AWAKE O SLEEPER! by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD
On Easter morning, Christians worldwide celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus, the high point of our Christian faith. While many of the symbols of Easter have their origins in pre-Christian celebrations, they all are reminders of the awakening of springtime after the seeming deadness of winter and seem appropriate symbols for celebrating the Resurrection and the…
Read MoreAsh Wednesday and Valentine’s Day – A Curious Conjunction by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD
As Valentine’s Day approaches, stores everywhere display heart-shaped candy boxes and Valentine’s Day Cards adorned with hearts and flowers conveying sentimental or loving thoughts. The heart is associated with love worldwide. This connection began in the Western World with the ancient Greeks. In Chinese culture, the word for love contains a pictograph meaning heart, next…
Read MoreWith Grace & Gratitude (by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD)
My wife, Wendy, and I recently returned from a vacation in Switzerland. In the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, grazie is the word used to say thank you. This word comes from the Latin gratia. Gratia is also the source of the word gratitude and of the word grace. In Greek and Roman mythology, The Three…
Read MoreAll Souls Day Reflection (by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD)
The Christian tradition in Central and Eastern Europe is to ring the church bells at dusk on All Souls’ Eve. Families go to cemeteries bringing bright yellow and orange chrysanthemums and lighting yellow, or orange votive candles to decorate …
Read More“Hearts on Fire” (by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD)
Early this morning, as I looked out my home office window, I could see that big ball of fire we call the Sun just clearing the trees toward the East. I started to think about how the Holy One appears again and again in Biblical stories as fire.
Read More“The Way of Death and Resurrection” (by Rev. Yanchy Lacska, PhD)
Lent can be a confusing time. During the Ash Wednesday liturgy, the priest in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions renders a cross with ashes on each person’s forehead saying, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” These words echo the language of the Christian funeral liturgy, “Ashes to ashes…
Read More“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” (by Ted Lewis)
“Let All Mortal Flesh,” with its haunting minor mood, may be one of the oldest songs associated with Christmas, though in its original context it was part of a eucharistic liturgy. St. James the Lesser, first Bishop of Jerusalem, is thought to have written the core text…
Read More“At the Heart of our Salvation” (by Sister Luce Marie Dionne)
We hear for the last week of Advent the “O Antiphons” which are drawn from scriptural verses of the Old Testament. They consist of Seven Messianic Titles for the Messiah followed by statements of praise and signs signifying the divine unfolding of Christ’s Incarnation. On December 17, for example,
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