Along the way, we must defeat our old selves. We must survive their demise and give up our lives to Christ. Are we ready?
We hear the call from heaven - "Lift up our hearts to the Lord! Lift your hearts to His love!" It urges us to question ourselves, "Where is your heart?"
The Rite of Orthodoxy today returns us to our roots and identity. It reaffirms our birthright, and we will not sell it, like Esau, for some lentil stew.
During the Great Lent, we abstain from certain foods and entertainments, but this fasting is not limited to abstinence; we aim at the the restoration of our inner peace.
To say "forgive me" to the Lord and the people, and do so from our hearts, is a remarkable achievement of our inner self. We cannot begin to transform from within without forgiveness.
One day, we will come before God. It will be a good day for those who have lived with God all their lives, who recognised Him in every person and event. But those who refused to know God, and lived selfish lives of comfort and contentment will…
The proverbial Lost Son acknowledged the depth of his fall and found the courage to return to his father. But many could find it extremely difficult to do the same.
Our situations vary, as do our attitudes and habits. We have our sorrows at times. But one thing we know for sure: our Father in Heaven loves is, and He will forgive, as He always has.
How might we picture our meeting with the Lord? Our hearts will wake up to His presence and infinite love; we will discover the joy of forgiveness and prayer for the whole world.
Recently, we commemorated the new martyrs and confessors of Russia who sacrificed themselves for our faith, our ability to come to Church to accept the Body and Blood of Christ and commune in Him.
Like the man born blind, we, too, are suffering from blindness. Man sinned, hid from God's view, and went blind that moment on.
There are two agendas to our lives. One comprises the things of this world, the other relates to our riches in heaven. It is a formidable challenge to pursue both at the same time.
Our hardships are a part of our spiritual struggle. They are given to us to learn that our future is not made by our hands, but by God's love
The birth of the living God returned to humanity the sense of His closeness. God acted through the people who had kept within themselves the ability to live by their faith. People like the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.
Today, we still have an open invitation from the Lord to His banquet, but we continue to make the same excuses: I am too busy at the moment. Sorry, I have too little time. No one wants to be distracted.
We bend under the burden of the news. One bad tiding succeeds another, and all are equally intimidating. This weight of bad news already threatens to turn our lives into a meaningless existence.
Let us ask that St. Nicholas does not abandon his heavenly intercessions and that he corrects what we are doing wrong. Let us ask him to instruct us to do every good deed, so that by his prayers we dare to do the works of God
At some point, we will all face up to eternity. But to have eternal life, we must already learn to live a full life in love and faith. Christ is in our midst, and He will never abandon us.
Last Sunday, we celebrated the feast of Archangel Michael and his army of angels. It is composed of his loyal warriors, and our guardian angels are among them. They accompany all our lives from baptism, interceding for us before our Lord.
Would we not say that our present world has many similarities with the land of Gerasenes? Is it not a world that believes only in the unlimited power of modern medicine but cares too little about spiritual health and salvation in the faith?