prayer Archives - Page 7 of 14

Patience (Part VI): Patience Withstands Demonic Influence

07/18/2019

When the desert monks left the inhabited world, every monk brought parts of his or her former life with them. Memories, thoughts, fantasies, regrets, old lusts, pride, unfulfilled desires, anger, fear, unresolved conflict and a host of other remnants of the “world” were present in their cells. At the same time, they found a new “world” in the desert in the lives of other monks, visitors, local towns and villages and the rich, yet austere

The Work That Saves

07/12/2019

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, April 17, 2015 Do we cooperate in our salvation? Do our efforts make a difference? These questions lie at the heart of a centuries-old religious debate in Christianity. Classically, the Protestant reformers said, “No,” to these questions, arguing that we are saved solely and utterly by God’s grace, His unmerited favor. The Catholic Church replied that “faith without works” is dead and that faith alone is insufficient. This debate, with various

Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part II)

06/27/2019

The training of our consciousness enables us to recover an immediacy of response to anybody’s face, however spoilt, haggard, or careworn, and precisely because it is such. God loves this person here and now, in their very ordinariness, their cowardice, their loneliness, their sin. Our consciousness being awakened, the eye of the heart is opened, and we begin to see with the eyes of God. Then we can put ourselves in the other’s place, share

The Thirty-Second of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part VI)

04/11/2019

What could be the meaning of Lent during the long hours we spend outside of home—commuting, sitting at our desks, taking care of our professional duties, meeting our colleagues and friends? Although no clear-cut “recipe” can be given here as in any other area, some very general considerations are possible. In the first place, Lent is a good time to measure the incredibly superficial character of our relations with men, things, and work. The “keep

The Twenty-Fifth Day of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part III)

04/04/2019

[Fasting] should be practiced on two levels: first, as ascetical fast; and second, as total fast. The ascetical fast consists of a drastic reduction of food so that the permanent state of a certain hunger might be lived as a reminder of God and a constant effort to keep our mind on Him. Everyone who has practiced it—be it only a little—knows that this ascetical fast rather than weakening us makes us light, concentrated, sober,

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part II)

04/03/2019

What then is fasting for us Christians? It is our entrance and participation in that experience of Christ Himself by which He liberates us from the total dependence on food, matter, and the world. By no means is our liberation a full one. Living still in the fallen world, in the world of the Old Adam, being part of it, we still depend on food. But just as our death—through which we still must pass—has

Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?

03/08/2019

By Fr Stephen Freeman, March 13, 2016 The first service of Great Lent in the Orthodox Church is “Forgiveness Vespers,” served on the eve of Monday of the First Week. There is nothing unusual about the service itself – other than the “rite of forgiveness” appended to it. In this, the priest and the faithful ask forgiveness of one another. Often this is done with mutual prostrations. Each asks the forgiveness of the other. The

A Tuning Fork

11/12/2018

Contemplative prayer is like striking a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is resonate to the true pitch, to receive the always-present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance, a capacity for mutuality (see Matthew 7:7-11), which implies a basic humility. We must begin with the knowledge that the Sender is absolutely and

Action and Contemplation

11/05/2018

The words action and contemplation have become classic Christian terminology for the two dancing polarities of our lives. Thomas Aquinas and many others stated that the highest form of spiritual maturity is not action or contemplation, but the ability to integrate the two into one life stance—to be service-oriented contemplatives or contemplative activists. By temperament we all tend to come at it from one side or the other. This full integration doesn’t happen without a lot of mistakes and practice

God is the Depth

10/02/2018

No, the God of Christians is not the summit – reassuring and plain to see – of a pyramid of beings. He is the depth who reveals depths everywhere, making of the most familiar creature a thing unknown. We are like drunken potholers; every face we see reveals the hidden side of the earth. It is a wonderful and compelling vision. ‘Do not try to distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy; all must be

Archive

Patience (Part VI): Patience Withstands Demonic Influence

The Work That Saves

Persons in Communion: The Disciplines of Communion (Part II)

The Thirty-Second of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part VI)

The Twenty-Fifth Day of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part III)

The Twenty-Fourth Day of Great Lent. “. . . BUT BY PRAYER AND FASTING” (Part II)

Forgiveness – Do We Know What We’re Doing?

A Tuning Fork

Action and Contemplation

God is the Depth

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