Being real with God is far more important than being emotional When we find ourselves struggling with prayer, and feel that it has become dry and lifeless, we are sometimes tempted to stop praying. When our prayer has become a struggle, it is good to remember that God knows our
We must confront our own weaknesses As we continue our Lenten journey, this is a time when the Church puts much emphasis on the role of repentance. We strive to go to confession more frequently during Great Lent, just as we’ve increased our level of fasting, and frequency of attending
The importance of the veneration of the Mother of God “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women (Luke 1:28).” This salutation addressed to the Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, forms a part of the hymn of the Church most frequently sung in
The Seen and the Unseen, and the Knowledge of God There is the seen, and there is the unseen, the material and the immaterial. That which is material can be scientifically examined and experienced, the immaterial can only be seen and experienced spiritually. These are two worlds that are only
We must first care for ourselves My dear mother was diagnosed with dementia back in 2003. Soon after the diagnosis I moved her from Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, and into an assisted living place on Vashon Island, where I could be involved in the supervision of her care. Her dementia
Locked Down by Facebook My Facebook account, “Abbot Tryphon”, has been locked down by Facebook, allegedly because someone was trying to hack into it. With well over 39 thousand followers on Facebook, it now means I’m unable to continue the daily postings of my blog, The Morning Offering, to followers
We must put aside all resentment The decision to forgive another person a wrong done to us begins when we decide to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. To forgive someone does not mean that we forget what they did to us, for this may be impossible. The
We must refrain from the life of the Super Correct Driven by fear, there are people who leave the Church and head into schism. In Greece there are at least eighteen “Old Calendar” Orthodox churches who claim to be THE Church, not recognizing each other as canonical. In the United
Which type of Christian are you? There are two types of Christians. There are those who can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20)”. And then there are those Christians who
Putting off guilt and shame, we look to the future with hope There are many people who cling to memories of past sins, holding on to guilt and shame, reliving things long ago confessed, as though they happened yesterday. They struggle with regrets, often revisiting shame as though they were