Obedience is another indispensable implement in the struggle against our selfish will. With obedience you cut off your physical members the better to be able to serve with the spiritual, says St. John Climacus. And again, obedience is the grave of your own will, but from it rises humility. You must remember that you have of your own free will given yourself over to slavery, and let the cross you wear around your neck be
By Father Ernesto Obregon When I was first in seminary, I had to take an ethics class. The professor of that class seemed to positively enjoy giving us difficult ethics problems to solve. He had been a young man during World War II, and he seemed to take a particular joy in giving us examples from World War II. Was Corrie ten Boom right to deliberately lie to German authorities when she was hiding Jews
Gareth’s in ability to cope with the sound of the electric saw disrupting a contemplative prayer retreat resulted from his spasms of preference for only sounds that pleased him, such as birdsong, the rustling of leaves, or rain. Apart from his inner contortions during this one hour of outrageous disruption, there was nothing else going on just then except a saw making the sound saws make when they’re switched on and sawing through timber. The
It is one thing to see the unity of silence and sound when our teachers are birdsong and the sea’s breaking waves. But what might Wallace Stevens or Robert Penn Warren say about unpleasant noise? Can noise also be a vehicle of that “peace after perfect speech”? Does the sound we would prefer not to hear have anything to reveal? Can noise, too, be a teacher pointing to the Silence that is the ground of
When I Told Him I Was Definitively Leaving for the Monastery When I told him that I was definitely leaving for the Monastery and that in a few days they would tonsure me, he leapt for joy. On that day he spoke to me and advised me extensively! In the end, when we were bidding each other farewell, he naturally took my hand and kissed it. I, living the mystery that surrounded me, asked myself
In a society that gives much value to development, progress and achievement, the spiritual life becomes quite easily subject to concerns expressed in questions such as, “How far advanced am I?” “Have I matured since I started on the spiritual path?” On what level am I and how do I move to the next one?”—”When will I reach the moment of union with God and the experience of illumination or enlightenment?” Although none of these
By Father Lawrence Farley In my years as a priest and of sharing the Gospel, I have heard many reasons offered for not becoming a Christian: scandals associated with clergy, the wealth of the Church, the Crusades, the Inquisition, etc. etc. I thought I had more or less heard it all, and so was unprepared for a reason one young man offered to justify his rejection of Orthodoxy—namely, that dinosaurs were not in the Bible.
The essence of God the Trinity is love, so personal existence directed towards God can only be existence in communion. ‘By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not do right is not of God, nor he who does not love his brother’ (1 John 3.10). In St Matthew’s overpowering portrayal of the Judgement, Christ says to those who are truly
Fr. Maximos then elaborated on the fruit of patience and forbearance. “The saints are fearless because they have a direct connection with God’s Spirit. Consequently, they can endure everything with peace in their hearts and without a trace of anxiety.” “I suppose that is why we hear in church that God is ‘ever present, and fills all things’… Maria commented. “Right. Only the Spirit of God can fill up a human being. You know, God
Then came the third hour (9 A.M.), when the Dormition of the Mother of God was to occur. A number of candles were burning. The holy Disciples surrounded her beautifully adorned bed, offering praise to God. She prayed in anticipation of Her demise and of the arrival of Her longed-for Son and Lord. Suddenly, the inexpressible Light of Divine Glory shone forth, before which the blazing candles paled in comparison. All who it saw took
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