Translating the Tradition

[The how of all that follows here is outlined in the preceding parts of the homily, in the audio recording. What follows is the conclusion of the matter:] All things are exposed or made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. That’s what the light does. It shows things for what they truly are. It makes manifest the reality. Sometimes it’s an ugly reality, and people dislike th...

So on this joyous day of Raissa’s baptism, we have a fairly solemn Gospel reading, in which our Lord tells a parable of a certain rich man, who had lots of stuff—like too much stuff, so he didn’t have enough space for all his stuff. And he thought, “Okay, well, I need more space for all my stuff. And so I’m going to tear down my current barns and build bigger ones so I have all my stuff laid up fo...

Sources cited: from II Samuel 6:14-22: Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before t...

So in today’s gospel reading, we get two stories for the price of one. And these intertwined stories actually are the culmination of this particular section of the Gospel of Luke, which begins with the centurion asking Jesus to heal his servant. One of the things that runs throughout this section of the Gospel of Luke is the question, who is this man Jesus? Who is he? And as we look at this sectio...

So we come again to the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and, since I don’t really want to talk about this story, I feel like that probably means that I should talk about this story. One of the reasons I am reluctant to talk about this story is probably my upbringing. I grew up in a very conservative evangelical Christian community with lots of really nice people there. They loved Jesus. But I d...

If our starting point for love as Christians is “love your enemies”, and if our ending point is “love one another as I have loved you”, and if this is supposed to be what characterizes us as Jesus followers, this love should be the defining feature of our church. Note: The inside joke at the beginning of this homily is comes from something I have long said to my parishioners. Based what St. Jerome...

So today I want to draw our attention to one phrase from the Gospel reading, or at least focus in on that, and talk a little bit about repentance. Repentance is one of those words, of course, that we hear all the time within the church and almost never hear outside the church. And so its definition is often a little bit narrowed in our minds. Repentance in the Greek means change of mind: metanoia...

Of all the 12 great feasts of the church—or 17 great feasts, or 17 ranked feasts if you’re following Father Alexander Rentel—this is probably one of the most political. This feast, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, commemorates the finding of the cross by the Empress Helen, mother of Constantine, and also the recovery of the cross when it was captured by the Persians, and then the emperor...

It is the way that things transpire afterwards that reveals the true significance of events; it is in retrospect that we see the hand of God. And where we see the hand of God and how we understand it is often in and through ordinary things: the birth of a baby girl, stepping across a threshold for the first time, getting clean by immersing ourselves in water, the movement of trees in the wind. We...

Forgiveness is hard. It’s not just hard for us—it has been a human problem all the way back. Today’s gospel reading was occasioned by a conversation about forgiveness. Peter says to Jesus just before he tells this parable, “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Seven times?” Wow, he’s doing well, right? Not just once, but seven times. And Jesus, of course, responds, “No, not seven time...

A baptismal homily after Transfiguration Our Lord, as he comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, comes face to face with his disciples’ failure. He heals the epileptic boy by casting out the demon they could not, then explains to them that “this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” While it’s not clear why the disciples were not able to cast out thi...

Mary, the Theotokos, represents, for us, who we are called to be, in Christ, and the feast of her “falling asleep”, in which we commemorate her death and her physical resurrection from the dead and her exaltation by her son, shows us our own corporate destiny in Christ. Mary is, for us, the new Eve, and her perfect response to God—her yes, where Eve said “no” to God, her listening where Eve failed...

The disciples, like Moses, went up the mountain and saw the glory of God, as far as they could bear it. Like Elijah, they went up the mountain and heard God in His divine humility. They saw the new Adam, shining with uncreated light in His unfallen glory, and they heard Him preparing to enter His true glory: the glory of the revelation of His love for us, revealed when He is lifted up on the cross...

We tend towards a perception of scarcity and competition—and scarcity is indeed a part of our human experience, as Jesus Himself experienced upon the death of His cousin, John the Baptist. But, even in that condition, Jesus acted out of an abundance of compassion. And He heals and teaches the crowd who came to him, and has his disciples feed them, giving thanks (eucharistically) to God for what li...

Jesus was misjudged as he healed the mute man and just went on healing. He told his disciples that if the world misjudged and treated him as terribly as it was about to, that they (and, by extension, we) should expect even worse. Jesus’ injunctions not to judge imply that what he said to his disciples about not lording it over one another should probably apply to how we deal with one another, and...

We tend to forget that, if we are the people of God, the prophets are speaking to—and generally correcting— us . This is why Jesus reminds his hometown hearers, at the beginning of his public ministry, that the ones who received the word of the prophet and were fed and healed were not the people of God, but the Sidonite widow, who responded to Elijah’s word with faith, and Naaman the Syrian genera...

The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, very different people, set an example for us, in their disagreement, on the importance of and how we ought to respond to speaking the truth in love : Saint Paul illustrates for us the importance of speaking the truth, while Saint Peter illustrates for us the importance of humbly receiving a life-giving rebuke (Proverbs 15:31)—both are necessary for us to grow up i...

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. (Philippians 3:17) The glorification of Righteous Mother Olga of Kwethluk, Alaska, reveals to us (as do the lives of all the saints) that holiness is attainable through the simple acts of love which God gives us the opportunity to do in whatever walk of life to which He has called us—and t...

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of...

We were a few more at that first liturgy than just the fourteen from St. Herman’s who were sent out to start St. John’s because of the love and support of others who joined us for that first Pentecostal celebration. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit translatingthetradition.substack.com

A look at how the Mosaic tradition of appointing elders to judge the people found its fulfillment in the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea Note: I mention the Donatists, but, while I may have implied that the Church ultimately ruled that they were in the wrong, I’m not sure I made it explicit enough that their schism was condemned by the council that Constantine convened as a lack of love and in c...

In which we review the story of the man born blind from the blind man’s perspective as a way into the experience of God on which true philosophy is founded References: John 9:1-38 Acts 16:16-34 Matthew 11:2-15 II Corinthians 4:6-15, 12:7-10 … Read on This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit translatingthetradition.sub...

We have betrayed the Image of God. Our only choice is whether we will be Judas or the sinful woman.… Read on This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit translatingthetradition.substack.com

We need stories, and the story we need right now is that of St. Mary of Egypt.… Read on This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit translatingthetradition.substack.com

St. Gregory demonstrates that we can know God, and that the pursuit of this knowledge is worth defending and dedicating our lives to.… Read on This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit translatingthetradition.substack.com