Rules and Rituals
“Fasts and vigils, the study of Scripture, renouncing possessions and everything worldly, are not in themselves perfection, as we have said; they are its tools. For perfection is not to be found in them; it is acquired through them. It is useless, therefore, to boast of our fasting, vigils, poverty and reading of Scripture when we have not achieved the love of God and our fellow men.” (St. John Cassian) “…there is often no faith in people, but there is a lot of ritualism in t
Worldliness
“Our present-day culture is often torn between the attraction of an imaginary future in which science and such overcome all illness and...
Symbols
“The Lord knows that we can only make sense of the world through rational engagement with it, and so we are given patterns and symbols to...