Veneration
“Worship is reserved for God alone, but the veneration of the holy things used in worship is natural and right…The…Church worships God...
Crowd
“The crowd (pick a crowd, any crowd) is a terrible substitute for God. We desire God (and the desire for God is innate because we are...
Divine Likeness
“The human person, created in the image of God and called to progress toward the divine likeness, is unique and of infinite value.” (Fr....
Fire (Divine and Spiritual Fire)
“There is within every human person gold and silver and mud and dross. Life in this age has been given to us for repentance and the...
Deception
“The story of the first sin begins not with a choice, but with a lie. As much as we tend to emphasize “free-will” as the origin and...
Orientation/Reorientation
“Our orienting loves are like a kind of gravity—carrying us in the direction to which they are weighted. If our loves are absorbed with...
Negativity
“The average lifespan of an emotion is about ninety seconds. However, when we replay painful memories, or when we ruminate over...
Prayer Life
“...you don’t have to be a monk or nun on a deserted island to have contemplative prayer in your life. It is something all believers...
Spiritual Disease
“Self-importance, according to St. Basil, is a spiritual disease that “matures,” that gets stronger over time. It is a disease that...
Brokenness
“Just as God sent Jesus back into the world with his wounds, so we are sent into each day with our wounds…Jesus His followers with their...