Forty days after His Nativity, Christ was presented to the Temple. Forty days after His Baptism, He was tempted and tested by the devil. And forty days after His Resurrection, He ascended into Heaven. Surely there is significance in the fact that each of these three all-important events in His earthly life was followed by …
Grace is the Field of Existence
Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, Paul wrote in his letter to Titus 3:8. “The saying is sure,” or ‘trustworthy.’ What is the saying, the word, logos, that is sure and trustworthy? It’s what Paul wrote immediately before his statement of trustworthy logos. And what he wrote is a statement of faith that I compare in importance to …
A cross is a creative act
Take up your cross.... is not an invitation to passivity. It is not about quietly and submissively accepting whatever hardship falls on you. Jesus was never passive. He did not just react to what was thrown at him. He lived a life of active initiative. He courted trouble! He is not telling us to accept …
Spiritual Reflection – Stars, Kingfishers, Dragonflies and the Personal Touch…
(I have permission to reproduce the following blog post by my friend Michael in England. The original is found on his blog site; or on his Facebook page.) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.from Psalm 147 I am not a scientist but …
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Words of a Thirsty Soul
Give me a drink of you. My mouth wide open, I breathe in.What you say to me (to us) is: breath and life.I receive the mission to be a wellspring: it's You in me, leaping up into eternal Life.A mission to breathe. These words were written in 1994 in his journal, by Christophe Lebreton, the …
The Bible in the Marketplace
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…and God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:1-13) The Orthodox Church reads these opening words of the Bible on the first day of Lent. But the Church also reads Isaiah 1:1-20. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken…” The …
Take Lent “lentement”
In 2nd Peter chapter 3 we read: But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should …
When God’s Name Changed
A group of men visited a remote monastery. They were given time to visit with a venerable holy monk, who answered all their questions. Finally one of the visitors spoke to the monk: “Father, could you tell us something about yourself?” He leaned back. “Myself?” he mused. There was a long pause. “My name used …
Iconostasis of Life
Father Alexander Schmemann wrote the following in his book, For the Life of the World: “…And if I make this new life mine, mine this hunger and thirst of the Kingdom, mine this expectation of Christ, mine the certitude that Christ is Life, my very death will be an act of communion with Life.” True …
Women of Freedom
I love the Gospel stories of the women who went to the tomb of Christ, especially the version in Mark's Gospel (16:1-8). There is something almost comic about the women walking to the tomb, to anoint the body of Christ, and wondering who would roll the stone away from the tomb. Clearly they won’t be able …
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