Hopelessness can be the catalyst to pull us out of our rut Hopelessness in painful situations is what pulls most of us out of our rut. My own bout with heart problems, and the subsequent healing through the intercession of the Holy Virgin, have given me pause as to how
Racism has no place in the life of a Christian It is important to understand that genetically, all humans are of but one race. Indians, Arabs, Jews, Caucasians, Africans, and Asians, are not different races, but rather, different ethnicities of the human race. God created all humans with the same
We are our brother’s keeper With the nation’s shutdown we are seeing millions of people losing their jobs, and the homeless rate is about to swell to numbers not seen since the Great Depression. Countless individuals are facing the very real possibility that their extended unemployment payments, and the emergency
We as the American people are being called to repentance The western world has entered a period of decadence and decline, for we’ve departed far from our Christian roots. With the Western world having turned our collective roots on our common historical and cultural Christian heritage, a secular based world-view
The problem of ethnic purity in the life of the Church We Orthodox Christians, as a whole, are guilty of abandoning our Christ directed mission of making disciples of every nation by preserving the needs of ethic groups (Russians, Greeks, Arabs, Serbs), often at the expense of welcoming our non-Orthodox
All we need for happiness is right in front of us It is easy to resist taking care of oneself if we run at full speed as though we are the only one who can get things done. We all need to set priorities, making sure we focus on Christ
A priest serves only with the blessing of his bishop The bishop is always the head of his diocese, and no Orthodox priest should ever dare to presume to serve within the diocese without the blessing of his bishop. A priest must always seek the blessing of his bishop before
The Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The importance of this historical event is that Christ ascended into Heaven as man and as God. Having condescended to take on our flesh, becoming both perfect man, and, at
The struggle to remain faithful Orthodox Christians in a society devoid of faith In this pluralistic society there are many Orthodox individuals who find themselves sharing their lives with non-Orthodox family members. Sometimes those around us are not even practicing Christians, or even hostile to the idea that someone is
Versus the true evangelization of the First Nations Manifest destiny was the belief that the United States god-given right was to spread westward from sea to shining sea, spreading American beliefs across the continent. As we all know, the First Nations tribes (Indians) were seen as heathen, and fair game