Christian Life – Page 7

Jun

20

2013

The Family Altar: Establishing a Place of Prayer

Christian Life, Prayer

by Deacon Michael Hyatt As a young junior high school student, I wasn't fast enough to run most track and field events. But one event I could participate in was the relay race. A large part of our training was concerned with handing off the baton. The idea was to sprint as fast as you could to the next runner on your team. His job was to meet you about fifteen yards before the hand-off and run with you, being careful to match your pace exactly. In this way, you didn't have to stop to hand him the baton; you…

Jun

17

2013

By Fr. Roman Planchak

From Slavery to Freedom

Christian Life, Faith

When we think of slavery it is the experience of blacks in America which most often comes to mind. Africans targeted by commercial slave traders as ignorant savages were captured in raids, transported across the Atlantic and sold on the open market like livestock. In the Roman Empire slavery was not tied to race as it was here. The first slaves seem to have been children sold by their own parents and enemy warriors and their families captured during battle. Debtors sold themselves into slavery to cover their debts. They could be freed if their family or friends paid off…

May

29

2013

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Fasting with the Apostles

Christian Life, Faith

“After the long Feast of Pentecost, fasting is especially necessary to purify our thoughts and render us worthy to receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit … Therefore, the salutary custom was established of fasting after the joyful days during which we celebrated the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, and the coming of the Holy Spirit” (from a sermon of Pope St. Leo the Great, +461). The fifty days of feasting from Pascha to Pentecost is followed by a time of fasting which we call the Fast of the Apostles. The first evidence of this fast is found in…

May

26

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

It Smells Like Love – A Short Story

Christian Life

The five bells began to ring. Their sweet notes grew in size as they floated over the snow-covered neighbourhood. A squirrel, more interested in gathering food than hibernating, stopped in its tracks to listen. The voice of the bells seemed to call for the neighbourhood to awaken from its mid-winter slumber. The morning sunlight struck their eyes with a sharp intensity as they left the church. Shading his eyes with his hand on his brow, Roman searched for his children finding them playing in the freshly-fallen snow. Taking the hand of his wife, Olenka, they began to walk slowly to…

May

25

2013

By Fr. Michael Winn

Purgatory and the Christian East

Christian Life, Faith

It is often asked of Eastern Catholics what it is they believe about Purgatory. (At least it is a question that I myself have been asked on more than one occasion!) Roman Catholics, after all, speak in quite definitive terms about it, while the Orthodox explicitly reject the doctrine. Consequently, it might be supposed that Eastern Catholics either fall right in the middle of the two positions, or that they simply adhere to Latin definitions. I would argue, however, that neither of these options is the case, and that what Eastern Catholics can do today is reflect upon the truth…

Apr

30

2013

By Fr. Roman Planchak

Why Go To Church When I Can Pray At Home?

Christian Life, Prayer

St. John Chrysostom answers this question briefly when he writes: They say: 'We can pray at home.' You are deceiving yourself, O man! Of course, one can pray at home. But it is impossible to pray there as in church, where such a multitude of hearts are uplifted to God, merging into one unanimous cry. You will not be so quickly heard while praying to the Master by yourself, as when praying together with your brethren, for here in church there is something greater than in your room: Agreement, unanimity, the bond of love, and finally here are the prayers…

Apr

12

2013

By Royal Doors Roving Reporter

The Gospel is Proclaimed

Christian Life, Faith

Source: Eparchy of Newton One feature of the Paschal season in Byzantine Churches is the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. Every day, beginning with Pascha itself, this story of the early Church is read at the Divine Liturgy. While the text of Acts itself begins with Christ’s ascension, our public reading of it begins as we commemorate His resurrection. While Christ’s followers struggled until Pentecost to grasp the reality of the resurrection and its meaning for mankind, the Church sees Pascha as the source of its life, the fountainhead of its existence to this day. Divine power in…

Mar

12

2013

By Royal Doors Roving Reporter

Prayer, Fasting, and Asceticism

Christian Life

“This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). The last words of this Gospel passage explain its selection for reading at today’s Divine Liturgy, In the home stretch of the Great Fast we may need to be reminded that effectiveness in the Christian life demands more than occasional application. We must apply ourselves regularly and consistently to maintaining our life in Christ for it to bear fruit. This constant living out of our faith is called asceticism, from the Greek word for “struggle,” ascesis. St Paul witnesses frequently to the ascetical nature of Christian spiritual…

Mar

08

2013

By Royal Doors Roving Reporter

Veneration of the Holy Cross

Christian Life, Faith

The Third Sunday in the Great Fast is the twenty-first day of the forty-day fast. We are half way to our Holy Week observance of the Lord’s passion and resurrection. At this mid-point the Church directs our attention to the holy cross and to Christ’s injunction, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). The cross, adorned with flowers, is brought forth for veneration as on September 14. While that feast commemorates the historical events of the finding of the cross by St Helena and its return to Jerusalem after…

Feb

24

2013

By Royal Doors Roving Reporter

The Fathers Reaffirmed

Christian Life, Faith

WHAT DO FASTS, METANIES, PROSTRATIONS, and standing through long church services have to do with prayer? Isn’t prayer the conversation with God we have in our hearts? Why is Eastern Christian spirituality so physical? On the First Sunday of the Fast we proclaimed the Orthodoxy of incorporating material creation (sacred images) in our worship because the living Word of God assumed matter in becoming fully man. On this second Sunday of the Fast we affirm our use of the material in worship for a similar reason. We worship using matter because to be fully human is to be physical. The…