Biblos
Location
Book
- Details
Just as for the treatment of physical diseases we resort to the specialized doctor, so also for the wounds of the soul our loving Mother Church ordained that we resort to Spiritual Doctors, of whom the first one is the Bishop. But because it is not possible for him to receive all the Christians of his Diocese, the Bishop selects suitable Priests and grants them his permission and blessing to confess the faithful. The simple communication of believers with the Spiritual Father can be done at any time to receive advice or whatever else. But when the believer wants to confess, in order to receive forgiveness of sins, then the Mystery of Repentance-Confession is conducted. Through this mystery, the believer opens the secrets of his soul with sincerity and in a spirit of repentance and confesses to God, before the Spiritual Father, all his sins. At the end the Spiritual Father will give the appropriate instructions and since the confession was complete, he reads the Prayer of Absolution and the one who has confessed is cleansed of his sins and his life is renewed.
- Details
In the Parable of the royal wedding feast the Lord introduces among the guests someone who did not wear the appropriate clothing for the wedding of the king's son. When the king saw him, he considered his attitude insulting and ordered him to be taken out of the palace, into the dark, his hands and feet tied for his audacity (see Matt. 22:11-13). This parable was told by the Lord, mainly, to help His listeners understand that in the joy of the kingdom of God, persons will not be allowed to enter without the appropriate clothing of the soul, which we Christians must prepare while we live to claim the joy of the Royal Wedding in God's heavenly kingdom.
- Details
In today's 40th Sermon we will deal with the final Prayer recited by the Celebrant, the final blessing of the people and the Dismissal.
- Details
The Divine Liturgy is a process. It is a process which has as its purpose and end the encounter with God and the union of man with God. As we said in our previous Homilies, this goal has been achieved. We have reached the end of our course. We saw the true Light, Christ. We followed in the footsteps of His holy life. We worshiped him in the Cave of Bethlehem, as he was born of a Virgin, during the proskomide. With the Small Entrance of the Holy Gospel we saw Jesus enter into the world to begin His world-saving work. By listening to the Gospel, we hear each time His authentic teaching and we witness His Miracles and the details of His life. With the Great Entrance of the Holy Gifts we accompanied the Lord on His way to Golgotha. We became friends with Jesus and His twelve disciples at the Last Supper. We witnessed His bloodless sacrifice and Him changing our humble Gifts into the Holy Body and Blood of Christ through the action of the Holy Spirit.We saw His Resurrection and proclaimed it with the prayer: "Seeing the Resurrection of Christ ..." We shared His holy Body and His Most Valuable Blood. And now the Mother Church comes to remind us that the end of our liturgical process must be the starting point of our witness.
- Details
When the Celebrant places into the Holy Chalice all the portions of the Saints, the Deacon reminds him: "Exalt, Master." At the Royal Doors the Holy Chalice is raised towards the people, who reverently bow down praising God: "Blessed is our God always...". He then transfers it to the Table of Oblation, where it is not visible to the faithful and in such a way brings to mind the glorious Ascension of our Lord to the heavens, and thus also the incense represents the cloud of Angels who accompanied Him to Heaven