Father Michael’s Blog
Just Turn it Off
Far and away, the best film I saw in 2018 was the documentary entitled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” chronicling the life and work of Fred Rogers of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” I was one of those millions of children that Mister Rogers helped navigate through the difficult process of our growing up. He spent time talking […]
Regaining a Proper Perspective
It was December of 1968, a year marked by violence, warfare, and the dashing of hope emanating from the double blow of the assassinations of both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy. The rise in power of the Soviet Union seem to be an unstoppable juggernaut threatening what was left of the peace […]
A SAD Time of Year?
Well the sun came up yesterday but what was unusual is that we actually saw it! Besides a few momentary breaks in the clouds, it’s been ten days with 0% sunshine and 21 days with only minimal amounts of it. That’s a long time to go without seeing the sun. This absence of sunshine actually […]
A Really Hard Thing to Do
I landed on Mars the other day after a long, 6-month journey and boy let me tell you, that was not easy! The trip took six months and ended with what our NASA engineers call the “Seven Minutes of Terror:” slowing down from 12,300 miles per hour to zero in just over six minutes as my […]
Limitless Gratitude
Today’s we have the happy coincidence to be celebrating the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos to the Temple, and at the same time we Americans are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow. This is a wonderful opportunity to focus on a very particular aspect of our giving of thanks, or the lack thereof. […]
The Disconnected Cross: Philanthropy and Almsgiving
Almsgiving plays an indispensable role in the spiritual growth of the individual Christian and the local and diocesan Church. Not fully heeding the call to care for the “least of our brethren” can help explain the spiritual stagnation and dis-integration Orthodox Christians sometimes feel, as they do all the “right things”—pray, fast, worship, etc.—without experiencing […]
ORTHODOX EVANGELISM
The Eastern Orthodox Church is often criticized for its “lack of emphasis” on evangelism; the Orthodox Church just does not care about “The Great Commission” or spreading the “Gospel” to the world—or so the argument goes. In my experience, the major proponents of this criticism are often low-church evangelicals who define evangelism according to a specifically narrow […]
Our Thoughts Determine our Lives
From “Our Thoughts Determine our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica” (Platina: St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 2009) (from page 96) When we talk to our fellow men and they tell us about their troubles, we will listen to them carefully if we have love for them. We will have compassion for […]
Dolce Far Niente
Those of you who know me know that I’m an advocate of working hard, being efficient, and not wasting time so that important things can be done. Let’s face it, we have a lot of work to do on some pretty important things. If you don’t know me that well but you know me a […]
What Does Love Taste Like?
It might sound like a crazy question to ask what love tastes like, but the question is based on the assumption that you can actually taste love. It might sound crazy to say that, but what I want to say is this: you can. We just finished our parish’s annual Middle Eastern Dinner and in […]
Hurricane Strength Humility
Okay, here comes another weather one but like the others, it’s not really about weather at all. Once again a portion of our American citizenry is bracing for the approach of a monster storm. As of this writing Hurricane Michael is a Category 4 hurricane, still gaining in strength as it crosses the Gulf of […]
Contrasts
I posted some pictures the other day on Facebook that I had taken while out for a hike this past Monday. I shared that my favorite time of fall is the earliest part of it, when some of the leaves begin to change, contrasting with the still-green leaves around them. There’s just something about that […]
