Lorica

We have work to do. We have come a long way, God has been so gracious to us, but we have work to do. The absolute meaning of our life, our very existence is to feed on god by offering the sacrifice, by offering ourselves in the sacrifice of the lamb, and then going out into the world in the spirit of power to live holy lives and to draw all men to god. Todays Feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Ch...

The knowledge of God, and of the fulness of life, and truth, and joy, and love, comes to man at Pentecost because that is when we received the Holy Spirit, and that is why we celebrate the dogma of the Trinity in association with the feast of Pentecost- which is the culmination of Pascha. Today, this very particular Sunday is the octave day of Pentecost, and the capstone of Pascha, and on this day...

This 50 day revelry comes to fruition today and what is His is now ours, the Spirit who is the love between the Father and Son is ours and we are His. His power is ours, His peace is ours, His victory is ours, His Majesty, and scepter, and throne, and confidence that all will be well is ours even in this world which is still trying to kill us. Let it try, let it spit and spurt it’s dying threats-...

When Jesus said on the Cross that "it is finished", He did not mean that there is not still a lot to be done. It is finished, but there is stil much to be brought to fulfilment. Death is dead- sin is broken- but we still contend with death and sin in this world. He warned them repeatedly of what they would face even though He was glorified and said it was finished. So where does that lea...

When Jesus makes the wild promise to the disciples when he tells them that whatever they ask the Father in the name of Jesus, he will give it to them, a little common sense tells us that Jesus is not talking about power ball, a reservation at Noma, a high IQ or even a miracle of healing. He refused that to Paul, and I'm pretty certain that Paul, being a good baptist, must have ended his prayer wit...

The only way we can be solidly fixed and find the joy we desire is if we are all fixed on the same desire and commandment. In our life in the here and now, there is something at the center which holds us all together as one: there is a power to unite that works though our faculties. Our individual faculties, of love and desire, when we share the same love and desire within a community of persons,...

How important were these days for the future of the Church and the mission of the apostles. It was in these 40 days that Jesus instructed the apostles concerning the kingdom of God, He gave them commandments and commissioned them to build His Church. In these sweet days of light and happiness their cups run over with joy even as he was preparing them to die- but they could not be sorrowful because...

The Good Shepherd knows his sheep and they know him. He has come to give abundant life for the sheep. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, while the hireling is only concerned for himself and when he sees the wolf coming he abandons the sheep and runs away. The sheep are left defenseless, the sheepfold is broken apart, the sheep flee and are separated from one another and dispersed...

It seems to me that we know how to fast better than we know how to feast. Which is odd, if you think about it, I mean who would not rather feast than fast? Why would we do a better job at fasting than feasting? I think perhaps we have a a much better idea of the tools or instruments of fasting, and we are a bit fuzzy on the means of feasting. We simply don't know how to feast properly.

The crucifixion took place near a busy road for maximum impact on the populace. And there were many passing by. The Jews vehemently hated Jesus, they thought he was a blasphemer, unclean, possessed by an evil spirit, one who wanted to defile their temple. They wag their heads in derision as they revile him with taunts and ridicule. There were three categories of mockery which resembled the three s...

Ultimately, Jesus washing the disciples' feet was a prophetic act predicting His death. That is why they did not yet understand, that is also why Jesus said if I don't do this, you have no heritage with me. If you do not embrace the scandal of the cross, you are none of mine. In addition to a prophetic act, the foot washing also has the symbolic power of demonstrating humble servitude as the norm...

There was no noble motivation for Judas' betrayal, no deeper logic to it. It is a dire warning to all Christians that Judas fell into such depths of wickedness, his heart was utterly blackened as a culmination of repeated petty sin. It shows the power and danger of sin if it is not dealt with. How many people have betrayed Christ, perhaps not as famously as Judas, but nevertheless they have walked...

The Collect for Holy Monday mass says: "...that we who amidst so many adversities do fail by reason of our weakness; may be renewed through the pleading of the Passion of thy Only- Begotten Son." But the phrase in last night's collect rendered in English: "may be renewed..." is far more powerful and startling in the Latin. What it says in the original Latin is: "That we......

Today in this very holy week, six days before the Passover we have a story of beauty. Not just any story of beauty, and there are many, but this is a beautiful story for the ages according to Jesus' own reckoning. This is one of His personal favorites and He immortalizes it with his prophetic Word, He sanctions this story of his anointing by Mary as the beautiful story which will be remembered and...

Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem which we celebrate this day comes before His Passion- the great joy and triumph of this event replete with cries of hosanna and praise is going to be shortly followed by another journey of the greatest sorrow, suffering and death. What happens today is a foreshadowing of His ultimate and final entry into the heavenly Jerusalem, which occurs at His bodily Ascen...

Jesus rejected any semblance of individual autonomy, He never fought for himself as an independent individual, He never put himself forward to gain something for himself, never succumbed to the temptation to secure himself, even in his darkest hour when he felt alone. Christ's perfection through suffering was, essentially, the reversal of the human attempt for autonomy. Christ took our humanity to...

We have so many needs in this life, so many fears, so many insecurities, so many wants and desires, there's so much discontentment in our life, we're searching searching search. Trying to fill up something, running about, looking here, there... looking for some kind of satiety. Answers. And we forget about Jesus. We forget about him like he's not even there. Like he's an afterthought. We forget to...

I can think of no better representation of Satan in pop culture than King Théoden's counselor, Grima Wormtongue. If you've seen that movie, you can't get that image out of your head. Grima means "mask" in old english, and so Grima Wormtongue means a "masked deceiver". Théoden is trapped under this spell, he becomes a shell of a man. He's basically lost his marbles. He's held un...

On this feast, we remember when a young girl was alone in her house in contemplation. She had, for many years, been fostering a spiritual state of preparedness, indifference. Her indifference was, she was ready to do whatever God asked of her. Her yes was critical to this event of God becoming man. But she was ready to obey, not knowing what it would mean for her. She was just prepared, prepared t...

Our life is full of choices. Full of choices. Moment by moment, we have choices: what we're going to think about, what we're going to do and not do. A good and holy life depends, largely, on making very deliberate and wise decisions. Not just the big long term decisions, but the immediate, little ones. One of the consequences of the fall, and our mortality (and really, the permeation of death in a...

Episode Notes What's our attitude as we charge off into this Holy Season of Lent? Are we, like our elder brother driven into the wilderness by the Spirit to fight the devil, with fasting, and penitence, prayer and sacrifice? Every day in Lauds I love saying verse 6 of Psalm 149: "Let the praises of God be in their mouth; and a two-edged sword in their hands." Praise God, and slay the ene...

Remembering is always the first step in turning to God. Man's first step away from God was a failure to remember. It doesn't sound nearly as hideous as it is, but what really lies at the root of all our sin, and all our woe, is forgetfulness. It's not so much what we have done that is man's great failure, but what we have failed to do. The on-going power of sin, even in our lives, those of us who...

Saint Paul says that we can be eloquent, we can be eloquent to the point of the angelic, we can see the mysteries, we can expound upon them, we can enlighten those around us. We can do miracles. We can give all that we possess, and be great altruists. We can suffer in our body for God and for others. But Saint Paul says that if we do these things without Love, then all of these things that we migh...

When we hear Christ speak of the one with the noble, good heart (and how does He describe this person? The one who clings to the word), there is a seriousness about it. The Word of God in Christ is not for silly, lazy people. The demons are going to steal it, or, you know, it's not going to last. it won't take root. If we are going to last, if we are going to be saved, we have to bury it deep. So...

Jesus spoke in parables. Is Jesus still speaking in parables? The obvious answer is, we just read the parables this morning, and we take the reading of scripture in the context of liturgy as Jesus directly speaking to us, so we have to say yes, He is still speaking in parables. But beyond and past the Holy Writ, is he speaking to you in parables, in your life? Is he speaking to the world in parabl...