Tags

A Tuning Fork

Contemplative prayer is like striking a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is resonate to the true pitch, to receive the always-present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance, a capacity for mutuality (see Matthew 7:7-11), which implies a basic humility. We must begin with the knowledge that the Sender is absolutely and

Saved in Weakness

By Father Stephen Freeman, January 21, 2015  We are not saved by our talents and gifts nor by our excellence – we are saved by our weakness and our failure. I have made this point in several ways in several articles over the recent past – and the question comes up – but what does that look like? How do I live like that? The question can be somewhat urgent for some because the message

The Hidden Jesus

Jesus was as hidden to his contemporaries as he seems to us today. Many Christians and others of good will, regardless of their faith or lack of it, feel that if they had been able to walk the hills of Galilee with Jesus, to see and hear him, they would be able to decide for themselves. I doubt it. Being there might not have made a difference at all. Look at that motley crew of

Monday of the Third Week of Great Lent: Obedience is the Child of Trust. If You Think You Are Humble that Means You Are Not.

Obedience is the Child of Trust Obedience is the complete renunciation of one’s own soul, demonstrated, however, by actions. More exactly, it is the death of the senses in a living soul. Obedience is a freely-chosen death, a life without cares, danger without fears, unshakeable trust in God, no fear of death. It is a voyage without perils, a journey in your sleep. Obedience is the burial of the will and the resurrection of humility.

Thursday of the Second Week of Great Lent: The New People are a People of Children. Gentleness, the Face of Love.

The New People are a People of Children Paul shows great wisdom when he says: ‘We never sought glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were babes among you.’ [1 Thess. 2:7] A child is charming, gentle, simple-minded, without cunning or hypocrisy, in short, straightforward in thought and speech. He is therefore the personification of simplicity. A child has a sensitive

Wednesday of the Second Week of Great Lent: Weighing up our Actions. Simplicity a Name for God.

Weighing up our Actions The Abbot Germanus said: ‘We are perfectly convinced that the right judgment of our thoughts is the spring and the root of all the virtues. But we would like to know how to acquire that judgment, and also how it is possible to recognize its authenticity, that is to say, whether it comes from God.’ The Abbot Moses replied: ‘Only by humility can true judgment be acquired. And the first test

The Eighth Day of Christmas Advent. Fasting for Christmas

By Stephen Freedman Last Wednesday, November 15, the Orthodox Church began its “Winter Lent,” the fast that prepares for the feast of the Nativity. Somewhat similar to Advent, it is the older practice, a full 40-day fast, that reminds us that Christmas, joy that it is, is a foretaste of Pascha. The Cave of Bethlehem reminds us of the Cave of Hades (icons of the Descent into Hell picture the Cave of Hades). The Babe,

The Sweet Smoke of Prayer

By Father Stephen Freeman Let my prayer arise in Your sight as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.  Psalm 141 My parish has a fairly steady stream of visitors from outside the Orthodox experience. Among their first questions are ones concerning the use of incense. There is virtually no Orthodox service that does not include the burning of incense, with the priest or deacon making the circuit of the Church

he Purpose and Method of Christian Life (Part IX). Virtues (Part V): Humility

Balance, we have already noted, can only be attained through discretion and discernment. Yet, there is another key virtue that the monk must seek if he is going to walk the royal road according to the Conferences. This is the fifth and final virtue on our list, namely, humility, which, according to Abba Moses, is the foundational virtue lying beneath a Christian’s ability to practice discernment and discretion and thus, by extension, to live a

The Purpose and Method of Christian Life (Part V). Virtues (Part I): Detachment

According to the Conferences, to cultivate purity of heart means to live a life of Christian virtue. For the fathers, speaking about virtues is like placing the white light of purity of heart through a mental prism. Virtues are like the colors that make up the light, combining indivisibly into a single whole, but capable of being discussed on their own. Many of the fathers in the Conferences talk at length about virtues, their nature,