St Peters Orthodox Church

May 3, 2020 - Today we celebrate the Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross. Again we are set to remember why St. Paul says in Galatians that we should glory, that is boast and rejoice, in the Cross of Jesus Christ our Lord. As we look upon the Cross we remember two stories in the Old Testament that prefigure the Cross and the ministry of Christ upon the Holy Cross. As we look to them, we see clea...

April 26, 2020 - After our Lord's Crucifixion the disciples found themselves in rooms hiding within locked doors. They hid because of fear. They hid because of anxiety. The hid within their confusion and bewilderment based on the circumstances life just seemed to throw at them. But the One Who is the Resurrection did not burst down the doors, but He did enter directly into the place of their broke...

Paschal Vigil 2020 - As Christ willingly gave up His spirit and died, He descended immediately into Hades. There He broke the gates of Hades asunder. There our oppressor became oppressed. And there, He revealed Himself to all of the souls kept there from the Fall of Mankind until that very moment. If our Lord can illuminate the darkness of Hades with His uncreated light, He can go to the depths of...

April 17, 2020- Tonight on Good Friday we have the Cross and our Lord's Crucifixion as the Paschal/Passover Lamb placed before us. In this reflection, we consider how the Cross is the journey of the Christian and a necessary one that we might experience fully the Resurrection in our own lives.

April 16, 2020 - Today marks the beginning of the Sacred Triduum, that is, the last three days of our Lord's life just prior to His glorious Resurrection. These three day begin with Maundy Thursday, the night our Lord was betrayed. On this night our Lord Jesus Christ would institute the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist and on that night He would wash the feet of His disciples. In one act He would give...

April 15, 2020 - Our Lord Jesus Christ wrestled greatly in His humanity in the Garden of Gethsemane when faced with His Crucifixion. But in His Divinity He overcame what Adam & Eve could not. He denied Himself and said, "Thy will be done." He then went to make Himself the offering that would bring us life and salvation. In this message, we examine the great and beneficial impact on our lives when...

April 14, 2020 - The Mass of Holy Tuesday begins with these words, "It behoveth us to glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ." It is appropriate and beneficial that we boast and rejoice in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Immediately following Christ giving up His spirit unto death, the first thing in the Gospel of St. Mark we are told is that the Temple Veil was torn in two. In this re...

Holy Monday 2020 - As part of the Gospel reading tonight from the Gospel of St. Mark Chapter 14, we have the story of the woman who poured out her alabaster jar of ointment upon our Lord Jesus Christ as an act of love and worship. That ointment would have been worth a year's wages and to many it seemed impractical and unreasonable to waste it all on just one person and all in one moment. This homi...

April 12, 2020 - The King of Kings and Lord of Lords rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. Many might think to ask, "Why would a King ride in on a beast of burden?" Throughout history, the way in which a King or ruler would present himself to a people communicated precisely why he had come to them and what he intends to do. Today we look at the way in which Christ our God came to His people in Jerusal...

April 5, 2020 - Today is Passion Sunday, the day we remember that our Lord hid Himself for a time from the public until He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey and, from there, lay down His life that we all may live. Today Fr. Robert Weber reminds us that all that we are being called to do this Lent in the midst of our world pandemic is being graced by God to make us more like Him. As we sacrific...

March 29, 2020 - The Mass for the Fourth Sunday of Lent is named Laetare, the Latin word for rejoice or be exceedingly joyful. We are reminded to rejoice right in the middle of Lent, a season of the blessed gift of repentance. Today we set ourselves to rediscover the joy in the experience of the healing work of Christ for us as we turn our lives to Him with all of our weaknesses, frailties, and th...

March 25, 2020 - As we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, one of the 12 Major Feasts of the Church, we look at the Blessed Virgin Mary and her posture before God. When the Archangel Gabriel announces the will of God to the Virgin full of grace she says the most profound words that show clearly her heart before God, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to Thy word." In...

March 22, 2020 - St. Paul instructs the Church in his letter to the Ephesians and Chapter 5 "Be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love." We are the dearly beloved children of God. We are the ones who have experience the immeasurable and inexhaustible love of God in our lives. St. Paul is telling us to mimic the nature of the God Who is love and offer that which we have received to oth...

Many people are apprehensive, fearful, or uneasy about the Sacrament of Confession/Absolution. Some question why even engage such a practice. I find that all of this is true mostly because of an honest lack of understanding regarding the profound ministry Christ Himself does for us actively in and through this blessed Sacrament. This teaching focuses on the very tangible ministry of Christ on our...

March 8, 2020 - The 40 days of Lent is modeled after the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting. In the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter 4 we are told that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to fast for those 40 days and then be tempted by Satan. The fact that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to do all of this should be an indication to us that this was by the Divine will of God would forge some...

March 4, 2020 - St. Paul teaches that each one of us has become the Temple of the Holy Spirit. But, my friends, throughout the days of our life each year the Temple becomes cluttered and filled with things worthless to our life in Christ and our Salvation; or worse, damaging to our souls. On this Ash Wednesday we are reminded that Lent is a time to simplify our lives and turn our attention so much...

March 1, 2020 - On this last Sunday before we enter into Lent, our Lord puts front and center before us the remembrance that He is our deliverer. But is the deliverance ministry of Christ our God? In our Gospel reading from St. Luke and chapter 18 we see Christ deliver the blind man on the road near Jericho from his infirmity as the blind man cried out desperately for mercy. When we reflect Christ...

Today, as we are preparing to enter into the healing season of Great Lent, we put our focus on understanding why we fast with prayer and the benefits God offers us as we do so. The people of God have always had prayer and fasting as part of their living experience of God. Jesus taught "when you pray" and "when you fast" not "if you pray and fast." Today we remind ourselves that fasting accompanied...

Feb. 23, 2020 - Today we are given the Parable of the Sower from the Gospel of St. Luke chapter 8. Jesus describes the different soils onto which the seed falls. One type of soil is the hard ground of the path and represents seed falling on hard hearts. Another type is the seed that falls on rocky ground and the seed cannot go deep in the soul. The third type of ground is filled with thorns and wh...

Feb. 9, 2020 - In Colossians 3, St. Paul calls us to put on the virtues of Christ and ultimately to put on love which is the greatest of all virtues. But how do we become love? St. Basil the Great answers that question by teaching that we can only become love as we experience God and receive His love. This reflection shares the thoughts of St. Basil as to how we can live a life availing ourselves...

The first Fall breeze after a hot Summer has always been so very refreshing to me. This instrumental expresses the feeling that I have when the first autumn breeze gently blows in. I pray this brings you to that moment and may this piece bless you and bring you peace. First Autumn Breeze by Father Mark McNary (c) 2020

Feb. 2, 2020 - The Gospel of St. Luke Chapter 2 gives us the story of St. Simeon receiving Jesus into his arms in the Holy Temple. God told St. Simeon that he would not die until he had seen His Savior. When He received Christ our God into his arms his soul was overwhelmed and he lifted up what we know as the Song of St. Simeon (Nunc Dimittis), a great song of praise to God that salvation had come...

Jan. 26, 2020 -St. Paul teaches us in Romans 12 that we should "be of the same mind toward one another." Consider what he is saying. St. Paul knows that we are each individual members of the body of Christ with different personalities, different ways of thinking about things in life, different experiences, and different opinions. And yet, he calls us to be of the same mind. What does this look lik...

As a second part to last week's teaching on the Battlefield of our Thoughts, today we look at the true posture of the Christian when it comes to Spiritual Warfare. So many times we set our face upon our constant temptations and disordered thoughts in order to overcome them. Because of this we walk away many times defeated and exhausted. The real battle of the Christian is not, in and of ourselves...

Jan. 19, 2020 - In Romans 12, St. Paul teaches the Church that, just as in a human body, the Body of Christ consists of many members with different functions of equal importance. Today we consider this understanding of what it is to be the Body of Christ in the earth. We find that the Church is the continuing incarnate ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of every soul within and fo...