St Peters Orthodox Church

Christ’s healing of the man with dropsy is a vivid image of the soul swollen with pride and thirsting for self-glory. Drawing on St. Ambrose, the sermon contrasts the Pharisees’ obsession with religious prestige against the humility Christ commands—“sit in the lowest place.” The warning is that pride distorts the image of God within us, leaving us spiritually parched, while humility restores us to...

In the Gospel of St. Luke 7, we have the testimony of Christ our God raising the widow's son from the dead at the gate of the city of Nain. Here we find two great processions that collide at the gate of the city. One is the procession of the Lord of Life and His multitude of followers. The other is the funeral process of those mourning the death of this widow's son. When Jesus sees the widow, the...

In Matthew 6, Christ our God says, "Do not worry about your life." Jesus tells us to consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field and how God cares for them all. How much more does He care for us? What our Lord is really saying is, "Do not worry or be anxious, consider Me. Keep your eyes set on Me so that you can know Me better." The Lord Jesus Christ is our rest and the answer to all...

This sermon on St. Matthew the Apostle reflects on Christ’s call to sinners, showing how Matthew’s response at the tax booth reveals the Lord’s mercy and transformative power. It highlights the Pharisees’ failure to couple law-keeping with compassion, reminds us that God does not call the worthy but makes worthy the called, and encourages us to openly confess our sins so that Christ may heal us. T...

Today is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. Today, we remember the discovery of the Holy & Life-Giving Cross by St. Helen, the mother of St. Constantine. St. Paul says in Galatians 6 that we are to boast or glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this reflection, we consider three "types" of the Holy Cross in the Old Testament that reveal so much of all that Christ accomplished...

Today we have the Parable of the Pharisee & the Tax Collector. The Pharisee trusted in himself. The tax collector threw himself at the feet of God and cried out to God that he might receive mercy. Jesus said it is the tax collector who went home justified; a word that communicates sins being covered, being made right in the eyes of God, and the blessed experience of the return of innocence to the...

Today we have the Gospel reading from St. Mark 7, giving us the testimony of Jesus' healing of the deaf/mute. One born deaf cannot receive and process words and language, which hinders a person from being able to communicate by words themselves. Our spiritual life is the same. The fall of mankind made us all like the man who could not hear or communicate, for we lost our union with God, our abilit...

Our Epistle reading today is from Acts 5. We find a description of the life of the newborn Church in Jerusalem as they would meet at Solomon's Porch in the Temple. The description is simple. His people gathered with the Apostles. And through the Apostles, Jesus continued the same ministry for the benefit and salvation of all that He did as He walked the earth. Jesus taught His disciples to pray by...

St. Paul remind us in 1 Corinthians 10 of the Israelites consistent idolatry while following God in the wilderness journey. God had released them from their bondage and delivered them to Himself. There in the wilderness He shepherded them providing all they need for the journey to the Promised Land. But their restless hearts kept wanting more, departing the Lord their God, and pursuing something o...

When Christ was born, the Blessed Virgin held Salvation Himself in her arms wrapped in swaddling clothes. In the Icon of the Dormition/Assumption we see the reverse. It is our Lord embracing His mother as He receives her into Paradise. Tonight we look to the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary to see how she lived a life embracing her Son our Savior. For as Fr. Alexander Schmemann taught, "She is, in...

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of St. Laurence, Deacon and Martyr for Christ. When the Roman emperor demanded the God's of Rome be worshipped by all, St. Laurence and the Christians in Rome refused to bow to idolatry. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend. Today we look at the testimony of the life of St. Laurence; a testimony of love for His Lord as he would sacrific...

It is quite the wonder that a Holy Savior invites all of us, imperfect and frail as we are, to cooperate with Him in His Holy and good works of salvation on behalf of mankind. But that is just what He does. Today we look at examples of this from the Gospels of St. Luke & St. Mark, which were foretastes of what He desires to do through all who are in Him from Pentecost until He comes again. By Chri...

In our Gospel reading from St. Matthew 5, our Lord teaches us how we are to live towards those we have offended. To forgive those who have offended us is one thing, but what is our relational responsibility toward those we have offended. Our Lord is very clear. He teaches us to put our offering to Him down, go and be reconciled first, then come and bring our offering to Him. To go to one we have o...

St. James teaches us that the tongue is the rudder that has great strength in determining the direction of the soul. It both blesses and curses. When the tongue is not controlled and allowed to speak evil and negatively, the soul is darkened in the process. Equally, when the tongue speaks praises, prayers, and blessings, the soul is enlivened by the grace of God. Today we consider the importance o...

In the Gospel of St. Luke 6, our Lord commands us, "Be merciful as your Father is merciful. Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not and you will not be condemned." He also teaches us that as you forgive and give mercy, in the same way God will forgive and grant His great mercy to you. Today we consider how to live as vessels of His Divine mercy toward one another and to this world. And a...

In the Gospel of St. Luke 15, the religious leaders of the day are accusatory of Jesus for receiving sinners to Himself and dining with them. Our Lord answers their charges by teaching the parables of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son. In doing so, Jesus is revealing the very disposition and heart of God towards the lost; the very lost He took on our flesh to save. Today, we hope to...

Today is the Feast Day of Sts. Peter & Paul, two prominent holy Apostles. In the Icon of this blessed Feast Day, we see the Church filled with Christ in the middle and the two Apostles are pillars upholding it. Sts. Peter & Paul were so very different in their weaknesses, upbringing, personalities, and gifts. And yet, by their repentance at the experience of Christ, they were made so profoundly us...

By virtue of our creation by God in Paradise, we were created to be expressors; expressors of the nature and likeness of God to all creation. Therefore, at any given moment, we are always expressing something to the world. We are either expressing our fallenness and brokenness or we are expressing the nature of God Who brings healing to the nations. Today, the Apostle John in his Epistle 1 John, r...

Today is Trinity Sunday. This day marks the very foundation of the entire Christian liturgical year. Everything begins with the knowledge of God as He has been revealed to His Church. And our God has been revealed to us as Trinity: Three Divine and equal Persons, yet one God. Today Fr. Rooney reminds us all of some of the basic tenets that have been revealed to us about God, the Holy Trinity.

The Day of Pentecost was one of the many feasts prescribed by God in the Old Covenant for His people to remember His mighty works on their behalf. All of the Old Covenant feasts were types that always pointed to something Christ would later fulfill. Today, we consider the fulfillment of Pentecost on the day of the birth of Christ's Church, His manifest Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. At Pente...

When Christ Ascended to the Father, he brought humanity within Himself before the Father. The writer of Hebrews tells us that, there, He becomes our Great High Priest eternally. To understand Christ as our Great High Priest, we must understand the role of the High Priest in the Old Covenant once a year on the prescribed feast of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. Christ our God eternally stands...

How wondrous is the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. His disciples witnessed Christ's flesh and blood ascend into Heaven. The angels were amazed as they saw the Word of God with humanity joined to Himself ascend through them and beyond them. And, as Christ ascends, in Himself all humanity is brought directly before the Father. In His Ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to be the door t...

In the Gospel of St. John 16, Jesus prepares His disciples for His Ascension, saying that He is returning to the Father. Knowing that they had sorrow over what He had said, our Lord encourages them by telling them that it is to their advantage that He leave them. For if He leaves them, He will send the Paraclete to them. That word Paraclete describing the Holy Spirit means comforter, helper, and a...

In John 16, our Lord Jesus Christ tells prepares His disciples for the time He will be betrayed and taken from them. He gives them hope of the joy that they will experience when they see Him again. At the same time, He is speaking to them and us of the last days between His Ascension and His second and final coming; we will call it today the age of the in between. What encouragement can we draw fr...

The second Sunday after Pascha is the Sunday of Christ the Good Shepherd. In the Gospel of St. John 10, Jesus says "I am the Good Shepherd. I am the door of my sheep. I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father." Today we look at two aspects of the Nature of Christ our Good Shepherd. His Nature is to bind us up and heal us through Himself within Himself. And His...