Freedom
“Freedom is a paradox. It is an utterly inherent part of our existence – a critical part of our salvation – and yet threatening in its power. Freedom of the self can seem a threat to every kind of order (religious, political, social, etc.). Nevertheless, we are told in Scripture that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (freedom)” (2 Corinthians 3:17). St. Paul will also warn in his letter to the Galatians (5:13) that our liberty should not be used as an excuse
Asceticism
“Understood accurately, asceticism is about Beauty; it’s about attempting to be the sort of artists who won’t betray what they have seen of the beautiful. For example, we don’t fast in order to be good, but rather so that our devotion, our eros for Christ’s Beauty, will be absolute. Moral effort only matters when it expands that ascetic effort into the arena of Goodness. Moral struggle has to be an amplification of asceticism, never a substitute. It has to be the working out
Thoughts (Battling Them)
“I once confessed to an experienced priest that sinful thoughts were torturing me, and this is what he advised me: “Think of the thoughts...
Invitation
“...God comes into our lives when we invite Him with all our being, opening the gates of our heart from the inside. He will not come...
Stories/Storytelling
“All truth is God’s truth, wherever it is found. This is explicated well by both St. Basil…and also by St. Justin Martyr in his doctrine...
Contagious Faith
“Sin remains an affront to the holy God. It alienates us from God again as if Christ had not reconciled us to our Creator. So it puts us...
Thoughts and Feelings
“The abstraction that we call “thinking,” etc., in the contemporary world is a diminishment of what it means to be human. We have learned...
Giving and Receiving
“ ‘So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7)....
Respond/Responding
“ ‘And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure’ (1 Corinthians 4:12). The apostles...
Prune/Pruning
“Life in Christ is never a bed of roses. He promised pruning. But if we respond to the Gardener’s tending as fruitful branches, yielding...