Our Lady's Promise Apostolate Blog


Browsing Archive: January, 2016

The Future Pan-Orthodox Council: To Be or Not to Be?

Posted by Site Webmaster on Tuesday, January 26, 2016, In : OLP Newsline 

Over the last two years, the Patriarchate of Constantinople has repeatedly announced that the much anticipated Great and Holy Council will take place around the Feast of Pentecost in June 2016. When it happens, this Council will be an event of considerable historical import, bringing together the leaders of all Orthodox Churches for the first time since 787. Unfortunately, not all Orthodox leaders are equally enthusiastic about the Council and some are even trying to prevent it. Why is...


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The Miracle of Life

Posted by Site Webmaster on Monday, January 25, 2016, In : Our Lady's Promise 

063009-Pope1-A

We March today with cold weather and possible snow bearing down on the area. The coldest march I ever endured was back in the mid 1980s when the temperature was 4 degrees, and there were 15 inches of snow. It was so cold that year that Regan's Second Inaugural outside was cancelled the day before and moved inside. The next day when it was even colder we marched!

But the Sacrifice is worth it, for he magnificence of life is really too wonderful too describe...


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On The Wonder of the Word of God -- A Homily for the Third Sunday of the Year

Posted by Site Webmaster on Monday, January 25, 2016, In : Our Lady's Promise 

- January 23, 2016 -

The gospel for this Sunday is continued next week, so I will postpone the analysis of it until then. Instead, I will focus on the first reading, from Nehemiah 8. It is a wonderful meditation on the glory and wonder of the Word of God and it deserves our attention.

The background of the text is that in 587 BC, Israel had been conquered by the Babylonians and the survivors of the war were led into exile in Babylon. After 80 y...


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Evangelize the poor: that is your mission, Pope says

Posted by Site Webmaster on Monday, January 25, 2016, In : OLP Newsline 
Pope Francis centered his Angelus address this Sunday on what it means to evangelize the poor, and how this is the mission of the Church.

"Evangelize the poor: this is the mission of Jesus; this is also the mission of the Church, and of all the baptized in the Church," the Pope said Jan. 24 to the crowds in Saint Peter's Square. "To be a Christian and to be a missionary is the same thing."

"What does it mean to evangelize the poor? It means to be close to them, to serve them, to free t...


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Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? A Meditation on the Mystery of Time

Posted by Site Webmaster on Saturday, January 2, 2016, In : Our Lady's Promise 

I open our New Year's Eve late night Mass (11:15 PM) with the observation that we begin Mass in one year and end in the next. New Year's Eve highlights the mysterious passage between years. In a way I suppose it is no more mysterious than the passage from Thursday to Friday or from 10:00 AM to 10:01 AM.

In one sense, nothing could be simpler than time. I might ask you, "What time is it?" You might reply, "It's 1:15." Simple! But time has mysteries about it.

What is time? Some...


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Stump the Priest: Did the Early Church Venerate Icons?

Posted by Site Webmaster on Saturday, January 2, 2016, In : Byzantine Catholics 

An Iconoclast removing an icon of Christ

Question: "Isn't the fact that there were controversies over icons well into the 9th century proof that the early Church did not venerate icons?"

There were indeed controversies at various times, most notably , but these controversies were primarily focused on the question of whether one could have icons at all. Even the iconoclasts did not object to the veneration of the Cross,...
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The Icon FAQ

Posted by Site Webmaster on Saturday, January 2, 2016, In : Byzantine Catholics 
1. What is an Icon?

An Icon is an image (usually two dimensional) of Christ, the Saints, Angels, important Biblical events, parables, or events in the history of the Church.

St. Gregory the Dialogist (Pope of Rome ca. 590-604), spoke of Icons as being Scripture to the illiterate:

"For what writing presents to readers, this a picture presents to the unlearned who behold, since in it even the ignorant see what they ought to follow; in it the illiterate read" (


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