust.” It is interesting that this is the official motto of the United States. In a country where many contemporary people like to highlight the separation of church and state, thinking that faith should be kept separate from our civil, secular lives, we still say “In God We Trust.” Read more »

February 18, 2024

A desperate woman approaches Jesus to help her daughter and yet, at first, “the Lord does not answer her a word.” Read more »

February 11, 2024

Do not to accept the grace of God in vain. What do these words of Saint Paul, which we heard in today’s Epistle reading, mean? How could someone accept the grace of God in vain? Read more »

February 04, 2024

Saint John the Divine received a special Revelation from God at end of 1st century. It begins by giving a warning to the seven churches in Asia Minor, churches that represented the 2nd or 3rd generation of Christians in the early Church. These Christians surely started off their faith journey with such fervor and love for Christ yet Saint John warns them about falling away. Read more »

January 28, 2024

“I don’t know many of the people in the church,” a lifelong member of our church told me recently. This man doesn’t come to church too frequently, yet he has been a part of our church since his birth 80 years ago. And he said to me, “There are so many new people in church. I don’t know who they are.” Read more »

January 21, 2024

I woke up yesterday to the sad news from one of our parishioners, Diana Megas, who asked for prayers for her brother, Danut, who was in a terrible car accident in Romania. He is on life support. I told her that I would share with our Church Family this very sad and difficult news and ask everyone to please pray for a miraculous healing for her brother Danut, and to pray for comfort and strength for all her family – for Danut’s wife and children, her elderly parents for whom he cares, and of course for Diana and Natalie and Alexis. Read more »

January 15, 2024

An extremist. How many of us would like to be labeled extremists? We see this on the far right and the far left. We see violent extremists throughout the world. We often link extremists with certain ideologies or religious movements. Our country, however, pauses on January 15th to remember someone who was considered an extremist of his time – the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Read more »

January 07, 2024

“I myself did not know him.” Saint John repeats this twice in today’s Gospel story. - “I myself did not know him, but for this I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” Read more »

January 02, 2024

"Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will be saved" “Where there is God, there is no evil. Everything coming from God is peaceful, healthy and leads a person to the judgment of his own imperfections and humility.” Read more »

January 01, 2024

1. Pray every day. Accept a Prayer Rule in your life, and then try to follow that rule every day. Prayer is connecting with God, communing with the Source of life. Say set prayers every morning and evening, but then seek to talk with God throughout the day. Don’t let an hour go by where you don’t “check in” with God and turn your attention to Him. Read more »

December 31, 2023

“The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” As we prepare to enter a new year, today we read from the Gospel of Mark and see him highlight in the very first verse “the beginning of Good News!” Read more »

December 25, 2023

Presbytera Faith and I were driving to church 10 days ago, just going straight on Dudley Oxford Road when unexpectedly a car turned right into the side of our car and flipped our car on its side. One moment we’re driving along, and the next moment I’m up in the air, with airbags in my face. Read more »

December 24, 2023

What is your name? What’s the name people call you, and what is the name that God knows you by? Read more »

December 17, 2023

Christmas is a time of wonder and joy. Why? Because God acted in a unique manner in history. He decided to come and save humanity from the darkness and evil of the world. Humanity was lost in its fallen nature and God lifted us up to a new reality. Read more »

December 10, 2023

What does the church mean to you? How does the Church and your Orthodox Christian faith bless you? What role does it play in your life? Let’s take a moment to seriously think about this. What does the Church and your Orthodox Faith mean to you? Read more »

December 03, 2023

Saint Paul tells us today to “Walk as children of light and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord… Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise men and women, making the most of our time understanding what the will of God is." Read more »

November 19, 2023

I used to go to a prison every Monday night for three years while I was a seminarian. We would gather together with a group of 5 to 10 prisioners holding a Bible Study. One prisoner, Carol, was serving a life sentence in prison, yet every time I met him he was joyful and encouraging of others. Read more »

November 12, 2023

GRATITUDE AND THE EUCHARIST Children’s Sermon, Character Trait Theme: Gratitude (Presbytera Faith and Father Luke preached this together) Read more »

November 05, 2023

Life is an unfair mystery. We talked about this a few weeks ago in our youth sermon but today’s Gospel highlights this point to us once again. Read more »

October 29, 2023

How many of us like being interrupted? We may be in the middle of doing something, and then someone unexpectedly comes up to us, interrupts us, and disrupts our planned schedule. What about when we’re doing something really important? How do we react with such interruptions? Read more »

October 22, 2023

Cultural Christians. Orthodox Christian because of our family and heritage. “My grandparents were Greek Orthodox, my parents are Greek Orthodox, and I have inherited this faith as my own. I consider myself Greek Orthodox.” How many of us can say that? Read more »

October 15, 2023

“The line between good and evil passes through the heart of every human being.” Too often we like to adopt a simplistic worldview where there are good guys and there are bad guys. That's not the way we look at life as Christians. Read more »

October 08, 2023

All we have is God’s gift to us. All we become is our gift to God. Do we truly understand and believe this? All we have is God’s gift to us. All that we have in life is a gift from God and how we handle these gifts is our offering back to Him. Read more »

October 01, 2023

How many of you have ever traveled to Rome and seen St. Peter’s Cathedral at the Vatican? Or to Paris and seen Notre Dame? Or to Constatinople and seen Aghia Sophia Read more »

September 24, 2023

Who are the role models we look up to in our lives? Role models should serve as guides, inspirations, and examples for us as we navigate the path of faith and strive to follow the life of Jesus Christ. Read more »

September 10, 2023

One of the holy man’s disciples said to his Geronta, “Don’t you know that a scorpion’s nature is to sting? Why do you keep trying to save him? You will get stung!”  The elder reached down to try and help the scorpion one more time. “Yes, that may be true, but don’t you know that my nature as a child of God is to love and to save.  Why should I change my nature simply because the scorpion does not change its nature?” Read more »

September 03, 2023

Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. Read more »

August 27, 2023

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” What must I do to walk with God in a faithful manner? What must I do in life to please God? What must I do to fulfill the divine potential God has given me and to use it to its fullness so that I may glorify God? Read more »

August 06, 2023

“Be more zealous to confirm your call and election,” advised Saint Peter in today’s Epistle reading for the Feast of our Lord’s Transfiguration. Read more »

July 30, 2023

How do we want to be remembered? When you die, what do you want people to say about you in your eulogy? What will they remember was most important to you? Read more »

June 30, 2023

The final three days of my father’s life was an appropriate tribute to his almost 91 years of life. Death was near and yet everything was so peaceful, beautiful, sacred. Read more »

June 18, 2023

On this Father’s Day, I want to reflect on some things that I’ve learned from my beloved father. Read more »

May 14, 2023

When we think of Mothers, who is the greatest mother in history? Now some of you might say your own mother but as Christians we would point to the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos, the Mother of God. Read more »

April 23, 2023

"Thomas, have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe." Read more »

April 16, 2023

We greet one another with this statement during the 40 days of the Paschal season, and yet, what does it really mean? How do we understand the revolutionary historical event of Jesus rising from the dead? Read more »

April 09, 2023

Jesus’ earthly life and ministry is coming to an end. For three years, He inspired people with His words of wisdom. Read more »

March 26, 2023

We are climbing a ladder, or maybe a more modern-day version is we are trying to walk up an escalator that is going downwards. We’re trying to reach the top and enter into the kingdom of heaven, and yet so much in our world is trying to lead us in the opposite direction. Read more »

March 19, 2023

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. How many of us make the sign of the Cross when we hear the name of the Holy Trinity? Do you ever pause to think WHY you make the sign of the Cross? Read more »

March 12, 2023

Imagine Jesus looking into our eyes and saying, “My child, your sins are forgiven. Your past mistakes wiped away; the poor choices of your life forgotten; all the ways you have turned away from God throughout your life are no more. Any debt you owe me for all I’ve given you is dismissed and there will be no remembrance of this debt.” Read more »

March 05, 2023

Come and see who Christ is. Come and see how to follow Him! Come and see what it means to become His disciple! Come and see what it how to commit your entire life living under the reign of God. Come and See! Read more »

February 19, 2023

“When Jesus Christ comes at the end of time, the Book of Life will be opened and God will sit in judgment as all the deeds done by humanity will be revealed. The Valley of Tears will resound with the cries of sinners who did not repent. Alas, dark soul of mine! How long will you delay turning away from your wicked ways? Read more »

February 12, 2023

It’s noteworthy to remember what the very first commandment God gave to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai: “I am the Lord your God, and you shall have no other gods before me…. Do not make for yourself an idol in any form.” Read more »

February 05, 2023

How dare we be proud, trusting in ourselves while judging others, when we need to understand that salvation is a gift no one can earn. In order to receive this gift, we must honestly see ourselves as we truly are and then repent, turn back towards God. Read more »

January 15, 2023

Acting as an extremist of love and of goodness. Yet how far have we in the Church fallen away from such “good” extremism? Read more »

January 08, 2023

“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” These are the first words of Saint John the Baptist and the first words of Jesus Christ as He begins His public ministry. Our journey of faith begins with Repentance. Yet, what does repentance mean? Read more »

January 01, 2023

As we begin the New Year, let us not simply focus on some temporary resolutions related to our weight, our health, our finances, or whatever else. Let us reflect on the life of Saint Basil the Great and strive to imitate him. Read more »

January 01, 1970

Saint Paul tells us today to “Walk as children of light and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord… Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise men and women, making the most of our time understanding what the will of God is." Read more »