“Love thy God with all your heart, mind…” and secondly, “Love thy neighbor…” We live in a world bombarded with thousands of messages, some subtle and some not-so-subtle, of merchandising that impact the way we interact with others, and the way we relate to God. Much of what we glean
Category: The Morning Offering
Your closest and most intimate friend is yourself If you have never learned to accept and love yourself, you will never be able to love another person. If you don’t learn to forgive yourself, you will never be able to forgive another person. You must learn to be your own
Christ asked those without sin to cast the first stone “We have all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23).” We Orthodox often miss the mark in understanding and ministering to this world. We fail to heed the words of Christ, “to love one another as
Putting the blame in the right place We all have a natural tendency to lay blame on others, when in truth we must blame only ourselves. When facing our own sins and shortcomings, it is always easy to put the blame on others, yet our faith tells us that spiritual
Acknowledging Warts and Wrinkles If we do not live in repentance and humility, we clergy betray Christ, Whom we claim to serve. We must be willing to put aside all intellectual and romanticized notions of the Church, acknowledge the many warts and wrinkles and institutional flaws that have accumulated over
I postpone the day of my own repentance Every aspect of my life should be a reflection of my faith in Christ, yet I utterly fall short in living this out as a reality. I find it difficult to look closely at myself, and at my relationships with others. How
And the forgetfulness of the things of God The passions that create a state of unrest in our hearts cause us to forget the real purpose of our life, which is union with God. Saint Basil the Great tells us we cannot approach the knowledge of the truth with a
Changing the World Must Begin with Me The Elder Sophroni of Essex said he believed in changing the world, one person at a time. These words are in agreement with those of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, who said acquiring inner peace causes a thousand around us to be saved. As
Humility Requires Struggle Only through struggle can we acquire humility. Our natural inclination is to flee struggle, and cling to our comfortable pride. When difficulties and humiliations come our way, we must embrace them, as from God. For the Lord knows what we need, and if we are to acquire