Redeeming The Time

Fr. Serpahim talks about how courage leads to revelation, the courage of the blind man, and the impossibility of being a Christian if you are a coward.

"For they were afraid." The fear of the Myrhhbearing women, the fear of God, and our more typical reasons to fear. A discussion about fear, the typical fear people have, and the fear of the Myrhhbearing women as they fled the sepulchre, and the fear of God. As we unpack this mysterious sentence: "...They went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid." We discuss the mystery of Scripture and how it can never be mastered like a secular book, and especially how to cultivate the fear of God and what it is and is not. Mark 15:43-16:8

This homily does not mention the Apostle Thomas very much, but it is all about him, and you and me. We discuss the comforting spiritual implications of Jesus visiting the frightened apostles by going to them even thought the doors were shut. We also discuss why His initial greeting "Peace be unto you," the most appropriate greeting, and appreciate the command given in the second greeting, which was also about peace. In the midst of our discussion we talk about the sadness and inevitability of closing the doors of the iconostasis on Bright Friday after they have been open all week. Homily for Thomas Sunday, 2015.

Homily given Bright Friday, in the chapel of the Iviron Mother of God, in Willis, Texas. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" How are we to understand this command? It is about much more than humility. We must understand the primary purpose of the Scriptures when we evaluate this command. The primary purpose is not historical, theological, or even dogmatic; it is to teach us how to live (and become), by following our model, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the "mind of Christ" is obtaining a truly human mind, which is wholly in Christ. In the course of this homily we also describe the role of the Theotokos, and why we say "Most Holy Theotokos, save us," and her hidden role in mentoring the apostles.

The Road to Emmaus story, told intimately in the third person by St. Luke (Luke 24:12-35), teaches us profoundly about how human nature encounters the divine. It involves unbelief! We must know how to deal with our unbelief. All of us have it; it is our "road to Emmaus." Why did the apostles not recognize the Lord? We must understand, because the same thing happens to us. The solution to our ignorance is shown brilliantly, by their question after the Lord broke bread in their presence: "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" A Christian must have a heart that burns. We explain what this means and how to cultivate such a heart. Also, a small liturgical question is answered: Why are the Gospels the way we learn about life and how to be a true human being? There are two main reasons. Why read a resurrectional Gospel from Luke during Bright Week when we are in the midst of reading from John?

On this day that we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist, we look at two wonderful hymns from the canon on Holy Thursday which explain why it is a logical certainly that the Lord would offer His body and blood to the faithful, as "food indeed, and drink indeed". The Body and blood of Christ helps us to learn to not be attached to sin! Salvation is not only the forgiveness of sin; it is the obliteration of sin - to not be attached to sin! The story of the old man and his disciple who met a loose woman on the way to the city perfectly illustrates this. The "exchange of attributes" of the divine with our human flesh occurs when we partake of holy communion in the context of struggling against sin. We also explain what "Catholic" means, the paschal lamb, the struggle of Mary of Egypt as a model for losing our attachment to sin, the most pernicious heresies and poor practices of this age and the suggestion of an edifying hobby! O God the Lord and Creator of all, Thou art become poor, uniting a created natur

We experience a great mystery today, in the resurrection of Lazarus, the four days dead, of death and resurrection, and in a practical sense, more powerful than Pascha. Looking at this story closely teaches us about the humanity and divinity of Christ, and teaches us about how to be truly human. This is a great mystery. We choose a few phrases and meditate upon them: "He abode two days still in the same place where he was," "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth," "Let us also go, that we may die with him," "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," "Jesus wept," (we must know WHY He wept), and the very important phrase which we MUST understand: "Jesus therefore again groaning in himself." Unless you groan within, you will never understand death or the resurrection. Luke 11

The Life of St Mary of Egypt teaches us all the steps of repentance. Too many people avoid thinking of themselves as sinners. They do not like the feeling it gives them. Take courage, and learn to have the honesty of St. Mary of Egypt, and to have fire in your belly!

The Forty Martyrs of Sebaste are highly celebrated during Great Lent. Truly they fulfilled the instruction of St Paul in the epistle from the Hebrews appointed for them: "Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." To be a Christian is a choice. They gave their blood; that is their entire life to Christ BEFORE their martyric struggle began. We must give our blood, so that we are not guilty of the accusation: "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." What does this implicit command mean? It is not just about martyrs who are killed for Christ; it is a command we must understand and follow. Hebrews 12:1-10

We cannot understand the cross, and the way of the cross unless we understand life. What is life? Most people do not know the answer to this simple question or understand why the way of the cross is the only way to have life, or understand what is meant when we are told to "lose our life," or that everything in our life is an exchange - with life or death. Sunday of the Cross. Mark 8:34-9:1

Orthodox Christians think of salvation differently than other believers in Christ. For us, it is not just forgiveness of sins; it is freedom! This is not freedom as the world understands it. This freedom is described by out Lord when He promises that the follower of the Shepherd shall "go in and out and find pasture." Freedom of the will is acquired by activity, which is indicated in this Gospel and the one for the day, about the healing of the paralytic, when the Lord commands him to "Rise, take up thy bed and walk." (John 10:9-16 Mark 2:1-12)

When you look at an icon, you should understand what the triumph of Orthodoxy is. It is not that we can venerate icons freely. It is that God became man, and the image of the icon tells us, "You can become perfected." The Gospel and Epistle today give us the way to perfection, if we unpack the things said to the guileless Nathaniel and add an essential ingredient from St Paul, "Without guile, and with patience, COME AND SEE, and thou shalt see greater things than these."

On the threshold of Great Lent, it is critical to understand what Great Lent is for and to have a proper goal. Since we fast in this season, along with the question "Why Great Lent?", we also answer "Why fast?" and since it is Forgiveness Sunday, "Why forgive?". The reasons apply to all three. This is an exciting time. We are going to get better!

Life is not orderly. Things happen all at once. The Gospel is like this too; it is not like a PowerPoint presentation which proceeds in a logical manner from point a to b to c. Classical homiletics teaches that there should be laser-like focus on one point, and this is good most of the time, but this is not how scripture is structured, not to mention Orthodox services or our lives. All theology and practice is contained in all these things, all at once. We look into the readings for the Sunday of the Last Judgment, known also as "Meatfare" Sunday, as we experience life, and like a bee, take from each flower the nectar it provides. There are many lessons today. Here are some: we see through a glass darkly, and the things we see are not as they seem. We must learn to think spiritually, and then we will be as the sheep, which in appearance in this life, differ very little from the goats. Everything has a purpose, and we cannot be victorious unless we understand this. There is a rule of life which will save us. I

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is read on the first of three Sundays that we read "By the Waters of Babylon," Psalm 136, as preparation for Great Lent. There are great similarities between these, and it is instructive to compare them. Both show some of the critical aspects of repentance and victorious living: awareness of our true condition, anger, and action energized by our anger.

The Parable of the Publican and Pharisee has an obvious and important teaching, and a less obvious, more important one. The external meaning is, of course, that we are to be humble and not judge others. Pride and judgment clearly kills the soul. The deep ,mystical teaching is how we are to approach God in prayer and how to learn to be humble. This is prayer for the man with the "deep heart." We learn about what we should think of ourselves and expect in prayer. To the uninitiated (those without frequent experience), these things seem to be impossible to coexist together. Our church blesses us with the way to pray deeply, honestly and with expectation and confidence. We discuss the Jesus prayer, and numerous citations from the Canon for this day, which teaches this mystical teaching. This is truly the Gospel—the "Good News!"

The story of Zacchaeus is "Repentance 101" for Christians. It tells us what to do, but much more importantly, it tells us how to do it. The process of repentance involves things gradual and things that are sudden, and sometimes even instantaneous. We can learn from the important words Luke uses regarding Zacchaeus: that he was LITTLE and that he RAN and CLIMBED, and that the Lord told him to MAKE HASTE, and that he promised that he would give all his wealth away. We will see the remembrance of death, making comparisons, feeling little, when to run and climb, when to make haste, the visitation of grace, changing something that does not change, and the BEST NEWS in the Gospel, which means good news—when a man changes and is healed of his passions.

Here is a report on Fr. Seraphim's recent trip to a prison with four volunteers, during which he baptized two men. Included is a description of a typical day in prison ministry and advice about who is qualified (and not qualified) for prison ministry. If you have fire in your belly, and you are adaptable to change, you are perfectly suited to prison ministry. If you are OCD, or like the expected to happen, you are not suited for prison ministry. Fr. Seraphim also uses the report as an opportunity to think about Romans 6 and about being baptized into Christ's death. Included, too, is an explanation about the oil of gladness, and chrism, and the laying on of hands, and why we blow over the oil and anoint certain parts of the body.

The Gospel read on the Sunday before Theophany helps us to prepare for the feast. This we must do and redo every day. We discuss the difference in how Orthodox Christians prepare for feasts. There was a messenger that heralded the coming of Christ, and we also have such a messenger: the conscience. We must learn to cultivate and listen to this messenger.

Here are some person reflections on Fr. Seraphim's patron, St Seraphim of Sarov, given on the feast day of this beloved saint. The most impressive thing about St. Seraphim was his pastoral endurance and his pastoral approach. His great virtues of struggle, humility and purity helped him to always be in the moment of the resurrection and to endure all things and all people and never get tired. Also included is a little autobiographical information, including how not to fast when you are a college student!