Fr. Peter-Michael Preble

Massachusetts Death with Dignity

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:00:45 PST

For several years different groups in Massachusetts have attempted to pass a law that would make Physician Assisted Suicide legal in the Commonwealth. One such bill is making its way through the Massachusetts State Legislature at the present time. The aim is to place this on the ballot for the General Election in November. H 2233 An Act relative to death with dignity was filed By Stoughton

The Sacrament of Holy Unction and the Care of the Sick

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:40:32 PST

The Most Reverend Ioan Cassian Auxiliary Bishop Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas The year 2012 has been dedicated by the Romanian Patriarchate to the Sacrament of Holy Unction and the Care of the Sick. Just as last year we concentrated on the two Sacraments of Baptism and Crowning seeking to discern their meaning, effects, and their ethical-moral repercussions in the life of the

H.R. 1179: Respect for Rights of Conscience Act of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:13:04 PST

Last week I posted an essay about the removal of the Conscious Clause from the Health Care Law. In essence it removes the right of religious institutions, such as the church, from objecting to an insurance policy that allows payment for Birth Control, Abortions, etc. This historic move has never been taken prior to this and it is done a policy of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Week of Christian Unity

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:19:30 PST

St. Mary & St. Mena Coptic Orthodox Church All over the world, during the last week of January, Christians come together for the week of Christian Unity. Christians from a variety of confessions come together to celebrate not what divides us but what brings us together. Now I know that some hard core Orthodox readers will say that we should not gather at such services and pray with the “

Rhode Island Council of Churches Sermon

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:48:56 PST

Sunday, January 29, 2012St. Mary and Mena Coptic Orthodox Church, Hope, Rhode Island Reverend Clergy, Brothers and Sisters it is a joy for me to be with you on this day in this magnificent Church and to share with you some thoughts. I bring you greetings from my small parish in Southbridge, Massachusetts and I thank you for the invitation to be here with all of you today. Please forgive my voice;

Sermon ~ Sunday of the Canaanite Woman

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:44:07 PST

ED: Below is the text of my Sermon for the Sunday of the Canaanite Woman. I ended up not using the first two paragraphs but I kept them as part of the text as I believe it is important. Sunday, January 29, 2012Sunday of the Canaanite WomanSt. Michael Orthodox Church SouthbridgeMatthew 15:21-28 On January 25th Orthodox Hieromonk Basilios Nassar was shot by an armed terrorist group in Hama, Syria

To Hell With You

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:32:45 PST

By Bishop David A. Zubik, Roman Catholic Bishop of PittsburghIt is really hard to believe that it happened. It comes like a slap in the face. The Obama administration has just told the Catholics of the United States, “To Hell with you!” There is no other way to put it. In early August, the Department for Health and Human Services in the Obama administration released guidelines as part of the

Prayer at March for Life

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:06:19 PST

OCA - Metropolitan Jonah was honored to lead the opening prayer at the March for Life in Washington, DC this past week. He was invited to do so by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo who leads of Roman Catholic Bishops Office on Pro Life Activities. The text of his prayer is below:“Holy Father, our Creator, Savior, Redeemer and our God, Light and Life of the World, Who didst show Thine infinite love for

Russian monasteries taking a pioneering role in bringing organic food to consumers

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:24:50 PST

By Anneli Ahonen in Sosnovyi Bor/Halila On the former sanatorium estate of Halila, cheese is made using methods dating back to the Middle Ages. Orthodox Monk Gavriil is standing next to a huge bull in a cowshed, stroking its back. ”Our products and soil are pure, better than those that have been pumped full of chemicals”, he says. The Optina Pustyn Monastery farm sprawls over a total area of 240

Let us be in Solidarity with Those Who Suffer

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:32:06 PST

The economic situation in Romania is deteriorating each day. Yesterday some 3,000 protesters gathered in cities around the country and called for the resignation of the Government. The Prime Minister fired the Foreign Minister due to remarks he made about the anti-government protesters and the situation is getting worse. The new President of the European Union has called on Romania to enact

‎Church Under Attack

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:00:12 PST

In the Gospels Jesus warns us that the world will hate us. He is giving us a warning that being a Christian will not be easy and that it will be a fight, every day, for what we believe in. The world is becoming increasingly hostile to the truth of Jesus Christ and I do not see it getting any better. Yesterday I posted an essay on the Huffington Post Religion Page and before my finger was even

We Have Eggs!

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:41:34 PST

For those of you who follow these pages you know that several months ago I purchased 6 chickens and a rooster. Each day I go to the coop and look for any signs of eggs. Well today I opened the coop and there were 3 eggs perched on the straw! I guess they realized what their job is after all. One of them was broken so I did not keep it but the other 2 are a good size as you can see from the

SOPA ~ Stop Online Piracy Act

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 04:52:38 PST

Today many of the large sites on the internet have gone dark in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act presently working its way through Congress. I am all for the protection of intellectual property but in my mind this bill goes way too far. The bill is designed to protect copy-write holders and give them some teeth to go after site that misuse their intellectual property. It also protects

Temptation

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:09:22 PST

The Temptation of Jesus We all know the scene, a person standing there trying to make the decision and on one shoulder stands the guy in the red suit and on the other stands the guy in the white suit. They both whisper in your ear on the benefits of doing it the way they want you to do it and in the end we have to make the decision. But is that how it really goes? Well maybe. Let’s take a look

Tebowmania

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:35:47 PST

Denver Broncos Photo Well the long awaited football game is over and the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos. As expected the haters came out before the game was even over. I was watching my Twitter feed and people were saying things like, “where is your God now” and the like. I will admit I go back and forth on the whole Tim Tebow thing but this past week was an eye opener for me. The

Greek church protests pre-trial detention of Abbot Efraim

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:00:26 PST

Abbot Efraim The autocephalous Orthodox Church of Greece has called for the release of Abbot Efraim, the head of the Vatopedi Monastery in Mount Athos, who is currently under arrest on real estate fraud charges, the church’s Holy Synod said on Thursday. “Our church respects rulings by justice and would not like to interfere in its responsibility sphere… Nevertheless, together with many

The Art of Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:48:19 PST

The very first line that St. Benedict wrote in his rule for monastics is “listen.” All of the literature on prayer instructs us that half of prayer is listening. When the priest faces the people before the reading of the Holy Gospel he bids them, “Let us listen to the Holy Gospel.” But what about listening in our personal relationships or ministry? How are we truly to listen to people? Here are

12 January ~ St. Benedict Biscop

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:32:51 PST

Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, Abbot of Wearmouth, Abbot of Jarrow. Died: 12th January AD 689 at Wearmouth, Co Durham. Biscop Baducing was born in Northumbria in AD 628, of a noble English family. When quite a young man, he stood high in the Royal favour and was rewarded for his services to King Oswiu by the gift of a possession in land suitable to his rank... But, it would seem, to the

Followers as Mirrors

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:58:51 PST

What is the best way to gauge the effectiveness of our leadership? I would say it is how the people you lead follow you. There is a quote I heard somewhere, and for the life of me I cannot remember where I heard it, “A leader without followers is just a guy out taking a walk.” This is very true. The people that we lead are basically a mirror of our own leadership. What do I mean by this? The

Leaders Take Responsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 05:16:20 PST

Not everyone lives under the same rules. Sometimes we hold people to a higher standard than others in all that they do and leaders would be included in this group. On November 2, 2011 Massachusetts Lt. Governor Timothy Murray was involved in a pretty horrific car crash on an empty road at 5:00 in the morning. The car he was driving was totaled and looking at the photos of the accident I am amazed

7 January ~ St. Fursey, Abbot of Lagny, near Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:59:24 PST

He was the son of Fintan, son of Finloga, prince of South Muster, and Gelgesia, daughter of Aedhfinn, prince of Hy-Briuin in Connaught. He was born probably amongst the Hy-Bruin, and was baptized by St. Brendan the Traveller, his father's uncle, who then ruled a monastery in the Island of Oirbsen, now called Inisquin in Lough Corrib. He was educated by St. Brendan's monks, and when of proper age

7 January ~ Cedd of Lastingham, Bishop of the East Saxons

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 02:56:18 PST

St. Cedd was the eldest of four holy brothers, born into a noble Northumbrian family at the beginning of the 7th century. With his siblings, Cynebil, Caelin & (St.) Chad, he entered the school at Lindisfarne Priory at an early age and learnt the ways of the Irish monks under Bishop Aidan. They were eventually sent to Ireland for further study and all four subsequently became priests... In AD 653,

Church Leadership

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 08:32:54 PST

When one thinks of the Orthodox Church one thinks of many things, worship, theology, etc. the term leadership is not one that springs to mind right away. Oh sure we have our share and have had our share of leaders but what I am speaking of is leadership of the Church in the 21st century. Yesterday I wrote about Engaged Monasticism and how we need a different model of monasticism in 21st America,

Engaged Monasticism

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:33:43 PST

I have been writing about monastic topics for the last few years. I have been trying to develop a sense of what I have called the “new monasticism” although it is not really all that new. I say it is not all that new but in the modern Orthodox Church, especially the Orthodox Church in North America this is a new concept. In 369 AD St. Basil the great was a newly ordained priest ministering in and

2011 ~ A Blog Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Fr. Peter) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:46:48 PST

So I thought I would take a little look to see how the blog did this past year. I guess its vanity but I do like to see where you are coming from and what you are interested in so I know what to write about. It has been a pleasure to bring you thoughts and reflections this past year and I look forward to 2012. Thanks for visiting in 2011. These numbers come from Google Analytics. 13,567