Grace
“It is common for us to conceive of God as giving us grace (help) so that we can do this thing or that and become this thing or that. And the emphasis becomes our own doing, with God reduced to an auxiliary position. It is a path of anxiety, failure, and despair. The Pharisees were champions of this approach and excelled in exercising themselves in everything they thought of as good. At the same time, they became angry that tax-collectors and harlots were freely given even mo
Good and Evil
“An evil person is not someone who is nothing but evil, someone with no redeeming features or virtues whatsoever. An evil person is not a...
Faith and Reason
“Faith is critical if we are not to remain earthbound. Divine matters cannot be comprehended with the mind, but we are conditioned in our...
Daily Bread
“Give us this day our daily bread.”…Daily is a misleading translation of the Greek epiousios, which is literally “above the essence” or...
Soothing
“The word mercy in English is the translation of the Greek word eleos. This word has the same ultimate root as the old Greek word for...
Bad Things Happening
“Prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well, that our bad things will turn out for good,...
Theosis/Union with God
“Our quest for communion with the everlasting God reorients our vision, directing it toward the eternal destiny of all mankind. We...