Daily Meditations Archives - Page 149 of 351

Thoughts on Morality and Transformation. Thoughts on the Paradox of Grief for Christians

10/02/2019

By Michael Haldas Thoughts on Morality and Transformation, June 7, 2016 “It’s all about becoming, not being; it’s about transformation of ourselves and our restoration to holiness, not making God keep a bargain with us to give us what we want or expect. This is because each one of us has a different complex of illnesses, and we respond in different ways to the various spiritual, therapeutic regimens available to us in the Church.” (Abbot

The Feast Day of Saint Romanos the Melodos: The Deacon Who Couldn’t Sing

10/01/2019

By Bev. Cooke He wasn’t a priest or a bishop or a hierarch or even a dedicated monastic. He was born to humble parents who may not have even been Christian. He was a deacon and a reader and a singer, but for part of his life, he had the worst voice in Constantinople and he couldn’t string two words together during a service. Yet today, St. Romanos the Melodist is regarded as the greatest

Sin: Symptom of Separation. Hidden with Christ in God.

09/30/2019

The Judeo-Christian creation story says that we were created in the very “image and likeness” of God: “Let us create humanity in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves” (Genesis 1:26). The true human identity must build on this foundational goodness, a true identity “hidden in the love and mercy of God,” as Thomas Merton once put it. [1] “Image” is our objective identity as children of God and “likeness” is our degree of

Marriage as a Lifetime of Suffering

09/27/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 5, 2015 When couples come to ministers to talk about their marriage ceremonies, ministers think it’s interesting to ask if they love one another. What a stupid question! How would they know? A Christian marriage isn’t about whether you’re in love. Christian marriage is giving you the practice of fidelity over a lifetime in which you can look back upon the marriage and call it love. It is a hard

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 3

09/26/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) Man is a creature of great depth, created by God, but after the Fall we are easily distracted from the depths, being enamored with mere surface appearances. What in our world today serves to distract us from the depths, and what can we do about it? It’s hard not to hark back to the saint of the day—Isidore of Pelusium, for a very famous quote that merits repeating. Despite that he

Thoughts on Knowing Wisdom. Thoughts on Adversity.

09/25/2019

By Michael Haldas Thoughts on Knowing Wisdom, June 3, 3016 “Christ is the true light of the world; it is through Him alone that true wisdom is imparted to the mind…In Scripture wisdom always is traceable to God, who in the second Person of the Trinity is Himself often called Holy Wisdom.” (Jonathan Edwards, OCPM 1/29/2016) “Wisdom is not smarts, nor cleverness, nor a high IQ…The Word of God became the incarnate God-man who enables

“Pros-Efhi” – Towards a Blessing

09/24/2019

By Fr. Stavros Akrotirianakis Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:3 The word for “prayer” in Greek is “Prosefhi,” which literally means “to” or “toward” (pros) a “blessing” (efhi). So, one way to look at prayer is that it involves receiving the blessing of God over a person, an activity, a day, etc. One way to

Path of Descent: The Belly of the Whale

09/23/2019

And so long as you do not know that to die is to become, you are just a wretched visitor on this dark earth. —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe [1] Jesus’ primary metaphor for the mystery of transformation is the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:39, 16:4; Luke 11:29). As a Jew, Jesus knew the vivid story of Jonah, the prophet who ran away from God and yet was used by God in spite of himself. Jonah was swallowed by a

The Poetry of God

09/20/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, May 14, 2015 Whoever wants to become a Christian must first become a poet. – St. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, St. John of Damascus, St. Isaac of Syria, St. Ephrem Edessa St. Porphyrios made this statement in the context of love and suffering: That’s what it is! You must suffer. You must love and suffer–suffer for the one you love. Love makes effort for the loved one. She runs all through the night; she

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 2

09/19/2019

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) The sayings of the desert fathers are really remarkable—some of the oldest Christian literature we have and yet it sounds so contemporary, fresh, modern, and relevant, partly because the whole ethos is just stripped down to the essentials and simplicity of the desert. There is a story from Abba Poemen who is one of the more prominent desert fathers. Apparently a layman from a nearby city had heard about his reputation