Light of the East

We can have full confidence that a Church whose dogma's came about from Councils and not from a mere person is indeed the fullness of the Body of Christ on Earth.

The once common in the understanding and devotion to the Eucharist in both the Eastern and Western lungs of the Church are today vividly retained in the Eastern Catholic Churches.

'So ancient yet so new. How late have I found Thee.' The words of St. Augustine to Our Lord might also be the words of those who have found a place within the Eastern Catholic Churches.

We revisit a fundamental question that is often asked and often not well understood. What exactly is meant by the different Rites of the Catholic Church? How and why are they different?

The once common in the understanding and devotion to the Eucharist in both the Eastern and Western lungs of the Church are today vividly retained in the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Artificial flowers, artificial flavors, artificial birth control and now artificial intelligence? Is there any place, any thing, any more where things are still real and natural?

Ahh yes, those hazy, lazy days of summer, but not too fast with the ribs, burgers and brats. We have some preparing to do for a whole lot of special feast days and events this summer that will be good for your body.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has completed His mission of descent and Ascent, taking human nature with him to Heaven. Now, it is for us to complete OUR mission becoming saints.

here are Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and a Church very much powered by by the Holy Spirit. Welcome, to the Eastern Catholic Churches.

In most areas of the world, the Eastern Catholic Churches are small and sparse. What does a small and sparse Church have to offer in confronting the big and powerful issues of our day?

We are coming up on 40 days after the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ where we will see Christ’s Ascension into heaven and the ascension Saints Cyril and Methodius as co-patrons of Europe.

Pope St. John Paul II said that every encounter in the Bible between God and womanhood was an encounter of the newness of life. It was so at the Annunciation, the empty tomb and now at Jacob's well.

We are half-way between the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sending down of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. It is a week filled with miracles, martyrs and Apostles.

In the details of His Bodily Resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ reaches back to the beginning to retrieve and redeem his original plan for creation, as The Myrrh-bearing women, Joseph and Nicodemus will explain.

On the Sunday after Pascha both lungs of the Church converge at the theme of God’s mercy. For the Latin rite, it is Divine Mercy Sunday. For many Eastern churches, it is the Sunday of doubting Thomas.

As we have died with Christ, we now rise with him in His Bodily Resurrection making all things new not just 2,000 years ago but even at this very moment and forever.

In many Eastern Catholic Churches, the Season of Lent has ended. But a separate and more ancient period of fasting and penance has begun - the Week of the Bridegroom.

On this last Sunday of Lent in many Eastern Catholic Churches a woman is put before our eyes who is a model of repentance, reverence for the Eucharist and hope for women experiencing the pains of shame.

Three great ascetics are put before our eyes as our guides at this point of Lent. As Pope Saint John Paul II said, 'Monasticism is the reference point for all of the baptized.'

Getting weary of the Lenten fasting? Sneaked that piece of chocolate or gossiped about someone? Take heart, encouragement is here on this Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross.

Abstaining from meat, dairy, sweets, wine, oil I-phones and entertainment and adding more prayer seem unreasonable? It is actually the norm that Lent seeks to bring us back to,

Behold the Church is covered with a heavenly garment by the icons thus preserving the true faith. May those who do not believe this be covered with shame.

The season of Lent emphasizes almsgiving for which the Eastern Catholic Churches are a worthy focus as they are at the epicenter of much global strife.

In a temple the Elder Simeon holds Christ in his hands and then asks to be dismissed from this world. What do we say with God entering our entire being.

St. John Paul II reminded us that the Church breathes with two lungs, two complementary expressions of the one same Faith. But what is it that the two lungs have in common?

Perhaps the single greatest genius of the Eastern Christian spirituality is the art of living in the both/and – where something can be this and that at the same time. This first Sunday of pre-Lent will make this clear.

In a baton race, two runners overlap for a moment as the baton is being passed. So it is with the past and upcoming seasons in the Church's Liturgical "passing of the baton."

As though being born and laid in a manger in Bethlehem was not humbling enough, Our Lord chose to lower himself in the lowest spot in the Earth’s surface, the river Jordan. There he would be baptized for our sake and God as Trinity would be revealed.

Providentially in the civil calendar as we cut away from the previous year and open to a New year, Our New Born Savior likewise undergoes a cutting away and an openness to the new.

All families have their story from sinners to saints. So, it is with the family of Jesus Christ. But God still works out His divine plan which is the miracle of this season.

Do NOT 'celebrate the Holidays.' Rather, contemplate and be transformed by the Great Mystery of the Incarnation. Don't just buy gifts. Become a gift now and in every moment after December 25th.

So much decorating! So many lights to put up. It is the ancient iconography of the Church, even one painted by our Blessed Mother herself, that will explain our need for imagery.

"Do not celebrate Christmas. That's Right. Do not celebrate Christmas. Rather, rely on the Church's preparation for Christmas to help you enter the mystery of the Incarnation and be transformed by it.

Both inside and outside of the Church, hope, self-sacrifice and courage, much needed in our world, seem to be so scarce. Our two guests Rinju Chenet and Kameron Traxler serve as signs of hope for the Church and the world.

This week you will listen to a milestone moment here on Light of the East. With gratitude to Almighty God and to all of you, we will broadcast program number 1,000.

Do you want to remain hopeful, faithful and negotiate the strife, division and confusion of our times? Look into the timeless wisdom of the Church's Liturgy and saints.

I hear the echoes of the coming Christmas Season. And it presents us with not only a spirit of gift but also of saints and angels to focus upon in our preparation.

So ancient yet so new. How late have I found Thee.” The words of St. Augustine to Our Lord might also be the words of those who have found a place within the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Do you want to remain hopeful, faithful and negotiate through the strife, division and confusion of our times? Look into the timeless wisdom of the Church's liturgy and saints.

Every Eastern Christian church has its own ancient and indigenous chant which is sung by the faithful during liturgical services. This gives cantors a special place in Eastern Christian Liturgy.

We are not PC here at "Light of the East Radio." We are BC, Byzantine Catholic. But there are some questions from RCs that are not very PC to pose to a BC. Is this making sense?

As we draw near to the Nativity of Our Lord we look back on the ancestry of Christ and the many foretellings and prefigurements of Christ in the Old Testament

There is in our times a big, round, painful hole in the very soul of western civilization. It could very well be that it is the Eastern Catholic Churches that can help fil that hole.

Our children have gone back to school and so are we. We begin our school year with the question: What is the THE difference between the Eastern Rites and the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church?

The Church East and West, will be celebrating the Feast of the Holy Cross. Celebrating Feast days makes that event relevant to the present moment. This is certainly true for the Mystery of the Cross.

Happy New Year everybody! It IS the new year at least in the Liturgical cycle of the Byzantine Catholic Church. And the very first Feast Day is the Birth of the Mother of God.

The story of those parts of the Eastern Orthodox Churches that reunited with Rome after the Great Schism of 1054 AD is a story filled with understanding and misunderstanding, but nonetheless essential.

So which are you...? A 'Rad Trad', a Pro-Popolo Novus Ordo or maybe Ad Orientum Novus Ordo, or just plain confused and fed up? The Eastern Catholic Churches are here to help.

News Flash... Passions and divisions are flaring high in one of the most ancient and venerable Eastern Catholic Churches. Pope Francis has had to intervene but with the help of another Eastern Catholic Church.

Are you joyful, apprehensive or just plain confused about the Synodal process that you have been hearing about? The Eastern Churches can be of great help and clarity to you on this subject.