A deaf and mute man is brought to Christ our God. Jesus, with fingers that can be touched, touches the man's ears so that he could hear. Christ spat on the ground and touched his tongue so that it could speak the praises of the One Who had healed him. Our faith, our healing, our salvation only comes by encountering Christ with our whole being and n…

At the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we encounter the fullness of the sufferings she endured as the chosen Mother of Christ our God. Today puts the reality of human suffering right before us; something we will all endure in this life. And today we have great hope that because Christ joined Himself to our suffering, sufferin…

In our Gospel reading from St. John 12, looking ahead to His Crucifixion our Lord says these words, "Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be cast out." What judgment of the world and its ruler is our Lord speaking about? The judgment of Satan who deceived and wronged every soul. Tonight we hear the Church Fathers spea…

From the barrenness of Sts. Joachim & Anna came the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the mercy God; prefiguring shame and sorrow being taken away by the Son she would bear and deliver into this world, our Lord Jesus Christ. Today, as always, as we gaze upon our Lord's Mother we see Christ and His salvation of us all. Our Lord came to us to …

So many Scriptures speak about the damage idolatry does in our lives and to our souls. The reality is that, while we face temptations and distractions, we are the ones that set up and attend to our idols. Idolatry is anything we attend to or love more than the Lord our God. Our idolatry divides our hearts and lessens our experience in this life wit…

Why do we do all that we do in the Church? Do we fast, give alms, pray, offer ourselves to God in the Liturgy because we are told to do so? Is it a checking off of a task list or is it something more? St. Paul tells us that we are children of God, not slaves to Him. Everything we do is a response to an invitation by God to come to Him and let Him h…

Jesus, out of His great love for us, invites us to cooperate with Him in His wondrous works of salvation. We offer Him only that which we have, no more and no less. He takes anything lacking in our offering and fills it with Himself accomplishing His great works. We see this in the testimony of Christ feeding the 4,000 men plus women and children. …

Our Gospel reading today is the miraculous catch of fish in St. Luke 5. Today we look at all that transpired to see the true framework for the fulfilling of the Great Commission by Christian evangelism. Evangelism, and every good work, begins with our encounter and experience with Christ our God. There faith is born enabling us to follow Christ bey…

It can be said that the Christian life is broken down into three phases. First, the joy and excitement of conversion. Second, there is a season of struggle where God can feel very distant or absent in our lives. The third phase is the blessedness of a grown and matured faith that grants us such a deeper experience of God in our lives. Today we focu…

In 1 Peter 5 St. Peter teaches the entire Church, both Clergy and Laity, how they are to live in relationship to God and to one another. The Apostle implores all to live from Christ's Nature of Humility. Today we open our souls to see the value of this great virtue and how Christ desires to free us from the service of ourselves and the consuming th…

In the Parable of the Great Supper from St. Luke 14, our Lord reveals the heart of God and His framework for the salvation of mankind. It is God Who prepares the banquet inviting all to come in and partake of His goodness. But some who were invited make non-eternal excuses for why they cannot accept His invitation while many others come and receive…

In Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" Ebeneezer Scrooge is described as a self-absorbed old miser who lives only for himself. He is devoid of any community and, in this brief life, lives only for the gain and preservation of things non-eternal with blinders on to suffering humanity all around him. This is the same description Jesus gives of the r…

When the Blessed Virgin visits Elizabeth, who is far along in her pregnancy with St. John the Forerunner, St. John leaped in the womb of Elizabeth with joy at the presence of Christ. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, proclaimed "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." The Blessed Virgin responds the Magnificat, a g…

God has given us many revelations regarding God the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. Yet, we will forever be growing in this mystery of Three Divine Persons yet one God. One of the revelations given to us is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in an undivided unity. We were created in His image according to His likeness which means…

Today is the Feast of Pentecost and on this day the promised Holy Spirit is gifted to God's people. This morning we remember the Old Covenant Feast Day of Pentecost and how Christ fulfills it on this day. All those who are Baptized into Christ are given the great gift of God the Holy Spirit for the healing of our souls. But we are also given this g…

Today is the Sunday after the Ascension of our Lord. We are in that time between His Ascension and the sending of God the Holy Spirit to us. On this day we look at the eternal ministry our Lord has taken on for us. He has become our Great High Priest forever. What great joy we should have that He eternally stands before the Father pleading for God'…

When our Lord Jesus Christ Ascended into Heaven, the Angelic hosts were amazed at what they witnessed. For the first time since the fall of man, in Christ the second Adam, humanity entered Paradise. There in Christ our humanity is kept before the Father that we might be able to follow His path and ascend; returning to the Father and to the Paradise…

In the Gospel of St. John 16 our Lord Jesus Christ tells His disciples, "Whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give it to you. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." But what does it mean to ask the Father in Jesus' Name? This is such an important aspect of our life in Christ and speaks greatly to the fulfillment of our voc…

After the Resurrection, Christ's disciples were elated to continue in fellowship with Him as He continued His ministry. Imagine their sadness when Jesus told them He was returning to the Father. To ease their sadness, He tells them that it is to their advantage that He returns to the Father. There was a greater experience of God to be had beyond th…

In 1 Peter 2, the Apostle teaches that we are to live as sojourners and pilgrims abstaining from fleshly lusts and letting our good works in Christ be used to the salvation of all. Today we consider this life of a sojourner and pilgrim in this world; a life that began with our Baptism through which we were washed, cleansed, given mercy, and uproote…

Today is the Sunday of the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel of St. John 10, our Lord teaches, "I AM the Good Shepherd." Today we look at this teaching along with the 23rd Psalm to see what is revealed to us about the nature of Christ our Good Shepherd. We conclude with a few thoughts about how we are to live as the sheep who have been brought into His …

As is tradition each year in the Orthodox Church, on this day we hear the blessed Paschal homily once preached by St. John Chrysostom.Par St. Peter Orthodox Church

Today Fr. James Rooney teaches us the development of the Office of Matins. We look at Matins in the context of the entire prayer rhythm of the Church. We also look at the Matins service itself to learn why we pray what we pray as part of that rhythm.Par St. Peter Orthodox Church

How do we take our leave from such a profound week as Holy Week? How do we move on from here? Today we look at St. Thomas and the disciples' experience both after the crucifixion of their Master and after they experience the Resurrected Jesus Christ. These men had profound experiences of Christ for years as they journeyed with Him in His ministry. …

When our Lord gave up His Spirit, He immediately descended into the darkness of the prison for every soul up to that point called Hades. There the darkness gave way because the Light of the World had come. He broke asunder the gates of Hades and crushed the head of Satan, the serpent. And upon His Resurrection, the darkness of the tomb became brill…

Every Covenant of God with His people since creation was given to bring God's people deeper into the knowledge and mystery of Himself. The Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the finalization of the final Covenant of God with His people. How are we to respond to God regarding this final and everlasting Covenant? As we gaze at the Cross, we consider w…

Tonight is Maundy Thursday and the word "Maundy" means command. Tonight our Lord gives two commands. He takes bread and wine saying this is my Body and my Blood, do this in remembrance of Me. And, He washes His disciples' feet and commands them that they should do the same for one another. It is the command to receive love and mercy from Him and to…

Today our Father in the Faith, His Eminence Metropolitan SABA, reminds us that in Holy Week we truly return to creation. In the Garden of Paradise, we were created in the image of God to grow in His likeness as we fellowshipped with Him and learned from Him. The finished work of Jesus Christ re-opened the gates of Paradise to us all. Through Him we…

One of the many themes of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ is that the suffering of One makes way for the healing of the many. The more we consider the suffering of Christ, the more we see just how far Christ lowered Himself so that we may be raised up. One of the great revelations Christ has given His Church is this: anything Christ joined Him…

The glorious Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the greatest examples of paradox. How could something so torturous be glorious? The Apostle St. Paul says "the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us it is the power of God unto salvation." St. Paul knew the paradox of the Cross. Tonight we look at the teaching…

On Palm Sundays, there are two services joined together as one. On this day we have the Blessing of the Palms and the Gospel is read regarding Christ's entrance into Jerusalem to go to His Passion. And in the Mass of the day, one of the Passion Gospels is read. So we have something festive and something sorrowful all at once set before us. The Jews…

Today is Passion Sunday marking a significant turn toward the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The iconography and all images of our Lord Jesus Christ are hidden from us. Why would our Lord give us this prescription for the last two weeks of Lent? Today, as we consider this question, we find that it has everything to do with the true sense of rememb…

If Adam's lament is the lament of every soul, we need help in discovering the powerful lament within us for God. We also need the help of God to redirect that lament to Him so that our souls may finally come to rest and enjoy His peace. Today we look at how the spiritual disciplines given to us by Christ in Lent help us to uncover our true lament. …

Today, in the testimony of Christ our God miraculously feeding the 5,000, we are reminded of what Christ can do with the little that we have to offer Him. And yet, even though what we have is little and always deficient, He invites us to join with Him in His wondrous works to sustain and fill many. Satan has us always focus on what we lack which le…

When we think of Lent and repentance, we tend to think mainly about overcoming our sins and coming out of the ways of our fallenness. While this must be, with the help of the grace of God, a necessary part of repentance; it is truly only one aspect of the repentance through which Christ brings healing to the soul. Repentance is two motions all at o…

Have you ever gone through a season of life where, no matter how faithful in prayer you remain, our Lord seems to be very distant from you? Or, have you been in a season of suffering where your prayers for mercy and relief seem to be met with silence? Journey with Christ long enough and you will encounter one or both of those experiences. Today we …

In Holy Scripture, there were three who fasted for 40 days: Moses, Elijah, and Christ our God. And through each one's fast idolatry was cast down and destroyed or left behind. Today we look each of these to see Christ's great prescription of the 40-day fast of Lent which He sanctified and consecrated for us; that by His presence in our fast our ido…

Today Father James shares with us several texts: The Lament of Adam, Lamentation chapter 1, St. Nicolai Velimirovich "Prayers by the Lake" (prayers that aid us to love and pray for our enemies, and the Litany of Humility. As he goes through each, we discover meaningful ways in which we can experience a true change of personhood within ourselves to,…

Jesus says in Matthew 6, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." The reality for us all is that God is not entirely the treasure of our hearts. Throughout our days we give in to the many temptations and distractions of this world. The good news is, our Lord has always known this would be our human struggle. We are given the season …

We are told in Hebrews 4 that, since we have a High Priest Who is compassionate toward us, we should come boldly before His throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need. When the blind man near Jericho cried out loud for mercy, Jesus was attracted to Him in His weakness. It is hard for us to consider that our Savior is attracted …

The word ontological, when used regarding theology, has everything to do with the nature of God Himself. For us, that word encapsulates all that has been revealed by God to His Church regarding Who He is and how we understand Him. Since we are created in His image to grow in His likeness, we also use the word ontological to understand the truly cre…

In our Gospel reading from St. Luke 8, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Soils. In this parable, our Lord lists three reasons for the unhealthy soil in our soul in which the seed of our new life given through Him cannot grow. While we all have each type of unhealthy soil within our souls, today we focus on the first type that our …

Today is Septuagesima Sunday, the beginning of our three-week preparation for Lent. We are asked today to consider a question. What is the true priority, the true degree of urgency, that we place on the care and healing of our souls? In truth, throughout this life, our urgency waxes and wanes. We simply allow ourselves to be derailed by distraction…

Charismata is a word that means gift. It is easier to see repentance and humility as as gifts from God when seen correctly. But despair, a gift from God? Yes! Anyone who follows Christ will go through a season or seasons in their lives when it feels like God is no longer present or anywhere near to us. But where can God go if He is in all things at…

Three words that Jesus utters in St. Matthew 11 give us the framework for our salvation. He says, "Come to me." Come to me you who are wearied with the sufferings of the daily round of life. Come to me you who are beaten down trying to be righteous in your own strength. He says, "Take my yoke upon you...and you will find rest for your souls." Take …

Tonight we celebrate Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch. The life and testimony of this blessed Apostle should give us great hope. St. Peter failed and fell many times including his denial of the Lord He loved dearly. He would fall, weep tears of repentance, cry out to the Lord to help him, and the Lord in His great love and me…

It is important to know ourselves and our current spiritual limitations. If we do not know these limitations, we fail to understand our clear starting place. Not knowing our measure, in this way, can cause us to either strive to do too much spiritually which results in perceived failures; or, it leads us to never make attempts at spiritual growth a…

In our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 18, St. Peter asks Jesus, "How many times must I forgive my brother?" Jesus answer was seventy times seven. Today we look find that the meaning of the number our Lord gives equates to the full extent of the mercy of God. The more we consider the mercy that God is, the more we should be in wonder and awe knowin…

God, in all His saving power and wonder is always moving toward each individual soul He has created. In this way, we are each the target of God. The question is never God's disposition toward each one of us. The question is will we open, even in the smallest way, an avenue to our soul for God to flood in and show the wonder of His salvation within …

The way to true personhood is through communion with the One Who gave us life. In this introduction, Fr. James sets the table with concepts to be used throughout this series. The emphasis here is on true personhood and true becoming as we encounter God and respond to such a Divine encounter.Par St. Peter Orthodox Church