Sermons from St. Herman's

On the feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos in the Temple , Fr. Matthew Howell explains how the Virgin Mary's story is the ultimate origin story or prequel--better than Star Wars movies--that ties into the ultimate hero story--the incarnation of the Word of God. He also notes how we need to emulate her entrance into the temple and her desire to be with God in prayer so that His glory descends on...

On this Sunday in which the Orthodox Church presents the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), Fr. Matthew talks about his irrational fear of seeing someone on the side of the road on days when he had to preach about this gospel reading. He goes on to talk about how going out of your way to help someone is always inconvenient, but that we get so self-absorbed in our lives that we often mi...

In this homily given at St. Herman Church, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about the desperation we need to have in our faith in order to move closer to Christ and beg for healing. This desperation is not a hopelessness, but instead is an answer to our listlessness that lulls us into inaction in our faith.  The woman with the flow of blood and Jairus the ruler of the synagogue both display this desp...

This homily was given by Fr. Matthew Howell at St. Herman Church on the Sunday in which the Orthodox Church gives us the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Fr. Matthew discusses how the Rich  Man in the parable did not love and did not see Lazarus as a person worth loving, and how he became numb to the needs of others through over-attachment to his riches. Along the way Fr....

Fr. Matthew Howell gave this homily at St. Herman Church in Wasilla, AK on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost. He talks about St. Paul's admonition in his second letter to the Corinthians that "one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6). Fr. Matthew discusses how this is true both with money and with virtues. 

As a guest preacher at Saint Athanasius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Sacramento, California, Fr. Matthew Howell gave this homily on the Sunday in October in which the Orthodox Church commemorates the holy fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (commemorated on the Sunday between October 11-17 in the Antiochian Patriarchate). He starts by explaining how the ancient Celtic peoples believed in "t...

On the 16th Sunday after Pentecost and the Third Sunday of Luke, Fr. Matthew Howell explains how by raising of the widow's son in Nain Jesus shows us that His body is life-giving as are His words in Scripture. Fr. Matthew also reminds us of St. Paul's exhortation in today's epistle reading that "now is the acceptable time" and "now is the day of salvation," so we must take advantage of Christ's gi...

On the 15th Sunday after Pentecost and the second Sunday of Luke (Luke 6:31-36) in which we hear Jesus tell us to love our enemies, Fr. Matthew Howell draws from St. Nikolai Velimerovich to explain how we need to elevate our love beyond the passive state into an active virtue, going out of the way to express our love for our neighbor. Along the way, he gives an example of what this looks like with...

On the eve of the feast of St. Dionysios the Areopagite , Fr. Matthew Howell gives a sermonette after Great Vespers in which he explains how St. Dionysios was converted in Athens by St. Paul's preaching and also by his authentic Christian lifestyle. He encourages people to be ready to preach the Gospel by word and deed, never knowing when we might catch a future saint in our net as St. Paul did wi...

On the feast of St. John the Evangelist, Fr. Matthew Howell talks briefly about the life of the "disciple whom Jesus loved." He then spends most of the time talking about Metropolitan Joseph's encyclical on youth and lays out practical implications of what people can do to make young people feel loved and important in the church. Along the way, he manages to quote/misquote Yoda, but is rescued by...

After doing the Trisagion Prayers for the Departed after Vespers for the two year anniversary of the deaths of Elizabeth Benson and Viktoria Zhelekhovskaya, Fr. Matthew gives a sermonette about why our love leads us to pray (and even to cry) for those who have departed this life before us. 

On the Sunday after the Elevation of the Cross, Fr. Matthew Howell explains how the Cross of Christ is the path to true joy. Along the way, he tells about a recent experience he had with motion sickness, compliments his wife's toughness and resilience during her pregnancies, and shares several quotes from St. John of Damascus about the Cross of the Lord. 

At the Liturgy for the Feast of the Elevation of the Holy Cross , Fr. Matthew Howell talks about the relationship between carrying our cross/crucifying our passions and being transfigured by the glory of God. He talks about how the cross is foolishness to Americans in the context of the American dream of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." But instead, through the Cross our Lord Jesus Ch...

On this the Sunday before the Elevation of the Holy Cross and the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Fr. Matthew Howell introduces the parish to a new icon of the North American Saints given to him for the parish last week during a pilgrimage he made to venerate the relics of St. Sebastian of Jackson, California. He then describes how these North American saints were "all...

During Divine Liturgy on the feast of the Nativity (birth) of the Theotokos , Fr. Matthew Howell explains how St. Kassiani (commemorated September 7) refuted Theophilus the Iconoclast by pointing out how Virgin Mary brought forth the "better things", that is the Incarnation of God the Word. Along the way, he also quotes St. Gregory Palamas in asking "What shall we offer God's mother as a birthday...

On this 11th Sunday after Pentecost, the Church sets before us the parable of the wicked servant (Matthew 18:23-35). Preaching as a guest at St. Athanasius Antiochian Orthodox Church in Sacramento, California, Fr. Matthew Howell explains how gratitude is the key to unlocking forgiveness, and why both are essential to the Christian life. Along the way, he tells a story about Nelson Mandela while al...

On August 29, the Orthodox Church commemorates the beheading of St. John the Baptist . In this homily, Fr. Matthew Howell describes why the Forerunner's humility is one of his brightest shining virtues and why we should emulate him in orienting our lives toward Christ. 

This homily was given on the 9th Sunday of Matthew which also is the 9th Sunday after Pentecost this year. Fr. Matthew Howell relates the epistle reading from 1 Cor. 3:9-17 to the gospel reading from Matthew 14:22-34, talking about how we are both temples of God and ships in the storm, and how we need to build our ships in calm harbors in order to be ready for the storms that come our way. 

This homily by Fr. Matthew Howell was given at St. Herman Church on Sunday August 15, 2021 on which the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos . Fr. Matthew explains that in order to have a beautiful death as the Virgin Mary had--a "Christian ending" so to speak--we need to live a holy and beautiful life of righteousness, emulating the Theotokos by doing God's will...

This homily by Fr. Matthew Howell was given at St. Herman Church on the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, which also happened to be the Sunday after the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ. Fr. Matthew uses St. Paul's verses in Romans 15 to discuss the hope and encouragement that come from the Scriptures. He then talks about the importance of having our "mind swim in the Scriptures...

This homily by Fr. Matthew Howell was given at St. Herman Church on the feast of the Transfiguration . He discusses how this is a feast of the vision of God, how the vision of God comes through the suffering of the Cross and ascending of the mountain of God (purification), and how this all pertains to our life with Christ in all eternity. 

Some folks brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus in order to heal the man of his physical infirmities. But the first thing Christ did was forgive the man of his sins. Why? In this homily given at St. Herman Church on the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Fr. Matthew Howell discusses the priority of forgiveness in the healing of the soul and body, and how we need to trust that God actually does forgi...

This homily was given by Fr. Matthew Howell at St. Herman Church on the fifth Sunday after Pentecost. Fr. Matthew shared his two favorite quotes from Monty Williams , the head basketball coach of the Phoenix Suns: "This is a 'Get To', not a 'Got To,'" and, "Everything you want is on the other side of hard." He explains how these quotes relate to our spiritual lives. He also ties the latter quote i...

This sermon was given by Fr. Matthew Howell on the third Sunday after Pentecost which happened to fall on the feast of St. Sophrony of Essex . Fr. Matthew discusses how St. Sophrony taught--as did his elder, St. Silouan--that the application and true test of the Christian life is the love of enemies. 

On the Second Sunday after Pentecost , the Orthodox Church celebrates the saints of each local area. For those in North America, the entire continent is our "local church." In this homily given at St. Herman Church on Independence Day, Fr. Matthew Howell talks about how the saints become saints through detachment, and how we can start to detach by holding things in "loose attachment." Along the wa...