Spiritual Growth and Maturity
“…this is how the path of religious life begins. As the holy fathers write, the soul passes through three stages: slave, hireling, and son. The stage of the slave—a person does not yet love God, but fears hell. He keeps the commandments because he has been horrified by the description of fiery gehenna. This is faith expressing the religious instinct of self-preservation. The stage of the hireling—a person already hopes for reward. He fasts in order to receive the Kingdom of H
Theology
“Today… we often take theology out of the theanthropic mystery of the Church in which it was sung by the Fathers. We transfer it to the field of mere academic discussions, where each person, remaining an individual, an isolated authority, states his opinion and goes his way. The resultant “theology,” however, is not the very theology of the Church…The divine Spirt breathes in the organism of human speech. Thus it becomes possible for man to utter words of God, to speak of God
Envy
"It is sometimes tempting to observe other peoples’ lives and journeys, especially of our peers, and compare our own life with theirs. We...
Sacred vs. Secular
“There really is no such thing as"secular or sacred.” The Bible says"…for in Him [God] we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28)....