What do the soliloquies of Jesus Christ (as we find in the Gospel of St. John) lead us to? What is the confusing language leading to? How are we like the Samaritan Woman? Listen in. 

Musings from the High Desert

The Samaritan Woman

We all experience some sort of paralysis in our lives, some inability to move off dead center and take a step forward into new life. How does this paralysis affect us, how do we respond to it, and how can the message of the resurrection come to us in the midst of our own paralysis? That's at the heart of today's gospel, and especially important is the news that we can change with Christ's help. 

The Paralytic and Resistance to Change

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle uses a waterfall of quotes from early fathers of the church to show the cosmic meaning of the resurrection of Christ, ending with reflections on St. Maximos the Confessor. Christ is risen! 

Christ is risen!

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle asks us to set aside the preconceptions we approach the entry with, chiefly the compartmentalization of aspects of our lives. This would not have been the case in the time of Jesus Christ and so we need to hear this message from a different perspective. We are "prisoners of hope" (the third lesson from Vespers) and we look forward to our release and the constitution of a new life in keeping with the servanthood of Christ. 

Palm Sunday: Prisoners of Hope

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle takes off from one of the stichery from Vespers, which has the words (about St. Mary) "through violence you broke the rebellion of your flesh, taking the Kingdom of God by force." This is a reference to Matthew 11:12, which forms the basis for reflections on that passage and on both the Gospels assigned for this Sunday. 

St. Mary of Egypt

Father Gabriel Rochelle considers the humor in this week's Gospel and, as an aside, muses on why the text was placed on this Sunday by the ancient lectionary compilers. (The texts for the Sunday of Orthodoxy precede the commemoration historically and have remained in place.) 

Start Lent with Some Good Humor

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle takes a slightly different view of the passage we know as "inasmuch" - inasmuch as you have fed the hungry, and so forth. Listen in to hear how this passage ultimately applies to all of us in its specificity and concreteness. 

“He’ll tell me I’m Elvis and I’ll tell him that he’s Christ”

Forget humility! Forget pride! Forget, for sure, comparing yourself to anyone else on the spiritual journey. In an alternative reading of the Greek at this point in Luke, we hear that the pharisee and the tax collector go away together justified. What's that all about? We shift the focus this week from the characters in the parable to the God who stands in and behind Christ the parable teller. 

Pharisee and Tax Collector Go Away Justified

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle surveys the whole message of the First Letter of Timothy, focusing on the concept of godliness, a word that doesn't occur until later in the New Testament witness. What does this word mean and how does it apply to both Timothy as minister of the gospel and us as faithful Christians? 

First Timothy

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle focuses on the hymn of Simeon, "Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace" and shows its origin in his life and its meaning for our lives today. 

Prayer of St. Simeon

The Rich Young man who comes to Jesus is a model of those who cannot part with their material possessions. He hopes to take it with him! Jesus drives us all deeply into our understanding of life in order to make us confront the lust and even anger that fuels our desires. For those who live like this, salvation is impossible. The rich man cannot be saved in and with his richness. But with God, all things are possible. 

The Rich Young Man

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks into the Jewish background of Matthew's gospel from the viewpoint of seeing it as a novel with history and biography folded in. In particular, there may be an interesting background to Matthew's assertion of the fourteen generations separating Abraham from David, David from the deportation to Babylon, and the deportation to the Christ. Lastly we consider how we might use this information in our own ministries today. 

Why Did Matthew Include the Genealogy of Christ?

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle looks at the Epistle lesson for today from Colossians 3, which is underlined by he opening verses of the chapter about seeking Christ above and the mind of Christ. In the following verses, "putting off" five sins of sex and five sins of speech are addressed, and then we hear about "putting on" Christ - which has an echo of baptism. Ultimately we are pointed toward a life of relationships underlined by the self-giving love God showed in Christ, a life which was projected in the ancestry of Christ, those who submitted to the guidance of God forward through history. 

Putting Off and Putting On

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle addresses the cultural concept of "Santa Claus" in comparison to what we know about the real St. Nicholas of Myra, commemorated each time we serve the liturgy of preparation at the proskomedia table. 

Saint Nicholas

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle returns to his series of meditations on the meaning of the liturgy. Today we consider the meaning of "remembrance" or "memorial." This remembrance is far more than a mental act; it is the presence of Christ himself in and through the eucharistic sacrifice, a presence which is available to us as a "foretaste of the feast to come." 

Anamnesis

Contemplations on Orthodox Christianity from Las Cruces, New Mexico - Fr. Gabriel Rochelle shares from his wide range of insights, imaginings, and interests.

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Musings from the High Desert

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