By Fr John Breck, September 2, 2008 In this and the following two columns, I would like to share some thoughts on what is perhaps the most poignant and difficult experience in human relationships: the dying of someone we deeply love. These are not explorations of the mystery of death. Rather, they are attempts, fumbling but earnest, to think about the process of dying and our most appropriate response to it, from both a medical
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 19, 2016 There is an assumption within our contemporary world that the life we bring into this world doesn’t mean a thing, at least, not at the start. Meaning is something the individual must create for himself/herself. It is, we think, a version of freedom. We are told that if we come into this world with our meaning already established as a given, then we can never be free. Autonomy, being “self-ruled,”
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 13, 2016 The creation of the “two-storey universe” was an unintended consequence of the Protestant Reformation. I have recently been enjoying Brad Gregory‘s The Unintended Reformation, in which he traces the various historical currents and ideas that gave rise to the modern secular notion of the world. It is a magisterial treatment, and I recommend it to serious students of history, as well as anyone wanting to better understand our modern
Commemorated on October 6 The Holy and Glorious Apostle Thomas was born in the Galilean city of Pansada and was a fisherman. Hearing the good tidings of Jesus Christ, he left all and followed after Him. The Apostle Thomas is included in the number of the holy Twelve Apostles of the Savior. According to Holy Scripture, the holy Apostle Thomas did not believe the reports of the other disciples about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ:
By Fr John Breck, February 1, 2007 Those who hold that the only sure ground of knowledge is scientific inquiry and rational analysis actually represent not so much science as the heresy of “scientism,” a purely materialistic view of reality. Yet science itself debunks that approach with its acceptance of principles such as those embodied in quantum mechanics and relativity theory. In a universe where subatomic particles constantly appear and then disappear, where electrons can
By Fr John Breck, January 2, 2007 Books arguing for atheism are topping the best-seller lists these days, and more and more people seem to be listening. Those who take issue usually try to fight scientific dogma with religious dogma. They would perhaps do better if they appealed to the unprovable but, to those who give their lives for it, undeniable experience of the living God. The names Dennett, Dawkins and Harris have recently become
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 8, 2016 Several years ago my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting England. The beginning of the trip was terrifying – we had decided to rent a car. Our modest little Fiat fit well among the many toy cars that fill British highways. But there was a problem. Everything on English roads is backwards. You sit on the wrong side of the car; you drive on the wrong
By Fr. Stephen Freeman, September 5, 2016 The Philokalia, that wonderful collection of writings by the fathers on prayer of the heart, has as its full title, The Philokalia of the Neptic Saints gathered from our Holy Theophoric Fathers, through which, by means of the philosophy of ascetic practice and contemplation, the intellect is purified, illumined, and made perfect. Little wonder it is known popularly as the Philokalia. That word, Philokalia, means “the love of beautiful things.” It
Published by Pemptousia Partnership, December 11, 2017 James W. Lillie In an interview with an Italian TV network, Pope Francis of Rome said recently that the current language of the Lord’s prayer ‘is not a good translation.’… The problem, as he sees it, is that the prayer asks God to ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’. But, says Pope Francis, it’s not the Lord Who tempts. ‘It is not He that
By Fr John Breck, December 30, 2007 Back in the early 60s I had to catch the subway each morning on the east side of Manhattan, to get to my seminary intern position. From our tiny 6th floor walk-up apartment on York Avenue, I passed by a run-down tenement building not far from the mouth of the station. Two or three times a week two guys were huddled against the stoop of the building, passing back
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