The First Sermon of Christ

Theophany IconAny classical public speaking training would tell the aspirant lecturer to always start with a little warm up for the audience, in order to get them engaged, then introduce the topic, present the topic and then a short recap at the end. It is all about building up to your main subject.  This is pretty much what I’m doing now.

There is an old story with a priest in a convent that loved to preach. He always used well thought out  phrases, nice metaphors, parables, comparisons,  his subjects were always good, but he would tend to take a little more time than others. The abbess was a little upset about that because this would cut out the… Continue reading

The chronicle of a social death foretold

A friend of mine died yesterday. He made a public announcement about it and then he committed suicide. Not physically, spare the thought, but for all practical purposes he is now dead to the world. How did it happen? Well, he officially announced that he is quitting Facebook for good, and, with this, his life has ended; no one will even remember that he ever was; he has passed into the World Wide Web oblivion.

He is not the only one to end like this. Today, if you do not have an electronic presence, you are a nobody to the world. If all your friends do not know what time you woke up and what you ate for breakfast… Continue reading

War and Peace in the teachings of Christ

I’ve often seen people reacting strongly to a certain message delivered from the pulpit. Some identify themselves with the circumstances brought into discussion in the sermon and feel exposed, as if the priest purposely reveals their secret to the entire congregation. Others respond negatively to any message that is delivered in a more compelling and direct way, feeling personally attacked and hurt by the less subtle preacher.

This is not necessarily the fault of the priest nor of the people.  We are the product of a society that lives and breathes political correctness, where all religious are considered equal and the truth is relative. A powerful message is perceived therefore as too strong because is often compared with the… Continue reading

How Santa stole Christmas or Resisting the de-Christianization of Christianity

“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” (Mt. 13:33)
Christ came into the world as one of us, to change us from within. He is the leaven of a new world, and although born as a little babe, in a humble and forgotten manger he starts a chain reaction that will reach the entire earth.

The apostles were the first to react to this catalyst and they were changed into something better, from humble fishermen into fishers of men, becoming themselves agents of change for the world.

Through their missionary work entire populations were converted to Christianity, temples were changed into churches… Continue reading