ST. SIMEON ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH

HOMILIES 2020

True and False Prayer

Zaccheus was short of stature

The healing of the ten lepers

Repentance is poverty of spirit and meekness

1/5/20  Repentance is not a feeling but an attitude and action

HOMILIES 2019

12/29/19  Holy Innocents; Tragedy or Joy?

12/24/19 True Freedom Can Only Come From Humility

12/22/19 God will never abandon us

12/15/19 Parable of the  Supper

12/8/19 Self-love is the most dangerous sickness of our age

12/1/19  Is real blindness physical or spiritual?

11/26/19  Is our real goal in life earthly or heavenly? 

11/17/19 Saugus High School Tragedy-A reflection of the Spiritual emptiness of our age. 

11/10/19  The Church is where we are healed and where we are saved. 

11/3/19 The parable of Lazarus and the rich man: rethinking what is important in life.

10/27/19 Salvation comes through the Church and her Saints

10/20/19 Gaderene demoniac-The delusion of materialism

10/6/19  Do we truly believe in the Resurrection

9/29/19  How do we love our enemy ?

9/22/19 Every good thing we do comes from God

9/15/19  The way of the Cross is not the way of this world.  

9/8/19 The Theotokos is "the beginning of our salvation." 

9/1/19 Happy Ecclesiastical New Year!

8/25/19 A firm faith is contagious. Love, order, forgiveness, and unity triumph over confusion and division.

8/18/19 As Christians we rejoice because vicotry has already been obtained.

8/11/19 Transforming through symfonia and syngergia (symphony and synergy).

8/4/19 Transfiguration: A week when the impossible becomes possible.

7/28/19  How can we best serve the church?

7/21/19  What it means to commend our lives to Christ our God.

7/14/19  Is Christ the Lord of our lives?

7/7/19  We cannot serve two masters.  What is our goal?

6/30/19 The harvest is plentiful, where are the laborers?

6/23/19  The Sunday of All Saints

6/16/19  Pentecost: The Rivers of living water.

6/9/19 We pray what we believe and we believe what we pray.

6/2/19  Sunday of the Blind Man: Dirt is good!

5/26/19  Sunday of the Samaritan Woman: We all have a purpose in life.

5/19/19  Physical and Spiritual Healing and the Sunday of the Paralytic.

5/12/19  Mother's Day and the Myrrh-bearing Women

5/5/19  Thomas Sunday: There is nothing new under the sun...except Jesus Christ.

4/28/19  Pascha: The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom

4/21/19  Palm Sunday: The significance of the two donkeys as Christ entered Jerusalem.

4/14/19  The Sunday of St. Mary of Eqypt: Encountering God as St. Mary did in the desert.

4/7/19  The Sunday of St. John Climacus: Climbing the ladder through the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian.

3/31/19  The Sunday of the Cross: Denying our false self to discover our true self.

3/24/19  Sin: The terminal illness each of us carries within ourselves.

3/17/19  The Triumph of Orthodoxy

3/10/19  Great Lent: Begin the struggle and learn the true meaning of fasting

3/3/19  The Sunday of Judgment:  An awesome and fearsome sight!

2/24/19  The Prodigal Son:  Lessons in Time and Love

2/17/19  The Triodion: A Chance to renew who we are.

2/10/19  The Canaanite woman: Feeding our hunger

2/3/19  St. Simeon the Patron and Protector of our Children

1/27/19  Zaccheus tells us everthing about our salvation.  

1/20/19  Is there anything worse than an unthankful child?

1/13/19  What is your New Year's Resolution?

1/6/19  Epiphany- the great renewal of human kind and of all creation.

HOMILIES 2018

12/16/18  The great banquet is our new life in Christ.

12/2/18 Childrens' Sermon: Who was St. Nicholas?.

11/25/18 Looking for answers in all the wrong places. The Kingdom of Heaven is right in front of us.

11/18/18 Let us live a life worthy of our calling.

11/11/18  The Good Samaritan and the Meaning of Life.

11/4/18 "The Gates" to the Kingdom of Heaven.

10/28/18 "Faith is Trusting Jesus, obeying His commandments, and loving Him."

10/21/18  "Who rules over our lives- Christ or our passions?"  by Subdn. Steve Heffelfinger. 

10/14/18  "The Church is One...There is only one Church". 

10/7/18  Why do we use incense in the Church?

9/30/18  Love Your Enemies.

9/23/18  Repentance means to love God.

9/16/18  Looking at the Cross we see love.

9/9/18  The cross of our Lord before all else is "love"

9/2/18  The Church is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb

8/26/18 The Church is God's Vineyard

8/19/18 With God all things are possible.

8/12/18 Forgiveness is the key that opens the door to heaven. 

8/5/18  Why I became Orthodox by Joshua Peterson.

7/29/18 The Christian Faith is one of victory and joy!

7/22/18  The five loaves and two fish: the significance of "breaking bread."

7/15/18  Baptized Christians have a new life; We must look, act, and think different from the world.

7/8/18 It is sin that paralyzes our souls

7/1/18 Refections on Acts 2:42 (prepared for the Oratocial Competition at the Parish Life Conference).

7/1/18 Love is the center of everything we do.

6/24/18 How to interact with those who have rejected the most basic moral principles of human existence.

6/17/18 Seeking first the Kingdom of God and living a life

free of worries.

6/10/18 Feeding the soul

6/3/18 The cost of discipleship

5/27/18  Pentecost: the Great Invitation

5/20/18 Fr. George comments on the tragic shooting in Texas.

5/13/18 The lesson of the Blind Man: love, joy and thankfulness.

5/6/18 Photeini ("The One That Has the Light Inside")  Only when we have light in us that we can see things the way they really are.

4/22/18  Who were the Myrrh-bearing Women and what is myrrh?

4/15/18  Thomas Sunday:  Even when we are weak in our faith, Christ will not give up on us.

4/8/18  St. John Chrysostom's Paschal Homily

4/1/18  Palm Sunday and the meaning of "Hosanna!"

3/25/18  The meaning of one of the most powerful epistles St. Paul ever wrote.

3/18/18  The Fourth Sunday of Lent, where St. Patrick and St. John Climacus (St. John of the Ladder) collide.

3/11/18  Lindsay Buhler guides us through her journey to the Orthodox Church.

3/4/18  The teachings of St. Gregory Palamas and how he preserved the Orthodox Faith 

2/25/18  A matter of grave importance: Preserving the Orthodox Faith 

2/18/18  The Sunday of Forgiveness: What are our true treasures?

2/4/18  Childrens Sermon: the meaning of the Prodigal Son parable.

1/28/18  The Publican and the Pharisee: True prayer vs. false prayer

1/21/18  The lesson of Zacchaeus; where do we come up short in our daily lives?

1/14/18  True freedom is the freedom not to sin.

1/7/18  John the Baptist, the greatest man who ever lived.

HOMILIES 2017

12/31/17 Like John the Baptist we must stand firm in our Godly convictions despite what the rulers of our society may think.

12/24/17  Love is not a feeling, emotion, nor even an action.  Love is intimately connected to Obedience and Humility.

12/17/17 The spiritual story of Cinderella as told in the parable

of the great banquet.

12/10/17 Seeing the forest for the trees.  Keeping life simple and focusing on the obvious, that Christ is in our midst.

12/3/17 Shedding our blindness as we answer the Lord's call

to draw near to Him.

11/26/17 It is time to wake up and see the reality of what the material world and the spiritual world truly are.

11/19/17  Comfort food does not comfort the soul.

11/12/17 The parable of the Good Samaritan and how like the inn, the church is where healing takes place.

11/5/17  Where the Lord is there must be beauty. Coming to church is not an earthly experience, we must shed our egos to stand in the presence of the living God.  

10/29/17  St. Veronica and true inner beauty.

10/22/17  The spiritual world is more real and present than the material world if we have the eyes to see it.  

10/15/17  The heart is where we see God. It is the center of our spiritual life.   

10/8/17  Death has no power over us.  Being carnally-minded vs. being spiritually-minded.   

10/1/17  Love your enemies because they can be your greatest benefactors.     

9/24/17  The desperate fight over words in our culture and the true meaning of what is to be Evangelical.

9/17/17  John 3:16:  The Soul, defeating demons, and the fantastic journey that is the Christian life.

9/10/17  John 3:16:  One of the greatest and most beautiful gifts God has given mankind is freedom.

9/3/17 The importance of gratitude.

8/27/17 The Lord gives us a choice that will determine our eternal destiny.

8/20/17 Forgiveness: the Lord's most important teaching.

8/13/17 Moving mountains with our faith and the gift of the Transfiguration of Christ.

8/6/17 The Transfiguration: Putting the Feast into context.

7/30/17 Christ feeds the crowds.  What it means to be a member of the Kingdom of God.

7/9/17  St. Paul and knowing the true God

6/18/17 Just as the Apostles are the foundation of our Holy Church so are fathers the foundations of our homes. 

6/11/17 Sunday of All-Saints-Each one of us is called to be a Saint

5/28 Sunday of the Holy Fathers: The Church is built on their living presence.  

5/21/17  The Blind Man-Who is blind and who can see? 

5/14/17  The Samaritan Woman. The material world can never satisfy our thirst. 

4/30/17  Myrrh-bearers Sunday

Let us Love Christ by keeping His Commandments

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4/23/17 Thomas Sunday  (Fr. John Finley)

4/9/17   Palm Sunday: Our Lord has come to our city. In His presence we have been freed from all fears and anxieties.

4/2/17 The love of God is the source of all true goodness and philanthropy.

3/26/17 Our Faith is Personal but not individual. Jesus Heals the  Epileptic

3/19/17  The way of Christianity is opposite the way of this world- it is the way and the joy of the cross. 

3/5/17  Our worship must be spiritual.  We must stand in the presence of God with great reverence and fear

2/26/17 The purpose of Lent is to enter back into Paradise. To do this, we must trample down all carnal desires and we must forgive. 

2/19/17  The Last Judgment is the love of God poured out on all flesh. 

1/29/17  The Cannanite Woman teaches us the one essential element if we are to have faith.

1/22/17  Zaccheus shows us how to live the spiritual life !

1/15/17 To be healthy mean first to have a healthy relationship with God  and then from this with others. 

1/1/17  Circumcision of Christ: It is the Circumcision of the Heart-Baptism- that saves us.