Every year before Great Lent we hear the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. But each year we should. All because it is so easy to allow the Power, Purpose, and Perspective of Great Lent to be lost in either a mere religious habit or, worse yet, total disregard. And that's because we humans are so very vulnerable to hiding from the truth that we need God and His transformative Presence to continually make us like Him.

The Good News of Jesus Christ invites us to such a radical departure from the fallen vision of our true purpose that confronting this message invariably challenges us. This challenge will be received differently by each person based on the true nature of their heart.

On this Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the Lord Jesus gives us an insight into a sober and humble way of life. But our world is intoxicated by anger and fear, and all our choices are hampered by anger and fear. What's the way out? The Way of Repentance.

On this Sunday, The Church invites us to reconnect to the wisdom of the Timeless Faith to bring us to the ability to see the cosmic theology of our faith as also very practical and applicable to our everyday lives!

On this Father's Day we hear how important it is to provide our children with a good example of fatherhood so that they can call God, Father!

On the Feast of the Transfiguration, Jesus reveals the very central purpose for our existence and our true goal for our lives!

The current delusion of our day is that life should be free of suffering or struggle. But that lie is actually leaving people in a perpentual adolescence that is destroying lives. The Faith offers us another path where we expect struggle and have Joy THROUGH it!

The Sunday of the Last Judgement.

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Michael speaks to the layman about the way we see ourselves in the structure of the Church.

Are we living now in the Divided States of America as opposed to the United States of America? Does the political divide we see and hear about it each day in the news speak to who we are now as persons and a society? What can it teach us about ourselves and our own hearts? Join Michael as he discusses wholeness and division from a spiritual point of view, and what we need to do to be Christ-like in today’s current climate.

How do we know if we are having a mystical experience versus just an experience of awe and wonder. Does it even matter if it is one or the other? How can we trust our experiences and what are their value? Recounting his own special experience at St. Paul’s church in Rome, join Michael as he tells his story and addresses these important questions. This episode also features Metropolitan Kallistos Ware sharing his earliest recollection of his own religious experience.

CDC reports that suicides have increased 25% since 1999 in nearly every state and recent celebrity suicides have cause a renewed focus on this issue. The CDC report further lists reasons, warning signs, and who this is affecting most. What can everyday ordinary Orthodox Christians do, who are not clergy or mental health professionals, to help combat this tragedy. Join Michael Haldas as he shares his personal experience and offers some thoughts on this topic.

Join Michael as he talks about how to capture and protect our mind from the world of false images we live in, and how doing so also supports our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Cancel culture is a culture of hate, division, and destruction. Join Michael as he uses the Gospels and other scripture to show just how wicked this culture is; what the current culture is doing to us; why we are knowingly or unknowingly participating in it; and what we should do to combat it.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea talks about his reasons for taking a break from the podcast.

Fr. Seraphim speaks about losing hope and temptation and how it is not a sin until we act upon it. He goes into detail about our salvation and the difference between falling into sin and being tempted.

At times, we are reduced to the empty shell of our being. How do we survive when there is no life in us? Working under obedience can carry us through this desert; it can empty the mind, so that the mind can be filled once again with Life by the Giver of Life.

After we sin, our hearts freeze. For a while, we stay away from God on purpose. We need time to heal, we need some sort of ritual of cleansing, some manner in which to make ourselves (in our own eyes) acceptable again to God. But the way back to prayer must begin as soon as possible, if possible even during the act of sin itself. The sooner we turn ourselves back to face Christ's Light, the sooner we shall drag ourselves out of the depth of our fall. Remind yourself of those who were waiting in the darkness of hell for Christ's Descent - ask for their desperate desire to be forgiven, pray for their unceasing hope that Light WILL one day find them and bring them back to Life out of the death of their hell. For those who put their trust in Christ, there is always Hope, there is always Love, there is always a way back to repentance and Life.

A lot of people around us suffer from the physiological pressures of this pandemic. Some were suffering before it all started, others have only now found themselves facing this struggle. The point is that there are SO MANY among us who suffer quietly and unknown by anyone. We MUST open our eyes to see them. St Silouan tells us that a loving, prayerful heart naturally feels the pain of the world and willingly crucifies itself in prayer for the world. We must close the judgemental eyes of our minds and open the loving eyes of our hearts, so we may perceive the silent pain in our brothers and sisters. Once we see it, we must do what Christ teaches us to do: lift their cross on our shoulders and carry it for them. At least for an hour. At least for a day. It may not be much, but it will allow them a respite from the lonely hell of a mind in pain.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea explains the hiatus from recording the podcast for 18 months.

Fr. Seraphim Aldea introduces us to Inch Kenneth, the 'desert' of St Kenneth.

Are we as Orthodox Christians doing enough to fill the vacuum that the radical ideology of San Bernardino thrives on? Perhaps our own lack of spiritual fortitude is part of the problem.

In the current crazy Presidential contest, Fr. Steven considers the duties and difficulties of an Orthodox Christian in engaging the political process.