Daily Meditations Archives - Page 272 of 332

FATHER MAXIMOS: FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT (V)

06/13/2014

“Elders like him [Elder Ephraim], even though austere at times, are capable of loving everybody unconditionally precisely because they can see the other person in his natural state, beyond the external characteristics of personality,” Fr. Maximos explained. “That’s who the late Elder Ephraim really was, not the fearsome person I imagined him to be before I met him. Elders like Papa Ephraim are capable of loving even the worst among us because they know that

He neither Exists nor doesn’t Exist. He is!

06/12/2014

In the end, it often seems that our search for God resembles a vain attempt to get through to Him via the wall rather than the door. And when we don’t make it, we deny Him. That’s what these young people have been trying to do. But you can’t just approach God superciliously, anyhow and anyway you want. The locus of His mystery has its entryways through which you have to gain admittance with circumspection

ON WAKING UP

06/11/2014

Spirituality means waking up. Most people, even though they don’t know it, are asleep. They’re born asleep, they live asleep, they marry in their sleep, they breed children in their sleep, they die in their sleep without ever waking up. They never understand the loveliness and the beauty of this thing that we call human existence. You know, all mystics-Catholic, Christian, non-Christian, no matter what their theology, no matter what their religion-are unanimous on one

Instructive Recollections from the Holy Mountain

06/10/2014

Subsequently, the Elder related to me some things from his life on the Mountain that were relevant to our topic. “I lived a heavenly life on the Mountain. I was about twelve years old when I went there. I had two Elders and I was totally obedient to them. They sent me to fetch two bags of dirt for their gardens. This work had to be done by noon. I ran barefoot, jumping along the

Monday of the Holy Spirit

06/09/2014

The ministry of the Holy Spirit was carefully described by Christ shortly before His death and resurrection, and after He rose from the dead, until His glorious Ascension. Some of His teaching was preserved in the Holy Scriptures, although not all, but all of His teaching has been faithfully preserved by the church. The service of Pentecost, and the Sunday matins hymns of ascents especially explain the “economy” of the Holy Spirit, but this teaching

Pentecost: Receiving the Power from on High

06/08/2014

The Old Testament feast of Pentecost occurred 50 days after Passover—the commemoration of the Exodus of the Israelites from captivity and slavery in Egypt—in celebration of God’s gift of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the New Covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning—the celebration of Christ’s Resurrection, the “passing over” from death to life and from earth to heaven, the “exodus” of God’s People from this

Seventh Friday after Pascha

06/06/2014

Pentecost: The Descent of the Holy Spirit In the Old Testament Pentecost was the feast which occurred fifty days after Passover. As the Passover feast celebrated the exodus of the Israelites from the slavery of Egypt, so Pentecost celebrated God’s gift of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the new covenant of the Messiah, the Passover event takes on its new meaning as the celebration of Christ’s death and resurrection, the “exodus”

Seventh Thursday after Pascha

06/05/2014

The Feast of Pentecost by Fr. Alexander Schmemann In the Church’s annual liturgical cycle, Pentecost is “the last and great day.” It is the celebration by the Church of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the end – the achievement and fulfillment – of the entire history of salvation. For the same reason, however, it is also the celebration of the beginning: it is the “birthday” of the Church as the presence among us

Seventh Wednesday after Pascha: Martha & Mary, Sisters of Lazarus

06/04/2014

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus of Bethany “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Martha and Mary of Bethany are well-known figures of the New Testament. The two sisters seem to have had different temperaments, and their characters are often polarized in the retelling of their story. These polarized characterizations are caricatures which obscure the real picture of the women, their faith and their situation. This article looks at some of the information

Seventh Tuesday after Pascha

06/03/2014

On the Sunday of Pentecost Sermon preached by Fr. Antony Hughes on Sunday, June 3, 2012 In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen. Pentecost is a theophany, a revelation of God I think best compared to other famous theophanies like Moses on Mt. Sinai or the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. Witnesses of these events try hard to describe them, but words fail, so there