The problem of evil in God’s creation We’ve all read news reports of horrid cases of people being imprisoned for long periods of time by perverted individuals who have been later diagnosed as classic psychopaths. By definition, psychopaths are individuals who are hateful towards others, and incapable of empathy. Sometimes
Category: The Morning Offering
Loving our neighbor requires commitment When we commit to behaving as though we love others, making every effort to be kind and generous towards them, a wonderfully surprising thing happens. We eventually actually do love others. Learning to truly love our neighbor takes commitment on our part. We must will
When our church attendance drops off It seems we all go through periods in our lives when our church attendance drops off. Work and home life can seem hectic, and we fall into the trap of letting ourselves feel overwhelmed. Given the fast pace of our active lives, and feeling
And healing will happen to a small part of the Church Whenever we hear of problems in the Church it is our natural inclination to want to read all about it and root out all the details. Yet if we really want to benefit our soul, we should take the advice
Avoiding hypocrisy in our journey to God It is very easy to live our lives in hypocrisy if we are not mindful of the pitfalls of the spiritual life. We can become Pharisees without even noticing, if we let our Christianity be artificially lived. Living our lives as though we
The Orthodox practice of standing for worship Standing before God has been the only acceptable posture for Orthodox Christians from the earliest of times. We recognize that a faithful servant would never sit before his master, for the faithful are all servants of the Lord, whom we worship as we
The Church is not perfect because we are not perfect Some months ago I received an email from a man who wanted to know why I had placed myself and this monastery under the Patriarchate of Moscow. Along with referring to the Patriarch of Constantinople as “Bart”, and claiming to
The limits of human reason and the knowledge of God The things that are of God are far beyond the capabilities of our finite mind to comprehend. The divine can only be known through the nous, that place in the heart that is our true center. It, unlike the brain,
Tasting the presence of Christ beside us We all need a good dose of silent prayer each and every day. Finding that perfect place in our home that can become our cave, or prayer closet, will afford us that sacred space where we can go deep into the heart and
Wisdom is not based on age It has been said that wisdom comes with age, and to some degree this is quite true. I’ve often had conversations with old college friends about how nice it would have been to have had the knowledge and wisdom we have now, back when