Learning from our Christmas Carols
December 25, 2021
Christmas is the revolutionary, earth-shattering, unbelievable divine event of God the Creator becoming a human being. Why did God become a man? That’s a good question and one that the traditional Christmas Carols try to answer. Read more »
Excuses Hinder us From Entering the Kingdom of God
December 12, 2021
Excuses. WHY do we make excuses? Is it because of laziness? Or lack of self-discipline? Is it because of a fear of failure? Or absence of motivation? Is it because we don’t understand why we should do something? Possibly it’s just that our priorities are such that our excuses make clear what we prioritize in our lives! Read more »
Love Until It Hurts
November 13, 2021
Jesus loved until it hurt. Christ offered his life in a sacrificial manner. Our Lord revealed divine compassion and mercy, regardless of how inconvenient it is. How many of us will imitate and cultivate this spirit in our own lives – to help others even when its inconvenient, to give generously of our lives, to love in a sacrificial manner, even to love until it hurts. Read more »
Noticing Our Neighbor and the One in Front of Us
October 31, 2021
Noticing those around us, and expressing God’s love through a welcoming smile, a kind greeting, a polite acknowledgement, and especially through an encouraging, uplifting word can mean so much to those around us. And from the Christian point of view, such deliberate actions incarnate our faith in a very visible manner. Read more »
The Demons of Laziness - Drifting Away from our Faith
October 24, 2021
Laziness is a deadly demon which leads to apathy, indifference, passivity, detachment and ultimately a rejection of faith. It reflects the antithesis of a sober, serious, spiritual life! This demon of laziness works subtly and gradually, gently and cunningly leading us away from God. Read more »
Keeping Death Always Before You
October 10, 2021
“Keep death always before you.” This may sound like morbid or gloomy advice, yet the Church Fathers encouraged this practice. They felt that when we learn to reflect on death regularly, we will then learn how to live. Read more »
Becoming Instruments in God's Hands
October 03, 2021
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Read more »
The Witness of Monastics
September 26, 2021
This week seven young men from our church and I visited St Nektarios Monastery in Roscoe, NY. I’m sure most people in the church have never visited a monastery and many people question what monastics (monks and nuns) do. Why do they renounce the world and go off to live in a secluded monastery? Read more »
Divine Love and September 11
September 12, 2021
The call to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” is one of the most radical teaching of Jesus Christ and His Church, and yet, it is a teaching upon which we need to reflect today more than ever. Read more »
The Healing Aspect of Forgiveness
September 05, 2021
"Forgiveness is to set a prisoner free and to realize that prisoner is you!... When you forgive you can’t change the past but you do open up a new future – for yourself and for the one you forgive... The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Read more »
Do You Want to Change?
August 29, 2021
Christianity is a faith that meets people where they’re at. We welcome the believer and the one who has questions and doubts, the agnostic and the atheist. We welcome all people with whatever lifestyle they have. We welcome everyone with all their shortcomings, failures, mistakes, poor choices and sins. Read more »
The One Thing Needful - Reflecting on the Life of the Virgin Mary
August 15, 2021
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things but one thing is needful and Mary has chosen the better part and this shall not be taken away from her.” What does that mean “One thing is needful and Mary has chosen the better part.” And what does this have to do with the Virgin Mary? Read more »
Inspiration from the Olympics - Fulfilling our Potential
August 08, 2021
The Olympics inspired me to admire the incredible potential fulfilled of these athletes. Yet, what about the potential each one of us is given by God and how seriously and carefully do we strive to develop our spiritual potential? Read more »
Becoming Co-Workers with Christ
July 04, 2021
“Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men.” What does this invitation to follow Jesus Christ mean? What will happen to us and what is expected of us if we truly accept His invitation follow Him? Read more »
Becoming a Saint
June 27, 2021
Sainthood is not reserved for only a few select people! Sainthood should be the normal growth of every Christian’s life in our journey into union with the Holy Trinity. Read more »
Our Guide, Comforter, Encourager, and Empowerer - Feast of Pentecost
June 20, 2021
We all want a comforter and an encourager in our lives, someone who stays with us and helps us in our times of need, someone who guides us in truth and empowers us to fulfill all that is good. Where can we find such a comforter and helper, such a guide and one who empowers us? Read more »
Why Believe? Part 3 - Greatness Inspires
June 06, 2021
Why Believe? Part 3. I turn our attention to greatness, greatness that inspires others to greatness. Read more »
Why Believe? Part 2 - Answering Existential Questions of Life
May 30, 2021
Why Believe? Part 2 - Throughout history we have seen how all humanity strive to discover answers to the existential questions about the world we live in, about our experiences in life, and what is ultimate reality. Our Faith strives to answer these questions. Read more »
Why Believe? Part 1
May 23, 2021
I recently had the opportunity to sit with 13 young adults between the ages of 16-30 and talk about faith issues. All grew up in Christian homes and were a part of the church through their childhood and teenage years. Now in their young adult years, however, most of them are pretty disconnected from any community of faith. What do they believe? Why should them believe? Is Faith something for them? Read more »
What Is Reality?
May 09, 2021
Christ is Risen! Or is He truly risen? How many people doubt the greatest event in world history – the reality that someone who was dead for three days resurrects back to life and never dies again? Read more »
The Victory of Christ's Resurrection
May 02, 2021
On one occasion Michelangelo, the great Renaissance artist, turned on his fellow artists in a spirit of indignation. He complained: “Why do you keep filling gallery after gallery with endless pictures of Christ in weakness, Christ on the Cross, of Christ hanging dead? Why do you concentrate on a passing episode as if it were the last work, as if the curtain dropped on Him with disaster and defeat? That dreadful scene lasted but a few hours. Instead, why not focus on His unending and eternal victory. The stone has rolled away! Christ is alive! Jesus reigns in triumph!” Read more »
The Lasting Joy of Palm Sunday
April 25, 2021
“The joy of the Lord is my strength.” What is this “joy of the Lord” and how can we carry such joy throughout our lives? Read more »
Saint Mary of Egypt and Recovery From Trauma
April 18, 2021
Instead of reading the life of Saint Mary of Egypt in a simple manner as a sinful woman who deeply repented, maybe we should she that she possibly came from a traumatic past. Read more »
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
April 11, 2021
Life is a journey which has a particular destination but many people don’t use any divine GPS to guide them on the path and thus, end up not knowing where they’re going. They wander around, they travel down dead ends, they go in the wrong direction, and after many years and even decades they end up lost, no closer to the divine destination which God calls us to discover, a journey’s end into the Kingdom of Heaven. Read more »
The Suffering and Salvation of the Cross
April 04, 2021
Suffering is not a sign of God’s rejection of His beloved, an abandonment of His children, or the victory of evil. Suffering is simply a part of the path that can purify us on our journey toward God; carrying whatever Cross we may have in our lives can unite us even more to our Savior. Read more »
Union With God
March 28, 2021
Union with God. Communion with our Creator. Here lies the focus and center of our Christian journey. Our goal in life is nothing less than this union with God. Read more »
Understanding Icons
March 21, 2021
When I come into the church on Sundays, I typically get here an hour before the Matins service begins, and the first thing that I do is go around to all the icons on the walls of our church and greet all the saints by kissing them. Read more »
Forgive Us As We Forgive Others
March 14, 2021
"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” does not mean God is unwilling to forgive us if we won’t forgive others. “But if, despite God's unfailing eagerness to forgive, we on our side harden our hearts and refuse forgiveness to others, then quite simply we render ourselves incapable of receiving divine forgiveness. Read more »
It's Time to Act
March 07, 2021
“Let him do anything but act. No amount of piety in his imagination will harm us if we can keep it out of his will. Let him do anything but act.” This is the guidance of Screwtape, who is a senior demon training his junior demon nephew on how to lead Christians away from God. Read more »
Welcoming Sinners to Come Home
February 28, 2021
here is only joy in the return of a sinner, no matter when it happens in their lifetime. God patiently waits and then rejoices. He has no interest in punishing. He’s not giving the sinner what he deserves. He patiently waits, day after day, year after year, with hope that every sinner will come to his senses and turn back toward God. Read more »
The Poison of Pride
February 21, 2021
Saint Anthony the Great’s words summarize the spirit we are called to attain: “Always reject pride and consider everyone more righteous than yourself.” Read more »
Humility and Love
February 14, 2021
Humility. It’s not really a popular virtue today. It seems like our society promotes much more pride, egotism, vanity, even conceit and arrogance. Read more »
Learning from Tom Brady About the Use of our Talents
February 07, 2021
There are many other athletes that may have just as much or even more talent than someone like Tom Brady, yet they never make it into the professional leagues, no less win 7 super bowls. What can we learn from Tom Brady? Read more »
Jesus Sees Something Special in Each of Us
January 31, 2021
Do you know what makes you special? God created each one of us unique and beautiful, He created us in His image, He created each of us as beautiful as a rose. Read more »
Seeking God Above All Else
January 24, 2021
How serious are we in our pursuit for the Kingdom of God? Before we answer that question, let’s reflect on the lives of a few of the saints we commemorate this month. Read more »
Monthly Bulletin
Recent Sermons
TO BE RICH TOWARD GOD - THE JOY OF GIVING
November 17, 2024
To be “rich toward God.” What does this mean? Take a moment and reflect on what this means – to be rich toward God. Read more »
Our Orthodox Faith
Casinos, Lotteries and the Resurrection