English > UOGCC Publications
Word of Life – Rom 6:19 (30/12/2018 – 13/1/2019)
Post date: 2018-12-29Autor: BCP
“I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”
Christmas 2018, pastoral letter
Post date: 2018-12-25Autor: BCP
Dear brothers and sisters! The year has passed, not one minute will return. Again, we stand before the mystery of Christ’s birth to be spiritually united with Him. Before our spiritual sight a history unfolds, associated with the town of Bethlehem. The Holy Virgin and Saint Joseph came here all the way from Galilee for the census ordered by the Emperor Augustus. The child’s birth is approaching, and there is no place for them anywhere. The child is the promised Messiah, predicted by the prophets, and so long awaited by all mankind. They did not find a place in any house, in any shelter, except in the Bethlehem stable, where our Saviour was born, who is Christ the Lord!
Reflection on Rom 6:17-18
Post date: 2018-12-15Autor: BCP
Thanks be to God that, being converted, we were given the grace to receive the salvific teaching based on the faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We have been delivered by Him from enslavement caused by sin, and we have taken the new path of righteousness.
The Epiclesis /Part three: The Epiclesis – How to experience the Epiclesis in the Liturgy/
Post date: 2018-12-04Autor: BCP
We present one of the ways how to experience the Epiclesis, as practised in some monasteries.
The Epiclesis /Part four: The Epiclesis – The Temple and Iconostasis/
Post date: 2018-12-04Autor: BCP
The biblical model of the Christian temple is the vision given by God (to Moses). It was applied to the Jerusalem Temple. The basic structure consists of the Holy of Holies, where God is present in a special way, the Holy Place, where the priests offered sacrifices to God, and the place for people. The Eastern temple with an iconostasis, altar and tabernacle has preserved this biblical structure to this day. The Western Church had preserved it only until the Second Vatican Council which carried out an absurd reform. After the reform, the priest, who represents the people and offers sacrifice to God on the altar in their behalf, has turned his back to the centre of the temple, which is the tabernacle where God’s presence dwells constantly. The basis for the necessary reform today is to restore the liturgical posture of the priest so that he faces the tabernacle – the spiritual centre of the temple – as it used to be practised throughout the history.
Word of Life – Rom 6:16 (2/12/2018 – 16/12/2018)
Post date: 2018-11-30Autor: BCP
“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
Reflection on Rom 6:16
Post date: 2018-11-30Autor: BCP
This verse from the Scripture reveals a deep truth about obedience the fruit of which is eternal life in heaven or eternal death in hell. If we do not serve God wholeheartedly, we are not free but we are slaves of original sin which is in us. We automatically obey original sin, i.e. the source of lies and evil in our heart. Original sin clouds our mind and weakens our will so that we hate the truth about ourselves, reject the true good and refuse to serve God and keep His commandments.
The Epiclesis /Part two: The Holy Spirit and the Epiclesis/
Post date: 2018-11-29Autor: BCP
When did the Holy Spirit come? Only after Jesus accomplished His sacrifice on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended to heaven on the fortieth day where He was glorified. Only then does He send the Holy Spirit in fullness on the Apostles, and the Holy Spirit enlightens their mind and strengthens their will. The Apostles, who fled out of fear and did not stand by the cross, now become heroes of faith who, one by one, shed their blood for Christ’s sake as martyrs. After the descent of the Holy Spirit they understood what Jesus had done at the Last Supper when He established the new covenant and gave His body and blood for the remission of sins. They understood that the Holy Spirit makes present this mystery through His words of Institution and through those whom Jesus chose, i.e. the Apostles and their successors.
The Epiclesis /Part one: The Difference between Eastern and Western Liturgy/
Post date: 2018-11-27Autor: BCP
The Eastern Liturgy of St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom (4th century) contains the Epiclesis. The Epiclesis is also found in other Eastern rites. It comes directly from the Apostolic Tradition. What is the difference between Eastern and Western Liturgy? The Western Liturgy was radically modified at the Second Vatican Council. The reform introduced four Canons instead of one. The pre-conciliar Latin Liturgy had no mention of the Holy Spirit in the Canon. The reformed conciliar Liturgy does make mention of the Holy Spirit but it has been inserted before the words of Institution. Unlike the Latin Liturgy, the Eastern Liturgy includes a so-called intense invocation of the Holy Spirit, or the Epiclesis, after the words of Institution.
Word of Life – Rom 6:13 (18/11/2018 – 2/12/2018
Post date: 2018-11-17Autor: BCP
“And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
Reflection on Rom 6:13
Post date: 2018-11-17Autor: BCP
“...do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin…”. What does it mean? It calls for steps of practical faith and following Christ. Everyone can gain personal experience from this faith. Naturally, it involves a struggle, a kind of transformation or gradual spiritual operation – we should no longer present our members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. On the contrary, we should present our members as instruments of righteousness to God.
What happens when man dies? (+german version)
Post date: 2018-11-13Autor: BCP
When man dies, the body remains lying where it is. Then it is taken to the morgue. But at the moment when man dies, the personal judgment of his soul takes place immediately. It awaits each one of us. We will encounter Christ face to face. At one moment our whole life will be screened, all our deeds, words, thoughts, both good and bad.
No one can escape death (+german version)
Post date: 2018-11-05Autor: BCP
What is human life? Nothing but toil, trouble, suffering and finally death. However, death is not the end. It is followed by eternity. We can see that our life is short and it is in the hands of God. It is a test of love whether we have chosen God, divine values and good or united to evil and the Evil One. So each of you decide your eternity during your life. Jesus has given us His Word, that we may live a responsible life and not lose eternal life. It is therefore foolishness to settle down on this earth. In the hour of death we must leave everything – our relationships to people, things… He lives wisely who is mindful of death.
Reflection on Rom 6:11
Post date: 2018-11-03Autor: BCP
This verse from chapter six of the Epistle to the Romans again is a mystery. The condition for its revelation is a living faith and walking by faith, in other words putting the truth of faith into practice. We can see that the most important thing for us to reckon with spiritual laws by faith is our union with the Lord Jesus Christ, because these laws work in Him alone. In His death on the cross and in His glorious resurrection is the victory over sin. That is why it is important for us to have a personal relationship to Christ crucified and risen. Through baptism we were immersed in Christ’s death and resurrection, and we should live these truths by faith within the framework of time: in Christ Jesus we are dead to sin and alive to God!
Word of Life – Rom 6:7-8 (21/10/2018 – 4/11/2018)
Post date: 2018-10-20Autor: BCP
“For he who has died has been justified from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”
Reflection on Rom 6:7-8
Post date: 2018-10-20Autor: BCP
What is the meaning of the words “he who has died has been justified (freed) from sin”? In this context, it does not mean dying physically but dying spiritually to the power of sin which dominates man. Thus, he who has died spiritually with Christ has been justified and at the same time freed from the bondage of sin.
Word of Life – Col 3:1-3 (7/10/2018 – 21/10/2018)
Post date: 2018-10-06Autor: BCP
“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Reflection on Col 3:1-3
Post date: 2018-10-06Autor: BCP
The Scripture verses contain a call: “Seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.” The literal translation is: “seek intensively the realities which come from above”. And we read further that we are to set our minds on them rather than on the deceit of the world. Naturally, we need to think about things on the earth when seeking and doing the will of God. However, we should not think about them in the spirit of the world but from the perspective of eternity, and that’s a big difference. Things should serve us, and not vice versa. We should serve God, and therefore we have to set our minds on things above.
Prophesy over America! (+video)
Post date: 2018-10-04Autor: BCP
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Nuncio to USA, has bravely revealed homosexual network crimes in the highest places in the Church. His courageous step has broken the ice. Nevertheless, the behind-the-scenes psychological and spiritual struggle continues, aimed at self-destruction of America as well as other nations in line with the program of so-called reduction of mankind. The Scripture says, “Our struggle … is against the demonic forces in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:10f)
PROPHETIC PRAYER FOR THE RESURRECTION OF AMERICA
Post date: 2018-10-03Autor: BCP
Before beginning this prayer, confess your sins before God and before yourself: I am an egoist. When someone admonishes me for whatever error, I take offence. I avoid sound self-criticism. I criticize and condemn others; however, what I condemn I do myself. Whenever I do something good, it just increases my feeling of superiority. I see the speck in my neighbor’s eye, but I cannot see the log in my own eye. I am lazy to seek the truth and to endure suffering for its sake. I do not read the Bible and the lives of saints, and I am not familiar with them. I do not bear in mind the ultimate reality, which is death, God’s judgment and eternity! I am interested in all kinds of philosophies or psychologies, but I do not seek the true psychology and philosophy of the Gospel which is vital in life. “The wages of sin is death.” Jesus died for you and for your sins. The name “Jesus” is a Grecized form of the Hebrew name “Yehoshua”. It is the holy name of God and the Word of God says about it: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom 10:13)