The Morning Offering
Sympathy and Empathy
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The difference between the two words is significant Although these two words have been considered to be synonyms, there is actually a major difference between the meanings, as interpreted by our Orthodox faith. Sympathy, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “The feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else’s trouble, grief, misfortune, etc., is a sympathetic feeling”. Whereas…
The Morning Offering
Fear Spiritual Death
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The Morning Offering
Has Christ not Triumphed over Death?
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Further reflections on the spiritually unhealthy results of the pandemic While this Covid-19 lockdown that has forced everyone to keep social distance from one another, and, in my opinion, has gone beyond the ridiculous, one thing has become very clear, both to myself, and other Orthodox pastors, and that is that many contemporary people, including many Christians, as well as…
Eastern Christian Insights
The Idolatry of Not Taking Up Our Crosses: Homily for the Sunday After the Elevation of the Holy Cross and The Great Martyr Eustathios in the Orthodox Church
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Galatians 2:16-20; Mark 8:34-9:1      As we continue to celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, we do something that would have made no sense to anyone at the time of our Lord’s ministry in first-century Palestine. The cross was then simply the most feared instrument of execution that the Roman Empire used to discourage anyone who thought of rebelling against the military occupation of their homeland. Our…
The Morning Offering
Stillness
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Entering a state of stillness before the Lord It is in keeping constant vigilance, guarding our senses, and living a life of repentance and self-reproach, that we can hope to gain control of our passions and enter into true communion with God. The basic element of such a life has got to include quietude, for it is in states of…
Raising Saints
Welcoming the Christ Child, Second Edition
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I’m excited to say that it was necessary to have a second printing of Welcoming the Christ Child! That gave us an opportunity to switch up the cover a bit — I’m so excited to be offering this beautiful book and the matching ornament set again, so that Orthodox families can count down the Nativity Lent while truly preparing hearts to receive Christ on His birthday! The set is sold online at…
Father Bill's Blog
216. How to handle Politics
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Well, if this won’t get me into hot water, nothing will. But, things being what they are this year in the USA, I think it needs to be talked about. So right here at the beginning, let me be clear: I am giving pastoral advice. I am not trying to score political points. I will try to avoid most of my usual attempts at humor, since I know how easy it is…
Praying in the Rain
Why Do We Kiss The Cross?
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Today is the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.  There are actually three feasts of the Cross in the Church year: Today,  the main feast of the Cross, then on the third Sunday in Lent and again on August first. When we celebrate the Cross, we are not so much remembering the Crucifixion of Christ, as much as we are remembering the salvation that Christ’s Crucifixion has brought us and all the…
Faith Encouraged
Watch Your Stinkin' Thinkin'
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“It is a great achievement not to be attracted by things. But it is a far greater achievement to remain dispassionate in the face both of things and of the conceptual images we derive from them.” St. Maximos the Confessor Isn’t that great? The ability to be free from a slavery to desires, but not just desires; to be free from the ideas these desires conjure in our minds! That’s the kind…
The Morning Offering
Anger
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The opposite of anger is not permissiveness In my essay on Anger, I suggested the best way to respond to another person’s anger was not to withdraw, but to move towards them with kindness. This is such an important issue, that I now want to expand on the topic. There are times when distancing yourself from someone who is angry…
No Other Foundation
Sheep Dog or Guard Dog?
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In an issue of the Road to Emmaus journal I read a wonderful interview with Fr. Artemy Vladimirov, a priest in Moscow, in which he spoke at length about the sacrament of confession. In it he spoke of the well-intentioned but ultimately false and unhelpful zeal of some confessors who felt “like the archangel with a burning sword guarding the entrance to paradise. If one of the descendants of Adam and Eve…
Faith Encouraged
Rules Are Wise!
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One of the most difficult realities I’ve had to face as an adult, as a priest, as a husband, and as a father is waking up to the reality of the complexity of each human person I encounter, including myself. This continuous process of discovery has me regularly seeing places of spiritual progress and immaturity in my heart first of all. All leading to the unmistakable conclusion that the taming of the…
The Morning Offering
The Despair of Nihilism
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And the grace that flows forth from the Fountain of Life Some years ago, while flying back to Seattle from Washington, D.C., I sat next to a young marine, who, as we were landing, asked if I would permit him to accompany me to my shuttle, as he “had a personal matter that was weighing heavily” on his heart. While…
A Healing Driven Life
Putting everything into its proper place
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Many of us have times in our life when we feel overwhelmed. Sometimes it is because there is just too much going on in the present. Perhaps we are too busy or trying to manage too many tasks or responsibilities. In such instances it seems rather clear why we are feeling overwhelmed. However, there are other times when our emotional response to a situation or time in our life is disproportionate. Very often when we have a disproportionate emotional response to a situation, it is evidence that there is a transference occurring. In other words, our distress is not just coming from the present circumstance, it is coming from the past as well. In essence, the past is leaking out…
Faith Encouraged
Are You Just Flirting With God?
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“There’s no time like the present.” This and many other “time” quotes really get to a central wisdom we humans have learned: Timing is everything. I have a dear couple who are dating. And, on top of that, they are exploring becoming Orthodox. Talk about a double whammy! Their relationship is growing with each other and the Faith. They recently asked me a question I get a lot from folks exploring the…
The Morning Offering
This Age Demands Boldness
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Bishops and priests must boldly stand against the powers of darkness We’ve become a nation that has placed Halloween as the second most popular national holiday, after Christmas, and where Friday is now more important than Sunday. Is it any wonder we’ve become a country that no longer looks to Christian clergy when facing major decisions that will negatively impact…
A Light So Lovely
The Kingfisher as a Symbol for Culture Creation in Crisis
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Isn’t this photo of a kingfisher one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen? It won an audience award a few years ago. For obvious reasons. I was mesmerized by it at the time, because it was such an unlikely photo. That perfect shot, with such perfect clarity. Had to be touched up, right? No. Turns out it was just 5,000 attempts at perfection. (There’s a lesson in there somewhere, I…
Glory to God for All Things
A Cruciform Providence
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The entire mystery of the economy of our salvation consists in the self-emptying and abasement of the Son of God – St. Cyril of Alexandria Trust in the providence of God is much more than a general theory of how things are arranged in our lives and in the world. We tend to discuss the notion in the abstract, wondering whether this action or event is to be properly attributed to God.…
Faith Encouraged
What Is Lacking In Christ's Afflictions
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Sometimes, the scriptures say things that really unsettle me. But I’ve learned when that happens, that’s a clue that I am approaching a place in my own heart that needs attention. And it’s beginning to dawn on me that most of the time I am unsettled by the wisdom of the Faith it’s because this wisdom is touching on suffering. Take, for example, this quote from St. Isaac the Syrian: If you would…
The Morning Offering
The Eucharist
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The necessary component to being a Christian The center of the Church’s Eucharistic liturgy is to be found in the descent, the appearance, the divine presence of the resurrected Christ, and is central to every moment of the liturgy. As believers, the partaking of Communion is actually that moment when we are encountering the living person of the Lord who…
Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick
The Defeat of Amalek
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Faith Encouraged
Listen To The Cross!
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“Until you have eradicated the evils in your heart, do not obey it, because the heart seeks to increase what it already has stored inside.” St Mark the Ascetic, On the Spiritual Law We prideful humans can’t understand the power of this wisdom without the “foolishness” of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Look at our lesson today in 1 Corinthians 1:18-24: BRETHREN, the word of the cross is folly to those who are…
The Morning Offering
Gratitude
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Looking at life as a whole Gratitude is an affirmation of goodness, for in our being grateful we affirm that there are good things in the world, and good people that are part of our lives. Our being grateful does not mean that everything in life is perfect, but it does mean that we look at life as a whole,…
The Morning Offering
The Healing Institution that is the Church
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Seeking out the hospital of the soul Orthodoxy offers a very precise way in which to enter into communion with God. It is a way that must be learned, for simply “becoming Orthodox” will not lead the seeker into an inner life that will transform, and enlighten. Membership in the Church is simply not enough, for the Church is not…
Eastern Christian Insights
God's Foolishness and Weakness Are Greater Than the World's Wisdom and Strength: Homily for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in the Orthodox Church
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1 Corinthians 1:18-24; John 19:6-11, 13-20, 25-28, 30-35            Before Pilate said of Christ “Behold your King!,” his soldiers had beaten and mocked Him.   They put a crown of thorns on His head, dressed Him in a purple robe, and slapped Him in the face as they said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Pilate could see that the Savior was no political threat to Rome and was reluctant to crucify Him, but…
No Other Foundation
Whatever Happened to Psalm 58?
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The 1962 edition of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer is very interesting. Along with the usual services of Morning and Evening Prayer and Holy Communion is a complete version of the Psalter. It is arranged for daily recitation at both Morning and Evening Prayer services so that the entire Psalter is recited liturgically every month. Well, more or less. For in the Prayerbook Psalter, right after Psalm 57 comes Psalm 59,…
The Morning Offering
The Salt of the Earth
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“Let him who thirsts, come to Me, and drink” The path of purification, illumination and theosis is to be found within the Orthodox Church, so it is therefore imperative that we boldly express our faith to the whole of the world. If we truly be authentic we will put aside all the weakness that is found in the so-called Christianity…
