The Beatitudes are a central part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. They are also central to his entire Gospel and, indeed, to the life of every Christian.
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The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
Today’s scripture readings → https://www.oca.org/readings/daily/2023/02/20
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29) The Orthodox Church doesn’t do a lot of fire-preaching. And when we do talk about fire, it is something very different. → https://share.descript.com/view/4D6HGr2lokI
Love in Christ,
+FrAJ
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The parable of the Prodigal Son is the third of three parables in Luke 15, all dealing with the theme of finding that which was lost. My sermon at St Nicholas Cathedral in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, February 12, 2023.
In the Book of Genesis, we read that God planted two trees in the Garden of Eden. One tree promised life, the other tree was much less promising. Here’s a reflection on the Eastern Orthodox Christian understanding of Eden’s forbidden tree.
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In this episode, we look at the baptism of Jesus in the river Jordan, and the great theological truth revealed at that moment.
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The honesty with which the Gospels portray the doubts and struggles of the apostles reminds us that our faith doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be persistent.
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In this episode, we skip ahead 30 years, to the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. But we don’t start with Jesus. First, we’re introduced to John the Baptist.
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This is a recording that I pulled out of the archives. It’s a look at the story of Lot from the book of Genesis, with a discussion about the lens through which the Orthodox Church reads the Old Testament.
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In this episode, as we conclude Christ’s infancy narrative, we find Jospeh stepping into his role as the guardian of Mary and her Child.
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Is it true that once you are saved, you never need to worry about your spiritual life again? It’s a bit more complicated than that.
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Eastern Orthodoxy 