Dear Friends in Christ, Eight days ago we celebrated the Birth of Jesus Christ, and we read in the Gospel of St Luke that “When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke 2.21) Today is, therefore,…

Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is not just one day on the calendar; Christmas is an entire season of the Church’s liturgical year. The season of Christmas Time or Christmastide begins with Vespers on Christmas Eve and ends with Vespers on the Feast of the Baptism the Lord, this year on Monday 9 January. And…

Dear Friends in Christ, The popular Advent Hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” took shape in France in the 17th century and was translated into English and set to the hauntingly beautiful plainchant melody we know in the 19th century. But the text of the hymn dates from the 9th century and earlier and is…

Dear Friends in Christ, The Lord Jesus teaches us to expect opposition, rejection, and even hatred and persecution from “the world” simply because we are his disciples. But, by “the world”, the Christ does not mean the universe he created or this planet which is his handiwork; rather, by “the world”, the Messiah means that…