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Weekly sermons from Holy Trinity + Holy Cross Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama.
Holy Trinity + Holy Cross - Sermons
Holy Trinity + Holy Cross - Sermons
25 AUG 2024 · In today’s Gospel reading, Christ withdraws to a secluded place to pray, which he does throughout the Gospel accounts. Fr. Micah, in today's sermon, urges us to become people of prayer. He points out that while it is Christ and the Holy Spirit who teach us how to pray, we can say certain things about prayer.
First, prayer must involve attention on Christ. There must also be trust in Christ when we pray. Our prayer must be consistent and humble. During prayer, we must reflect and call upon the name of the Lord. Our prayers are not merely mantras, but they are personal, directed to Christ. Finally, we must struggle to obey Christ’s commandments in order to see fruit from our prayers, the prayers in which we encounter the living God.
18 AUG 2024 · Today’s Gospel passage recounts Christ’s miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, feeding a crowd of over five thousand.
In the miracle, Christ first invokes God’s blessing on the food, then blesses it himself, then distributes it to the crowds. The fathers of the Church connect this miracle to the Holy Eucharist, and Fr. Gregory focuses on this symbolism in today’s sermon.
He also points out that, in the miracle, Christ gives us an example of how we should go about our daily lives. We must recognize that nothing is our own, but everything, including our existence, is a gift from God. Our material goods, including our food, are a means of communion with God and with each other. God blesses us with what we have, and we can return it back to him with thanksgiving, creating a connection between us and God. We can share these same gifts with our fellow man, creating connections and communing with one another. We must recognize that everything is a gift from God, a means of communing with him and others through thanksgiving and sharing.
11 AUG 2024 · In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus heals blind men, and Fr. Micah addresses our own blindness in today’s homily. Our blindness is our inability to see the image of God in the face of each and every person. Instead, we objectify others, asking ourselves how they can benefit us. In today's homily, Fr. Micah explains how we might see the other not as an object but as a living icon of Christ.
First, we must pray, calling upon the mercy of God as the blind men did in today’s Gospel reading. If we call upon the mercy of God and follow St. Paul’s example, recognizing ourselves as first among sinners, how can we not forgive and be merciful to our neighbor? Second, we must not seek that which pleases ourselves, but instead serve one another as St. Paul urges us in today’s Epistle reading. Third, we must have faith as the blind men did. Fr. Micah reminds us that faith is not merely belief in Christ, but also obedience to his commandments. If we follow his commands and Christ’s example to us, we will love our neighbor and see them as the living image of God.
4 AUG 2024 · Today’s Gospel reading recounts Jesus’ healing of the paralytic. Before granting him physical healing, our Lord says to him, “Your sins are forgiven.” Fr. Gregory focuses on the facets of forgiveness in today’s sermon.
First, he addresses the relationship with forgiveness and calamity. The paralytic came to Jesus not for forgiveness but for bodily healing. However, Jesus addresses the cause of his illness first by forgiving his sins. This does not mean that the paralytic was to blame for his illness on account of his sins, but rather the sinfulness of mankind in general was the cause. This is clear in another Gospel passage in which the apostles ask Jesus “Who sinned? This man or his parents?” to find blame for the man’s blindness. Jesus responds, “Neither this man nor his parents.”
The cause of every evil, the source of all sin, is humanity’s broken communion with God. To heal evil at its root, communion with God must be restored. This is what our Lord accomplished through the Incarnation, and we see this in Jesus’ conversation with the religious leaders. When Jesus granted forgiveness of sins, the religious leaders were indignant, saying that Jesus was a blasphemer because only God could forgive sins. By forgiving the paralytic’s sins, Jesus — being both God and man — showed that humanity and divinity had indeed been united to one another, restoring the communion broken in the Garden of Eden.
Fr. Gregory also addresses humanity’s role in forgiveness. While remission of sins comes from God alone, it passes through the human nature of Christ, shown in today’s Gospel reading. When Christ rose from the dead, he granted his disciples this power to remit sins. The apostles then transferred this power to the bishops, who transferred it to priests. The mystery of repentance and confession is accomplished through this authority passed down through the church throughout the ages. While God alone can remit sins, forgiveness and reconciliation with God passes through human beings. Another aspect of humanity’s role in forgiveness is our relationships with our brothers and sisters. If we wish to be forgiven of our sins, we must first forgive the sins of one another. This is emphasized in the Lord’s Prayer.
In repentance, confession, and forgiveness, we must have humility and love. Through these two paths, we can restore our broken communion with God and reconcile our relationships with our brothers and sisters.
28 JUL 2024 · In today’s Gospel reading, Christ confronts evil, encountering two possessed men. Fr. Micah today addresses the qualities of evil as well as its antidotes.
First, Fr. Micah discusses the root of evil — self-love. Each sin we commit is born of self-love and has a certain selfishness to it. This evil only increases, becoming self-preservation, preservation of the ego. We justify our own evil, making excuses for our sins. This evil then becomes destruction — destruction of the self and of others. We see this in the Gospel reading, when the demons, in their self-preservation, ask to go into the herd of swine. Immediately, the swine throw themselves into the abyss.
This evil — which begins with self-love, becomes self-preservation, and eventually, self-destruction — has antidotes, which are exemplified in the life of Christ. The antidote to self-love is the love of the other, the antidote to self-preservation is humility, and the antidote to self-destruction is self-sacrifice. Christ shows us the perfection of this love, this humility, and this self-sacrifice. May we follow his example, following him on the path that leads to life everlasting.
21 JUL 2024 · In today’s sermon, Fr. Gregory focuses on the Epistle reading from Romans, in which St. Paul contrasts slaves to sin and slaves of God (or slaves of righteousness). Fr. Gregory addresses three aspects of being slaves of God.
First is obedience. As slaves of God, it is important to be obedient to what is right and good, leading to sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Second, we must sacrifice our self-interest, putting the needs of others before our own. Third is salvation. We are dependent on God for our salvation just as a slave is dependent on the mercy of his master.
Fr. Gregory encourages us to choose to be slaves of God, the most merciful and good master of all.
15 JUL 2024 · Today we remember the Fourth Ecumenical Synod, which gathered in the city of Chalcedon and focused on the question of Christ’s identity. In today’s homily, Fr. Micah addresses who Christ is.
First, he focuses on Christ's identity as both fully God and fully Man. This understanding of Christ gives us life and meaning. Next, he addresses the title Christ itself, which means “the anointed." This name is trinitarian in that it implies the anointed (the Son), the anointer (the Father), and the ointment (the Holy Spirit). Throughout Scripture, anointing rested on prophets, kings, the priests, and the temple, all of which find their fulfillment in Christ.
The title Christ referenced himself most often as is the Son of Man, the expected one of the Old Testament. The incarnation, our unification with Christ, is the expectation and purpose of creation. Another title Fr. Micah discusses is the Sun of Righteousness, which reminds us of the resurrection and the light of Christ. He is also the Savior, the one who sets us free.
Though all these names are great and holy, Fr. Micah reminds us that they are incapable of conveying the uncreated glory and beauty that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, That is why we will often speak of simply “the name,” implying not a word or title but the presence of the one named. This appears in the final hymn of every liturgy, which says, “Blessed be the name of the Lord from now unto the age.”
8 JUL 2024 · In today’s Gospel reading, Christ calls four fishermen — Peter, John, Andrew, and James — to be his disciples, to be fishers of men. Deacon Tikhon, in today’s sermon, explains how this analogy helps us understand the kingdom of heaven.
The church is like the ship. As the fishermen depend on the ship for safety, so we depend on the church as the vessel of salvation. Deacon Tikhon encourages us to care for the vessel that protects us from the perils of life through stewardship and almsgiving.
If the ship is the church, the net is the Gospel. This fishing tool, unlike a hook and line, does not discriminate the types of fish it catches. Similarly, the good news of Christ is for all the world. We must tend to our net, the Gospel, by studying the Scriptures and attending church to experience sacramental life.
Finally, the fishermen represent us. Christ did not choose legal scholars or religious leaders to be his disciples, but rather chose these hardworking and obedient fishermen. To be followers of Christ as the fishermen were, we too must work hard and be obedient through prayer, fasting, and following Christ’s commandments.
1 JUL 2024 · In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus turns his twelve disciples into apostles. On this Feast of the Twelve Apostles, Fr. Gregory addresses three questions about the apostles.
First, he asks, “Why did Jesus turn his disciples into apostles?” Today's Gospel reading answers this question, saying, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them.” Jesus says that the people are like sheep without a shepherd, weary and scattered. This is the reason why he transformed his disciples into apostles — to become Shepherds for the people as Jesus did in the incarnation.
Second, Fr. Gregory asks the question, “What is an apostle?” The word “apostle” comes from a Greek word meaning “to send forth” or “dispatch.” The word carries with a sense of authority, in this case showing that the apostles were sent with full power to act in Jesus’ name. They are entrusted with Jesus’ work — teaching, preaching, healing, and even forgiving sins.
Finally, Fr. Gregory addresses what this means to us today. He explains that, before the apostles died, they chose successors and transmitted their apostolic authority through the laying on of hands. This transmission of authority has continued to the present day. In the church, we have bishops and priests who have been ordained through this laying on of hands which traces back to Jesus. Through apostolic succession, we are not sheep without a shepherd. We are gathered and cared for in the community of the church, the body of Christ.
23 JUN 2024 · On this Sunday, we celebrate Pentecost, when God sent the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. Bishop Sebastian points out that the disciples were together when they received the Holy Spirit, and emphasizes the importance of this togetherness in the life of the church.
In the Holy Trinity, we have the example of the perfect community. In the Holy Orders, we see the checks and balances that protect us from the dangers of our own individual opinions. Through the church, we have gifts such as confession, Holy Communion, marriage, Holy Unction, and the relationships with our brothers and sisters.
Through this togetherness in the body of Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit as the disciples did on Pentecost. Bishop Sebastian encourages us to be faithful to the church, sharing in its gifts and its truth together.
Weekly sermons from Holy Trinity + Holy Cross Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama.
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| Author | Parish Life Connect |
| Organization | Finding God |
| Categories | Religion & Spirituality |
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