Circumcision of Christ / Feast of St. Basil the Great, January 1, 2017 Colossians 2:8-12; Luke 2:20-21, 40-52 V. Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Today is the eighth day from the Nativity, and on the eighth day from birth, newborn Jewish boys were circumcised. The Lordā¦
Nativity of Christ, December 25, 2016 Galatians 4:4-7; Matthew 2:1-12 V. Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Christ is born! Christmas can be magical. Many of us remember that when from when we were kids, and we try to recapture it as adults. And we often fail.ā¦
Eve of the Nativity, December 24, 2016 Galatians 3:8-12; Luke 13:18-29 V. Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Who shall I be at Christmas? Shall I be as old Israel, caught in captivity and under the domination of powers and attitudes and thoughts alien to the personā¦
Well, Christmas is almost here (on the New Calendar, anyway), so we’re planning out how many days of ham we’re going to be eating, right? Or perhaps it’s several days of turkey leftovers. You’ve got to be able to cover every day of Christmas so that we’re not just singing Christmas but also eating it for the whole festal period. But we have aā¦
In 1980, my great-grandfather Fred Isleib died on Christmas day at the age of 83. I was five years old and too small to remember being able to feel sad. I scarcely remember even impressions of him. I do remember a little about his funeral, mainly running and jumping between the gravestones where his remains were placed. But the idea of losing someone onā¦
Since I know you are full of God I have exhorted you briefly. Remember me in your prayers so that I may attain to God, and remember the church in Syria, from which I am not worthy to be called. – St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Magnesians 14 In honor of the feast today of of one of my favorite saints, Ignatius theā¦
Sunday before the Nativity, December 18, 2016 Hebrews 11:9-10, 32-40; Matthew 1:1-15 V. Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. We are now one week away from celebrating a great mystery of the Christian faithāthe birth of the God-man Jesus Christ into this world. Yet as we approachā¦
The term eucatastrophe was coined by Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien to refer to a sudden turn of events that makes for a happy ending. It’s not the same as the deus ex machina of classical theatre, which quite often is really almost a non sequitur that ends a tale in some entirely implausible way. I thought of this word today when readingā¦