Israel Archives - Page 8 of 9

Human Development in Scripture

09/25/2017

It is helpful for us to know about the whole arc of life and where it is tending and leading. Walter Brueggemann, one of my favorite scripture scholars, brilliantly connected the development of the Hebrew Scriptures with the development of human consciousness. Brueggemann says there are three major parts of the Hebrew Scriptures: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature. The Torah, or the first five books, corresponds to the first half of life.

Wednesday after the Ascension. I Am with You Always!

05/31/2017

“And lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Matthew 28:20 Before Christ, there was a mistaken notion that God resided in the temple in Jerusalem. People had to go to the temple to pray. When Jerusalem fell and the people of Israel were exiled to Babylon, not only did they mourn the loss of their city, they even mourned the loss of their God. For they thought the destruction of

Friday of the 5th Week of Pascha. Grace and Truth Supersede the Law

05/19/2017

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 (From the Gospel at the Divine Liturgy on Pascha) Christ is Risen! I remember from my college days that I was a really good test-taker. I had this system that I called “read, retain, regurgitate, release.” I would read the information, retain it in my brain, regurgitate it for the exam, and then it was released from my brain

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent. The New Covenant

03/15/2017

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I shall

The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

12/27/2016

By Father Lawrence Farley Saint Stephen is usually hailed as the first Christian martyr, but he is more than that. His death was also a boundary, and the blood which flowed from his body as the stones hit him became a river, one which separated the faith of the Christians from the religion of Judaism. For unlike the martyrs who followed him, Stephen was not killed by the pagan Romans, executed under a law which

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. Bethlehem Was Too Busy to Notice

12/08/2016

And in that region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flocks by night. -Luke2:8 We’ve all experienced the stress of the mall at Christmas. Fighting over parking places, waiting in traffic, and long lines in the stores, and now added to that everyone looking at their phone, WHILE fighting for parking, sitting in traffic and waiting in line. I remember once thinking, with all of this stress at the mall, would

Angels (Part I)

11/07/2016

By Nabil Semaan THE FALL OF ANGELS (16) First of all, this event happened before the fall of man. The cause of the fall of some angels is that they rebelled against God. Their leader was one of the most beautiful Cherubim; he was gifted much more than the others in divine grace, according to the prophet Isaiah: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down

The Invitation of Grace

10/19/2016

As I shared earlier this year, the Bible is “a text in travail.” Sometimes the biblical writers catch a glimpse of God’s true character–love, mercy, and justice–and sometimes they lose sight of it. Old Testament scholar and theologian Walter Brueggemann traces the evolution of human consciousness through three sections of Hebrew Scriptures: the Torah (the five books of the Pentateuch), the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature (including Job, the Psalms, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes).

Contemplation as a Path of Healing (Part I)

09/05/2016

Contemplation as a Path of Healing A person can’t be healed within simply through discipline. Dealing with thoughts, along with concrete exercises, helps to calm the passions and make the soul healthy. But it takes contemplation to actually achieve that health. That was the monks’ experience, and that is how Evagrius Ponticus described it. Contemplation is pure prayer, prayer without respite, praying beyond thoughts and feelings, praying as oneness with God. Evagrius never tires of

Mary the Contemplative (Part IV)

08/04/2016

UNION BETWEEN CONSCIOUSNESS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS Carl G. Jung in his book: Answer to Job discusses the importance of Mary as the archetypal symbol of the feminine in all human beings. “But if the individuation process is made conscious, consciousness must confront the unconscious and a balance between the opposites must be found. As this is not possible through logic, one is dependent on symbols which make the irrational union of opposites possible. They are

Archive

Human Development in Scripture

Wednesday after the Ascension. I Am with You Always!

Friday of the 5th Week of Pascha. Grace and Truth Supersede the Law

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent. The New Covenant

The Third Day of Christmas. Saint Stephen: The Death of a Revolutionary

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Christmas Advent. Bethlehem Was Too Busy to Notice

Angels (Part I)

The Invitation of Grace

Contemplation as a Path of Healing (Part I)

Mary the Contemplative (Part IV)

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