self-image Archives - Saint Sophia

Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 17

02/19/2020

By Fr. Maximos (Constas) There have been times when I was in line to receive Communion, and some of the most horrible, dark, even blasphemous thoughts came into my mind. Is that me? Why would I think such things, that I’d never thought before in my life, when my entire self is concentrated on receiving Communion? It breaks my heart even to know that I had such thoughts. I feel so bad that I have

Path of Descent: Participating in God

09/16/2019

What I have seen is the totality recapitulated as one, received not in essence but by participation. Just as if you lit a flame from a flame, it is the whole flame you receive. —St. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022) [1] The path of descent involves letting go of our self-image, our titles, our status symbols—our false self. It will die anyway. So don’t make anything absolute when it is only relative. This is one

Ego

01/22/2014

We don’t teach meditation to the young monks. They are not ready for it until they stop slamming doors. — Thich Nhat Hanh to Thomas Merton in 1966 The piercing truth of this statement struck me as a perfect way to communicate the endless disguises and devices of the false self. There is no more clever way for the false self to hide than behind the mask of spirituality. The human ego will always try

COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US!

12/26/2012

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me . . . he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.” ~ Isaiah 61:1 In this reading from Isaiah, the prophet describes the coming Servant of Yahweh. It is precisely this quote that Jesus first uses to announce the exact nature of his own ministry (Luke 4:18-19).

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Prayer of the Heart in an Age of Technology and Distraction, Part 17

Path of Descent: Participating in God

Ego

COME EMMANUEL, GOD WITH US!

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