Lord, we beseech Thee: grant Thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil: and with pure hearts and minds to follow Thee the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The feast of Saint Michael and All Angels celebrates the ministry of the holy Angels, and does so straightforwardly. These creatures: made of spirit and fashioned without material bodies; these creatures, according to the Church Fathers, who were created by God before time, created in heaven, and who serve God in heaven and help and defend us on earth—we celebrate these Angels, the armies of Angels, led by Michael their commander, who, in the words of 4th century Church Father S. Gregory of Nazianzus, are “sent to proclaim God’s will, to guard the faithful, and join in the divine hymnody, ever circling the heavenly throne.” Today we celebrate the mystery of the angels, described throughout Scripture from the first pages of the Bible to the last.

What is most striking perhaps about our Gospel passage is how easily our Lord Jesus Christ mentions angels to His disciples. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” He says, “for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.” His mentioning of Angels is almost offhanded, and without explanation. Christ simply assumes that the disciples already know about Angels, and instead of lengthy teaching, affirms with but a few that that because children demonstrate the kind of humility and awe and wonder and love of God which is necessary to enter the Kingdom of Heaven—that is, necessary to enter into the life of the Holy Spirit—that they ought not be despised, for God will hear about it, their angels will report to the Heavenly Authority any such sinful behavior.

Here our Lord in our Gospel passage refers to the Angels ordained by God for our personal protection: the Guardian Angels. And because He is so unambiguous about this, the Church has always taught about Guardian Angels as the primary relationship humans have with the angelic order. Hence the 3rd century Church Father, Origen of Alexandria, writes: “Every one of the faithful, even the least, has an angel who accompanies him, beholding the face of God and guiding him through life’s perils to salvation.” What assurance this gives us: not only that our Guardian Angel seeks to guide each of us through life’s perils to salvation, but that our Guardian Angel beholds the face of God.

Because we are not able to behold the face of God—not as of yet, for as Paul teaches, we are meant to behold God face to face, the “beatific vision of God” in the life to come—our Guardian Angel is able to behold the face of God on our behalf, vicariously, as a kind of proxy spiritual eyesight, seeing God for us until we are able to see Him in heaven. Thus the Angels are able, again in the words of Origen, “to bear divine inspirations to human souls, enlightening them through the grace that flows from the Holy Spirit.” Angels announce to us divine inspirations which enlighten us with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Hence the words of 17th century Anglican bishop Jeremy Taylor, that as Blessed Virgin Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit through the Archangel Gabriel and caused her to conceive, that we may be so overshadowed through the ministry of angels to us so as to “conceive the holy Jesus in our hearts, and bear Him in our mind.”

Our readings from Isaiah and the Revelation to S. John refer to Saint Michael the Archangel, who is depicted in our icon which we venerate today. The two readings go together. Isaiah addresses Satan, Lucifer, the Devil, the Dragon (all names for the same unholy angelic being). Isaiah says: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground.” It is S. John who provides the background about this, describing the event in heaven which is before time was created: “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” That Satan was thrown down to earth outside of time and space is how is able to make his infamous appearance to Adam and Eve. He had already lost the battle with Michael, and thus already thrown down from heaven to earth, where he prowls around like a lion, seeking someone to devour.

Isaiah also provides key detail about the reason for the battle. Speaking to Satan, Isaiah says, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” Satan thought himself like God, even greater than God. Thus, in the words of S. Gregory the Great (7th century Church Father): “Michael, whose name means ‘Who is like God?’, is set over the powers of heaven to cast down the ancient serpent, contending for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.” Because of Christ’s eternal victory on the Cross, because of the Blood of the Lamb, the humility of Michael always overpowers the pride of Satan.

And so, today we give thanks to God for ordaining and constituting the ministry of Angels. We ask of God that the Angels continue to defend us in battle, that the Angel of this temple of Saint Paul guard us and keep away all evil and help us to worship rightly; we ask of God that the angels, as ministers of the Holy Ghost, continue to reveal to us knowledge of God; that as we conceive the holy Jesus in our hearts, and bear Him in our mind, we may grow up to the fullness of the stature of Christ, to be perfect in Christ Jesus, Who lives and reigns with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, Who of Thy ineffable Providence dost vouchsafe to send Thy holy Angels to be our guardians: grant to us Thy humble servants, that we may in this life ever be defended by their protection, and rjoice in their everlasting company in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

OFFICE HYMN FOR GUARDIAN ANGELS
Creator of the circling sky,
Who madest all by pow’r most high,
Thy Providence will never cease,
to rule Thy works in might and peace.

Be present when we cry to Thee,
a sinful people though we be;
and as the day-dawn grows apace,
illume our minds with light of grace.

O send Thine Angel thitherward
assigned by Thee to be our guard,
that now his presence may begin
to keep us from all stain of sin.

Let him destroy that hidden snare
the eager serpent doth prepare,
lest we be taken in the net
before our heedless bosoms set.

At his command let ev’ry fear
of hostile foemen disappear;
let civil strife give way to peace,
and pestilence and famine cease.

To God the Father glory be;
for those the Saviour setteth free,
anointed by the Holy Ghost,
are guarded by the Angel host. Amen.

O God, Who gavest blessed Raphael the Archangel unto Thy servant Tobias to be the companion of his wayfaring: grant unto us Thy servants that we may ever be protected by the guardianship of this same Thine Archangel, and defended by his help; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

OFFICE HYMN FOR ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL
Thee, O Christ the Father’s splendour
Life and virtue of the heart,
in the presence of the Angels
sing we now with tuneful art:
meetly in alternate chorus
bearing our responsive part.

Thus we praise with veneration
all the armies of the sky
chiefly him the faithful healer
and companion heavenly,
Raphael, by whose princely virtue
helpless bound the demons lie.

By whose watchful care repelling—
King of everlasting grace!—
Every ghostly adversary
all things evil, all things base;
grant us of Thine only goodness
in Thy paradise a place.

Laud and honor to the Father,
laud and honor to the Son:
laud and honor to the Spirit,
ever Three and ever One:
Consubstantial, Co-eternal,
while unending ages run. Amen.

Almighty and everlasting God, unto Whom thousands of Angels minister: grant, we beseech Thee, that we, who on earth do honour blessed Gabriel the Archangel as the special minister of mankind’s Restoration, may by his supporting prayer obtain in heaven the fruit of our Redemption; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

OFFICE HYMN FOR ARCHANGEL GABRIEL
Gabriel revere we meetly,
Herald of the King on high,
whom the Father pleas’d to render
Legate of His ministry,
to a fallen world announcing:
Jesus, Son of God, is nigh.

Gabriel, thou might of heaven,
help our weakness with thy care:
that we conquer mankind’s foeman,
thou thyself our strength repair;
that our errors be forgiven,
thou for us outpour thy pray’r.

Angel sent to earth, down-gliding
to the couch where Mary lay,
thou alone God’s hidden purpose
knewest on that mighty day;
take thou now our poor petitions,
and to Heaven’s Lord display.

Unto God be endless glory,
with His laud all lips shall swell:
one sole praise of Sire and Offspring,
and the Holy Ghost, we tell:
who such wondrous gifts hath given
to the Archangel Gabriel. Amen.

O everlasting God, Who hast ordained and constituted the ministries of angels and men in a wonderful order: Mercifully grant that, as Thy holy angels always serve and worship Thee in heaven, so by Thy appointment they may help and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER TO S. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL
S. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Saint Paul, the patron of this holy house, urges us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. And our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ reminds us that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Both of these we can easily see fit into the eucharistic life, a life lived with thanksgiving to God. Yet it is our passage of Scripture from the Prophet Ezekiel that adds a new dimension into our thinking about eucharistic life, and that comes from reflecting upon God’s covenant with us as it is revealed in Scripture.

We hear of covenant directly in the reading from the prophet Ezekiel, wherein Christ says, “I will make my covenant of peace with them” (meaning the faithful of Israel), “It shall be an everlasting covenant with them.” By covenant is meant sacred commitment between God and His people. By covenant we mean holy partnership, with promises, signs, and sometimes conditions, all of which are part of God’s economy, that is to say, God’s plan for salvation, the ordering of history and creation towards salvation. God expresses His economy through a variety of covenants. What are these covenants?

To understand more the nature of “covenant,” we start with Jesus Christ Who makes a covenant with us at the Last Supper. Jesus speaks of His precious Blood, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my Blood.” The Holy Spirit has written God’s law on our hearts, forgiveness is granted to all who repent and confess their sins, and we have God’s grace to be obedient to Christ’s words. All Christians are invited to partake of Christ’s Body and Blood to feed our inner transformation and nourish our ability to walk as a new creation according not to the flesh but to the Spirit; to live a life of obedience, not defiance, toward God. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, which we participate in through the Eucharist, we can attain purity of heart, lowliness of mind, and all the virtues of Christ. Hence the words of our Lord in our Gospel passage: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Our humility is our side of Christ’s covenant, which if He sees in us, He promises everlasting life and eternal salvation.

By this covenant, or as I should say, within this covenant, are the previous covenants recorded in Scripture. Firstly there is the covenant God made with Noah and his family after they disembarked from the ark. This covenant follows the flood, and expresses God’s commitment to preserve His creation despite whatever human sin might occur. God promises to never destroy the earth—meaning His relationship with us, the relationship that allows for our spiritual growth toward Him—never to destroy the earth by flood again. The sign of this oath is the rainbow, which is a permanent reminder and symbol of God’s mercy upon all creatures, human and animal.

Secondly, there is the covenant with Abraham. In Genesis 11 and the following chapters, God promises to bless all nations and people through Abraham’s lineage. God says his descendants will be more in number than the stars of heaven. This covenant is expressed through circumcision, which as unveiled by the Cross and taught by Saint Paul, means circumcision of the heart and faith in Christ. Church Fathers elaborate on Paul’s teaching by emphasizing that not only our heart must be circumcised, but our ears, our lips, our mouths, and all of our members, even our mind.

Thirdly, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, we hear of the covenant God forms with Israel through Moses, to be a kingdom of priests, what Saint Peter calls the priesthood of all believers. This priestly kingdom, which is the Church, is thereby through grace able to mediate God’s holiness to the world. God promises His protection if we obey the Ten Commandments, and the teachings on worship, justice, and morality. We are blessed if we have obedient faith; we are cursed if we have rebellious hearts.

And there is the Davidic covenant. This is in 2 Samuel 7, and we learn of God’s promise of an eternal dynasty through David, which fulfills the blessings promised to Abraham through a faithful king. God promises that His Name shall be upon the hearts of His people, even in their hearts; He promises rest from enemies, and an everlasting throne for His Son, Jesus Christ. In this covenant, God promises a Messiah, and this is Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Right Hand of the Father. And because we have a Messiah, a true One, Who is the Eternal Bread of Heaven, we have the Eucharist, Christ’s covenant with us: that when we continue what He instituted, the perpetual memory of His precious death and sacrifice which is the Eucharist, He is actually present again for us to receive Him as the heavenly bread, that the bread and wine offered in sacrifice, which participates in His Sacrifice of Himself, are transformed into His Body and Blood as His eucharistic covenant.

My dear brothers and sisters, living eucharistically means knowing that everything we have is a gift given to us by God: everything—our life, our soul and body, our family. By His covenant with us, God makes existence itself His gift, and our relationship with God a gift beyond the telling. By the mystery of covenant, by holy covenant sealed in Christ’s Blood, we know that God guarantees forgiveness, internal transformation, and direct access to God. Through Christ we have an eternal covenant—of protection, of forgiveness, of eternal salvation, of love—so that the God of peace can equip us with everything good, through Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the true covenant, Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

This is unedited audio of my parish’s Saturday morning class in which we study Scripture with the help of the Church Fathers. This class is currently reading On the Lord’s Prayer by S. Cyprian of Carthage.

In this episode, we look at chapters 27-29. I take a close-reading approach to the text, and I read aloud every word of the text. It is found in this volume which I suggest you purchase if you want to follow along in the most effective way. Enjoy!

If you like this content, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions go a long way towards supporting my online ministry. Click below to subscribe!

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God our Father, Whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament hath left unto us a memorial of His passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of His Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of His redemption; Who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

O Almighty God, Who by Thy blessed Son didst call Matthew from the receipt of custom to be an Apostle and Evangelist: grant us grace to forsake all covetous desires, and inordinate love of riches; and to follow the same Thy Son Jesus Christ, Who livest and reignest with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

In the audio provided, both lessons are read, and then followed by a homily by yours truly.

A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke, 5.27

After healing the paralytic, Jesus went out, and saw a tax collector, named Levi, sitting at the tax office; and He said to him, “Follow me.” And he left everything, and rose and followed Him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house; and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

A Lesson from a Gospel Homily by the Ven. S. Bede (I.xxi)

Saint Luke says that the Lord reclined at table with publicans in Matthew’s house, and that Matthew himself prepared a great feast for Him. If we long to search out what these happenings are at a more profound level of understanding, it was not only in his earthly house that Matthew produced a bodily feast for the Lord, but with great gratitude in the house of his breast he prepared a feast for Him through faith and love, as Christ Himself attests, saying, “Behold, I stand at the doorway and knock. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the gate, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me” (Rev 3.20). The Lord stands at the doorway and knocks when He pours into our heart the memory of His will, either through the mouth of a preacher who is teaching us or through his own internal inspiration. When His voice is heard we open the gate to receive Him when we willingly present our assent to His counsels, whether secret or open, and devote ourselves to accomplishing those things which we recognize are to be done. He comes in order to sup with us and we with Him, for He dwells in the hearts of His elect through the grace of His love in order to restore them always by the light of His presence, so that they may advance more and more to heavenly desires, and so that He Himself may feed their zeal for heaven, as it were, with a most pleasing banquet. . . . It is a pleasure to remember, brethren, to what height of justice the Lord fetched Matthew, whom He chose out of His publican activities in order to increase for sinners the hope of forgiveness. The apostolic band into which he was incorporated teaches what kind of person Matthew became. The nation of the Ethiopians teaches this as well. By his preaching he converted this nation from the farthest end of the earth to the fellowship of holy Church. . . . Whenever we recognize that the magnificence of the eternal King is proclaimed in the books of the holy evangelists, we should fall down humbly before Him, implore His mercy with devout prayers, and attribute whatever sort of good work we are able to have not to our own merits, but always to His grace.

I have been speaking since Trinity Sunday about the Christian life as a eucharistic life. Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life, for He is not only the Way, and not only the Truth, but He is also the Life. And Christ our Life also is a Tree, because, according to the Bride in the Song of Songs (2:3): “As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is [Christ], my beloved, among young men. With great delight I sat in [Christ’s] shadow, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Christ’s fruit is sweet to our taste, for when we taste His fruit, we see that He is good, we see that He is beautiful, we see that He is true.

The eucharistic life means we feed on Christ, and as we feed on Him, we are enlightened, we are illumined, we are cleansed–or in the words of Saint Paul in our epistle: we are strengthened with power through His Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith–that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the Saints what is the breath and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. The more we feed eucharistically on Christ, the more our humanity becomes His sacred humanity in us.

This is what Saint Luke is after in conveying to us in the way that he did the story of Christ, in the town of Nain, bringing back to life the man who had died. Now the literal interpretation of this episode we must respect and honor: Christ in His pity and compassion for a mother brought back a man, her son, who was dead. Upon witnessing this, those around Him glorified God, and we glorify God for this miracle wrought by Christ in His sacred humanity and eternal power.

Yet the Church has always seen in this mighty episode of resurrection from death to life, not only a parallel to the resurrection of Lazarus, but also profound spiritual symbolism. The greatest interpreter of Scripture in our tradition, the Venerable S. Bede, sees the dead man as signifying human beings who are rendered senseless by the deadly destruction of their sinful ways. In the way we have been reflecting this Trinitytide, we would say that the dead man signifies those who are living non-eucharistically. (Those not fed by Christ, those not offering themselves in sacrifice to God out of their thankfulness for God’s immeasurable gift made available to us through the Sacraments and Scripture, those selfish and self-righteous like the Pharisee rather than God-centered and humble like the Tax Collector.)

For Bede, the dead man signifies those dead in Spirit because rather than walking according to the Spirit, they walk according to the flesh. The mother in this story, for Bede and other Church Fathers, represents the Church. She, the mother, as the Church, weeps over the spiritual extinction of her children–and indeed in our day, the Church does weep when those who are baptized fall away from a Christian way of life to a worldly and carnal way of life, and thus risk spiritual death because of their way is not Christ’s way. Christ, again out of His compassion, visits the dead man and revives him; just as Christ, out of His compassion, took on our human flesh so as to redeem us and show us the way to true life, which is life in Him, walking not by the flesh but by the Holy Spirit, our spiritual blindness in spiritual prison giving way to Christ’s light which frees us and liberates us as the children of Israel were liberated from their bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt. For Bede, Christ resurrects the man because of Christ’s presence and visitation: the man’s conscience was touched by fear of divine judgment, and returned to its senses, so that the spiritually dead man swiftly responds to the Saviour Who summons him to life, because Christ’s presence restrains the man’s abundant desire for carnal pleasure, and through inner remorse–that is, through his humility–the sinner is restored to life.

This is why Paul speaks of being strengthened with power through the Spirit in our inner being. The gift of Christ is the power He wants to give our inner being, so as not to live in a non-eucharistic way, but in a eucharistic way. And Paul assures us that this power is real and effectual, for he says Christ is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think. And this is accomplished through His eucharistic word which is our daily bread, which feeds us, nurtures us, and matures us, that we may grow up to the fullness of the stature of Christ through the holiness of our life in Christ: loving God, keeping His commandments, so as to continue in Christ’s holy and eucharistic fellowship, and do all such good works as God hast prepared for us to walk in: through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

This is unedited audio of my parish’s Saturday morning class in which we study Scripture with the help of the Church Fathers. This class is currently reading On the Lord’s Prayer by S. Cyprian of Carthage.

In this episode, we look at chapters 25-26. I take a close-reading approach to the text, and I read aloud every word of the text. It is found in this volume which I suggest you purchase if you want to follow along in the most effective way. Enjoy!

If you like this content, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions go a long way towards supporting my online ministry. Click below to subscribe!

Subscribe now

O God, Who dost gladden us upon this day by the festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: grant that we who have acknowledged the mystery of redemption here on earth, may rejoice in the everlasting fruits thereof in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, Who dost gladden us upon this day by the festival of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross: grant that we who have acknowledged the mystery of redemption here on earth, may rejoice in the everlasting fruits thereof in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks today to us as a pastor would speak to his flock. Christ is our Good Shepherd. He says “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.” Our food, our drink, and our clothing are not things outside of God’s care, He is saying. Instead, Jesus says, these are part of the Father’s ongoing care for us. He is saying, creation is God’s gift to us. To be anxious about food, drink, and clothing is to take a non-eucharistic stance. Our Lord counsels us to seek first the kingdom of God. Seek first His righteousness, He says. Seek the Holy Spirit, in other words: do this, and all the things of life will be added unto us.

To make his point evident, Jesus instructs us to look at the birds of the air, and the flowers of the field. He tells us to notice that the needs we might be anxious about are already given in abundance to them. They are fed by God. They intuitively understand what human beings have to be taught to learn: the things of creation are given to us by God as His ordinary means of communion with us. In beholding the ordinary things of creation, which are everywhere around us at all times, Christ wants us to see these as of the Father’s care, of the Father’s love. These ordinary things are not the Holy Eucharist, but by the Eucharist we can learn to regard them as gifts from God, and be satisfied rather than anxious; be thankful rather than always seeking more.

The two masters that Christ speaks about are really two ways of thinking. One is eucharistic and ordered by serving God, and thus leads to holiness; the other is noneucharistic and worldly and ordered by serving personal gratification, and thus leads to sin. The one looks at creation as gift from God and therefore sacramental in orientation. To see creation as sacramental means that we regard the things of creation, even creation as such, as outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. When created things exhibit beauty, or truth, or goodness, these created things are sacramental in the ordinary sense. When this perspective really takes hold in a person, that person understands what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins means when he wrote “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

The other way of thinking, what Christ calls Money (more commonly translated as Mammon), empties the world of God, empties the world of our great Giver, and then fears the world and lives by anxiety. This noneucharistic life can never be satisfied and can never find rest because from this point of view, the Father is not part of the world, so the things of the world do not point to God and thus do not bring inward and spiritual grace. In his book Confessions, S. Augustine captures his former, noneucharistic mentality with these words, speaking to God he wrote: “You were within, and I was outside and there did I seek You. … I rushed heedlessly among the things of beauty that You made. You were with me, but I was not with You. Those things kept me far from You, which, unless they were in You, were not.” In other words, the very things of creation that exist only because of God were what held him away from God.

The invitation to a eucharistic way of thinking is emphasized by Paul in our Epistle passage. For Paul, the world is a new creation. That God has newly created the world is the rule by which Christians must walk. By this way of life, Paul teaches, come peace and mercy upon us and upon the Israel of God. (And that is a reminder of what the word “Israel” means: Israel names those who seek God.) Paul writes that he never seeks to boast about anything but the Cross of Jesus Christ. For Paul, this event remakes our understanding of the world. By the Cross the world has been crucified to us; and by the Cross, we have been crucified to the world. Because of the Cross, we are able to seek first the kingdom of God, that is, to hold life in the kingdom of God as our first priority, to make life in the Holy Spirit, not life according to the flesh, our goal in this world, our goal in this life.

My dear brothers and sisters, let us listen to our Saviour Jesus Christ, and let us listen to His apostle, Saint Paul our patron. Let us not seek anxiety but rather seek the Kingdom of God and to proclaim the power of the Cross. Let us allow ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit to all things which are profitable for our salvation, profitable for our spiritual health. Let us receive with ongoing gratitude the gifts of the Father in creation and the mercy of Christ Who is the head of this Body, the Church. Let us lift up our souls to Christ, and as His servants be comforted in our soul: through our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

This is unedited audio of my parish’s Saturday morning class in which we study Scripture with the help of the Church Fathers. This class is currently reading On the Lord’s Prayer by S. Cyprian of Carthage.

In this episode, we look at chapters 23 and 24. I take a close-reading approach to the text, and I read aloud every word of the text. It is found in this volume which I suggest you purchase if you want to follow along in the most effective way. Enjoy!

If you like this content, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions go a long way towards supporting my online ministry. Click below to subscribe!

Subscribe now

This is unedited audio of my parish’s Saturday morning class in which we study Scripture with the help of the Church Fathers. This class is currently reading On the Lord’s Prayer by S. Cyprian of Carthage.

In this episode, we look at chapters 22 and half of 23. I take a close-reading approach to the text, and I read aloud every word of the text. It is found in this volume which I suggest you purchase if you want to follow along in the most effective way. Enjoy!

If you like this content, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Paid subscriptions go a long way towards supporting my online ministry. Click below to subscribe!

Subscribe now

We beseech Thee, O Lord, bestow upon us Thy servants the gift of Thy heavenly grace: that as our salvation began by the Childbearing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so this devout solemnity of her Nativity may afford us an increase of peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the audio provided, both lessons are read, and then followed by a homily by yours truly.

A Lesson from the Gospel according to S. Luke, 17.11

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as He entered a village, He was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When He saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you whole.”

A Lesson of Commentary on S. Luke by the Ven. S. Bede

The leper who went back praising God signifies the devout humility of the one Church. He fittingly gave thanks, falling at the Lord’s feet. For he truly gives thanks to God who, having repressed the notions of his own assumptions, humbly sees how weak he is in himself, does not ascribe any virtue to himself, and realizes that the good things that he does are from the mercy of the Creator. When Our Lord asks “And where are the nine?”, well does He ask for them as if He does not know where they are. For as concerns God, to know is to elect, and not to know is to damn. When Jesus said to the tenth, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you whole,” we see him who devoutly fell before the Lord ordered to arise and go on his way, because whoever keenly recognizes his own weakness and lies humbly prostrate, is commanded by the consolation of the divine word to rise up to courageous deeds, and with his virtues increasing day by day, to proceed step by step to more perfect works. And if faith made the man who bowed down to thank his Saviour and Purifier wholly, then faithlessness destroyed those who failed to give glory to God for the blessings they received. Therefore . . . faith must be augmented by humility, and here is shown more openly by this facts that is is not just understanding the rationale of faith, but carrying out the work of faith that makes the believer whole and gives glory to the Father Who is in heaven.