or: Thoughts on Fear, Love, and Salvation But if it is possible to be saved | without love, O my Christ, |how shall this be? | Impossible! If we were separated from the light, | how shall we flee the darkness? | If we were deprived of joy, | how would we be free from [...]
Hands
October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
” . . . I move my hand and my hand is Christ entire.” -St. Symeon the New Theologian, Hymn 15, line 144. Skin, dirt, blood, grass. Oil, ink, paint, metal. Handshake, caress, slap, punch. Look at our hands. Think of the mundane everyday grime we get on our hands and casually wash off. Think [...]
The Pursuit of the Flaming Sonnet
September 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As we have said, from the instant we are baptized, grace is hidden in the depths of the intellect, concealing its presence even from the perception of the intellect itself. When someone begins, however, to love God with full resolve, then in a mysterious way, by means of intellectual perception, grace communicates something of its [...]
It’s Like Riding A Horse
August 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Reading St. John of Karpathos has been a source of great encouragement. This ought to come as no surprise since the preface revealed that John wrote “Texts for the Monks in India” precisely to encourage young monks being tempted to abandon the monastic life. This reading comes, I think, at a wonderful time for us [...]
Seeking Scorn
August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“In their hatred of our souls, the demons sometimes prompt others to pay us empty compliments, and thus cause us to grow slack because we are praised. If as a result we give way to conceit and self-esteem, our enemies have no difficulty in taking us prisoner.” St. John of Karpathos, Texts for the Monks [...]
Urban Monk?
August 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It has almost been two years since I have begun my pilgrimage with the monks and Fathers of the Faith. In this time, it has been my observation that most of them have found the power of Christ through the use of “spiritual tools” such as fasting, prayer, vigils, etc…which are part of the ascetic [...]
Jesus Rains
June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“The more the rain falls on the earth, the softer it makes it; similarly, Christ’s holy name gladdens the earth of our heart the more we call upon it.” St Hesychios the Priest, #41, p.169. “When combined with watchfulness and deep understanding the Jesus Prayer will erase from our heart even those thoughts rooted there [...]
Hesychios the Priest
May 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
For this month the house of St. Michael has been spending time in the deep reading of Hesychios the Priest. In this writing, Hesychios reflects on the two virtues of watchfulness and stillness. He claims, “that through these two virtues one can develop a life that leads to, as much as possible, a sure knowledge [...]
All of Life Charged with Giving Glory to God
April 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Forget not all His benefits (Ps. 103.2). “Then your heart will readily be moved to the fear and love of God, so that you repay Him…by dedicating your whole self to God.” -From the Letter to Nicholas the Solitary One criticism that has often been leveled at the church fathers (at least in my seminary [...]
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