love Archives - Page 16 of 23

The Third Friday of Great Lent: The Reins of Power & You are Utterly Fair, my Love, and there is no Flaw in You

04/01/2016

The Reins of Power In certain cases, the spirit follows the inclinations of nature like a slave. The body takes the upper hand, rouses the passions and drives us to demand selfish pleasure. Then the spirit gives in to the body and even supplies it with the necessary means to satisfy its lusts. This is not the experience of everyone. Those who are holy do not behave like that. In them it is the spirit

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness & The Willing Slave of the Spirit

03/30/2016

Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness The image of God is revealed in us by means of the threefold division of our internal make-up. The Godhead is adored in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Similarly, three parts can be seen in the image formed in accordance with this model, namely in the human being who adores him, who has made everything from nothing, with soul, mind

To Live the Question (Part II)

02/25/2016

To Live the Question (Part II) His own personal experience taught Merton that solitude not only deepens our affection for others but also is the place where real community becomes possible. Although Merton himself lived as a monk first in a monastic community and later in a hermitage, it is clear from this and other writings that what really counts for him is not the physical solitude but the solitude of the heart. Without the

To Live the Question (Part I)

02/12/2016

By slowly converting our loneliness into a deep solitude, we create that precious space where we can discover the voice telling us about our inner necessity-that is, our vocation. Unless our questions, problems and concerns are tested and matured in solitude, it is not realistic to expect answers that are really our own. How many people can claim their ideas, opinions and viewpoints as their own? Sometimes intellectual conversations boil down to the capacity to

Becoming a Missionary without Speaking

01/18/2016

Becoming a Missionary without Speaking “My dear man I am envious of you, I envy you. You can become the greatest missionary in the Monastery without speaking at all. You will pray for everyone in silence. You will pray for the whole Church, for the clergy, and for the Monks. Our Church is undergoing a crisis today. “Above all pray for your spiritual family.” “Leave your heart completely open to Christ, filled with love, and

O Paradox of Paradoxes! A Reflection on the Feast Day of the Holy Cross

09/14/2015

By Father Stelyios S. Muksuris Perhaps I am preaching to the choir when I say that the older I become, the more I come to see that our world is full of paradoxes. Contradictions of all sorts abound in our lives — between individuals and their behavior, among ideologies and political systems, and so forth. I need not rattle off specific examples to prove my point. With age, we want to believe, comes wisdom and

Practical Prayer

09/07/2015

In the same way as the early Church, the desert Christians were deeply committed to Jesus’ teachings and lived practice. Their chosen solitude and silence was not anti-social but a way to become better at seeing clearly and at loving deeply. Withdrawal was only for the sake of deeper encounter and presence. Diana Butler Bass describes the natural flow from solitude to prayer to active love: “[Jesus’ invitation to] ‘Come follow me’ was intimately bound

A Search for God

08/17/2015

The desert tradition offers a rich teaching of surrender, through contemplation, to the wonderful and always too-much mystery of God. The desert fathers and mothers are like the Zen Buddhist monks of Christianity; their sayings are often like koans that cannot be understood with the rational, logical mind. The desert mystics focused much more on the how than the what. Note that this is very different from the primary emphasis of Christianity in recent centuries–the

Dealing with Our Passions (Part IV)

07/21/2015

A woman whose husband was an alcoholic had feelings of hatred toward him; she even thought of killing him. She accused herself of being thoroughly evil for even thinking such things. This happens to many people who blame themselves for their negative thoughts. The monks are more compassionate on this score. They say that the thought isn’t evil; it has a meaning. I just have to find the strength that lies within it. In the

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part II)

03/03/2015

The prayer then turns us to four key virtues Christians should struggle to attain. During Lent, we are to intensify our efforts to acquire them: humility, chastity, patience, and love. HUMILITY IF PRIDE IS, as all Christian teachers have believed, the ultimate spiritual sin that blinds us to our own sins and shortcomings, then humility is the virtue that sees things as they really are. Therefore, it is only when we humble ourselves that we

Tags

The Third Friday of Great Lent: The Reins of Power & You are Utterly Fair, my Love, and there is no Flaw in You

The Third Wednesday of Great Lent: Made in the Image of the Trinity we can attain to his Likeness & The Willing Slave of the Spirit

To Live the Question (Part II)

To Live the Question (Part I)

Becoming a Missionary without Speaking

O Paradox of Paradoxes! A Reflection on the Feast Day of the Holy Cross

Practical Prayer

A Search for God

Dealing with Our Passions (Part IV)

PASSIONS AND VIRTUES: The Prayer of St. Ephrem (Part II)

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