Interrupting the Silence

Category: Saints

  • The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul

    Today is the commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Church’s tradition teaches that they both died as martyrs in Rome during the persecution under Nero in 64 A.D. According to tradition, Paul was granted the right of a Roman citizen to be beheaded by a sword, but Peter suffered the… Read more

  • Artisans of the Likeness of God – The Feast of St. Basil the Great

    “‘Let us make the human being according to our image and according to our likeness’ [Gen. 1:26]. By our creation we have the first, and by our free choice we build the second. In our initial structure co-originates and exists our coming into being according to the image of God. By free choice we are… Read more

  • Nativity Prayer of St. Bernard of Clairvaux

    “Let your goodness Lord appear to us, that we, made in your image, may conform ourselves to it. In our own strength we cannot imitate your majesty, power, and wonder nor is it fitting for us to try. But your mercy reaches from the heavens through the clouds to the earth below. You have come to us as a… Read more

  • Choosing Our Blessings And Our Woes: An All Saints’ Day Sermon on Luke 6:20-31

    The Feast of All Saints is on November 1. The Book of Common Prayer, however, permits it to be celebrated on the Sunday following November 1. The collect and readings for the day may be found here. The appointed gospel is Luke 6:20-31. Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you… Read more

  • Spreading Our Life Before Jesus: St. Andrew of Crete’s Palm Sunday Sermon

    Let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of Olives. Today he returns from Bethany and proceeds of his own free will toward his holy and blessed passion, to consummate the mystery of our salvation. He who came down from heaven to raise us from the depths of sin, to raise us with… Read more

  • Are We There Yet? Never!

    Most journeys can be understood in three parts – leaving, traveling, and arrival. We leave with a particular destination in mind. There is a point of arrival. We have probably all asked or heard the familiar travel questions: “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” “When will get there?” Whether our journey is geographical, emotional,… Read more

  • Whom Do I Treat Unjustly?

    “But whom do I treat unjustly,” you say, “by keeping what is my own?” Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it? It is as if someone were to take the first seat in the theatre, then bar everyone else from attending, so that… Read more

  • St. Ephrem – The Deformities Made Beautiful

    “Free will succeeded in making Adam’s beauty ugly, for he, a man, sought to become a god. Grace, however, made beautiful his deformities and God came to become a man. Divinity flew down to draw humanity up, for the Son had made beautiful the deformities of the servant and so he has become a god,… Read more

  • St. John Chrysostom – “God Desired to Make Thee Immortal”

    St. John Chrysostom is commemorated on various days in different liturgical calendars. The Episcopal Church remembers St. John today, January 27. On January 27, 438 his holy relics were returned to Constantinople nearly thirty-ones years after his death in exile. The following passage is from one of his sermons: If God had not intended to… Read more