Daily Meditations Archives - Page 328 of 353

The Desert and Temptation (Part IV)

02/13/2013

Without temptation the monks become careless. They let themselves go, and so live any old way. Temptations force them to live consciously, to exercise discipline, and to be wakeful. Thus the monks don’t pray for temptations to stop, but for God to give them enough strength. The story was told of Mother Sarah, that for thirteen years she endured being violently assaulted by demons of impurity. She never prayed for the struggle to cease, but

Father Maximos on Temperance and Self-Control

02/12/2013

Fr. Maximos served himself some hummus and continued. “Apostle Paul describes the fruits of the Spirit in the form of a scale, a hierarchy. He lists the highest and most exalted gift first and ends up with the most basic and foundational.” “What does that mean?” said Emily, who has a reflexive aversion to the notion of hierarchy, which has traditionally denoted social divisions and inequalities. “Think about it,” Fr. Maximos responded. “He lists love

Jesus’ Freedom, Compassion and Self-Portrait: Jesus the Blessed One

02/11/2013

Jesus’ Freedom Jesus was truly free. His freedom was rooted in his spiritual awareness that he was the Beloved Child of God. He knew in the depth of his being that he belonged to God before he was born, that he was sent into the world to proclaim God’s love, and that he would return to God after his mission was fulfilled. This knowledge gave him the freedom to speak and act without having to

CONSIDER THE LILIES

02/08/2013

THEREFORE I TELL YOU, DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT YOUR LIFE . . . LOOK AT THE BIRDS OF THE AIR . . . CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD . . . —MATTHEW 6:25ff. Everyone at some time or the other experiences feelings of what is known as insecurity. You feel insecure with the amount of money you have in the bank, or the amount of love you are getting from your friend or

Yearning

02/07/2013

Abba Nilus said: “Do not want things to turn out as they seem best to you but as God pleases. Then you will be free of confusion and thankful in your prayer.” WHO is THERE who hasn’t, at some time or other, wanted life to be different than it is? Who of us has not wanted it ourselves? We get tired of what we’re doing or where we are. We look for better days somewhere

Forgive me. More Virtue, More Kindness Today.

02/06/2013

Forgive me Have mercy on me, God, according to Your great mercy (Psalms 50:1). On my knees before You, CrucifiedLord, I beg for mercy, for this grace. I’ve sinned. Yet again I’ve fallen. I’ve done exactly the opposite of what Your holy will asked of me. I tasted sin. Its bitter, oppressive taste lingers on my lips. I am lost. I measure the height of Your holiness against the abyss of my corrupt existence, and

St. Peter Damaskos on Humility and Repentance

02/05/2013

Peter exhorts sinners not to despair and challenges their belief that the Creator of all is incapable of saving them. Because God is, as the liturgy says, “the lover of mankind,” because Paul tells us that it is God’s desire “that all shall be saved” (1 Timothy 2:3-4), so we should not lose hope. Even if you are not what you should be, you should not despair. It is bad enough that you have sinned-

Suffering, Pain, Hope

02/04/2013

Suffering is the necessary deep feeling of the human situation. If we don’t feel pain, suffering, human failure, and weakness, we stand antiseptically apart from it, and remain numb and small. We can’t understand such things by thinking about them. The superficiality of much of our world is that it tries to buy its way out of the ordinary limits and pain of being human. Carl Jung called it “necessary suffering,” and I think he

Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple (tomorrow, February 2)

02/01/2013

[Tomorrow] the Church commemorates an important event in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 2:22-40). Forty days after His birth the God-Infant was taken to the Jerusalem Temple, the center of the nation’s religious life. According to the Law of Moses (Lev. 12:2-8), a woman who gave birth to a male child was forbidden to enter the Temple of God for forty days. At the end of this time the mother came

I am Thirsty for Light. Hold my Faith Upright.

01/31/2013

I am thirsty for light My God, I am thirsty for light. I beg for light. I find myself in such confusion, I walk in such a fog, that I have an urgent need of Your enlightenment. My ideas are indescribably confused. You see what a mess I am inside. Have pity on me. I have studied in such an undisciplined way, God. I listened with a kind of curiosity that almost bordered greediness. I