Trials and Temptations
“Trials should be distinguished from temptations. Trials come directly from the God of Providence, while temptations come directly from the evil spirits, although they are allowed by God. Trials are neither saving nor leading to spiritual death in themselves; they are only reasons for the manifestation of human will in relation to what the Lord gives us. The purpose of temptations is spiritual death, although they disguise themselves as something harmless and even good. Tempt
Suffering (Mystery of)
“ ‘The extreme greatness of Christianity lies in the fact that it does not seek a supernatural remedy for suffering, but a supernatural...
Words/Speech
“Words have something of a sacramental relationship with the reality they represent. Or, to be more precise, they have an iconic...
Technology
“In pagan myth, this giving of secret knowledge is depicted in a positive light, such as with the Greek Prometheus giving fire or the...
Seeking/Searching
“ We would like to think that gaining spiritual understanding comes from the sudden unveiling of a revelation, a quick flash of insight....
Self-Denial
“Deny yourself…Adam, also denied himself when he fell into sin, but he denied his real and true self. When the Lord now requires that...
Success
“The material success of modern technology creates an allusion of greatness. To a great extent it only bears witness to power and wealth....
Reveal/Revelation
“God is an obvious reality, but man is a paradoxical being—God’s beloved creation, fallen away from real life and caught in some fiction,...
Spiritual Blindness and Deafness
“He [Gadarene Demoniac – Luke 16:19-31] is an icon of our brokenness and represents us all in many ways. He did not ask Christ to deliver...
Bible/Scripture
“The notion of the “Scriptures” has undergone radical changes across the centuries. Today, we picture them as a single book, the Bible....