St Peters Orthodox Church

Every year at the Feast of All Souls, our Lord graciously places the gift of our mortality before us. We live as though we have an eternity left in this life. Christians are to live as though this life is a vapor that could end at any moment, and if we allow Christ to be our healer in the moments of each day, we will receive the promised unspeakable joys of eternity. Today, we look to see how the gift of our mortality moves us to Christ so that we become His love to others.

Today we examine the revelations given to the Church about our Lord's Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Everything we understand about her points to and glorifies her Son, Christ our God. And, all that we see in her reveals to us our most true identity as those who are being re-created by her Son our Lord. In this session, we see how Holy Scripture reveals these truths that have been handed down to us.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines paradox as a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement that when investigated proves to be well-founded and true. The truths of Christ our God are often revealed through paradox. Today we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King. Today we see the Divine Nature of Christ the King revealed to us through paradox. As we reflect on how Christ came to be elevated by the Father as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we discover that our path as citizens of His Kingdom is to follow the path of paradox to become like our King.

Many outside of the Orthodox Faith test various theologies using Scripture alone believing that Scripture is the highest authority for Christianity. While the Orthodox Faith holds Scripture in the highest esteem and it is infinitely important to our growth in knowing God and drawing near to Him, Scripture alone is not the absolute measurement. We do not ask, "Is it Biblical?" Rather, we ask the question, "Is it Apostolic?" Today we discover what that question means and how Scripture does indeed fit into that most important question.

One of the ways God revealed Himself to His people in the Old Covenant was by giving them a Name by which to know and understand Him. In this Mass, He reveals to us that He is Jehovah Rophe. That Name in Hebrews means I AM healing, I am both Physician and Cure for my people. The context of His healing work in our lives is always relationship. Today we examine the relationship between the Great Physician and those with illness and disfigurement of soul, mind, and body. The One Who is healing is always pursuing us, knocking at the door to let Him come in and be Who He is for us. Are we responding to the knock; opening the door so that He can come in and heal?

The question is not, "What is our faith?" The question is, "Who is our faith?" If Christ our God is our faith, then it is most certainly our faith that defines us. We do not define the faith. And Christ our faith shares Himself with us. Christ our faith reveals to us who we truly are as a people who have been made one with Him. And this God shares with us that we are His children of the light; those who now call Him Abba, our Daddy.

Tradition in the Church is the deposit of faith. It is the revelation of Christ our God and His Kingdom to man for the salvation of souls. Tradition is the pure and perfect lens through which we understand the Nature of God and God's perspective on all things. Holy Scripture, for example, is an integral part of the Tradition of the Church but can only be understood correctly and clearly through the lens of this deposit of faith given to us from and kept by God the Holy Spirit. Today we seek to grow in our understanding of the miracle and blessedness of the Tradition of the Church.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the beginnings of the Church, poured out gifts and ministry so that each living stone in the Church could minister His salvation one to another and to this world. Satan used the humanity in the Church to twist those gifts into tools of division. St. Paul writes about this in Ephesians, 1 Corinthians, and Romans. In each of those writings, St. Paul corrects and exhorts the children of God giving them the remedy to this problem. Today we look at St. Paul's writing in Ephesians chapter 4. There the Apostle teaches the Church that the foundation for every ministry in Christ must match the Divine Nature of our Lord. That foundation is love which stands upon the pillars of the virtues of humility, meekness, and longsuffering.

Many outside of Orthodoxy wonder why the Orthodox Bible has more books than Bibles used by protestant Christians. Today, Fr. James Rooney takes us on a historical journey of the development of Holy Scripture beginning with the development of the Old Testament and ending with the New Testament. From that journey, we grow in understanding why the Church has always had the particular Canon of Holy Scripture through which God reveals Himself to the faithful.

In the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 7, Jesus raises the son of the widow at the gate of the city of Nain. Two different processions of many people collide at the gate of Nain. One is a procession of life and consolation led by our Lord. The other is a funeral procession of death, great mourning, and suffering. As they meet, Christ our God is filled with compassion for the widow. He raises the son from the dead and, in doing so, takes away the source of her pain and suffering. While this is a real testimony of a miraculous work of our Lord, it is also the very story of our salvation as we meet with Christ at the gate of the city of Nain within our souls.

Living in America, particularly in middle America, the Orthodox Church seems to be a small portion of all who call themselves Christian. In reality, it is the second-largest body of Christians in the world. It is pre-denominational. What does that mean and what is the basis of this claim? Today Fr. James Rooney shares with us historical realities and understandings of our Faith that will help us all to answer the question, "What is the Orthodox Church?"

How often we are anxious and worried about our finances; sinking in the storm of concern that we will not have what we need when we need it. When we find ourselves burdened with such fears, it shows us that we have great room to grow in knowing God Whose very Nature is to provide. The antidote to all these fears is to make a path in our lives for the Lord our God to reveal Himself for Who He really is, the LORD our provider.

Just because we are in the Apostolic Church does not mean that we have the mind of Christ on the great theology, the revelation Christ has given of Himself and His salvation, that is kept therein. Today is an overview of the series "Giving Answers to Our Faith." As we look in this series at many topics in our Faith for which we are asked questions, the goal is that we grow deeper in an understanding of how our core beliefs and practices bring us into the experience of Christ that brings healing and salvation to our souls.

In the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 17, 10 lepers are healed by Christ. Only one turned back to give thanks to the Lord Who healed him. Giving thanks to God, a response that wells up from our souls and comes out of our mouths is a great and important part of the spirituality of the Christian. We were created in the beginning to be an expression of the Divine giving glory to God for all that He is and all that He does on behalf of mankind. Today, we are given help toward opening our eyes to see the many reasons we have to voice thanksgiving to God for all that He has done for us. And, in doing so, we grow in the enjoyment and knowledge of Him.

How do we perceive Jesus Christ our Savior? How do we know Him? And what to we understand His Nature and Disposition is toward us? How we see Him is directly proportional to how we see ourselves and how we respond to Him when we fail and fall short. Today, Jesus shows us His true nature in the telling of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We must see Jesus correctly as He has revealed Himself to mankind. If we knew Him in that way, we would run not walk to Him when we fail. We would press toward Him for the healing He desires to work in us.

Even as we remember the birth of our Lord's Mother, as with any remembrances of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we see something so wondrous and joyful about Christ's salvation of our souls. Saints Joachim & Anna lived in the shame of barrenness, even to an old age. After pleading a lifetime with God for mercy and for their shame to be taken away by the conception of a child, our Lord goes beyond their request. He grants them a child; a daughter who was chosen before time to bring forth for the salvation of the world the Son of God. The Blessed Virgin's parents' barrenness was made fruitful. Today we rejoice that the barrenness of our soul has been made fruitful. We were once devoid of true life, but Life Himself has been poured into our barren souls and now our souls can be fruitful bringing His salvation to the souls around us.

As if the miracle of Christ healing the deaf-mute was not enough to consider, Christ through His Church has revealed that this very miracle shows us the healing and salvation of us all. Today we consider how we were deaf and mute spiritually from the fall of mankind. Our Lord has touched our ears so that we could receive God from God. And from what we now receive into ourselves from Him, the tongue of our soul has been loosed to speak clearly the good things of Christ and His Kingdom through our very lives.

8/28/2023 - Today we look at the virtue of humility which is a virtue of God Himself. Humility is such a fascinating virtue. On the one hand, we need the grace of God to grow in His humility. On the other hand, the virtue of humility attracts God and we are told He gives grace to the humble. Both our Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians 15 and our Gospel reading from St. Luke 18 (the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector) show us parallel truths about the virtue of humility. After reflecting on the virtue of humility, we reflect on the Jesus Prayer as a path toward growth in the humility of our Lord Jesus Christ.

St. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 says, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." What an incredible truth that the glory of God has shone in our very soul to give light to all around us. St. Paul goes on to say, "We have this treasure (the glory of God Himself) in earthen vessels." The Divine power and love of God are made known as He reveals Himself through our frail and weak flesh and blood. Every Christ has been made a steward of the glory of God. Today, we reflect on this incredible truth and mystery.

This blessed Feast Day, one of the Twelve Major Feasts of the Church, is the celebration and remembrance of the falling asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the translation of her soul into the bosom of her Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and her being granted her resurrected body. Our Lord gave us such a gift by what He has done for His Mother. As always, when we grow to understand truths about her we are growing to see clearly truths about ourselves. And all of it points to the glorification of Christ in our lives. This Feast Day answers the question regarding what happens to the Christian soul when it departs the body with a particular focus on the promise of the Resurrection. This is why this Feast Day is called the Summer Pascha. When we approach what Christ did for the Blessed Virgin at the Assumption, we see what our Lord Jesus Christ will do for all those who remain in her Son Who is the Resurrection and the Life.