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Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part VI)

12/07/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Charlotte Adelsperger explained what the coming of Jesus meant to her: Christmas came for me when I allowed Jesus to outgrow swaddling clothes and wrap me in God’s love. Christmas came for me when I discovered that I am part of the flock God is watching over-even at night. Christmas came for me when I rejoiced, knowing Christ’s tidings of great joy were to all people-and I’m a messenger. Christmas

Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent, Holy Great Martyr Barbara

12/04/2015

Saint Barbara was born in the 3rd century A.D. in the city of Heliopolis in Phoenicia, which was then under the rule of the Roman Emperor Maximian – a vicious persecutor of Christians. St. Barbara’s father was a wealthy and powerful pagan named Dioscorus. Her mother died early, and after his wife’s death Dioscorus began to guard his only daughter, who was a rare beauty. He said: “People are unworthy to look upon my daughter’s

Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part V)

12/03/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Christmas means that there are two births of Christ: one into the world at Bethlehem; the other into the soul when it is spiritually reborn. Through the Holy Mysteries of Baptism and the Eucharist, Christ is born in the second Bethlehem. i.e., our hearts and minds, our souls and bodies. He that is the pre-eternal God becomes a newborn babe that we might be converted and become babes in Christ.

Eighteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Journey to Bethlehem, Part III

12/02/2015

By Father John Parker The Angels are rejoicing and proclaiming the Good News. The Magi, journeying from afar, bear their gifts foreshadowing the divinity, sovereignty, and humanity of Christ. The shepherds, the first Jews to believe, explain what they have seen and heard, leading others, too, to wonder! As we make our way, as if in a spiral towards the center of Rublev’s Nativity, we are greeted by a strange pair. A couple we wouldn’t

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

12/01/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Christmas means that “the Word (the Eternal God) was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In an attempt to capture the monumental humiliation God endured when He took on human flesh, C.S. Lewis likens it to our becoming a worm. Yet God did that for us in order to communicate His love to us. Christmas means that Emmanuel has come: God is not

Sixthteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Apostle Andrew, the Holy and All-Praised First-Called

11/30/2015

The Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called was the first of the Apostles to follow Christ, and he later brought his own brother, the holy Apostle Peter, to Christ (John 1:35-42). The future apostle was from Bethsaida, and from his youth he turned with all his soul to God. He did not enter into marriage, and he worked with his brother as a fisherman. When the holy Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John began to preach, St

Thirteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part III)

11/27/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Jesus himself explains why He came: “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them, but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5: 17). “I come not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt 9; 13). “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “I have come as light into the world, that whoever

Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent, “O Give Thanks unto the Lord!”

11/26/2015

By Father Steven Kostoff “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!” (Psalm 136:1) In an article titled “A Moveable Fast,” the scholar Elyssa East summarized the history of our American Thanksgiving, and the intentions and practices of the early New England colonists toward this national feast. Initially, she writes, Thanksgiving was built around the Christian rhythm of fasting and feasting. Bearing that in mind, she also offered her

Eleventh Day of Christmas Advent, Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria

11/25/2015

The Holy Great Martyr Catherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandrian Egypt during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-313). Living in the capital, the center of Hellenistic knowledge, and possessed of a rare beauty and intellect, Catherine received an excellent education, studying the works of the greatest philosophers and teachers of antiquity. Young men from the most worthy families of the empire sought the hand of the beautiful Catherine, but she

Tenth Day of Christmas Advent, Journey to Bethlehem, Part II

11/24/2015

By Father John Parker What shall we offer Thee, O Christ, Who for our sakes hast appeared on earth as man? Every creature made by Thee offers Thee thank. The angels offer a hymn; the heavens a star; the wisemen gifts; the shepherds, their wonder; the earth, its cave; the wilderness, a manger. And we offer Thee a virgin mother. O pre-eternal God, have mercy on us! In my last post, we began our “Journey

Blog

Twenty-Third Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part VI)

Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent, Holy Great Martyr Barbara

Nineteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part V)

Eighteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Journey to Bethlehem, Part III

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

Sixthteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Apostle Andrew, the Holy and All-Praised First-Called

Thirteenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part III)

Twelfth Day of Christmas Advent, “O Give Thanks unto the Lord!”

Eleventh Day of Christmas Advent, Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria

Tenth Day of Christmas Advent, Journey to Bethlehem, Part II

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