Blog Posts

Let Us Begin with Joy

4/6/2021

This month we enter the spiritual arena of Great Lent. It is tempting to greet this incredible season of grace with sadness or annoyance because of all the 'rules' we have to follow. We feel like we can't eat things we want to eat, we have to go to more services, we have to do more prayers, and so on. The truth of the matter is that rather than following 'rules' we are invited to elevate our perspective on life in general. We are invited to look beyond the temporary and look to the eternal. What we find in this perspective, is that we actually find a joy that far exceeds how much we like eating hamburgers or binging TV shows. We find the actual joy of our Lord.

Fr. Thomas Hopko, of blessed memory, wrote a wonderful book called 'The Lenten Spring'. In the second chapter he expresses how the essence of Great Lent is to be filled with Christ's joy. Here are a few excerpts that underscore this reality:

Let us enter the Fast with joy, O faithful.
Let us not be sad.
Let us cleanse our faces with the waters of dispassion, blessing and exalting Christ forever.
Let us begin the Fast with joy.
Let us give ourselves to spiritual efforts.
Let us cleanse our souls.
Let us clean our flesh.
Let us fast from passions as we fast from foods,
taking pleasure in the good works of the Spirit and accomplishing them in love
that we all may be made worthy to see the passion of Christ our God
and His Holy Pascha, rejoicing with spiritual joy.

Repentance and joy, compunction and consolation, godly grief and spiritual rejoicing are joined together in perfect union in the person who fights for the Lord.

May we all enter into the beautiful season of Great Lent with joy, seeking to cultivate bright sadness throughout our journey so that we can fully enter into the Paschal radiance of our Lord's resurrection.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Presenting Ourselves to God

2/5/2021

On Tuesday this week we celebrated the feast of the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple. As we reflect on this great Feast, we see a deep spiritual truth being revealed to us in this simple act of dedicating Jesus in the temple. We see that the Triune God is continually giving to us and simply asks for us to present the gifts we receive back to Him in thanksgiving. In return to our offering, God always returns such an offering back to us with a great blessings, seen or unseen.

This Feast shows us the following pattern; 1) receiving a gift from God, 2) returning that gift to Him with thanksgiving and, 3) God blessing even more by returning the gift to us transformed.

We see that God blesses the Theotokos with the gift of bearing His Son, God becomes incarnate, and she is called blessed from that day forward. In turn, on this feast, she comes to the Temple to present the Child to the Father, dedicating Him with thanksgiving to the living God. The Christ-child, dedicated in this way, in turn blesses all of humanity with His death and resurrection, opening the path to eternal life for all people.

As we meditate on this incredible feast, we see a pattern for our whole life. We are called to have eyes to see the incredible gifts that God has blessed with us rather than simply take them for granted. Realizing that 'every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from You, the Father of lights', we are then called to offer these gifts back to God with thanksgiving. Such offerings back to God can take place through serving on a ministry, serving others around us with whatever talents we’ve been blessed with, attending liturgical services to offer our time and love to God, offering of treasurers to help build up the Church of Christ, or sharing our wealth with those less fortunate. Our Good Lord seeing our giving back to Him will bless us richly as He sees fit - either in this life or the life to come.

May we all strive to see the gifts we’ve been given, offer them back to the living God with thanksgiving, and live in the reality of the great blessedness that our all-loving and compassionate Father bestows on us.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Humble Glory

1/8/2021

Greetings beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

Each month a different priest within our Metropolis of San Francisco provides a small spiritual reflection to encourage the faithful on their Christian journey. This month I had the privilege of providing the reflection on the feast of Theophany and I offer this small reflection to all of you for the January clergy corner.

Additionally, the Metropolis wanted us pass on two New Year encyclicals, one from His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and the second from His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew. I pray these are encouraging for all of you and it is a good reminder that we are part of the Church and are connected to the body of Christ which spans the entire globe.

May He who condescended to be baptized by John in the Jordan for our salvation, Christ our true God, bless us all during this incredible feast and for the coming year.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

12/2/2020

Greetings beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we enter into the season of preparation to receive our Lord's birth let us all pause a moment and reflect upon this special time of joy. The church, in its hymnography, paints the picture and taps into the incredible joy we can experience with our Lord's incarnation becoming actualized:

Let creation exceedingly rejoice, for the Creator fashions Himself as a creature!
He who was before all things now manifests Himself as God newly revealed!

Be joyful, O earth! Behold, Christ draws near to be born in Bethlehem.
Dance for joy, O company of prophets, for today you behold the fulfillment of your words. Rejoice, all you righteous!

Let the nations be in exceeding joy! Mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, seas, and the whole of creation: Magnify the Lord who now is born!

Rejoice, O Virgin, The Theotokos who of the Holy Spirit has borne Life into the world, for the salvation of all!

Fr. Alexander Schmemann, a prominent Orthodox theologian in the 20th century, reminds us in his book 'For the Life of the World' that before Christians can do anything with Christmas programs, project, and activities they must first recover the meaning of great joy. This spiritual joy, the true joy of our Lord, is not something external, but is found within. It is found within our souls when we experience the incarnate Word of God, the eternal Logos, born in the flesh, taking on humanity that we all share, and to freely give us eternal life.

This Christmas, many of our external programs, projects, and activities are greatly diminished or cancelled all together. It is in this external diminishment that we have a rare opportunity to look inwards, towards our soul to unearth the spiritual joy which can only be experienced during this season of preparation and fulfilled in Christ's birth. This may very well be the only Christmas in our whole life where we will have so few external activities, so let us all turn inwards to find Christ's joy and peace in His birth. How rare an opportunity it is to find that when we have everything external stripped away we find the 'pearl of great price' (Mt 13:36). What an opportunity to remember that 'the kingdom of God is within you' (Lk 17:21) and Christ is patiently waiting to enter into our hearts during this Christmas season.

Let us not fall into despair since we are so limited in our external festivities but resurrect our spiritual festivities of experiencing our Lord through His unending love and grace. Let us all avoid being accused of being joyless Christians, but take this opportunity to shine spiritual joy in our hurting world this Christmas season.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Perspective and Prayer

11/6/2020

Greetings in the Lord,

With our elections today, I want to pause and pass on some humble words of perspective that one of my seminary professors passed onto me:

Whoever wins the election today, we can rest assure that God will still be in control, that our hope is still in Him, and that He still wants each of us to act as His ambassadors, bringing His light to all the dark places of society, bringing His hope to those in despair, bringing His love to all the people who feel depressed and lost and alone. Christ continues to ask all of us to act as peacemakers in the midst of our divisive society!

Let us pray for wisdom and discernment for all the people in our America nation as they go to vote. Let us pray for humility and a spirit of repentance, asking for God’s mercy and forgiveness for our own pride and arrogance. May we ask for His mercy for all the ways that we have contributed to the division and divisive spirit of our nation. May we ask for His forgiveness for the ways we have judged and condemned others. May we seek His forgiveness for the ways we have created idols out of our politicians and political entities. May our deepest prayer simply be “Lord, have mercy on our country and on each one of us!”

Along that same vein, I received an ordination gift for Holy Resurrection from anonymous donor of a full size icon of St. Herman of Alaska. The donor stressed that again during the challenges our country faces, it is essential that we continue to ask for aid, support, and intercession from those saints that lived on our soil. St. Herman and many others are, in a way, are our countries patrons so let us entreat them fervently for God's mercy and guidance during this time.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Staying Focused On What Matters

10/13/2020

As the seasons change around us, it is another opportunity for us to recommit and remember why we are members of Christ's Church and why we continue on our journey towards Christ. With elections coming up, COVID continuing to loom over our lives, unrest throughout the world and so many more hardships, it is easy for us to lose our remembrance to stay focused on what truly matters. We lose our focus and forget that we are citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom where the grace of Christ is freely given, the Father's love is poured out continually, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit unites all believes.

Sadly, what happens when we lose our focus, is that we usually fall into a daze of spiritual sloth. We feel bogged down with life, too tired to pray, ignore helping our neighbor, and generally cave in on ourselves through self-love. We muster any strength we have to get through the day doing just the essential of what we need and then fall into a coma of self comforts; social media, Netflix, video games, and the like. Days, weeks, and sometimes months go by before we even realize how much time has passed, only to realize that our spiritual muscles have atrophied.

Father Sophrony of blessed memory, the former elder of St. John the Baptist Monastery, once noted, “The Fathers talk about “spiritual laziness,” which means lack of care about one’s salvation. With few exceptions, all humanity is now living in the state of laziness. People have become indifferent about their salvation. They do not seek divine life. They confine themselves to forms of life which pertains to everyday needs and mundane activities. God, though, created us out of nothing, in the image of the Absolute and after His likeness. If this revelation is true, then the absence of concern for salvation is nothing else than the death of the human person.”

May we during this time of seasonal change take every burst of cold air we feel around us, as a reminder to wake ourselves up from our spiritual torpor and return to God. We must dust off our prayer book and put them to use to connect with our Savior. And may we remind ourselves of what truly matters; to have an ever present vision of Christ's Kingdom and do all we can to strive towards the Author of Life.

In Christ,

Fr. Steve

Commitment and Community

9/2/2020

Beloved in Christ,

A few Sunday's ago, we were blessed with being able to open up services on Sunday to the entire community. As everyone knows, over the last few months we've been having to limit Sunday services to about half our community at a time due to COVID-19. Being able to invite everyone and have a larger space to experience communal worship and partake together, as community, of the Eucharist was like a breath of fresh air for many of us.

With this first community wide instance of all being back together, I took the opportunity to preach about the importance of community, and one of the most central parts of healthy community; commitment. Many people that were able to attend suggested that the sermon be shared with everyone, so I recorded it and would like to offer to all of you.

I pray that this simple reflection about the importance of community in regards to our spiritual development, growing roots of love, and collectively seeing each other as essential on our journey towards on salvation may be edifying for you all. You can access the recording HERE.

In Christ,

Dn. Steve

Dormition of the Theotokos

8/10/2020

Still the darkest of passions,
Calm the sea of errors
In your great peacefulness;
It was you who bore the guiding Lord,
And you who are the blessed bride of God

As we start August, we enter into a period of fasting as we prepare to celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos. The fast started on August 1st and goes through to August 15th when we celebrate the feast day of the Dormition. As we enter this period we turn our gaze to our chief intercessor to help us navigate the turbulent times we and the world face. This year, we have the blessing of adding a few extra services to our schedule over the next two weeks to enter more fully into this time of preparation and to come together as a community to entreat our Lady, the Mother of God, to pilot us towards the port of heaven.

Most Holy Theotokos Save us!

In Christ,

Dn. Steve

Supporting Our Children During COVID-19

7/12/2020

COVID-19 has been a time for all of us to be challenged in our faith and struggle through the hardships that it presents. As I have been striving to persevere through this time, I have seen my kids fight this battle alongside me as well. Boredom, unknowns about the future, disruptions to their typical school routines, and cancellation of many summer events have presented them with an equal amount of challenges that we adults are faced with.

I know I have been tempted during this time to just focus on my own fears, struggles and anxieties but today I would remind all of us to stop and look at the children and youth in our lives and take a little extra time to support them. I'm sure all of us have children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews, or even neighborhood children that have been surviving COVID. Today I would like to encourage everyone to take time to do something small for the children in each of our lives and let them know that you care about them and understand how hard this time is for them. Maybe it will be a time to open up a discussion about our faith and how we can lean into Christ during times of uncertainty and fear.

Additionally, for those that have Orthodox children and youth in their lives, I would offer a few small options to encourage them them during this hard time and to support their faith:

Be the Bee (6th grade and above) - This is an excellent video series put on by the Archdiocese to help middle, high school, and college students engage their faith and face the challenges that our modern society presents to them. There are even some episodes that touch on COVID.
Virtual Church School - Rooted in Prayer (K-5) - This is a new virtual camp put out by Ancient Faith Radio that has full lessons plans, videos, songs, craft ideas, and much more.
Children's Orthodox Books (K-8) - There is a wealth of Orthodox books for children on both Ancient Faith and the Greek Archdioceses Department of Religious Ed, one even by a local artist :)

As we continue to navigate our path through COVID-19 let's continue to support and pray for those 'little people' around us who may not know how to articulate their feelings during this time but are struggling to find Christ and endure the pandemic with faith and patience.

In Christ,

Dn. Steve

Why We Pray for the Dead

6/13/2020

Dear Ones,

Amidst the tragedies and horrors afflicting our world in these dark days, I would like to share a timely article from one of my professors from seminary, Fr. Luke Veronis.

The article reminds us that our Savior, Jesus Christ, truly has conquered sin, death, and the devil. Through His resurrection He turned all of these on their head, divinely overcoming them through His power and authority over all. During these times it is important to remember that we, through prayer, can connect with those departed with love through Christ and intercede on their behalf.

Click here to read the article.

In Christ,

Dn. Steve

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Let Us Begin with Joy

Presenting Ourselves to God

Humble Glory

Glad Tidings of Great Joy

Perspective and Prayer

Staying Focused On What Matters

Commitment and Community

Dormition of the Theotokos

Supporting Our Children During COVID-19

Why We Pray for the Dead

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