Paul Archives - Page 8 of 10

God Is Humble Enough to Be Anonymous

08/23/2016

I think the notion of love has been seriously minimized by today’s popular understanding of love, as we see with Valentine’s Day. This secular holiday reveals a very unsustainable notion of love as romance, infatuation (ignis fatuus, false fire), impassioned sex, sentimental words, romantic gift giving, etc. It eventually creates cynicism and disillusionment because the promise is so high but incomplete. It is never the whole story. When we experience love as different than culture’s

We Are Two-Way Mirrors

08/16/2016

There is only one thing you must definitely answer for yourself: “Who am I?” Or, restated, “Where do I abide?” If you can get that right, the rest largely takes care of itself. Paul answers the questions directly: “You are hidden with Christ in God, and God is your life” (Colossians 3:3-4). Every time you start hating yourself, ask, “Who am I?” The answer will come, “I am hidden with Christ in God” in every

Mary the Contemplative (Part III)

08/03/2016

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT Mary like any Christian contemplative had to learn to walk by faith. We can believe that the great faith she needed to give her fiat to the message of the angel had been prepared by series of acts of faith developed throughout Mary’s life as she contemplated God’s message unfolding in her life before the Annunciation. We see her deep spirit of contemplative faith when we examine Lk 1:37, “For nothing

What is Conversion?

07/19/2016

“Suddenly, while he was traveling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all around him. He fell to the ground and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me.’” –Acts 9:3-5, Jerusalem Bible I believe that almost all of the great themes of Paul’s

Feast of the Holy, Glorious, and All-Praiseworthy Chiefs of the Apostles, Peter and Paul

06/29/2016

The divinely-blessed Peter was from Bethsaida of Galilee. He was the son of Jonas and the brother of Andrew the First-called. He was a fisherman by trade, unlearned and poor, and was called Simon; later he was renamed Peter by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who looked at him and said, “Thou art Simon the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter)” (John 1:42). On being raised by the

Divinization

06/10/2016

If we could glimpse the panoramic view of the biblical revelation and the Big Picture that we’re a part of, we’d see how God is forever evolving human consciousness, making us ever more ready for God. The Jewish prophets and many Catholic and Sufi mystics used words like espousal, marriage, or bride and groom to describe this phenomenon. That’s what the prophet Isaiah (61:10, 62:5), many of the Psalms, the school of Paul (Ephesians 5:25-32),

Losing is Winning

02/01/2016

We don’t come to God by doing it right. Please believe me on this. We come to God by doing it wrong. Any guide of souls knows this to be true. If we come to God by being perfect, no one is going to come to God. This absolutely levels the playing field. Our failures open our hearts of stone and move the rigid mind space toward understanding and patience. It is in doing it

Meditation and Worship (Part II)

01/14/2016

There are things which we cannot understand except within the teaching of the Church; scripture must be understood with the mind of the Church, the mind of Christ, because the Church has not changed; in its inner experience it continues to live the same life as it lived in the first century; and words spoken by Paul, Peter, Basil or others within the Church, have kept their meaning. So, after a preliminary understanding in our

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

12/01/2015

Meditation: Why Did He Come? Christmas means that “the Word (the Eternal God) was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In an attempt to capture the monumental humiliation God endured when He took on human flesh, C.S. Lewis likens it to our becoming a worm. Yet God did that for us in order to communicate His love to us. Christmas means that Emmanuel has come: God is not

Did Jesus Ever Really Exist?

06/19/2015

By Father Lawrence Farley I used to be of the opinion that for really far-out whacky stuff, you couldn’t beat Jerry Springer. You all know Jerry Springer—he was the showman who began a talk show in 1991 which within a few years became something of a voyeuristic freak-show, featuring topics like “Teenage Girls who Marry their Grandfathers,” a kind of real-life version of the Muppets’ song “I Am My Own Grandpa.” It has spawned a

Tags

God Is Humble Enough to Be Anonymous

We Are Two-Way Mirrors

Mary the Contemplative (Part III)

What is Conversion?

Feast of the Holy, Glorious, and All-Praiseworthy Chiefs of the Apostles, Peter and Paul

Divinization

Losing is Winning

Meditation and Worship (Part II)

Seventeenth Day of Christmas Advent, Meditation: Why Did He Come? (Part IV)

Did Jesus Ever Really Exist?

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