Sunday Sermon

Is it considered taking the Lord's name in vain to say OMG or words like 'geez'?

The third of the Ten Commandments tells us not to take the Lord's name in vain: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain" (Exodus 20:7). Does this apply to acronyms like OMG (Oh, my God!), "geez" (often used as an abbreviated form of Jesus), or similar terms?

THE Saviour of the world, whom, according to the prediction of the prophet Isaias, men were one day to see on this Earth “and all flesh shall see the salvation of God,” has already come. We have not only seen him conversing among men, but we have also seen him suffering and dying for the love of us. Let us, then, this morning consider the love which we owe to Jesus Christ at least through gratitude for the love which he bears to us. In the first point we shall consider the greatness of the love which Jesus Christ has shown to us; and in the second we shall see the greatness of our obligations to love him.

A sermon on how compassion changed the woman with the crooked spine, and how the synagogue ruler's religiosity resisted kindness. Compassion should always win.

As an introduction to this sermon, let me qoute St. Augustine sermon delivered to the penitents: "What is it that you are doing? You know very well-you are doing nothing! What's the use of your humbling yourselves, if you don't change your behavior? So many years I have been baptizing so many people, and all for nothing, if there are none among them who keep what they have received, and take care of what they have heard. God forbid I should believe that! It would be better for me to stop being your bishop, if that's how it is. But I hope, I believe that there are such people.

After preaching to and baptizing literally thousands of people from all around he is now bound up and seemingly helpless, while in the mean time the one that came after him is rising to stardome, as folks are flocking around him just to hear him speak or perhaps see him perform a miracle. John knew his role, and even confessed it in times past, now he sits looking at the fact that after all he did to prepare the way for the Messiah, he ends up waiting for his execution. At this time he sends his disciples to go ask Jesus “Are you the one who should come, are you really the messiah, are you really the one sent from God, or should we be looking for someone else?” Think about it: this same John pointed Jesus out of a crowd of folks by the Jordan River, saying ‘behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’, and now he is questioning if Jesus is really who he claimed to be. Was he doubting or was there another reason for the question. Father Todd gives a great perspective and insight on John the Baptist who finds himself at the end of his life.

Poverty and wealth are very relative terms, and people with riches can be poor, and people with little wealth can be rich.

Jesus says to the church of Laodicea in "You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor blind and naked." But to the church in Smyrna He says, "I know your afflictions and your poverty-yet you are rich!"

Today's gospel reading tell us of another rich man poor man situation where there was more to the story then meets the eye!

Some years ago a murderer was sentenced to death. The murderer’s brother, to whom the State was deeply indebted for former services, besought the governor of the State for his brother’s pardon. The pardon was granted, and the man visited his brother with the pardon in his pocket. “What would you do,” he said to him, “if you received a pardon?” “The first thing I would do,” he answered, “is to track down the judge who sentenced me, and murder him; and the next thing I would do is to track down the chief witness, and murder him.” The brother rose, and left the prison with the pardon in his pocket.

Because of what this man had done, death penalty was waiting on him. The opportunity was granted to him, but it called for repentance. Since there could be no repentance, there also could be no pardon.

In tribulations God enriches his beloved souls with the greatest graces. Behold, St. John in his chains comes to the knowledge of the works of Jesus Christ: “When John had heard in prison the works of Christ.” Great indeed are the advantages of tribulations. The Lord sends them to us, not because he wishes our misfortune, but because he desires our welfare.

Christians have their own "Homeland Security" for their defense from Fear and Anxiety in the present distress because "Our citizenship is in Heaven.” Our Security lies in God.

All of us are guilty of committing many types of sin. There are sins of omission - things we don’t do which we should, and sins of commission - things we do which we shouldn’t. There are sins of the flesh and of the spirit, open sins and secret sins, and so-called "respectable" sins. It was a respectable sin that Jesus graphically pointed out in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.