Be Transfigured Ministries

When a community gathers united in Christ, healing takes place. When we bring each other closer to Christ, sins are forgiven. When Christ sees our faith as a united family, He blesses us, forgives us, and heals us.

  As humans and especially as American’s we never like to admit that we are not worthy of God’s love. There is nothing we can do to make us worthy of God’s love, mercy and grace. He is the one who makes us worthy through our faith and humility. Instead of pride and arrogance, humility and faith lead us to Christ. If we want to be healed by God, we must accept the humility of our realty and ask God to make us worthy of His love.

In the Gospel of Matthew we hear Christ say, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.” What things? ALL THINGS that we need in life. If we are willing to seek God, then our food, our health, our shelter, even our minds, will all be blessed by God. If we seek the world we will be left alone when the world ends. When we seek God, we always have God.

When faced with the invitation by Christ to drop everything and following Him, the disciples immediately left everything and follow Him. As humans it is natural to wonder about the future. Will we have what we need? What will the future look like? Unknowns can create anxiety, but when we learn to trust Christ, even the unknowns are blessed. When we trust God, He will always have our back. Learn to trust God and leave anxiety behind.

We are all called to be saints. On the Sunday of All Saints Christ says, “Every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven.” If we want to be holy as Saints, then we will confess God by loving Him more than anything else in the world.

When Christ was about to be crucified, He prayed for the Church. He prayed that we might know Him. He prayed that we would have life in Him. He prayed that knowing Him as Father, Son and Holy Spirit would mean eternal life. The Church has protected that truth ever since.

On Mothers’ Day, our memories of our mothers bring us joy and love. Our mothers offer us important lessons of faith and repentance. They brought us to Church to encounter God’s mercy and forgiveness. They taught us to love God enough to confess our sins and live in His glory. May we live up to their expectations. May we live a life in faith and repentance.

When we have faith like Joseph of Arimathea who buried Jesus, and courage like the Myrrh Bearing Women, who went in the darkness of the night to anoint Jesus, our actions are blessed by God for the glory of His Church. Through faith, courage, and action, we will go out in the darkness of the world and share the good news of Christ’s resurrection. People need hope. People need the Good News to convince them to come to the Church to experience Jesus Christ, the King of King, Resurrected from the dead.

It is hard to believe that with so many examples of God’s power in the Gospel, and the stories of the Church throughout history, that so many still refuse to believe God. The Feast of Palm Sunday gives us the chance to believe God as our King, even in those moments that we don’t agree with Him. We all like the idea of a king when we agree with the King. Once we no longer agree, like the Pharisees and Jewish leaders, we refuse to believe Christ is our King. If we ask God, He will give us the strength to have faith.

In our weakest moments of faith, we wonder why God chooses to do what He does. We question why He doesn’t give us what we want. When our faith is weak, Christ calls us to a life of prayer and fasting. It our prayer and fasting that gives us stronger faith.

There are many obstacles between us and God. Some obstacles are from the world trying to stop us from reaching God. Other obstacles are from God to protect us from ourselves. The most dangerous obstacles are from our own making, our sins that separate us from God. No obstacle can keep us from God if we are committed to overcoming them to reach God.

On the cusp of Great Lent, we are called to three challenges. All three challenges have one thing in common. We are called to forgive, fast and be generous, all to prepare our hearts for God. Great Lent isn’t about food and prostration. Great Lent is about changing our hearts for God.

On Judgment Sunday we are reminded that God will judge us based on our inaction, not necessarily the sins we commit. We spend so much time avoiding sins, we forget the good things we are called to do by God. We forget to allow the love we say we have for God to translate into our actions toward other people. Doing nothing is not an option.

When we hear the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.11-32, we hear about a man who decided to return to his father after wasting his inheritance. Rather than interrogate his son, the loving Father opened His arms, kissed him and welcomed him home with a huge celebration. That is what awaits us when we return to God. God is waiting for us without guilt, without interrogation, without fear.

Every time we ask God, He blesses us, but we don’t properly thank Him. In the story of the Ten Lepers, we learn the proper way to thank God for His blessings. It isn’t enough to say ‘thank you’ standing in front of our icons at home. We must come to spend time with Him, in Church to properly give Him thanks. God has already blessed you today. Now, go to the Church and thank Him in person.

The Feast of Theophany reminds each of us that Christ has revealed Himself to us. He brought His Light into the world, so we are no longer living in darkness. When light shines in the darkness, we no longer have anything to fear. Christ has shined His Light so that we could follow the Light into heaven.

The first Christmas reminds us that everyone is invited to find God. Hearing in the Gospel that foreigners were the first who worshipped God at His birth, reminds us that God gives everyone exactly what they need to find Him. He gave the Magi a Star. He gave us the Church. Now, He has given us to those around us to help them find Christ. Merry Christmas

When God invites us to Church, He is inviting to come and spend time with Him in heaven. Every Sunday we have the chance to accept God’s invitation to be with God in heaven. We don’t have to wait until we die to be with God in heaven. We can be with Him today in the Church during Divine Liturgy.

When we encounter God for ourselves and believe in Him, the only natural response is for us to go and invite our family and friends to “come and see” for themselves. When Christ met Saint Andrew, the First-Called Apostles, the first thing Saint Andrew did was go and tell his brother Simon (Peter) to “come and see”. Later Christ called Philip and he went and told Nathaniel. The only appropriate response for us to is to invite our family and friends to Church to “come and see” Christ, so they can encounter God and believe in Him.

A Bible Study for Orthodox Christians on the Bible as Salvation - The Word of God. Originally LIVESTREAM in Tarpon Springs, Florida on November 25, 2025. Study guide available at https://liveanewlifeinchrist.org/bible-studies/back-to-bible-basics/bbb10