Archive

The Ninth Day of Christmas Advent: Happy Thanksgiving! Thoughts on Thanksgiving

By Michael Haldas, November 23, 2017 “The chief purpose of life, for any one of us is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks.”  (J.R.R. Tolkien) “We must continually nurture the grace of gratitude in our hearts…A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.” (Rev.

When Belief Is Complicated

By Fr. Stephen Freeman, November 10, 2015  “It’s complicated.” This statement sums up much of the modern experience. I don’t think the world we encounter is actually complicated – but our experience is. Simplicity is the reflection of an inner world free of conflicts and undercurrents. The truth of the modern inner-world is that it is generally pulled in many directions. Modernity is a juncture in history – a place where many rivers meet to form

Thoughts on Hope and Optimism. Thoughts of being “of Good Cheer.”

By Michael Haldas Thoughts on Hope and Optimism, June 15, 2016 “Hope has a distinctly Christian flavor to it. Unlike optimism, which is secular in nature, Christian hope isn’t centered on what human beings can do, but on what God has done. Hope is an extension of faith; if faith is a tree, then hope is the branches of the tree. The concept of hope has everything to do with the Kingdom, which is a

Thoughts on Morality and Transformation. Thoughts on the Paradox of Grief for Christians

By Michael Haldas Thoughts on Morality and Transformation, June 7, 2016 “It’s all about becoming, not being; it’s about transformation of ourselves and our restoration to holiness, not making God keep a bargain with us to give us what we want or expect. This is because each one of us has a different complex of illnesses, and we respond in different ways to the various spiritual, therapeutic regimens available to us in the Church.” (Abbot