Hearts and Minds

Fr. John explains why the new church year begins on September 1, then tells of a birthday party like no other.

What do those words in the liturgy mean? And how do we accomplish this? Fr. John enlightens us with the answers.

Are our physical bodies evil? Are they good? Fr. John explores these questions in light of Christ's Transfiguration.

Fr. John answers a question at once innocent and terrifying.

With the synaxion of the Theotokos freshly celebrated, Fr. John reflects on Mary, the mother of our Lord.

How wonderful to know that we are loved and wanted by God, who calls to us by name!

God places within us a hunger for fellowship with himself and creation, but too often man distorts that hunger into an appetite for temporary pleasure.

Fr. John shows how our cultural deterioration brings us closer to the conditions that the early Church thrived in.

Fr. John examines the difference between true healing and mere relief.

Fr. John examines the last of the ten great commandments.

Fr. John notes that as we accept the mercy of God, that mercy is proof that God accepts us.

For those of us who cannot go, work or provide, Fr. John notes that we can still contribute in the most important way.

Fr. John notes the shift in society from text to image and warns of the power of images on the soul.

Do clothes make the man? Fr. John, with help from Saint Nicodemus, might beg to differ.

Fr. John, with help from St. Nicodemus, shows how to guard the sense of taste and the tongue.

Again using the teachings of St. Nicodemus, Fr. John warns us of the dangers present in front of our very noses!

Fr. John completes his series (Part 4) by describing how failure can become a servant of God for the renewal of our lives.

Fr. John continues his series (Part 3) by reflecting on the goal of interior renewal.

Fr. John continues his series (Part 2) by redefining failure and describing the ways that we react to our own failures.

Fr. John begins a four part series on the virtue of failure by describing the inevitability and purpose of failure.

The story of Baker Sullivan reveals the importance and significance of the life of prayer.

The Transfiguration of Jesus shows us the purpose of human life and how to taste of the incomparable heavenly banquet.

"Life is full of small opportunities to baptize these inevitable daily pains in the mystery of the cross."

With the glorious Paschal season upon us, Fr. John examines the questions being asked of Christians by today's world.

"This is how the Church address politics every Sunday. Not by endorsing or opposing candidates, but by dealing with the spiritual roots of all the issues that affect all citizens. We locate the heart, then work our way out from there."

Every Sunday morning, the six Psalms of Matins carries us on a descent into our brokenness and ascent with a cry of faith. Gently taking us on the way of the cross.

"Like a scared child on the first day of school, fear turns us into isolated, self-protective individuals. Like an ever-tightening cocoon."

"He keeps looking. It is what love does."

"Heaven is the experience of the illuminating energy of God. Hell is the experience of the burning energy of God. The one sun has two properties. It can illumine, and it can blind. It can warm, and it can burn."

"The branches are unique but all attached to the one Vine who gives them life."

Fr. John shares his speech from the The National March for Marriage in Washington D.C., and reflects upon his experience with the counter demonstration.

Fr. John illustrates how Christians are those who reach out to people in pain

The struggle is what we bring to God, only what we bring, because deliverance his His job.

The journey of Christ-likeness ends in the cross where Christ dies in love for all of His enemies.

Nothing in life matters more than the purification of our souls and bodies, so that when we meet Christ in death he recognizes Himself in us.

Together, we are connected by the forgiveness we all need.

Let us remember to lean on each other. "A burden shared is half the burden. A joy shared is twice the joy."

Our Lord's desire is for each of us to have experiences with Him, to be able to say, "My Lord and my God," and to share that experience openly and freely with others.

The purpose of your life is to become by grace what God is by nature.

Love is too precious, too powerful, and too popular to mean anything we want it to. Instead, love needs definition and contour so that we may know what love is not, just as we may know what love is.

Fr. John shares his reflections on the priesthood in anticipation of the 2016 Antiochian Archdiocese Clergy Symposium to be held at the Antiochian Village in Bolivar, PA.

A martyr for Christ is someone who has good reasons to live, but a better reason to die.

An old proverbs says, "When you light a torch for another, you illumine your own path too."

Why work on ridding ourselves of excuses in this life? So we won't face the consequences of our excuses in the next.

God does not always remove the wave, but he does always give us himself.

"It's not the size of the crumb that turns it into a miracle; it's whether we can see it as a miracle at all."

We need both truth and love to row through the fog of this world.

"The soul can not know peace unless she prays for her enemies. If you will pray for your enemies peace will come to you." St. Silouan the Athonite

In Communion we meet the God of love and judgment. Are you ready?

St Gregory Palamas said, "Every argument has a counter-argument, but who can argue against life."