Wednesday, April 29, 2026: Mount Tabor School
ACTS 8:18-25
JOHN 6:35-39
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen! So in the Epistle today, we heard about this man, Simon Magus. Simon Magus, he was a sorcerer. He liked to do magic, bad magic.
And he did it so that people would be impressed by him, or scared of him. He did it so that he would be able to have power, that people would listen to him. And when he saw that the Apostles also had power, and power that was even greater than his, he said, aha, now this is something I can really get behind, I want this. And so he is thinking, this power is like any other power. I can buy it, I can trade it, I can get it, I can have it, I can hold it, just like all the other magic and demons and everything else I’ve done, to feel powerful, to have people obey me.
But what he learned very quickly was, no, God is not some kind of power that you can get, like a superpower, God is not something that you can buy or trade. God is God. God is the creator of all things. And, even more importantly, God is love. You see, everybody wants to feel popular, right? Yeah. And everybody wants to have a little bit of control in their lives. So you big sisters, right? How many of you here are big sisters? How many of you here have little brothers or sisters? Anybody? Yeah.
I have a little baby sister.
Yeah. And sometimes don’t you just want to make her do what you want to do? Yeah. That feeling of wanting control. See, it can be very easy for us to look at Simon Magus, and think, “What a bad man. He wants control. He wants people to listen to him, and he wants people to do what he wants to do. What a bad man.” But we should be careful not to judge him too quickly, because maybe sometimes we feel this way with our little brothers, or our little sisters, or maybe we want to control our parents. See, parents never want to control their kids. They never want to do that, right? Yeah. But that feeling of wanting to control, and wanting to be in control, and wanting to be popular, all these things, they happen. But see, the problem is they pull us away from the real power. You know what the real power is?
God’s real power is that He’s love. It’s that He’s love. And His love helps us to feel content. His love helps us to feel like, “You know what? I have enough. I am enough. God’s given me everything I need.” And this is what we hear in the Gospel today. Because in the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus, he speaks about how if anyone comes after Him, they’ll never hunger again. They’ll never thirst again. And the reason for that is when you come to Jesus, and you come to know Him, that feeling of needing to control, and that feeling of, “Oh, I’m not good enough, or I need to be better, or I need more,” that feeling, when you really honestly come to Christ, you start listening to Him. You start keeping His commandments. That feeling actually begins to really go away.
And you learn that when you go to Him, you get such a feeling of being full, and that everything is going to be right, and then things start becoming better. And what’s interesting is you do get a little bit of control in your life, but you get control over yourself, not over others. So let’s not be too quick to judge Simon Magus, but let’s be quick to go to the One Who has the bread, in which we will always be filled, Christ Jesus.
Christ is risen!
Monday, April 27, 2026: Day of the Angels
ACTS 6:8-7:5, 47-60
JOHN 4:46-54
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen!
In the Gospel today we hear of the second work, the second miracle of our Lord’s public ministry. The first one also taking place in Cana of Galilee. The wedding in which Christ reveals Himself as Priest. He reveals Himself as a priest ministering to the people on the behalf of God. A priest ministers on the behalf of God to the people, and on behalf of the people to God. A priest takes from the earth and provides in ministry. And so the Lord reveals this work of Him as Priest in that first miracle.
But in this second miracle, he reveals Himself as a prophet. He reveals Himself as a prophet. We can see this because He’s speaking to a royal official. And this royal official, this power, this principality, if you will, this representation of earthly power, this representation of an earthly principality – in the same way, if you see where I’m leading you, when Abraham offered tithe unto Melchizedek, you see, in the same way, when this principality comes and is seeking a word from Jesus, the Lord, as Prophet, speaks to this power. And He says to him, first and foremost, a rebuke: Unless you see signs you won’t believe. Meaning, you don’t understand the nature of power, the nature of hierarchy.
And this is first and foremost what a prophet is. We oftentimes, we mistake the prophet, the office of prophet, and the work of prophecy as soothsaying, telling signs and predicting the future. There is an aspect to it. But first and foremost, a prophet speaks on the behalf of God to power, to authority, to structures. This is what a prophet does. And so Christ reveals Himself as Prophet in this second miracle, but first the rebuke. And then He says to him, your son will live, simply, authority, prophecy. He gives a word to this man. He prophesies to this man.
And make no mistake that that’s what happened, because following the rest of the Gospel, if you notice, the official says, what hour was that? What hour? And he says, oh, the seventh hour. And he knows. It was simply that word spoken. Nothing else was needed. Prophecy, the power of the prophet, to be the mouth of God, to speak clearly, to put all things in order, correction, and then healing.
The Lord, being the Prophet, also seeks to speak into our lives. And this is perhaps one of the many ways we should understand St. Paul when he says in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, “Do not despise prophecy.” Because although prophecy in our own lives will have this aspect of wonder, it always brings correction. And correction, chastisement, is always love and a blessing. God chastens those whom He loves. Christ the Prophet desired that the powers be rightly ordered, just the same way that Christ the Priest desired that marriage would be made lawful and blessed. May we hear the Lord in both the chastening, the correction, and the healing.
Christ is risen!
Sunday, April 26, 2026: Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women
ACTS 6:1-7
MARK 15:43-16:8
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen! We are in the wake of the Resurrection. Not just simply the wake of Pascha, but in the wake of the Resurrection, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. His Resurrection inaugurates this new time. This new time in which all men will enter into this way of being. Awaiting the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life. Those of us who will awaken to eternal life in the Lord, His joy, His peace, His freedom. We have to know the means in which we are able to receive, but also hold that joy, and that peace, and that freedom.
And the largest thing, potentially, I would say, to that impediment is a particular sin. And this particular sin has to do with a particular member of the body. And it’s the tongue. It’s the tongue. One could argue that the sin of immorality, sexual morality, is the great bane of our time. Perhaps it is, but if it is, a very close second nipping on its heels is the sin of the tongue.
James tells us very clearly in his Epistle that although it’s a small member, it’s great in its power to awaken the fires of hell. With the tongue we gossip, which is probably the number one tool of demonic espionage within the church. People gossiping, opening their mouths, using their tongues to slander, to sow division, to sow confusion amongst God’s people.
The tongue. With the tongue we curse our priests, we curse our leaders, we undermine them. With the tongue we curse our parents, we disobey them. With the tongue we argue with our spouses, we curse God. With the tongue we praise the devil and we sing songs unto his commandments. With the tongue we bring hell into the world and into the church.
We are all guilty of not reigning in our tongue. All throughout Lent we pray the prayer of St. Ephraim, idle speak, asking God to take it from us. And somehow, someway, if we had any modicum of success during Lent, we throw that away as quickly as we can. And we go right back to the gossip, to the slander, to the unnecessary giving of opinion, and everything else that the tongue can do except for edify, build up, praise, speak truth. I started by telling you of resurrection, and understand this, your tongue will be resurrected with you also. And if you spent all your time grumbling, which, by the way, grumbling leads to blasphemy. If you spend your time grumbling, if you spend your time gossiping, if you spend your time using your tongue, practicing the witchcraft of foul speech, perhaps you’ll be resurrected but mute. Perhaps the Lord will say, all is good with you except your tongue. What are we to do?
Well, in the Gospel today, we see two incredible uses of the tongue, two proper uses of the tongue. And so for many of you, I’ve been saying, let’s not worry so much about avoiding your sin, let’s try to pursue virtue. So yes, I’ve told you, you’re slanderous. Yes, I’ve told you, you’re liars. Yes, I’ve told you, you curse God. Yes, I’ve told you, you undermine Him. Let’s try to pursue Him then with our tongue.
In the beginning of the Gospel, you have the righteous Joseph, and it says that he took courage and he spoke asking for the body of Christ. Let’s let our tongues be members that speak courage, courageously for righteous things. Like Joseph of Arimathea, let us use our tongue to speak for the things of Christ, to seek Him, to tend to Him, to care for Him.
You wish to flout some nefarious plan, slander and gossip will not thwart that plan. Using your tongue to pray to God will. You wish for that loved one to turn away from that pernicious sin, gossiping and exposing them will not turn them away from sin. Praying for them will. Be courageous with your tongue. Speak the truth of Christ with your tongue. And if you don’t have the courage to keep your tongue in check, and if you don’t have the courage to use your tongue to speak the good things, then follow the example of the myrrh-bearing women because they had the fear of God. And it says at the end of the Gospel that they spoke nothing because of the fear of God.
St. Isaac the Syrian, he says, “The language of heaven is silence.” He also said, “I’ve never regretted my silence.” You won’t regret keeping that little piece of hell behind the gate. That bit of wisdom that you wish to provide, that bit of critique that you wish to provide. If it is so important, and if you are the last prophet on the earth that God is going to use, trust me, He’ll even have the stones cry out. Don’t let the devil deceive you. Your tongue is not the great messenger that you think it is. Keep it behind the gates. This is what undermines us as a people. This is how the enemy slips in with his espionage and begins to use us as his tools. The tongue. Let us be like righteous Joseph of Arimathea. Let us speak courageously for the things of God. And let us be like those bold women who had the fear of God and entered with the language of silence, the language of heaven.
Christ is risen!
Wednesday, April 22, 2026: Mount Tabor School
ACTS 4:13-22
JOHN 5:17-24
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen!
In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus is speaking to us about the most precious thing to Him. And the most important and precious thing to the Lord Jesus is to be obedient to His Heavenly Father. The Lord Jesus, He’s showing us that obedience, His obedience to His Father is His way that He shows His love to His Heavenly Father.
Now, all of us have to be obedient. And all of us have to follow this good example that the Lord gives us. And in the world that we live in, oftentimes, we have to learn that no one is perfect. Right? No one is perfect. I’ll tell you guys a little secret about your parents, your moms and your dads, right? And your big sisters and your big brothers.
Here’s the secret: They’re not perfect. Your mom and your dad, they will oftentimes make mistakes because don’t you make mistakes? Right? So you make mistakes now. And as you get older and you guys become mommies and daddies, you’re still going to make mistakes. You’re not going to do everything right. Now, you’ll do things better. And as you get older, you’ll find that you will become less and less, you know, selfish. Right? Less and less, you know, scared. Things will be better, but they won’t be quite perfect. And that’s okay.
Do you know why? Because when you’re younger, you learn to obey your mom and your dad, or at least you should, right? You guys know that? You should obey your mom and your dad, right? And you’re supposed to obey your mom and your dad because they’re setting an example for you. And they care for you. And they love you. And even though they make mistakes, that shouldn’t change your love for them because your mistakes don’t change their love for you.
Now, the most important thing here, though, is your mom and your dad, the more that they look to Jesus and follow Jesus’ example, the better things will be. And as you guys get older, you’re going to notice that if you follow Christ, if you follow His example and do the things He shows you, you, too, will make less and less mistakes. And then your children, hopefully, will do the same thing that you learned to do.
Now, the Lord tells us, He shows us that this love is what heaven is. And so, do you guys know that feeling when your mom or your dad asks you to do something and you don’t do it? You know what I’m talking about? And even though they may get angry, but do you feel kind of bad inside? Yeah. You feel bad inside. Right? And even if you don’t get caught, you feel kind of bad inside. Sometimes. Sometimes. Yeah.
But this thing about when you feel bad inside because you disobeyed, right? That’s what we call our conscience. And that’s God inside of us saying, “Oh, this is not love.” Right? Now, this is really important because what happens is we see that we don’t listen to love. We don’t listen to where our hearts are.
And so our homes, sometimes they’ll be really tense, right? Things won’t go the way they should. And when we find that happening, maybe at school, things aren’t going the way they should, we need to look to Christ again. And we need to remember that, “Oh, I’m not doing what I should be doing.”
Right? I have to get back to where I need to get to, and I need to get my eyes back on Christ. And when you do that, even if your mom and dad, your older brothers, or someone’s making a mistake, Christ is not making a mistake. And that’s the thing.
When we follow Christ, whether you’re a mom or you’re a dad, whether you’re an older brother, older sister, a younger brother, younger sister, when you’re following Christ, you have a perfect example. And what that means is you have no need for an excuse. Because when we follow Him, even when we make mistakes, He’s able to turn it into the good when we follow Him. Okay? When we’re obedient to Him, and we follow His example of Him being obedient to His Father. So let’s keep our eye on Christ and follow His example, okay? Christ is risen. Amen.
Monday, April 20, 2026: Day of the Angels
ACTS 3:19-26
JOHN 2:1-11
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen! In the Gospel today, we have the Lord at the wedding at Cana of Galilee. This is really the first place in which the Gospels began to show His ministry, His miraculous ministry. And here we see that He has done something in such a way that it calls the attention of His disciples. He does something in such a way that it calls the attention of His disciples.
Now the people at the wedding feast, they were aware of this, obviously, they were aware that something had happened, but they weren’t aware that the order was different. They weren’t aware truly of what had happened. They were aware that the good wine, that they were tasting what they had thought was the best of the wine. And as the steward says, usually they leave this off, but you have brought the best wine to last. What’s interesting here is that, and I’ve said this before, we see really the Lord’s movement of doing things according to His good order. He does these things for us first, for his, we, His disciples.
We see that the Lord will do things and we will see them. We will see how the Lord is moving contrary to how the world orders things, contrary to even how quote-unquote the system, at times even the religious system, orders things. And this is a sign for us. This is a sign for us as His disciples for us to continue to believe in Him.
I’ll give an example for you. You know, I’ve said before how the Lord has, you know, saved the best wine for last. The saints of these days, they are of a whole different caliber. St. Porphyrios, Aimilianos, Sophrony, St. Joseph the Hesychast. These saints are of a different caliber. They have an insight and have been given a grace to share with us the spiritual life in a way that is very distinct and very different from the fathers of the patristic age. Let’s say it’s very distinct and very different and we need this.
We need these saints. We need these, this good wine being saved for last. We need them because in these days we thirst in a whole different way. In these last days, we have a need for good, strange, strong drink. We need saints that remind us of the power of Christ, that remind us of His resurrection, that remind us of His provision.
And this is the thing the Lord provided in the wedding. There was a need and He provided. The steward, the guests, they didn’t quite understand what was happening, but they knew something happened, but His disciples understood fully and they believed in Him. This is also how we see and how we should interpret the movements of our day.
It’s very easy and tempting for many to be caught up in the events of the day, the chaos that the world is in, the madness. And this madness has its own kind of intoxication, but the intoxication of the world’s events now, it does lead to nothing but despair. And yet we have the Lord for those of us who believe in Him. He’s showing to us that He was still providing for us, that in fact these days will be glorious days for His people, not in the world’s sense.
In the world’s eyes, we will become weaker. In the world’s eyes, we’ll be even more despised. But we who follow Him, like the disciples at the wedding of Cana, when we see Him bring out new wine, when He brings out the best wine, we will know that He is still with us. We’ll know that that wine is there to sustain us. We will know that we are, as it says in the Epistle, we are the ones who are still the children of the prophets.
You see the prophets, they still are with us. They’re these holy elders and these righteous saints of the modern time that are still speaking the word of God. They’re bringing that good wine to us that we would be sustained. And that ultimately, the true wedding feast that we’re all looking towards, the great eschaton, this is right at the door. The Bridegroom is coming. So let us be ready to receive His drink. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Friday, April 17, 2026: Bright Friday
ACTS 3:1-8
JOHN 2:12-22
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen! Well, Pascha, Bright Week, it’s about surprises. Christ leaps from the tomb, surprising hell and death, and in the Gospel today we hear of the Lord surprising the Pharisees, surprising those in the temple that were not doing as they should.
And they proclaim that the temple that is to be torn down, how could it be raised again? And the surprise is, of course, He’s speaking of His body, the true Temple. But we also see another surprise in the Epistle today. We hear of the man who is crippled, and he looks upon the apostles, they call his attention, and he looks to them expecting money, expecting to be given something to just get him through his day.
But he’s surprised. He’s given something that changes his life forever. And this disposition is too often the disposition that we have. We believe and we know that God will give us what we need. We know that God will be good, essentially, to us. But we are like this beggar, this crippled man. We never really think that God will actually surprise us with something greater, with something that will change our life. We’re content with being given just enough to not fall into despondency, just enough to not fall into despair, just enough to not fall into depression. We’re satisfied with that.
But I tell you, this is a wrong disposition. Because that man who is crippled, we are too crippled. Maybe not in our bodies in the same way, but we’re crippled in our spirits. And remember what the Lord says. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And so poverty of spirit is a place in which you should absolutely be expecting to be surprised by God.
But the trick is, to be surprised by God, you have to have no expectation. You have to have no expectation. If you are expecting something in a particular, certain way, then you are most assuredly setting yourself up for some sort of disappointment.
Because too often times, we have something fixed in our mind of how we want it to go. And even if it may be a good thing, we are now not open to a surprise. And so the best thing to do is to not be indifferent, not to be cynical, and to think that God will just give us enough. But at the same time, you have to be looking for these great surprises.
We have to know that God, Who we love, God Who is helping us, will do so much more than just get us by. He’ll give us something that will last even into eternity. He’ll take our crippled hearts, strengthen them, and allow us to walk in new faith. Christ is risen. Amen.
Wednesday, April 15, 2026: Bright Wednesday
ACTS 2:22-36
JOHN 1:35-51
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen! You know, I had to chuckle at the end of the Gospel today because, you know, Nathanael, like so many of us, he thinks he’s clever. And he says, Is anything good going to come out of Nazareth? How can this be? And so it’s no wonder that Christ zeroes right in on him, right on him. And He begins to show him that He sees all things, knows all things, including Nathanael’s sarcasm.
And so it’s a wonderful moment, because it’s one of those moments which is, it’s nestled in the Gospel. And many people don’t catch it, actually. You know, we read the Gospels, and we often are reading the Gospels personally for some sort of revelation from God about us. You know, we read the Gospels, we read the Bible, but we read the Gospels in such a way we’re looking for a personal word for ourselves, which is fine. It’s fine. And preachers and theologians and such, they look through the Gospels to find some sort of theological statement, something that is said by Christ that develops and reveals some sort of theological, dogmatic, doctrinal statement, which is also fine and good. All those are fine and good.
But what’s interesting is if I’m just looking back through my own life, the thousands upon thousands of homilies I’ve heard as an Orthodox Christian, and the countless sermons I’ve heard, you know, as a child, even growing up on TV, whatever, from various, you know, ministers, and it’s very interesting because for me, and I would challenge all of you, can you think of moments where what’s highlighted is the humanity of Christ? And I don’t mean it in a theological sense, but in this Gospel right here, you have Christ in a very human interaction with one of his disciples, Nathanael. Nathanael makes a sarcastic remark, and Christ shows him He knows all things. And that Christ – this is the thing about the fig tree, Nathanael, there’s different, people will give different commentaries about it, possibly giving different commentaries. “Well, the fig tree, speaking about when Nathanael was a child, and this and that,” that’s all fine and good. But the point is, is that Christ shows him that He knows all things. He sees what only God can see.
But what I love here is that we get – and this isn’t the only one, there are others. Christ speaking to Peter, Christ speaking with James and John. There are these moments when we realize that our God is not some static mythological entity, but Person, and that He plays with us. You know, we are in Bright Week, and we’re in these days of just resurrectional joy. And what greater joy is there than to realize that the God that we serve isn’t the God of our imagination, it’s not Zeus that’s going to make everything okay, because we’ve paid him off with prayers, or we’ve paid him off with tithing, or we’ve paid him off with good moral behavior.
That’s so wonderful, actually. It’s wonderful because if you can think about the wittiest, kindest, charismatic, if you can just think about the most wonderful person, that’s God. Any wonderful personality that you can imagine, any combination of them, God exceeds all of them, because human experience is what it is, because we’re made in the image of God, and it’s revealed so personal, so intimately in this Gospel. No, God did not create puppets, and God is not some great stage master up in there, you know, pulling strings. No, He’s there, and He’s willing to call us out on things, but He does it in such a great way. He does it in a way with a bit of a twinkle, a bit of a twinkle in His eye. We are the twinkle in His eye. He loves us, and He has deigned that we would live forever – not some mechanized, idealized version of us, but hearts that have been purified with love. It did not mean that they are hearts without humor or hearts without joy.
Saint Sophrony, he often talks about how people would not want to live with a saint because people have these very stoic, stony ideas of saints and God. But there are these pictures that you can see of certain saints, modern saints. Sophrony is one of them, and you catch this glimpse in their eye. Eyes that have seen God, seen the pain of God, the crucifixion of God, but eyes who have also had these little exchanges with Him like Nathaniel. This is God. This is what it means to know God, all of God. We should keep our hearts open. He sees every little twist and turn, every little remark that we want to make, every little dig, and He’s game for it, and that’s a wonderful thing. It’s a joyous thing. It’s something that we should be so grateful for, that our God is lighthearted, even though He knows all things. Through the prayers of Saint Sophrony and of all the Holy Ones, Lord Jesus Christ, help us to stay in the joy of Your resurrection. Amen. Amen.
Tuesday, April 14, 2026: Bright Tuesday, St. Mary of Egypt, Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos
ACTS 2:14-21
LUKE 24:12-35
The name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is risen.
Today is Bright Tuesday. Today is also the feast day of Saint Mary of Egypt, our patron. But today is also the commemoration of the Iveron icon of the Mother of God. And the Iveron icon, this miraculous icon of the Mother of God, this icon which is a protectress of the faithful, an icon in which the nourishment of the faithful has been laid out throughout, at this point, the centuries.
Now, in the Gospel today, we have Luke and Cleopas who are not able to recognize the Lord. And the patriarch in his encyclical on Pascha, he brilliantly and prayerfully pointed out to us the reality of our inability to recognize Christ. And so this comes home today in this Gospel, because we see Luke and Cleopas not recognizing Christ. And interestingly enough, they say to Him, Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Essentially, do you not know the news? Where have you been? And over the last few days, I’ve been having a very similar conversation with people in person and people online at a distance. People have been asking about this tension that they feel, the need to be aware of current events.
And I have been sharing with them this anecdotal story from Saint Sophrony. When Saint Sophrony was speaking with one of his spiritual disciples, and this disciple was concerned about the facts and concerned about these particular current events, and he was almost seeking to correct or chastise Saint Sophrony, his elder, about him not knowing the current events. Basically saying, “How can we talk about prayer for the world? And you don’t even know what’s happening by reading the newspaper or watching TV as such.”
And Saint Sophrony, very calmly, very quietly, very shrewdly, is just nodding his head, “Yes, yes.” But then he begins to hold up his prayer rope. He shows it to his disciple. And then from this point, Saint Sophrony begins to recount with shocking detail, not just that event, but other events that have been happening around the world, thus showing to his disciple that the true ability to know what’s happening comes from being nourished. If one is not spiritually nourished, one will not see anything.
At the end of the Gospel, their eyes are opened because the Lord begins with the blessing and the breaking of the bread, the breaking of the bread. This being nourished by God, this being nourished by Christ, this is the key. It’s not about us knowing things. It’s not about us wondering or questioning or being curious about things. It’s about us being nourished. When we are being nourished with God, when we’re taking the example of the Mother of God, then we learn very quickly that in Him all things are given to us and all that you need is given to you. The Mother of God, she provides such nourishment to her children, to the faithful. Even to this day, we have the miracle working icon, the Iveron icon of Hawaii, which is still nourishing the faithful. And all of this is brought home in particular for us in our community.
Why? Because Saint Mary of Egypt is the example par excellence of being nourished by God. And just the little smallest bit of nourishment from God can last someone with the faith, with the correct faith for decades. Saint Mary of Egypt labored as no one else labored in the desert against not just her flesh, but the demons, for decades off of the smallest bit of nourishment from God, of the smallest bit of inspiration from the Mother of God. She never forgot that vision of that icon of the Mother of God speaking to her, blessing her, and allowing her to enter in and to venerate the cross of her Son.
And in the veneration of that cross, Saint Mary was given and she received the greatest of nourishments. And so on this wonderful feast day, on this wonderful feast day which not just our community’s patron but really the patron of the whole church, the Mother of God, they come together and they remind us of this one thing: Be nourished. Look for the breaking of the bread of my Son and in that you will have all that you need. Through the prayers of Saint Mary of Egypt and the Holy Mother of God, Lord Jesus Christ, please continue to nourish us. Amen.
Tuesday, April 7, 2026: Annunciation
HEBREWS 2:11-18
MATTHEW 24:36-26:2
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst! What a meal. True sustenance. True nutrients were just given to us. What a full plate we were just given. Those who were in the days of Noah. Eating and drinking. Not knowing the flood was coming upon them. The wise virgins. The foolish virgins. One set watching, one set not watching. The man bearing the talent. The worker. Waiting but not watching. Not expecting. Those who did not anticipate the coming of the Lord. Not seeing Him in the least of these.
That Gospel today gives us so much. And what is the thread? What is the thread to tie it all together? You know, we live in a time when – I dare say, not unlike other times, because we just had the Gospel reading of Noah. They were eating, they were marrying and eating and drinking and the flood came upon them. So we don’t want to go too far, because there’s nothing new under the sun.
Yet we hear these stories of people being married 25, 30, 40 years. And at the end of their marriage they divorce. 30 years, to simply flush it away. We hear these stories, I hear stories of faithful people, supposedly priests, unfortunately at times, serving 5, 10, 20 years, to leave the service of God, to leave the priesthood and to fall into adultery and other terrible base sins. We can hear of people being faithful at their job. Parish council presidents, treasurers, CEOs. 10, 20, 30 years. Only to wash everything away in, supposedly, a moment of weakness. May God help us.
The Lord said in the Gospel, He spoke about those who have, it will be given even more to them. And those who do have, the little they have, it will be taken from them. That man who throws his marriage away after 30 years, the little bit that he did have, it’s taken from him. The parish council president who gives away the good standing with the people that he served for 5, 10, 20 years, throws it away. The little bit that he had. The priest who served at the holy altar and served God’s people 5, 10, 20 years. Throwing it away for senseless acts of pleasure. What is the thread?
Well, the Mother of God today, on this glorious and joyous feast of the Annunciation. She’s waiting. She’s watching. An angel comes to her. And do you notice, she questions. “What is this? How can this be?” The fathers call this nepsis. Nepsis. They call it watchfulness. And it’s the ultimate aim of your Orthodox life, is to be watchful, to become watchful. That you learn to keep guard over your heart. And you watch your heart so well that whenever a movement comes and you do not understand it, and this is key, you’re not quick to let it in. Because the angel that came to Mary was a holy angel, but she was not quick to let it in. She had discernment. She waited. She questioned. She watched.
And then, after the discernment – how do you have discernment? Discernment is very simple. It’s not about reading esoteric arcane texts. It’s not about finding some sort of theological formula. It’s very simple. Those who have discernment are those who love God, truly. Because to have discernment is to know something is of God or not. That’s what discernment is. And so, she watched. And she discerned, rightly, that the angel, the messenger, was from God. And so, the right response then is, “May it be unto your handmaiden, as you say.”
Because this is the other part of nepsis: You have to watch to see if the spirit that’s coming to you is of God or not, and then you have to have the right answer. Because don’t think that just because you recognize God that you’re going to say yes. In fact, isn’t that our problem? Is that too many times God comes to us and we say no. No. And so, in that moment, your watchfulness is worth nothing. And in fact, your watchfulness is unto your condemnation like a foolish virgin. Because the thing with the virgins is, it was expected of them to watch. And yet, they didn’t.
Now, this meal that we had, it was a lot. But let me be a good father to you and serve it well. The plate in which all of those offerings, all those wonderful entrees and side dishes and even the dessert, it was all served on the plate of watchfulness. That was the thread through everything. Are we watching? Do not assume your 20 plus years of marriage means anything if you aren’t watching and guarding. Don’t assume your good standing with the people, your service on the church council, your service in the parish, your service at your job – don’t think that it’s there locked in just because of who you are. If you do, you’re disdaining, you’re burying the talent.
The talent is increased not necessarily with cleverness and industriousness. The talent is increased with watchfulness. How do you have discernment? You love God. The man who buried his talent didn’t love God. He didn’t love his master. He feared him. But he had the wrong kind of fear. He had the slavish fear. And a slave doesn’t watch for his master. A slave watches for punishment. They’re not the same. Because a slave who loves his master, he watches. Yes, he knows he can be punished, but he also recognizes if he loves his master, that his master can bring him good things.
No. Watchfulness, the discernment, nepsis, eros, that abandonment, that love of God. That was the thread. Our Mother, our Holy Lady, she shows us the way. Yes, the Annunciation is about the actual, true birth of God, absolutely, historically. But the message given to us, for sure, is that we should be watchful in these wicked and evil days. May the holy Mother of God protect us. And may we learn to serve her and her Son. And in doing so, inherit what God has given and promised all of us. Amen.
Sunday, April 5, 2026: Palm Sunday
PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9
JOHN 12:1-18
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! On this day, this Palm Sunday, we are to be, if you will, Jerusalem. We’re to be the City of Peace, and we are to welcome, and to praise the Savior, the Messiah. And on this Sunday, we gather and we have blessed palms, the vestments have turned from purple, the royal purple of Lent, to the festive green, and there’s a joy.
The thing is, is that joy precedes the evening service of the Bridegroom. In a few short hours, we will gather together, and the royal purple of the king will be back upon the priests, the altar cloths and analogians will be purple again, the lights will be dim again, and we will have the icon of the Bridegroom before us. The Bridegroom, Who is clothed in the purple mantle, with the crown of mockery upon His head, the reed. This is the same One Who’s entering now, joyously, triumphantly. What changes? It’s our heart that changes, actually. Because this time of praising Christ, worshiping Christ, recognizing that Christ has come to the City of Peace, that should be our standard state. That should be our normal state. That should be our resting state, if you will.
In the Gospel, we heard the offering of one who loved Christ with everything, so much so that she would not only debase herself in front of others, this profoundly intimate act of taking her hair and wiping Christ’s feet, but taking her livelihood and buying something that, by most accounts, is frivolous. We hear of Judas accusing her and saying, why would you do this? This could be spent on the poor. And because we know the story, and because we never think that we’re Judas, we say, “How could you do that, Judas?” But aren’t we really like that? How often are we actually going to that place, giving Christ our love in that way? Oftentimes, we are cutting corners. And let’s be clear, I don’t just mean cutting corners because some necessity has come up. Some bill, right? “I have to pay my bill, so I can’t tithe. I have to pay my bill, I can’t help Jimmy with his bill that he needs help with. I can’t give alms.” Not even that. Our prayer rule, our time in which we were to come and offer tears and offer alms in our heart. Judas is often there waiting. “Don’t you know that this could be given to the poor? Don’t you know that the time that you’re spending here actually could be diverted elsewhere? Yes, yes, yes, say your prayers, but take it easy because you have this whole long list of things that you have to do. That’s fine if you want to be Christian. That’s fine if you want to be Orthodox, but let’s be pragmatic. Let’s not get carried away.”
The City of Peace, Jerusalem. Our heart is not that place of peace. And the reason why our heart is not that place of peace is because the peace that we offer is a conditional peace. We don’t really come to Christ with this kind of abandonment that that precious woman had. And so because we don’t do that, we like shaking palms and leaves, we like partying, we like giving some praise when it’s time. Oh, but that’s not love. And that’s definitely not devotion. That love and that devotion is seen in the private place. It’s seen in the place in which others might be looking, but you don’t care. It’s seen in that space in which there is nothing practical about it. The Bridegroom, He has come. He’s coming, but He has come to be with His bride. And we lose sight of that. We lose sight of that devotion, we lose sight of that passion. And if this makes sense to you, Christ has given everything already. He’s the one that’s coming up short, actually. You will still get your praise. You’ll still get your satisfaction from your religious and moral duty. You’ll get Holy Communion, you’ll get all those things. But will Christ get that adoration? Will He get that abandonment? Will He get that impractical offering? Or do we keep it nice and tight?
Now, this Holy Week, I said it the other night and I’ll say it again, this Holy Week can be a real turning point for all of us. This is the one week, the seven days, in which if you can, and you can, you really are to turn your heart to God. This is the week where you don’t cut the corners of your prayer rule like Judas. This is the week that you don’t just kind of do what you gotta do. He has given everything for us. So we have to ask ourselves, how much are we willing to give? Yes, it’d be nice to say 365, but let’s start with this next seven. Let’s not just wave palms today, but let’s offer tears tonight. Let’s offer everything these next coming days. Let’s learn to sit with Him in silence. Let’s learn to be with Him in these next coming days at the gates, the gates of our mind, the gates of our heart. Let it be a place in which He’s welcomed lavishly with love, with repentance, with hope. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
Saturday, April 4, 2026: Lazarus Saturday (Baptismal Liturgy)
ROMANS 6:3-11; HEBREWS 12:28-13:8
MATTHEW 28:16-20; JOHN 11:1-45
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Christ is in our midst! What a glorious day. Many baptisms; new souls being brought into the Kingdom.
In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus, He cuts through metaphor, and He speaks plainly for a purpose and for a reason. He says, “Lazarus is dead.” Truly, Lazarus is dead. Lazarus was not sleeping. Lazarus was not in a state of coma or suspended animation. Lazarus was dead. And Christ makes it very clearly that Lazarus was dead.
And all of you who are just baptized, and all of you who have been baptized, were dead. Truly dead. And the death that you had experienced, although not a final death, truly, you’re spiritually dead. You’re unable to see. You’re unable to hear. You’re unable to speak anything of life.
Later, Lazarus’ sister, not wanting to disappoint Christ, she says, Yes, Lord, I believe that he’ll be raised in the final day. I believe that in the resurrection of the dead, he’ll be raised. And again, Christ corrects her: “No, I am the resurrection and the life.”
And so in the same way that you were truly dead before your baptisms, understand this, now you’re truly alive. Now you truly can see. Now you truly can speak. Now you truly can hear spiritually. And the most important thing I would say to all of you who are baptized, and all of you who have been baptized, is to always remember this: What’s expected of you is to taste the resurrection now. That’s what’s expected of you. The life that you were given was not given to be activated in the resurrection of the dead. It’s to be given to you to begin to taste now.
And I’ll give you the words of St. Simeon the New Theologian, who says, if one does not taste the holy resurrection now, they must question if they will taste it in that day. And what he means is, if you aren’t experiencing the life now, if you aren’t seeing spiritually, if you aren’t speaking spiritually, if you aren’t hearing spiritually, don’t assume your outward expressions mean that you have eternal life. You must taste of the resurrectional life here and now. That’s why you’re baptized now. To see spiritually now. To hear spiritually now. To speak spiritually now. Today. In this life. That’s what’s been given to you and that’s what’s expected of you.
I encourage all of you, keep your garments as clean as you can. All of us who have been in the church for a period of time, and everyone eventually, we begin to lament and mourn. Because we realize how negligent we were in keeping our garments clean.
But I assure you, the devil is a liar. And he will tell you, either A, you have no hope, or B, it’s not that big of a deal. Both of them are lies. You do have hope. If you didn’t, Christ wouldn’t have bestowed upon you the robe of righteousness. But also, on the same token, be careful, because it does matter.
And so soon, confession, you will begin to see, isn’t about relieving your guilt. For many of you, you may have a period of time where you need to relieve your guilt psychologically. Where you need to go to confession. Not too unlike how you would go to your therapist in a past life. But soon you will learn and you will see – and more importantly, you will feel – that confession is not therapy. Not psychoanalytic therapy. It’s the washing of the soul. And you will see that you need to have your soul washed. To have your garment kept clean.
Remember the promise of the Lord. Remember the life that you were given today. Because that life that you were given today is the same life that you’re going to inherit forever. So my sons and my daughters, I beg of you. Do your best to keep your garment clean. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.