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Thirteen years ago Jim Cardosi’s wife, Cindy, discovered she had little time left to live.In 2002 she experienced symptoms resulting from a neurological illness that by 2005 would be identified as frontotemporal dementia or Pick’s Disease, which Cindy developed in her mid-40s.She required full-time care, so Jim retired from the military. They raised five kids together and built their lives around each other.Jim’s faith kept him poised throughout the illness, and he felt the call to the priesthood before her death. He cared for Cindy until her passing in July 2008 at 51 years old in their Jacksonville, Florida home.“I...

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (Revelation 12:1)The visions of Prophets recorded in the Bible are God-given revelations, that we might see spiritual realities otherwise hidden. Often these apocalypses,(“unveilings) use symbolism and metaphor to reveal abstract truths to God’s people. In apocalyptic imagery, a woman is often a symbol for a spiritual body. Thus faithful Israel is often referred to as “the daughter...

May 8, 2015Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 15:22-31 The Apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole Church,decided to choose representativesand to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas,and Silas, leaders among the brothers.This is the letter delivered by them:“The Apostles and the presbyters, your brothers,to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Ciliciaof Gentile origin: greetings.Since we have heard that some of our numberwho went out without any mandate from ushave upset you with their teachingsand disturbed your peace of mind,we have with...

Veneration of the relics of St George on his feast day May 6th.

May 7, 2015Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 15:7-21 After much debate had taken place,Peter got up and said to the Apostles and the presbyters,“My brothers, you are well aware that from early daysGod made his choice among you that through my mouththe Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe.And God, who knows the heart,bore witness by granting them the Holy Spiritjust as he did us.He made no distinction between us and them,for by faith he purified their hearts.Why, then, are you now putting God to the testby placing on the...

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s governing body, the Holy Synod, has decided to include a blessing for Simeon Saxe-Coburg as “His Majesty Simeon II, Tsar of the Bulgarians” in public and private worship. The proposal was made to the Holy Synod by Nikolai, Metropolitan of Plovdiv. Born in 1937, Saxe-Coburg became king of Bulgaria in 1943 after the sudden death of his father, Boris III. Because he was a minor, there was a regency of three. On the communist takeover in Bulgaria at the end of World War 2, a “People’s Court” process was initiated which led to thousands of deaths,...

May 6, 2015Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 15:1-6 Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers,“Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice,you cannot be saved.”Because there arose no little dissension and debateby Paul and Barnabas with them,it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the othersshould go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbytersabout this question. They were sent on their journey by the Church,and passed through Phoenicia and Samariatelling of the conversion of the Gentiles,and brought great joy to all the brethren.When they arrived in...

In recent years, more often and more priests celebrate the so-called Divine Liturgy of St James the Brother of God. The celebration of this liturgy and its sudden appearance in the life of our Church on the one hand shows the secular spirit that pervades many clergy, and on the other hand it serves the plan of the "reformists" of our liturgical life, the self appointed saviors of the Church. The plan is simple: this liturgy has been "baptized" by the reformists as "archaic." However, when it is performed, it is performed in a manner envisioned by the reformists, so...

There is a myth which is endlessly repeated ... I groan every time I read it ... about the liturgical reforms of S Pius V. It goes like this: (1) He wished to standardise and centralise. So he ordered everybody to use his new edition of the Roman Missal (but he did permit those with rites more than 200 years old to keep them). This is pretty well the opposite of what his legislation ordered. He: (2) Ordered those with such old rites to keep them. But, if they positively wanted to adopt his new edition instead, he permitted them...

May 5, 2015Tuesday of Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 14:19-28 In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconiumarrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city,supposing that he was dead.But when the disciples gathered around him,he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they had proclaimed the good news to that cityand made a considerable number of disciples,they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.They strengthened the spirits of the disciplesand exhorted them to persevere in...

April 28, 2015 In a message today, Pope Bergoglio said precisely the following: “How much I would like us to kneel in veneration before the poor in church.” Quite frankly, I’d like us to kneel before Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, particularly in front of Our Eucharistic Jesus, SEEING THAT POPE BERGOGLIO DOESN’T KNEEL AT THE CONSECRATION, AS HE SHOULD DO, AND, HE DOESN’T KNEEL AT EUCHARISTIC ADORATION EITHER!!! I say this specifically, as I have had to deal every day with gravely ill and suffering dear ones, in whom I am aware of the presence of Our Lord. And I...

In the book of Revelation, when Jesus catalogues the problems in each of several churches he gives a lot of great advice. Some churches need to “hold fast to what you have” others need to “return to your first love.” But when he comes to the church of Laodicea, he has nothing good to say: “I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 4:15-16). Jesus prefers bad Christians...

May 4, 2015Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 14:5-18 There was an attempt in Iconiumby both the Gentiles and the Jews,together with their leaders,to attack and stone Paul and Barnabas.They realized it,and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbeand to the surrounding countryside,where they continued to proclaim the Good News. At Lystra there was a crippled man, lame from birth,who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking, who looked intently at him,saw that he had the faith to be healed,and called out in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your...

May 3, 2015Fifth Sunday of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 9:26-31 When Saul arrived in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples,but they were all afraid of him,not believing that he was a disciple.Then Barnabas took charge of him and brought him to the apostles,and he reported to them how he had seen the Lord,and that he had spoken to him,and how in Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.He moved about freely with them in Jerusalem,and spoke out boldly in the name of the Lord.He also spoke and debated with the Hellenists,but they tried...

A CELEBRATED AMERICAN PREACHER once advanced the novel theory that the various denominations with their different doctrinal emphases served a useful purpose as gathering places for persons of similar temperaments. Christians, he suggested, tend to gravitate toward others of like mental types. Hence the denominations. Undoubtedly this is oversimplification carried to the point of error. There are too many persons of dissimilar temperaments in every denomination to support such a sweeping classification. Yet I believe that we have here an instance where an error may serve to point up a truth, the truth being that temperament has a great deal...

This day our hearts approve with gladness what our reason can never fully comprehend, even Thine eternity, O Ancient of Days. Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? We worship Thee, the Father Everlasting, whose years shall have no end; and Thee, the love-begotten Son whose goings forth have been ever of old; we also acknowledge and adore Thee, Eternal Spirit, who before the foundation of the world didst live and love in coequal glory with the Father and the Son. Enlarge and purify the mansions of our souls that they may be fit habitations...

May 2, 2015Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church    Reading 1 Acts 13:44-52 On the following sabbathalmost the whole citygathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousyand with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said,“It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first,but since you reject itand condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life,we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us,I have made you a light to...

May 1, 2015Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter    Reading 1 Acts 13:26-33 When Paul came to Antioch in Pisidia, he said in the synagogue:“My brothers, children of the family of Abraham,and those others among you who are God-fearing,to us this word of salvation has been sent. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and their leaders failed to recognize him,and by condemning him they fulfilled the oracles of the prophetsthat are read sabbath after sabbath. For even though they found no grounds for a death sentence,they asked Pilate to have him put to death,and when they had accomplished all that...

Position yourself in Me now Completely and cease ALL striving for I have already overcome FOR you ! As you step into the coals of My very spirit I shall paint you into My Portrait of Love and Worship for this is where you belong and you shall find yourself now as part of the very DNA Particles from the building blocks of My Manifold Wisdom completely and entirely of My makeup and knowing, the Eyes of Understanding all that is before you for you have eaten from The Tree of Life and the Salve of My Nectar so that...

Next Barcelona, Catalonia - The Sagrada Família, a Roman Catholic Church in Barcelona, Catalonia, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. Barcelona, Spain, Apr 30, 2015 / 04:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Though the renowned Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi died nearly 90 years ago and his best-known work remains under construction, the beauty of the Sagrada Familia basilica continues to draw people to Christ. “Almost nothing leads us to the divine, but then people go there,” said José Manuel Almuzara Pérez, reflecting on the awe inspired in those who visit the Sagrada Familia. Almuzara told CNA April 18 that “Even the...