St Peters Orthodox Church

A sinful woman comes to Christ our God in Bethany. She breaks open an alabaster jar of precious oil and anoints Jesus with the oil and her tears. Jesus says that wherever this Gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told as a memorial to her." The Church Fathers teach us that one of the interpretations we must know is that the very valuable alabaster jar of oil represents the soul. True repentance is the broken soul poured out upon Jesus in blessed repentance. In return, Christ our God pours out the oil of His mercy and healing restoring the condition of the souls of mankind.

Today is Passion Sunday. As our Lord Jesus Christ declares Himself publically to be the "I AM" in the Gospel of St. John 8, they took up stones to kill Him for His blasphemy. We are told that Jesus hid from them and passed right through the crowd without them seeing Him. Jesus was hidden from those who had set themselves by their own will against Him, not wanting to see Him for His true identity. But to those who came to Jesus with an open soul knowing their need and crying out for mercy, to them He revealed Himself and healed them. The damage done to the human person from hiding from God goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Today we explore the great downfall of hiding from Christ our God compared to the great blessing of presenting ourselves in all of our brokenness to Him.

Today's Mass is entitled and bears the theme, "Rejoice!" Here in the middle of Lent we are reminded that the life of the Christian is a life of rejoicing in the good works of Christ our God. With this theme, today we consider the role we play in one another's lives by lifting one another up as we share all that God is doing for us. The community of faith, most certainly, shares struggles and bears one another up during times of hardship. But it must equally strengthen each member of the Body of Christ by sharing the wonders God is doing in our lives out of His great love for us.

Every year on March 25th, the Orthodox Church all around the world celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation, for in nine months we will all join together celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ conceived this day. Today we focus on three aspects of the wonder of the Annunciation. We see an Archangel in awe and wonder at the Blessed Virgin Mary. We behold our recreation in the waters of Baptism prefigured this day. And, we see the salvation that occurs as the will of a human is joined to the divine will of God.

In Luke 11, after Jesus casts out a demon that had rendered a man mute, He taught "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils." Jesus was speaking of Satan being the strong man. Then our Lord speaks of Himself as the stronger man that breaks in and steals what the strong man had. From the Fall of mankind to the Incarnation, Satan had been robbing God of what belonged to Him; all of us. But when Jesus came, He rendered the strong man powerless and robbed the robber of what rightfully belonged to God from the beginning. He continues to do this in the soul of everyone who welcomes Christ there. And He let's us be joined to Him and participate in His robbing the robber.

In Lent, as we fast from food we are to also fast with the assistance of God's grace from the sin that so easily entangles us. St. Paul communicates in 1 Thessalonians 4 that the will of God is our sanctification. His paramount will for each of us is that we are transformed, becoming holy as He is holy. As we seek to fast from our sin, how do we approach moments of temptation by Satan and the demonic? Why do we so easily fall when Satan has been robbed of his power and we have been endued with power from on high? Today we reflect upon these matters.

We consider two teachings from the Rule of St. Benedict today, on the first Sunday of Lent. First, "All of our life should be a continual Lent." Secondly, "Practice now the virtues that will serve thee for all eternity." In Lent we strive to simplify our lives and get back to the basics. So many distractions have limited the greatest experience of fellowship we are offered with the Lord our God. And, so, in Lent we allow God to reorder our lives so that our souls may be reordered toward our Savior. We do this so that, after Lent, our lives will continue to ascend out of our disorders and into the blessed order of God that He has truly created us to enjoy.

Today we begin the 40-day fast of Great Lent. But what is the fullness of the fasting that our Lord has prescribed for us. Is it just to limit our food intake and abstain from types of foods? Today we look to the repentance of the people of Nineveh as they put on sackcloth and ashes. But these physical actions were accompanied by turning away from their wicked ways and turning to God. This is true repentance. And the result is that they were spared what they truly deserved and given what they could never earn; the mercy of God. The fullness of Christian fasting is the same. We fast from food, yes. But at the same time we turn from our fallen ways and put on Christ to be about His good works of righteousness. And in that fullness of the fast, He grants His Divine mercy and heals the souls of HIs beloved.

Today's Gospel reading from St. Luke 18 shares the testimony of Christ our God healing the blind man, Bartimaeus, near Jericho. As our Lord approaches Jericho, Bartimaeus cries out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Some in the crowd tried to quiet him, so he cried out even louder, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me." Bartimaeus would not let this moment go wasted where the only One who could heal was passing by. We must learn something so important from Bartimaeus. The prayer he prayed was is known as the Jesus Prayer. Today we examine both this prayer and the disposition of this blessed man who needed Christ's help and mercy. It is the authentic cry for mercy from the heart of God's children that attracts our Lord; a very real need that He is delighted to fulfill.

In agriculture, we know that the success or failure of a harvest is largely dependent on the health of the soil into which seeds are planted. Our Lord Jesus Christ uses this very truth when He tells the Parable of the Sower in the Gospel of St. Luke 8. Jesus sows seeds of His life and salvation. But He mentions three types of soil that prevented the seed from blossoming to life and growing the intended harvest. Today, as we continue in our weeks of preparation for Great Lent, we inspect the soil of our soul. What is it in us that stands in the way of the seed planted by Christ growing into the harvest of His life and salvation within our soul? It is time for us to seek the Lord so that we may join ourselves to Him in cultivating healthy soil within our soul.

Three to four years after Pentecost, the Apostle St. Peter left Jerusalem to go to Antioch. There he would oversee churches of that region for seven years. St. Peter was the first Bishop and Patriarch of the Antioch as he sat upon the "cathedra", the chair, in Antioch. Today we remember the Icon that the chair is to us and what it reveals to us. But as we are in the weeks of preparation for Great Lent, we look at the life of St. Peter to see true Christian repentance; the repentance that brings us to the mercy and restoration of Christ our God.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew 20, we hear Jesus tell the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. Jesus tells us that the landowner comes to those in 11th hour and asks, "Why do you stand here idle all day?" And he calls them to labor in the vineyard. All who are in Christ are called to labor in His vineyard to produce a great harvest. But what is this labor? We are not called to labor so that we earn our salvation. No, our labor is both a labor within our own souls; a constant movement toward Christ and to cast away all things that stand in the way of our relationship with Him. So, here in the 11th hour, why do we stand in the vineyard idle all day?

In our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. It is a parable teaching us about the last days, the days from Christ's Incarnation until He comes again at His 2nd coming. And it also reveals an eschatological reality, a revelation of that 2nd coming and what Christ will do. Our focus today is learning what Christ through His Church has taught about living in this last age as wheat among the tares of this world.

Today is the Feast of the Presentation of Christ to the Temple/The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On this day, according to God's Law, Joseph and Mary present Christ to the priest in the Temple. There, Simeon who was told he would not die until He had seen the Lord's Christ, takes Jesus into His arms. In that moment, Simeon held in His arms the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What a wonder this is to consider. That which was invisible could now be seen. And He Who was untouchable could not be touched and touch humanity. From the Incarnation forward, God has come to be experienced and known by all.

Jesus first miracle was the miraculous transformation of water into wine in the jars of clay at the wedding feast in Cana. The Early Church Fathers teach us that this miracle done in the presence of His disciples showed the reason for the Incarnation. That we, the jars of clay as St. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4, are so completely transformed within by the healing work of Christ that we become earthen vessels distributing the blessedness of Christ to every soul around us.

Last week we considered this truth: by the wisdom and power of Christ, the Church has become the continuing Epiphany of God to mankind for the salvation of souls. How is this possible? How does God manifest Himself through us? Today we consider these two questions.

As we are in the Octave of Epiphany, we remember that Epiphany means the revelation or manifestation of God to man; in this case through the Christ child. St. Paul teaches something profound in Ephesians 3 when he says that the manifold wisdom of God is now made known through the Church. By God's wisdom, from Pentecost to the end of this age, we are the continuing Epiphany of God to this world and to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. What an incredible thought. So how shall we live in order that God's will be done through us. We present ourselves to God and we offer ourselves to God. There we see Him and know Him and are transformed into His likeness for the world to see.

The Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord celebrates the 8th day of our Lord's life. On that day He is obedient to the Law of Moses in being circumcised. It is also on that day that the father was to give the child a name. Joseph gives Him the Name that is above all other names. He names Him Jesus in obedience to God through the message of an angel. Circumcision is fulfilled by Baptism in the new and eternal covenant. When we are Baptized, we are both washed clean and given a new name. Our new name is an adopted child of God.

Naming was very important both among the Hebrew people of the Old Covenant as well as those in the secular world outside of God's covenant. The Name reveals the identity of a person. The Name of Jesus literally means deliverer and Savior. Here at the turn of both the calendar year and near the beginning of the liturgical year, the Name of Jesus is set before us. Will we receive the revelation of Who He really is into our lives? Those who do so will find transformation throughout their lives.

When the world was in darkness, Christ our God leaped down from His throne and came to us. He leaped down so that we may rise up. St. Paul, in Galatians 4, tells us that by His coming to us we have become adopted sons and daughters of God. We have been brought through Christ into a family order here on earth established by God to heal and transform all of us. As we live in that order, we become the nature of the God Who ordered it all. Today we look at the virtue of God's humility. We grow in this virtue of humility as we live life in this blessed family. And, the practice of this virtue changes us as we become the love of our Heavenly Father.