Pure Heart
“What Is purity of heart? What is it? A pure heart is, first of all, one and whole. It overcomes all the contradictions between the soul, the spirit and the body, between the mind, the will and the emotions. Full agreement between the will of God and the will of man reigns in it. All its thoughts, desires and feelings are harmoniously directed towards a single goal—the fulfillment of Christ’s commandments. In such a heart there is no place for hostility, hypocrisy, double-min
Freedom
“But we hear the word limit in much the same way we hear the word quiet: as a form of subtraction, a curtailment of what could or ought to be ours. We despise it as old-fashioned, a diminishment of personal freedom,…But what is freedom to begin with? Something boundless we’re born with, innate to human existence? Are we truly free, mired as we are in nurture and inheritance, the strictures of our time, the limits of science? Or is freedom a gift, something we do not own and c
Conscience
“Two gifts that God has given to man for the good of himself and others and which he should multiply are conscience and faith. The...
Spiritual Warfare
“So, attention is the central point of spiritual warfare, the focus of Christian life, the criterion and measure of salvation of the...
Goodness
“Before beginning any good deed, we must have recourse to God in prayer, ask for His grace, help and assistance, so that the work before...
Time
“It is the eternal, timeless God who gives meaning to time by imbuing it with holiness and incorporating time into eternity…Time was...
Spiritual Litmus Tests
“A litmus test, technically about acidity or alkalinity, has evolved into slang used on the context of something being the ultimate...
Attention and Distraction
“St. Peter — always the most zealous of the disciples — then made an extremely bold reply: “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on...
Distraction
“…we are always blessed when we urgently serve the Lord, for He is our true life. He is able to draw us out of the slough of secular...
Prayer (Being Prayer and Living Prayer)
“Prayer is an encounter with God. It’s not just a question of sacred duty, not some kind of religious obligation, and even less is it...