It seems as though the nearer I draw to God, the farther away I realize I am. The more I realize, the less I understand. People sometimes ask me about certainty: “How can you be certain about your faith in God?” Honestly, I gave up certainty years ago. The only thing I am certain of is my utter dependence on the mercy of God.

As we prepare with God’s help to enter the arena of the Great Fast, let’s not mistake the means for the end. Let’s use the tools the Church gives us wisely. Let’s push ourselves. Let’s deny ourselves that we may know ourselves. Let’s pray with the Publican, the Harlot and the Thief. And let’s together long for the Glorious Resurrection of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ.

As we make our way through the ‘Great Arena of the Fast,’ let’s be careful how we suggest or inform one another about the ascetical practices and traditions that are provided for us in the Orthodox Church. The goal is holiness, not conformity. Let’s not forget Jesus’ warning to the Jewish lawyers when He said of them that they load people down with burdens hard to bear but do not lift a finger to help them.

I have a great six-year old German Shepherd named Kota. Kota is very obedient, most of the time. It’s the rest of the time, the time that is not most of the time, that you have to be careful about. I summed up the situation to a friend recently in the following way: “Kota is very obedient unless she is tempted by easy food, or she is bored—in which case she goes looking for something to tempt her.” On hearing this, my friend said, “Wow, that sounds like a problem lot of people I know have.” And then I thought about it. Oh my goodness, Kota and I have the same problem, only Kota is a dog and has an excuse, I don’t.

Concern over God’s judgement has nothing to do with striving to be better. Concern over God’s judgement is to continually strive to enter God’s rest, to humble ourselves and feel sadness over our wretchedness, and to offer that wretchedness to God as prayer. This is what concern for God’s judgement looks like according to St. Isaac the Syrian.

Many holy fathers and mothers of the Church have pointed out that spiritual words are like powerful medicine. If taken inappropriately, what was designed to heal ends up causing harm.

In homily 69, St. Isaac reminds us that temptations to sin come upon all people, even the “perfect.” Quoting freely from St. Macarius of Alexandria, St. Isaac reminds us that our inner state is rather like the weather. “There is cold, and soon after, burning heat, and then perhaps even hail, and after a little, fair weather.”

When we celebrate the Cross, we are not so much remembering the Crucifixion of Christ, as much as we are remembering the salvation that Christ’s Crucifixion has brought us and all the ways that we too are crucified with Christ. You see Christ did not suffer so that we would not have to suffer. Rather, Christ suffered on the Cross to be with us in our suffering, to lead us to the Resurrection through our suffering.

Fr. Michael Gillis talks about what we should do about the Great Reset. About once a week Fr. Michael gets a message from one or another of my parishioners with a link to a video that he “has to see.” Many of these videos are of a monk on Mt. Athos (or a monk from some other place reputed for holiness), or it is a video by a conservative religious or political commentator decrying the loss of religious freedom that is or will be brought about by the secular powers that be. The not usually spoken but very strongly felt subtext of these messages is that if we are true Orthodox Christians we should do something to stop it. What that something is, is generally left for us to decide. This is probably why parishioners want to know what a priest thinks after watching the video they sent, a video decrying the Great Reset, and the terrible loss of religious freedom that is taking place and will certainly get worse.

Even as we strive to please God by disciplining ourselves and obeying His commands, we know that God loves us. We know that God will accept our striving for righteousness, even if we don’t do it very well, even if we fail. God is able to fix our mistakes. Therefore, like children striving to please a parent whom we know loves us completely, we offer what we have, what we can do, in a carefree way, knowing that 100% will never be enough to succeed completely all of the time, but it is enough to please God.

Just as surely as there is a time of sowing, there is a time of reaping. God changes us and touches the hearts of others through our prayers, our giving and our service to others. Seeds become trees and trees change the environment. Sowing is hard. Trees grow slowly, almost imperceptibly. It requires faith and often tears.

What will we finally say when death visits us - and not for coffee?

In John 10, Jesus talks about gates, thieves, and robbers, but he also talks about salvation and abundant life!

The guys watched Pixar’s newest installment, Finding Dory, and they both loved it, but only one of them cried! Listen to discover which one cried, to hear discussions of how Pixar teaches us about personhood, and how the story of a fish is a story about God’s love bringing us home. They also discuss the Top 5 Sequels of all time. Spoiler Alert: Independence Day 2 was not one of them.

This week, the guys watch the Netflix original series "Stranger Things" and discuss friendship, transcendence, nostalgia, and our longing for eternity. They wrap up with their top 5 iconic '80s movies.

This week the guys listen to Crack-Up, the triumphant return of the Fleet Foxes after a 6-year hiatus. They wrestle with this complex album while exploring disappointment with social structures, the ambivalence of self-reliance, and the Christian promise of hoping in Christ. They close with their Top 5 Artsy Albums.

The girls take on one of the latest trends sweeping the nation: tidying up! They discuss the relationship between physical clutter and spiritual clutter, the importance of joy, and the need to give thanks to Christ for all things. They close with their Top 5 Organization Tips and Tricks.

The girls take on Delia Owens’ novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. They discuss how love is central to the human experience, the duality of nature, and whether the heart is affected by concealing sin. They close with their Top 5 Outcasts.

This week, Christina Andresen and Emma Solak take on the new Downtown Abbey film. They discuss the tension between simplicity and grandeur, the power of unity in diversity, and how true loyalty is rooted in love. They share their Top 5 "They Finally Realize They're in Love" episodes.

The guys discuss the first live-action Star Wars TV Series: The Mandalorian. They touch on the interplay between nostalgia and creativity, the role of choice in identity formation, and the self-sacrificial love. They close with their Top 5 Westerns.

The girls discuss the novel, Transcendent Kingdom. They address issues of cross-pressure between belief and doubt, the role or purpose in our lives, and how the modern self is buffered against engagement with the transcendent.

Christina and Emma are back to discuss the new Downton Abbey movie! They discuss themes of growing up, changes, and preparation for death. As always, what they're cooking. Leave your comments for the 200th episode at 917-524-7483 (call or text).

The Feast of the Dormition calls us to embrace the fullness of life—the deepest reality of what it means to be a human being in the world as we know it.

On this Sunday of "The Ladder of Divine Ascent," by St. John Climacus, we are called to ever greater heights of union with God by lowering ourselves through humble repentance.

The dormition of the Theotokos is an icon of our hope for eternal life.

In the story of Jesus raising to life the son of the widow of Nain, we see the author of life entering into the painful realities of our world. We too are called to extend the compassion of Christ to the world around us as living icons of His great mercy and salvation.

Does everyone walk the same path of repentance into the Kingdom of God?

How can we find joy and healing for our souls as image bearers of God?

Fr. Philip LeMasters explains how the Sunday of Orthodoxy calls us to become living icons of the risen Savior.

Fr. Philip LeMasters explains why Orthodox Christians adore the cross of Jesus Christ.

Fr. Philip LeMasters draws together the meaning of the Transfiguration of Christ and the Dormition of the Theotokos for our participation in the healing of our corrupt humanity.

Fr. Philip LeMasters recounts the story of the healing of the widow of Nain, and calls all of us turn to the Lord for the healing of our souls.

Fr. Philip LeMasters reflects on the gospel reading from the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman and the persistent humble faith that she exhibited.

Fr. Philip LeMasters preaches on the healing of paralytic.

Fr. Philip LeMasters reflects on the Feasts of the Transfiguration of our Lord and the Dormition of the Theotokos.

Fr. Philip LeMasters shares the story of the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. The Savior has conquered death and shares His great victory with those who respond to Him with humble faith and repentance.

It is sobering how easily we can corrupt any good thing, including faith in Jesus Christ. Some people fall into the delusion of thinking that they love God and neighbor, when in reality they serve only themselves. One symptom of doing so is to narrow down the kind of people who count as our neighbors such that we excuse ourselves from seeing and serving Christ in all who bear His image and likeness. When we do so, we disregard not only them, but our Lord Himself. Our actions then reveal that we do not truly have faith in Him because we are only seeking to justify ourselves.

In preparing for Great Lent this year, we must remain on guard against the temptation of self-exaltation in any form.

As we celebrate the Exaltation of the Cross, let us examine ourselves to see if our lives appear foolish and scandalous by the standards of the world because of our faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

Our calling, like that of Peter and the first disciples, is simply to obey Christ’s command to follow Him. When we stumble in doing so, we must cultivate the humble recognition of Peter, who said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

We do not have to burn incense on the altar of a Roman god in order to show that we are ashamed of the Savior. All that we must do is to refuse to take up our crosses as we serve the false gods of this world. It does not take much spiritual insight to see that worshiping idols is quite common and easily done in our time and place.

On this feast day of the Holy, Glorious, All-Laudable Apostle and Evangelist Luke, we have an opportunity to celebrate the great witness to the Lord made by the patron saint of our parish. Our small community is named in his honor and memory. We see his image on our iconostasis and regularly ask him to pray for us in the Divine Liturgy. Author of both a gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, as well as an iconographer and a physician, St. Luke died a martyr’s death at the age of 84.

As we prepare to receive the Lord in faith at Christmas, we must use our freedom to follow St. Paul’s instruction in today’s epistle reading: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Let us become transfigured in holiness as we pray, fast, repent, and give generously to our neighbors as we become living icons of the Savior’s fulfillment of the human person in the likeness of God.

The feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos calls us to live faithfully as those who have put on Christ like a garment in baptism, been filled with the Holy Spirit in chrismation, and become guests at the heavenly banquet in the Eucharist.

The Lord used the story of the Good Samaritan to show us who we must become if we are truly uniting ourselves to Him in faith. The more we share in His life, the more we will overcome the spiritual blindness that so easily tempts us to justify ourselves in thinking that any person or group is somehow not worthy of our care and compassion.

As “the poor and maimed and blind and lame,” we must prepare to accept the extraordinary invitation that is ours in Jesus Christ by gaining the strength to make our daily responsibilities points of entrance to the heavenly kingdom. They are not reasons to shut ourselves out of the heavenly banquet, but opportunities to unite ourselves ever more fully to Him in freedom.

We are baptized into Christ’s death in order to rise up with Him into a life of holiness in which we regain the robe of light rejected by our first parents. In every aspect of our lives, we must become radiant with the divine glory shared with us by the New Adam.

Most people today surely do not think of the weeks before Christmas as a time of preparation for being loosed from bondage to the corrupting forces of sin and death. More commonly, we use this time of year to strengthen our addiction to the love of money, possessions, food, drink, and other worldly pleasures.

In the remaining days before Christmas, let us embrace the scandalous calling to hope in nothing and no one other than the God-Man Who is born to heal and fulfill all who bear the divine image and likeness.