holy spirit Archives - Page 5 of 12

Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Pascha. Beauty in Orthodox Trinitarian Theology

05/08/2018

There is an extraordinary beauty in Orthodox Trinitarian theology. I all too easily lose sight of that beauty, but it came back to me again the other day after a conversation I had with a non-Orthodox friend…. His problem, as he describes it, is with the Church’s traditional doctrines — which he referred to with a slight edge of hostility as “dogmas” — that appear to “put God in a box.” Formulas such as “One

Trinity: God Is for Us

02/12/2018

Love is just like prayer; it is not so much an action that we do, but a dialogue that already flows through us. We don’t decide to “be loving”; rather, to love is to allow our deepest and truest nature to show itself. The “Father” doesn’t decide to love the “Son.” Fatherhood is the flow from Father to Son, one hundred percent. The Son does not choose now and then to release some love to

Trinity: The Power of Love

02/05/2018

I think it’s foolish to presume we can understand Jesus if we don’t first of all understand Trinity. We will continually misinterpret and misuse Jesus if we don’t first participate in the circle dance of mutuality and communion within which he participated. We instead make Jesus into “Christ the King,” a title he rejected in his lifetime (John 18:37), and we operate as if God’s interest in creation or humanity only began 2000 years ago.

The Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent. Feast Day of Saint Barbara

12/04/2017

During the rule of Maximius, in the year 290 AD, the governor in the Anatolian city of Heliopolis was Dioscuros. He was a wealthy man who was originally from the nearby village of Galassos. He had only one child, a very beautiful girl named Barbara. Her parents were extremely proud of her, not only because of her beauty, but of her virtuosity as well. To protect her, her parents erected a fortress in which they

FROM CHARISMATIC PRAYER TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

08/24/2017

If we have been involved in charismatic prayer for some time, we should not be surprised or disappointed if this style of prayer calms down over the years to a simple resting in the presence of God. The traditional role of God the Holy Spirit is to conform us to God the Word, Who then ushers us into the silent depths of God the Father. This Trinitarian simplification happens at God’s own initiative. In early

Giving Birth to God

08/21/2017

Many of the early teachers of the Christian Church believed in an ontological, metaphysical, objective union between humanity and God, which alone would allow Jesus to take us “back with him” into the life of the Trinity (John 17:23-24, 14:3, 12:26). This was how many in the Early Church understood and experienced “participation.” It proclaimed our core identity as the beginning point (Ephesians 1:3-12), not external practices of any type. We had thought our form

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary (I)

08/07/2017

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary: After the Ascension of the Lord, the Mother of God remained in the care of the Apostle John the Theologian, and during his journeys She lived at the home of his parents, near the Mount of Olives. She was a source of consolation and edification both for the Apostles and for all the believers. Conversing with them, She told them about miraculous events: the

Love in Action

07/31/2017

The way to arrive and remain within “the force field of the Holy Spirit”, which is one way of describing consciousness–is both very simple and very hard: you’ve got to remain in love, with a foundational yes to every moment. You can’t risk walking around with a negative, resentful, gossipy, critical mind, because then you won’t be in the force field. You will not be a usable instrument. That’s why Jesus commanded us to love.

Mere Morality

07/28/2017

By Father Stephen Freeman What makes an action moral? I use the word to describe something done in an effort to conform to a rule, a law, or a principle. It is a matter of the will and a matter of effort. All societies require some form of moral behavior. If there were no such behavior, life would be unpredictable, unstable, and quite dangerous. Governments encourage some form of morality (it is the sole purpose

Embodiment

07/03/2017

While Paul’s writing includes philosophical and poetic passages, it’s not esoteric. Paul’s teaching is incarnational. He sees that the Gospel message must have concrete embodiment. Concrete embodiment is Jesus’ idea of church, too. Jesus’ first vision of church is “two or three gathered in my name” (Matthew 18:20). This is why he insists that the message be communicated not by the lone evangelist but sent the Twelve out “two by two” (Mark 6:7). The individual

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Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen! Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Pascha. Beauty in Orthodox Trinitarian Theology

Trinity: God Is for Us

Trinity: The Power of Love

The Twentieth Day of Christmas Advent. Feast Day of Saint Barbara

FROM CHARISMATIC PRAYER TO CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

Giving Birth to God

The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary (I)

Love in Action

Mere Morality

Embodiment

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