Sermons from St. Mary Church

On Palm Sunday

April 17, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
I recommend this to all of you. Find your unique way to focus on the welfare of others and watch as life becomes more and more beautiful.
 

Can You Drink the Cup?

April 10, 2022 - by Dn. James Wilcox
And here is the great paradox of it all. If we come to Christ, and to the the Cross, seeking power as James and John once did, we will lose. But if we seek to give up our lives, as Christ did, we find life!
 

With Us or Without Us

April 03, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
Every meeting with Christ catalyzes an expansion of God's Spirit into the life of the world so that no corner goes without experiencing the light of Christ. Today we see the healing of an epileptic boy and hear these memorable words, 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.' To which Jesus replies, all it takes is faith the size of a grain of mustard seed to move mountains. What a glorious expansive teaching! What an amazing event! Faith is powerful. All it takes is a little.
 

Women Saints: Syncletica and Mary of Egypt

March 27, 2022 - by Claire Koen
I invite you to think about these two women saints who reoriented their lives around what they recognized as most important and life-giving. As they each understood their ascetic practices to be in service to honing their awareness of God, how might we also undertake an ascesis to re-shape our lives and behavior in ways that foster our own perception of God’s reign, already come in Glory, in ourselves, in our midst, and in those around us?
 

St. Barbara - December 4 Impressions of a Saint

March 20, 2022 - by Marilyn Robbat
The impressions St. Barbara left of the cross on the marble wall and of her footprints on the bathhouse steps give us insight into being a Christian. As Christians, we can leave our own imprints on those in need. Every face we see is the face of God. This is what we are encouraged to see.
 

Women Saints: Their Lives and Example for Us Today

March 13, 2022 - by Arianna Krinos Quinn
The female saint perhaps more intrinsically tied to the Sunday of Orthodoxy is the Empress Theodora, who became a saint for protecting the practice of the veneration of icons in the church during an 843 Synod. A canonical example of female strength during a time in which women were rarely permitted to lead, Theodora the Blessed ruled as a regent for her son after her husband, Theophilos, died young from dysentery and her son - the heir to the throne - was only two years old.
 

Saints and Sainthood: Called to Holiness and Ministry

March 06, 2022 - by Teva Regule
What is a saint?  We see them all around us.  Their icons fill our homes and worship places.  We re-tell their stories in word and song.  We reverence them and pray to them.  And yet, when such a question is posed to us, it may give us pause.  What makes a saint?  As Christians, we are called to see Christ in all people.
 

The Last Judgement

February 27, 2022 - by Dn. Jeff Smith
God’s love is everywhere and filling all things, but some people experience His love as a burning fire. So, when we see this gospel finish with everlasting punishment, we must remember that God’s love is present everywhere in our midst, even and especially in the horror, as we may feel His love as a kind of chastening, or healing pain. In this way, all of us are called to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Evil cannot destroy the divine purpose to bring everyone to the saving presence of Jesus Christ.
 

So It Will Be With Us

February 20, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
I find in the Parable of the Prodigal Son two essential ingredients in the recipe for grace. I have mentioned them before. They are Radical Acceptance and Unconditional Positive Regard. Who in Holy Scripture (other than God himself) is a more obvious representative of these two things than the father in this parable?
 

On the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee

February 13, 2022 - by. Dn. James Wilcox
We cannot simultaneously orient ourselves in the likeness of God, while positioning ourselves against our neighbor, no matter what social or religious group your neighbor belongs to. To do so, is to remain like the Pharisee in today’s Parable. If our goal is to continually reinforce our need to be right, we inflate our perceived self-superiority to a level that squeezes out any actual need for God.
 

No Inside, No Outside

February 06, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
The sure sign of spiritual progress is the transformation of fear and prejudice into love. We cannot force it, but we can work towards it. Our willingness to choose compassion over apathy, for example, becomes like a mustard seed in the soul.
 

The God That Hovers

January 23, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how right we are and wrong they are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.
 

On the Healing of the Ten Lepers

January 17, 2022 - by. Dn. James Wilcox
The lepers are symbolic of those 10 lost tribes of Northern Israel. Luke’s Gospel is about the reconciliation and restoration to all of Israel, after all. Christ has restored us anew, in the same manner he did those 10 lepers in Luke 17.
 

The Natural Sacramentality of Water

January 09, 2022 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
The Lord loves the common place, water, matter, common people. He blesses the common place by assuming it into his Incarnate Flesh. In the Service of the Blessing of Water we recognize the Truth of our Lord's Omnipresence and his Cosmic redemption.
 

On the Baptism of the Holy Spirit

January 02, 2022 - by Dn. Jeffrey Smith
Repentance is more than just being sorry. Instead, it is a moral and spiritual revolution. The baptism of repentance which the Forerunner offers, indicates a radical change of heart and mind, leading to a complete turnaround of our lives.
 

The Power of Mystery

December 24, 2021 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
Tonight we are faced with a mystery – that of the Incarnation of the Son of God. In the light of this we are mere children intellectually. We do not, we cannot understand this. And yet we believe that God has revealed it to us in this way.
 

A Burning Passion for Humanity

December 19, 2021 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
The primary reason for making our way through Matthew's Genealogy is to affirm that the Word and Son of God has a human face and human ancestry. This Gospel reading is a resounding proclamation of our belief in the Incarnation. The birth in the flesh of the Son of God is the Chief Cornerstone of our faith. 
 

The Great Messianic Banquet

December 12, 2021 - by Fr. Antony Hughes
The Great Banquet (Luke 14:16-24) signifies the Messianic Banquet at the end of days. All are invited, although not all will attend. The Eucharist is the Great Banquet taking place here and now, in our midst. When we enter into the Eucharistic celebration, we have entered into the time beyond time, the Eighth Day, and we can rightfully give thanks for the “second and glorious coming which has already come to pass” (as the Liturgy indicates) and occurs each time we do. In fact, that is the very heart of the Lord’s teaching. “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And the Lord is in our midst!
 

Healing of the Infirm Woman

December 05, 2021 - By Dn. James Wilcox
Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke is a curious story. It’s a passage not shared by any other Gospel writer, in fact. Neither Matthew, Mark, nor John have a record of this account of the woman with the ‘spirit of infirmity.’ So, one might ask what was so important in this specific story that Luke chose to include it.
 

Eudoxia Redux

November 14, 2021 - By Fr. Antony Hughes
John Chrysostom was exiled from Constantinople by the Emperor Arcadius at the instigation of his wife Eudoxia in 398. Why? Because he preached against the misuse of riches by the wealthy (including Eudoxia). We as Christians are called to be genuine, transparent, and authentic. We are called to the highest standard and to the lowest social status. Called to become God and commanded to be servants. It is no contradiction. For God is the All-Powerful Servant of all.