Faith

Touching the Fringe of His Garment

Touching the Fringe of His Garment

IT IS COMMON IN MANY EASTERN CHURCHES to see people touching or kissing the priest’s vestment as he passes in procession. In this way, they express their veneration for Christ in the Gospel book, the Holy Gifts or other sacred object he is carrying. They are doing liturgically what people in Eastern cultures did regularly to express reverence for or dependence upon their religious or ethnic leaders – or even family elders – for centuries. We read in the Gospels that people would reach out to touch the hem of Christ’s garment in the hope that they would thereby come…
Read More
The Choir of the Holy Unmercenaries

The Choir of the Holy Unmercenaries

ON THE FIRST SUNDAY in November a number of Byzantine Churches keep a special remembrance (Synaxis) for All the Unmercenary Healers: those who cared for the sick or aged in the spirit of Christ, without concern for gain. These physicians and other medical workers understood their skills in the spirit of St Paul’s teaching on spiritual gifts (“To each is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” – 1 Corinthians 12:7). A Christian’s skills are given, according to Paul, not simply to enhance the person who receives them but chiefly to benefit the entire Body of Christ.…
Read More
Dying to Self and Living In Christ (Luke 7:11-16)

Dying to Self and Living In Christ (Luke 7:11-16)

When He Saw Her As we read this Gospel today it can be easy to miss the point, especially if we have the eyes of our times. “What’s in it for me?” What can Jesus do for me? What will I get out of being a follower of Christ? How will this fulfill me? Our Lord, having just healed the centurion’s servant  who was close to death the day before, travels to Nain where He is greeted by a crowd of people who are burying the body of this young man who has died. And as we read, seeing him,…
Read More
The Divine Iconographer- Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council

The Divine Iconographer- Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council

Why do we have icons? And so many of them? Icons in fact come out of a troubled time in the Church’s history. But that’s ok, because the Church comes out of a troubled time in history. This is what we read about in today’s Gospel. Our Lord’s prayer in chapter 17 of the Gospel of John is easy to get lost in. There is a lot of circular language which our Lord uses in His prayer to the Father. This was the final prayer and conversation that Christ had with His disciples before his betrayal and death, and has…
Read More
Icons in the Bible

Icons in the Bible

FROM TIME TO TIME Eastern Christians are reproached for venerating icons because “icons are not in the Bible.” St John of Damascus, whose treatises on icons were instrumental in defeating iconoclasm, taught that the Church’s icons are “in the Bible” because they stand in the context of God’s own self-revelation to us through images. We make icons because God has made icons. The Perfect Icon of the Father God the Father Himself is unknowable, beyond our understanding, according to the Torah. To represent Him in physical form would be idolatry. For the Jews even to speak His name would be…
Read More
Resources for the Catechism “Christ Our Pascha”

Resources for the Catechism “Christ Our Pascha”

Welcome to the Resource page for Christ Our Pascha, the English translation of the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. These materials have been prepared by the National Catechetical Commission of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada to assist parish priests and catechists in their presentation of the Catechism to the faithful. The resources include: PowerPoint Presentations There is one presentation for each of the three parts of the Catechism (from 26 to 30 slides per presentation). These are based on the Table of Contents with presentation notes for each slide. The notes are of uneven length given the content…
Read More

A Personal Invite

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Brothers and sisters, I have been enjoying very much our daily (or semi-daily) reflections together at Musings with Fr. Mike. I have found the experience of reflecting on and writing about the daily lectionary readings beneficial and enriching for my own walk with the Lord. I pray these meditations on Holy Scripture have been fruitful for you as well. These daily reflections (and they will actually be daily) will be taking a bit of a different turn and I am excited to offer you a personal invite to join us in breaking open the Word…
Read More

Genesis 10:32–11:9- Back to Babbling

Glory be to Jesus Christ! I love science. When I was a boy I spent a lot of time reading about astronomy and different natural phenomena in geology and the other natural sciences. I was fascinated by many of the inventions that had been designed by famous scientists and I even had some crazy inventions of my own (which didn't work).  Scientific breakthroughs have made life much easier for us and have even made life possible in many cases. But have you ever heard someone say "science can't explain it yet, but it's only a matter of time?" There's a…
Read More

Genesis 9:18–10:1- Do We Cover Nakedness?

Glory be to Jesus Christ! Think back to the first time you heard about nakedness in the Bible. Not very far in right? After Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they discovered they were naked. Not because they had become more sophisticated, educated or "civilized"  from their choice, but because they realized what they had done- they had traded their dignity for a half-truth, and were now exposed. Nakedness in the Bible is often used to show vulnerability and a lack of dignity. In our reading today from Genesis we see the…
Read More

Isaiah 25:1-9- Who are you Waiting For?

Glory be to Jesus Christ! I enjoy superhero stories very much. When I was a boy I wanted very much to be Spiderman and use my powers to make the world a better place. The idea of someone who cares and "saves the day" simply because it is the right thing to do seems to be an idea which is both inspiring and yet one which is becoming more and more difficult to trust in our world. Like everything else in our culture, superheros may be becoming more advanced, amazing, powerful and more super, but they are becoming less heroic.…
Read More
No widgets found. Go to Widget page and add the widget in Offcanvas Sidebar Widget Area.