Sorry I have been so quiet it is not that there is nothing to say it is just hard to find the time to say it. I am working on a few essays that I will try and post over the weekend and I have recorded another part of my four part lecture series on Orthodox Spirituality and I hope to have that posted this weekend as well.
Cross Posting
This is cross posted from www.shepherdofsouls.com
Great News!
We have added two more affiliates to the Shepherd of Souls Family.
Radio Free London 95.7 from London, Kentucky Sunday mornings at 9am.
The show has also been added to the line up on the Access America Satellite Network
Monday’s at 9:00 AM
Wednesday’s 7 PM and
Sunday’s 6:30 AM
at the following information:
Galaxy 19 Ku-Band
(formerly Galaxy 25, Telstar 5 and IA 5)
Transponder: 23
Polarity: Vertical (V)
Frequency: 12.115 MHz
Symbol Rate: 22.425FEC: 3/4
Audio PID 1794 E
7 January ~ St. Kentigerna
St. Kentigerna was a widowed hermitess. She was the mother of St. Coellan, and the daughter of Kelly, Prince of Leinster, Ireland.
Upon the death of her husband, she left Ireland and moved to Inchebroida Island in Loch Lomond, Scotland, where she remained for the rest of her life. She entered into the heavenly kingdom in 733. A church remains dedicated to her to this day.
January 6th ~ Theophany
About the beginning of our Lord’s thirtieth year, John the Forerunner, who was some six months older than Our Saviour according to the flesh, and had lived in the wilderness since his childhood, received a command from God and came into the parts of the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sins. Then our Saviour also came from Galilee to the Jordan, and sought and received baptism though He was the Master and John was but a servant. Whereupon, there came to pass those marvellous deeds, great and beyond nature: the Heavens were opened, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove upon Him that was being baptized and the voice was heard from the Heavens hearing witness that this was the beloved Son of God, now baptized as a man (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:1-22). From these events the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ and the great mystery of the Trinity were demonstrated. It is also from this that the present feast is called “Theophany,” that is, the divine manifestation, God’s appearance among men. On this venerable day the sacred mystery of Christian baptism was inaugurated; henceforth also began the saving preaching of the Kingdom of the Heavens.
From www.goarch.org
Was Jesus a Liberal?
I have often asked this question and I think about it often. I don’t think we can take the current 21st Century meaning of these words and try and fix them to ancient persons but I think this post does a pretty good job of it.
To be Liberal is to Trust
I think this hits the nail right on the head. Now these are not my words but I do agree with them so be kind in your comments toward me. If you wish to flame someone leave the comments on his blog. Don’t shoot the messenger… LOL
Sunday Homily ~ January 4, 2009
Here is a link to my homily from this past Sunday, the Sunday Before the Epiphany.
War and Hatred do not Resolve Problems
VATICAN CITY, 4 JAN 2009 (VIS) – After the Angelus the Pope invited all to pray for an end to the war in Gaza, recalling that hatred and war do not resolve problems.
“Today, in all the churches of the Holy Land, the patriarchs and leaders of the Christian churches of Jerusalem invite the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict in the Gaza Strip and implore justice and peace for their land. I join with them and ask you to do the same, remembering, as they are saying, ‘the victims, the wounded, those with broken hearts, who are living in anguish and fear, that God bless them with consolation, patience, and the peace that proceeds from Him”.
The Holy Father affirmed that “the dramatic news that we are receiving from the Gaza Strip shows that the refusal to dialogue leads to situations that weigh unspeakably on the populations who are again victim to hatred and war”.
War and hatred are not a solution to problems. Most recent history again confirms this. Let us pray, then, that ‘the Baby in the manger … inspire the authorities and those responsible on both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, to act immediately to put an end to this tragic situation”.
January 1st ~ St. Basil the Great
Saint Basil the Great was born about the end of the year 329 in Caesarea of Cappadocia, to a family renowned for their learning and holiness. His parents’ names were Basil and Emily. His mother Emily (commemorated July 19) and his grandmother Macrina (Jan. 14) are Saints of the Church, together with all his brothers and sisters: Macrina, his elder sister (July 19), Gregory of Nyssa (Jan. to), Peter of Sebastia (Jan. 9), and Naucratius. Basil studied in Constantnople under the sophist Libanius, then in Athens, where also he formed a friendship with the young Gregory, a fellow Cappadocian, later called “the Theologian.” Through the good influence of his sister Macrina (see July 19), he chose to embrace the ascetical life, abandoning his worldly career. He visited the monks in Egypt, in Palestine, in Syria, and in Mesopotamia, and upon returning to Caesarea, he departed to a hermitage on the Iris River in Pontus, not far from Annesi, where his mother and his sister Macrina were already treading the path of the ascetical life; here he also wrote his ascetical homilies.
About the year 370, when the bishop of his country reposed, he was elected to succeed to his throne and was entrusted with the Church of Christ, which he tended for eight years, living in voluntary poverty and strict asceticism, having no other care than to defend holy Orthodoxy as a worthy successor of the Apostles. The Emperor Valens, and Modestus, the Eparch of the East, who were of one mind with the Arians, tried with threats of exile and of torments to bend the Saint to their own confession, because he was the bastion of Orthodoxy in all Cappadocia, and preserved it from heresy when Arianism was at its strongest. But he set all their malice at nought, and in his willingness to give himself up to every suffering for the sake of the Faith, showed himself to be a martyr by volition. Modestus, amazed at Basil’s fearlessness in his presence, said that no one had ever so spoken to him. “Perhaps,” answered the Saint, “you have never met a bishop before.” The Emperor Valens himself was almost won over by Basil’s dignity and wisdom. When Valens’ son fell gravely sick, he asked Saint Basil to pray for him. The Saint promised that his son would be restated if Valens agreed to have him baptized by the Orthodox; Valens agreed, Basil prayed. the son was restored. But afterwards the Emperor had him baptized by Arians, and the child died soon after. Later, Valens, persuaded by his counsellors, decided to send the Saint into exile because he would not accept the Arians into communion; but his pen broke when he was signing the edict of banishment. He tried a second time and a third, but the same thing happened, so that the Emperor was filled with dread, and tore up the document, and Basil was not banished. The truly great Basil, spent with extreme ascetical practices and continual labours, at the helm of the church, departed to the Lord on the 1st of January, in 379. at the age of forty-nine.
His writings are replete with wisdom and erudition, and rich these gifts he set forth the doctrines concerning the mysteries both of the creation (see his Hexaemeron) and of the Holy Trinity (see On the Holy Spirit). Because of the majesty and keenness of his eloquence, he is honoured as “the revealer of heavenly things” and “the Great.”
Saint Basil is also celebrated on January 30th with Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom.
Rest from labour.
From: www.goarch.org
Prayer on the First Day of the Year
O Lord our God, who have placed times and season under your own authority; who, in your infinite compassion and goodness, have counted us worthy to enter a New Year of your loving kindness, bless it and keep us in peace.
Loose, remit and forgive any sins that we have committed during the year that is past, and keep us free from sin in the new year.
Enlighten us with the light of your truth and your divine commandments. Establish in our souls your holy will, and guide us to every work that is good good and pleasing to you.
Guard well our holy Church with your divine grace. Remember, Lord our nation; train up the youth; protect the elderly; encourage the faint-hearted; gather the scattered; bring back those who have gone astray, and reunite them to your holy Church.
Overshadow our Land with your might, and grant it gentle rain and abundance of the fruits of the earth.
Speak goodness in the hearts of our rulers; support and strengthen them, together with our armed forces by land, sea, and air so that in their tranquillity we may lead our life in every piety and dignity.
Let your kingdom come upon us, O Lord; the kingdom of love, goodness, peace and justice; and make us worthy to praise and glorify, with one mouth and one heart, your most honorable and majestic name, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
From The Priest’s Service Book
The Blessing of the New Year
God, bless to me the new day,
Never vouchsafed to me before;
It is to bless Thine own presence
Thou hast given me this time, O God.
Bless Thou to me mine eye,
May mine eye bless all it sees;
I will bless my neighbor,
May my neighbor bless me.
God, give me a clean heart,
Let me not from sight to Thine eye;
Bless to me my children and my wife,
And bless to me my means and my cattle.
Carmina Gadelica, Hymns and Incantations, Alexander Charmichael