St. Mary Orthodox Church

This summer brings with it the usual things: conferences, heat, humidity and summer hours. What is different this year is that the Archdiocese has called a special convention to address important issues regarding its new Self-Rule status. Read more »

 

Our faith teaches us that at all times and in every place we are accompanied by the grace of God. We live and breathe and move in it. in face we cannot survive without it. God is always near, as some fathers say, closer than our own heartbeat or than our breath. This is a comforting thought. Read more »

 

It is vital that we remember our children in prayer, particularly those who are away studying in college. I feel this strongly now that my eldest is among the latter. I received an encouraging and thoughtful e-mail from a parishioner, who shared with me a prayer from the Akathist to St. John of Kronstadt I would like to pass on to you. Read more »

 

The great and holy season of Advent is quickly approaching. It is hard to believe that November is already here! I dearly love this time of year with its dramatic change of weather and spiritual emphasis. Talk about the commercialization of Christmas is cliche. You may have noticed that holiday decorations are now popping up in department stores well before Halloween; perhaps an indication of a sputtering economy and consumer insecurity, but also I think of a longing for something to celebrate. Read more »

 

While the Nativity Season rings its customary joy we also do well to remember those who will not be celebrating. Remember in your prayers the families and friends of the soldiers and civilians who have died or been maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan and those who face the same every day. Remember the agony of the refugees and people in Palestine, Darfur and the Ivory Coast. Remember with more than your prayers the poor, the hungry, the naked, the imprisoned, the homeless, the oppressed and disenfranchised. Read more »

 

The spiritual traditions of the desert constitute an essential treasury for us. The lives of the remarkable womean and men who inhabited the barren wastes of the Middle East point us to a radical and uncompromising way of life that resembles nothing less than the Savior Himself. Read more »

 

Your response to the Tsunami Relief effort has been truly outstanding! As of this writing, over $2,300.00 has been collected with one more Sunday to go. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All the monies collected will be sent to the International Orthodox Christian Charities for distribution where it is most needed. Read more »

 

As we approach the Great Feast, let's do all we can to enter into the true spirit of fasting. It is so easy to fall into the rigors and completely miss the purpose oand to blindly adhere to tradition without allowing the tradition to transform us. To do this, we must go to the prophet Isaiah who addressed this very issue when speaking of the illegitimate fasting of the people of Israel in his day. Read more »

 

It should come as no surprise to any of us that this understanding is actually one of the fruits of the Lenten springtime: we need frequent reminders that we are not the center of the universe, and that we may be skating on much thinner ice than we had previously imagined. Read more »

 

Greetings during this most beuatiful Paschal Season! Let us be eternally grateful to God for blessing us with resurrection, with forgiveness, with incomparable grace and boundless mercy. The Light from the Empty Tomb has filled our hearts and minds with joy and peace. Read more »

 

It is love that moved God to create and that moves him to sustain creation. It is love that moved Him to send His Only-Begotten Son into the world. It is love that moved the Father to send His All-Holy Spirit to live and move in and among us. It is love that formed the Church. It is by love that we are known to be His disciples. Without love we are nothing. Read more »

 

We have been blessed at St. Mary's with a number of young men, including seminarians, who have been ordained to serve God in the Holy Priesthood. Unfortunately, they are often allowed to stay only a short while before being called to serve in a parish of their own, but each has made an impression on our community. Read more »

 

I write to you on the Feast of the Dormition of our Most Gracious Lady and send greetings to all! Except for a week's vacation the last week of August, my summer travels are over. I am happy to be home with you again and am looking forward to the beginning of the Liturgical New Year (September 1) and the return of our community from the summer diaspora. Read more »

 

The horror of Katrina surely has affected all of us. Images of death and devastation on the Gulf Coast and in the city of New Orleans that have largely impacted the poorest among our citizenry cannot fail to move us deeply unless our hearts are hardened to the suffering of others. Read more »

 

I remember my first visit to an Orthodox Church. It was in Tulsa, Oklahoma on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and I was not prepared for what I was about to experience. From the moment I entered that little converted billiard hall I knew I had left behind everything familiar to me as church. Read more »

 

Christ is Born! Christmas is all about renewal and restoration. Something essential that was lost is recovered in the birth of the Son of God which we call the Incarnation, the enfleshment of God. What was lost and is found is the possibility of the unthinkable: intimacy on the most visceral level with the unapproachable God. Read more »

 

The Great Feast of Epiphany celebrates the revelation of God, the Holy Trinity, and the blessing of creation. By the Holy Spirit all things are filled with Divine Grace for He is the One who is everywhere present and fills all things. Do we understand the implications of those words we pray so very often at the beginning of liturgical services and in our personal devotions? Read more »

 

Light is a major theme in Holy Orthodoxy as it is in all the great religions of the world. It is a sign of God's presence, of human holiness, of warmth, goodness, love, safety, and truth. In Orthodox spirituality light becomes the evidence that a man or woman has become one with God. Read more »

 

In order to become spiritually active, it is absolutely essential that we learn to be and to love silence. Be still and know that I am God is not a suggestion; it is something we need to incorporate in our daily lives. Read more »

 

Christ is Risen! It may seem odd to talk about death on the Feast of Pascha, but it isn't really. After all, without death there can be no resurrection. Orthodox spiritual writers throughout history have counseled that Christians remember death each day. It helps put everything into proper perspective and reminds us of the things that are important in life. Read more »