We’re still in the Christmas season, and today, January 1st, is the Octave, or 8th day of Christmas. And while the world around us generally considers Christmas now to be officially over, and puts the Christmas trees out on the curb for trash, we Christians are still keeping the Christmas season, which is a full … [Read more…]
Pentecost is one the three great feasts of the Christian Year (the other two being Easter and Christmas). It celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other disciples in the upper room of a house in Jerusalem, as recounted in today’s Epistle reading from the Book of Acts. It is also … [Read more…]
The wise men came to see Christ and to worship him. And to present him with gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. It’s from the feast of the Epiphany that we derive our custom of giving gifts at Christmas. It’s still the practice in some countries to give gifts on Epiphany, January 6, rather than … [Read more…]
John the Baptist, or John the Baptizer, is truly the great Advent figure. The Bible tells us that the whole function and purpose of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the Messiah. In fact Jesus himself made reference to this function. He said that John was a prophet and more than a … [Read more…]
Sunday, November 29 begins the season of Advent, which lasts until the feast of Christmas. The word advent is from two Latin words meaning “coming to,” and during Advent the Church remembers the two great “coming to us’s” of Christ: his first coming to us as a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, and his … [Read more…]
He destroyed Hades when He descended into it. He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh. Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with. It was in an uproar because it is mocked. It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed. It is in an uproar, … [Read more…]
Since its very beginnings, the Church has affirmed the sanctify of human life. The Constitution of the Anglican Catholic Church states: “Every human being, from the moment of conception, is a creature of God, made in His image and likeness, and an infinitely precious soul, and this Church reaffirms the ancient Christian principle, enunciated by … [Read more…]
The feast of the Epiphany (January 6) celebrates the first manifestation, or showing, of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, in the persons of the Magi, or Wise Men, from the East. In the Eastern Church, this feast is called the Theophany and recalls Jesus’ baptism, during which all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity were … [Read more…]
