Light of the East

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.

Water is marvelous and mysterious. It give life and takes life. It is central to civilization and to the life of the Church. Strange how for some suffering Christians the mystery of water remains scarce.

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

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.

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

A mystical marriage is about to take place. It is the Great Mystery of the Incarnation and we have to clean house and prepare for it. For many Eastern churches, the Philip's is their preparation.

Light of the East is dedicated to unity in the Church between east and west. Our ecumenical advance man, Jack Figel makes a quick return to our program with late breaking ecumenical updates.

Latin Rite Catholics often ask if the Eastern Catholic Churches pray the Rosary? The answer is a qualified, yes and no. Our special guest, Jack Figel will help us to understand what this actually means.

The raging of the sea, the raging of nations, fire in the sky, just some of the warnings of the end times. Are the end times really near? The answer is both yes and we don't know.

Pope Francis described the Church as a Field Hospital. We will hear from an author and patient of this hospital as he describes his healing by way of the spirituality of the Eastern Churches.

Parents, frazzled or embarrassed by your fidgety or screaming child in church? Out of the mouths of babes wisdom will come, Our Lord tells us. So what "wisdom" is that fidgety child sharing about themselves and about the church?

There is a humanitarian disaster on the Southern Border of the United States of America. For a simple solution look not further than than the Liturgy of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

Last Sunday marked the 22nd anniversary of our first Liturgy in our new church of Annunciation in our new location. So. we will do a little boasting, but as St. Paul says, "in the Lord.

Two often asked questions today are: Can the Pope mandate things for the Eastern Catholic Liturgies? And How are Eastern Catholic Churches dealing with the pandemic?"

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?

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.

There is no need to lose our heads about the way the world is. On second thought there is someone who did, and it is helped us keep our heads and Faith.

Warnings and predictions of the worldwide pandemic, vaccination policies and lockdowns are swirling again. The spirituality of the Eastern Churches indeed have something to offer during this time of great anxiety.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Mother of God into Heaven offers an insightful example of the two lungs of the Church, east and west approach things differently but arrive at the same point.

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 beginning of another month in the Byzantine Liturgical calendar starts off with rich events, a potential period and a way to overcome the demons of lust and pornography.

From Critical Race Theory to the Equity Act, to Pandemic policies, we live in confusing times for which the history and spirituality of the Eastern Churches can offer sources of stability.

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.

Wow! It's sure is hot during these dog days of summer. Want a really unique vacation? Plan the rest of your summer according to the Liturgical life of the Church.

Holy Communion and Ex-Communion. There is a lot of Communication and MIS-communication about it all these days. Allow the Liturgy itself to communicate clarity and truth on the source and summit of our existence.

The world needs to rediscover the virtue of real humility which has gone missing in modern society. Yet, as always, the Liturgical life of the Church offers a way back for us to this priceless virtue.

Words like Perichorresis, Kenosis, Theoria Theologica sound unfamiliar but together with the liturgical monastic tradition they make up the potpourri of Eastern spirituality.

The raging of the sea, the raging of nations, fire in the sky, just some of the warnings of the end times. Are the end times really near? The answer is both yes and we don't know.

In the Byzantine Calendar, we're in the season of the Sundays after Pentecost, In the Latin Rite, this is known as ordinary time, which is actually extraordinary and vice versa.

This weekend, in both civil life and in the life of the Church, we honor those who gave their lives that we might have a blessed life on earth and in eternity.

In the Liturgy of the Church, we are mystically transported from earth to Heaven. The Feast of our Lord's Ascension is not only His Ascension but ours as well.

We will soon enter into the miracle of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday. The Church therefore reminds us of what it is that we actually believe about our Faith.

The magnificence of the Ascension of our Lord can be understood by looking first at his condescension in Bethlehem which allowed our human nature to then Ascend with Christ into Heaven

Jesus Christ encounters a Samaritan woman at an ancient well. What transpires between them will provide insights on how to handle questions like how to save the world and "did you get vaccinated yet?"

Vaccines, masks, lockdowns, third wave, different strains, more opinions, more confusion, more anxiety. There is, however a place to go for the healing of body AND soul which is simple and effective.

Almighty God is the great set up artist. He takes what was lost to regain that which was lost. We see the set up artist at work in the persons of the Myrrh-bearing women at the empty tomb.

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.

Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen! As we mystically suffered, and went to the Cross with Our Lord, so too must Our Lord's Resurrection now be our own Resurrection, our own victory over sin and death

In many Eastern Churches this week is called the Week of the Bridegroom. Through the deep liturgical services we walk with the Bridegroom Christ to his mystical marriage on the Cross.

St. John Paul II said that monasticism is the reference point for all of the baptized. Lent is our monastic experience and the examples of two desert monastics are put before our eyes as our guides.

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."

The Bright Sadness of Lent becomes palpable as this Sunday of the Great Fast brings us to the convergence of the Veneration of the Cross and the Annunciation of the Mother of God.

The Lenten rigors of fasting and penance have as their goal the renewal of the true vision of things. The Eastern Spiritual Masters had a word and a prayer for this.

Images matter. They matter so much that historically images were the thing that opponents of the Church went after and images matter on the First Day of Lent

Wow! What a Week! Are you ready to enter into the most transformative and challenging season of the Church's year? Here it is! The Bright Sadness of repentance, and none too soon.

In the Eastern Catholic Churches, Lent is called the Bright Sadness. How relevant is this term today?! Amidst the darkness of repentance we can, and must, become a people of brightness.

The Season of our Lord's condescension now gives rise to our ascension through the season of repentance. The Scripture, A Feast Day and the prayer for the deceased converge in a week of transition.

The world needs to rediscover the virtue of real humility which has gone missing in modern society. Yet, as always, the Liturgical life of the Church offers a way back for us to this priceless virtue.

Having been immersed in the mystery of our Lord's coming in the flesh, we look toward the season of repentance with the help of those who were the great masters at it

From the birth of Christ through to his presentation in the Temple and to his baptism, this time of Epiphany of manifestation is ingeniously expressed through the prayer of the Church.