Becoming The Image Of Christ To Others If we are to be true to our calling as the children of God, we must live in imitation of Christ. We must imitate His meekness and humility. We must love others just as did He. We must be willing to be transformed,
Short Prayers Used In Personal Devotion Many Church Fathers taught the use of the “arrow prayer”, deliberately short prayers for personal devotion that were easily remembered, and could communicate one’s love for God, while seeking His help. They were like arrows being shot into the air, wholeheartedly demonstrating our sincerity
We Must Collaborate With God If we are to be healthy spiritually, we must cooperate with God’s divine grace. The nous, as the center of our being, refers to the noetic energy that functions in the heart of every spiritually healthy person. Only the Holy Spirit can bring about the
Asking For Miracles In Our Smugness And Pride Asking for miracles in order to believe betrays a sort of smugness on our part, sort of like asking for an expensive gift from a prospective friend, before considering their overture for friendship. It could hardly become a true friendship if it
We Must Think Before We Speak Many a parish has been torn apart by careless speech. Many extended families have seen rifts between family members because of one careless word. Couples have divorced because one spouse would not refrain from a critical word. Our struggle with the passions must begin
Do Not Turn Right Or Left According to Saint Basil the Great, “The person who does not allow his thought to incline towards excess or deprivation but directs it to the midpoint, that of virtue, is upright in his heart”. Virtue must be practiced. Just as one who would desire
Putting The Blame In The Right Place “A humble and spiritually active man, when he reads the Holy Scriptures, will refer everything to himself and not to another.” Saint Mark the Ascetic We all have a natural tendency to lay blame on others, when in truth we must blame only
The Jesus Prayer, and the Acquisition of Inner Peace The Jesus Prayer, also known as the Prayer of the Heart, is the central prayer for monastics. One of the early desert fathers, Saint Macarius the Great, said of the phrase from the Psalms, “The meditation of my heart is in your