Today in Orthodoxy is the well known Sunday of Zacchaios and the Gospel reading is taken form Luke 19:1-10. Father Paul shares with us the necessary first step in the spiritual life is a willingness or desire to know God. We learn from Zacchaios that we cannot let obstacles or limitations hinder us in seeing Jesus. Our Lord recognized Zacchaios' desire and approached him at that moment as He will do for us and if we too repent we can find salvation.

Many of us cannot admit when we are having trouble coping with everyday life. Father Ernesto expounds on the Epistle for today, taken from
II Corinthians 4: 6-15. In this epistle Saint Paul calls our human weakness an
earthen vessel. In our earthen vessels during difficult times we can call out to God and He can work through us to show His Glory to others.

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand", these words come to us from the Gospel Lesson for today, this Sunday after Theophany and were spoken by Jesus at the beginning of His ministry. In life we have traffic signals to help us navigate busy intersections without incurring grave consequences.
We also have spiritual traffic lights to help us to know God and experience His Kingdom both now and in the life to come. Father Paul shares with us a few of these spiritual traffic lights that allow us to stop sinning and become citizens of
God's Kingdom.

Today in Orthodoxy we celebrate the Major Feast Day of Epiphany. Father Micah shares with us a message about the significance of water in our lives. Water is symbolic of life, death, humility and it is also glorious. Jesus not only enters into the River Jordan, but into our lives to become like us except with out sin.

The old saying goes "don't judge a book by it's cover". Father Ernesto takes the readings from this Sunday after the Nativity and shares with us a unique contrast between Herod and Paul. He also reminds us that we should never assume when evaluating people, but should extend ourselves to others in need.

Bishop Alexios is vising us today and gives us a message of peace and love to reflect on this Nativity. God out of His Divine love for us gave us the gift of Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus brought peace into the world and it is up to us to receive His peace. Divine love had no limitations and will allow us to love God and neighbor.

The universal longing of people is happiness or as the Bible says Blessedness. To find Blessedness in this life and in God's Kingdom we must receive Bread at the Divine Banquet, that being non other than Jesus Christ Himself. Father Paul expounds on the Gospel taken from Luke 14:16-24, where we hear a parable of The Great Banquet. He shares what the Church Father's say about the parable and its relevancy for us today as Orthodox Christians.

Father Micah give a youth sermon today and helps to understand gift giving at Christmas. God gave us the best gift He could when He sent His Son into the world to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. We too can give to Jesus our love and thanksgiving.

The universal longing of all Christians is Eternal Life in the presence of our Creator. Father Paul shares with us that to obtain Eternal Life one must know God. To know God we must come to Church because she is the pillar of truth and the body of Christ. The second thing we must do is pray, because there is no such thing as Christian who does not pray.

The Book of Hebrews tells us that the Word of God has the ability to pierce and cut into our hearts. Father Micah reminds us that all Gospel readings can change us into true followers of Christ if we allow them too. Christ can raise us up from that which binds us so we can follow Him and not walk away like the rich ruler in today's Gospel taken from Luke 18:18-27.