Daily Meditations Archives - Page 229 of 348

Listening to the Voice of Creation

09/02/2016

The natural environment provides a broader, panoramic vision of the world. In general nature’s beauty leads to a more open view of the life of the created world, somewhat resembling a wide-angle focus from a camera which ultimately prevents us human beings from using or abusing its natural resources in a selfish, narrow minded way. In order however, to reach this point of maturity and dignity toward the natural environment, we must take the time

Indiction, Ecclesiastical New Year

09/01/2016

+ BARTHOLOMEW By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, Peace and Mercy From the Creator, Sustainer and Governor of All Creation Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ “All of creation is renewed by the Holy Spirit, returning to its original state.” (Anavathmoi, First Tone) “Blessed are you, Lord, who alone daily renew the work of your hands.” (Basil the Great) Brother concelebrants and

Meditation and Worship (Part IX)

08/31/2016

We see that we cannot partake deeply of the life of God unless we change profoundly. It is therefore essential that we should go to God in order that he should transform and mange us, and that is why, to begin with we should ask for conversion. Conversion in Latin means a tum, a change in the direction of things. The Greek word metanoia means a change of mind. Conversion means that instead of spending

Love Is One Body

08/30/2016

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith,

Commemoration of the Beheading of the Holy and Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist John

08/29/2016

The divine Baptist, the Prophet born of a Prophet, the seal of all the Prophets and beginning of the Apostles, the mediator between the Old and New Covenants, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, the God-sent Messenger of the incarnate Messiah, the forerunner of Christ’s coming into the world (Isaiah 40:3; Mal. 3: 1); who by many miracles was both conceived and born; who was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in

The Art of the Icon (Part II)

08/26/2016

The icon, by a concrete symbolism that preserves it from any tendency to allegory, expresses the deification of humankind and the sanctification of the universe, in other words, the truth of beings and things. The symbolic, integrated in the fullness of communion, is always at the service of the person whom it reveals. Light in an icon does not come from an exact point, for, as we read in Revelation, the New Jerusalem ‘has no

The Art of the Icon (Part I)

08/25/2016

In the undivided Church principles were laid down, chiefly by a decree of the 7th Ecumenical Council, governing an art of transfiguration, the art of the icon. The whole church, of course, its architecture, frescos and mosaics, is one enormous icon which bears the same relation to space as the unfolding of the liturgy does to time; it is ‘heaven on earth’, the manifestation of the divine-human where the flesh destined to die is transformed

Keeping Death before our Eyes Every Day (Part IV)

08/24/2016

For every therapist distance from the problems of the patient is the prerequisite for being able to really help the other person. So Poimen first has to get some distance from his brother. Then he can freely decide whether he wants to help and intervene in the quarrel, or if he will release him and trust him to resolve the conflict responsibly on his own. Being dead vis-a -vis the other is even viewed by

God Is Humble Enough to Be Anonymous

08/23/2016

I think the notion of love has been seriously minimized by today’s popular understanding of love, as we see with Valentine’s Day. This secular holiday reveals a very unsustainable notion of love as romance, infatuation (ignis fatuus, false fire), impassioned sex, sentimental words, romantic gift giving, etc. It eventually creates cynicism and disillusionment because the promise is so high but incomplete. It is never the whole story. When we experience love as different than culture’s

Meditation and Worship (Part VIII)

08/22/2016

The spiritual life, the Christian life does not consist in developing a strong will capable of compelling us to do what we do not want. In a sense, of course, it is an achievement to do the right things when we really wish to do the wrong ones, but it remains a small achievement. A mature spiritual life implies that our conscious will is in accordance with the words of God and has remoulded, transformed