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God and Caesar (Part VI): Towards a Creative Secularism

01/26/2015

In the inescapably pluralist life of the city today, Christians must strive for a creative secularism. An open civilization, free from ideocracy, must not be a spiritual desert abandoned to the instincts by the blind forces of production. Kirkegaard thought it necessary ‘to go more deeply into man as he actually exists’ before daring to speak to him of God. More than a thousand years before, the hardiest of ascetics, St John Climacus, remarked that

A July Fourth Meditation

07/04/2013

John Adams: “The law given from Sinai was a civil and municipal code as well as a moral and religious code. These are laws essential to the existence of men in society and most of which have been enacted by every Nation which ever professed any code of laws. Vain indeed would be the search among the writings of secular history to find so broad, so complete and so solid a basis of morality as

Christmas Advent: The Sixth Day

11/20/2012

GOD, THE SUPREME AUTHORITY, has spoken since the beginning of Creation, and continues to speak, in thunder and flood, in light and darkness, in seasons of rain or drought, in war and peace. We are bound to listen to his voice, for there is no other. And because he sent us his Word, and there is no other, our ears must be open to hear it. When God speaks the entire world must answer. Some

Vision

11/07/2012

Abba Zacharias had a vision. He told his spiritual Father, Carion the ascetic, about it. Exasperated, Carion beat him and told him the vision came from demons. Zacharias went to Abba Poemen to tell him about it. Seeing his sincerity, Abba Poemen sent him on to a monk who was a mystic. This monk knew all about the vision before Zacharias even told him and said it was indeed from God. Then the mystic instructed

The Commandment to Love

10/18/2012

Jesus commanded us to love, so we know it is not just a feeling, since you cannot command feelings. Love is a decision. Jesus did not say: When you get healed, love;When you grow up, love; when you feel loving, love;When you get it together and have dealt with all your mother/father/husband/children wounds, then you are able to love. No, the commandment for all of us is to LOVE now. I think we know the

Father Maximos on Knowing God through Experience, Logic, and Nature

08/28/2012

There was a pause before the next question. “Yes, Teresa,” Fr. Maximos said, giving the floor to a woman in her thirties who had raised her hand. I was always impressed with his capacity to remember people’s names. “Would you say that we know God through our experience rather than through our logic?” “I believe we know God through both our experience and our logic. Human beings are also rational creatures.” “But I thought,” Teresa

Surrender and Gratitude

07/16/2012

The great commandment is not “Thou shalt be right.” Instead, the great commandment is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Just stay inside of the Great Compassion, the Great Stream, the Great River of Divine Love. Don’t push that river, just stay in it. You are already there! All that is needed is surrender and gratitude. Our job is simply to thank God for being part of it all and allow it to happen.

The Beauty of Shyness

07/11/2012

The Beauty of Shyness There is something beautiful about shyness, even though in our culture shyness is not considered a virtue. On the contrary, we are encouraged to be direct, look people straight in the eyes, tell them what is on our minds, and share our stories without a blush. But this unflinching soul-baring, confessional attitude quickly becomes boring. It is like trees without shadows. Shy people have long shadows, where they keep much of

Dying to the “I” Before You Die

07/09/2012

All religions in their own way talk about “dying before you die”! They are all indeed saying that something has to die. We all know this, but often religions have chosen the wrong thing to kill, which has given us a very negative image. In almost all of history it was always the “other,” the heretic, the sinner, the foreigner that had to die. In most ancient cultures it was the virgin daughters and eldest

My Rage and Spirituality from Below (Part IV)

07/06/2012

By contrast, spirituality from above reacts to the rage that boils up in us by repressing or crushing it: “Rage is not supposed to happen. As a Christian I’ve got to be friendly and balanced at all times. So I have to control my rage.” Spirituality from below would mean questioning my rage, questioning what God wants to tell me with it. Perhaps my rage is pointing to some deep injury. Perhaps in my rage

Archive

God and Caesar (Part VI): Towards a Creative Secularism

A July Fourth Meditation

Christmas Advent: The Sixth Day

Vision

The Commandment to Love

Father Maximos on Knowing God through Experience, Logic, and Nature

Surrender and Gratitude

The Beauty of Shyness

Dying to the “I” Before You Die

My Rage and Spirituality from Below (Part IV)

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