Praying in the Rain
Joseph Shows Mercy
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According to the Proto-Gospel of James, Righteous Joseph was away for the summer doing construction work while the infant Christ was growing in the womb of Mary. In the autumn, Joseph returned home to find his espoused wife seven months pregnant. The details of this encounter between Joseph and Mary are not recorded in the Scripture. A few of the Fathers of the Church have attempted to construct a possible dialog between…
Glory to God for All Things
The God Who Became Small
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An annual December posting: Whom have we, Lord, like you The Great One who became small, the Wakeful who slept, The Pure One who was baptized, the Living One who died, The King who abased himself to ensure honor for all. Blessed is your honor! St. Ephrem the Syrian +++ We draw near to the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity, and I cannot fathom the smallness of God. Things in my life…
Nearly Orthodox
restoration and repair....
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Orthodoxy is taking me apart it seems. I feel as though all the pieces of me are being removed, examined, cleaned up and ready for restoration and repair. That is my hope, at any rate. Right now, I only feel as though I’m being taken apart. I can feel each piece when it’s removed. This empty space holds air and time. The framework of me keeps the empty space, ready to be…
Glory to God for All Things
The Presence in the Absence
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There is a strange aspect to the presence of God in the world around us. That aspect is His apparent absence. I read with fascination (because I am no philosopher, much less a scientist) the discussions surrounding “intelligent design” and the like. I gather that everybody agrees that the universe is just marvelous and wonderfully put together (I can’t think of a better universe). But then begins the parting of ways as…
Glory to God for All Things
Personal Issues
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From 2009 The title of this post is quite misleading – for in proper theological language – there are no “personal issues.” Our culture is quite fond of issues – both the politico-entertainment industry – and many individuals. It is a word and a phenomenon that has been baptized by the culture such that “being concerned with the issues” makes someone sound as if things matter to them in a significant way. The…
Glory to God for All Things
Formed in the Tradition
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Thinking of raising Christian children (in the light of St. Silouan’s family experience), I offer these few thoughts. The Nativity season offers many opportunities for families to be guided by Holy Tradition – just as we are also swamped by the distorting demands of commercial culture. May God guard our children and keep us all by His grace. +++ Sometime back, I watched a group of linguistic-psychologists (of varying sorts) in a…
Praying in the Rain
Bearing Fruit in Good Works
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In Colossians chapter one, St. Paul prays for the Colossians that they would be filled with the knowledge of God’s will and live (“walk”) in a manner worthy of and pleasing to the Lord, bearing fruit in good works and increasing in their knowledge of God. In order to do this the Colossians are to be “empowered with the strength that is according to God’s glorious might.” But then comes the surprising…
Praying in the Rain
To Blush
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This morning while waiting for the weather report on the radio, the announcer reported a study conducted by an on-line service that helps facilitate adulterous affairs (yes, such a site exists and, unfortunately, is quite popular). According to this site, men give more expensive gifts to their mistresses than to their wives at Christmas. Apparently that’s news. I was not shocked to find out this bit of information, I was…
Glory to God for All Things
Another Story of St. Silouan and his Father
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This is another wonderful story told by St. Silouan of Mt. Athos about his peasant father.  His father was clearly a man of great faith. St. Silouan thought his father to be wiser than many so-called spiritual fathers. The following story is an interesting account of how a father dealt with anger in correcting his son. This excerpt is from the Elder Sophrony’s St. Silouan the Athonite. Young, strong, handsome, and by this…
Glory to God for All Things
Raising a Saint
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Most of us would be satisfied to raise children who remain faithful believers. It is not always an easy thing and every parent who has such a child should rejoice constantly. There is no method to raise a child to be a saint, for God alone gives the grace that results in the mystery of such wonderful lives. However that may be, I am often struck in reading the writings of St.…
Praying in the Rain
Corporate Sin: Azariah's Prayer
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When the Three Holy Youths were threatened with fire for refusing to bow before the golden image erected by King Nebuchadnezzar, they did not back down. However, their confidence in the face of a fiery death was not due to a confidence that they would be delivered by God. The Three Youths say to King Nebuchadnezzar that God is able to deliver them, but even if He doesn’t, they refuse to bow…
Nearly Orthodox
barometer...
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I may need a barometer, a personal barometer…a person barometer. I need someone who I can call and say, “geez, is THIS normal?” Mostly my “is this normal” question applies to this weird orthodoxy idea I have in me. The one that comes to me today is around having been in the actual “church” on saturday. I had missed the 101 class 2 weeks running because of scheduling conflicts. In that time…
Nearly Orthodox
confession...
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I’m not sure I know how to put this.  It may be a bit rambling, I apologize in advance for that.  I tend to write these things stream of conscious-like and often don’t take the time to review and revise a great deal before posting them. That’s not the confession. That’s the pre-amble to the ramble. I’ve been considering that the next thing I need in this journey is confession…I need this…
Praying in the Rain
Power and Humility
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“The Lord Jesus Christ visited the earth in power and humility, in order to teach men to love God and man. Men are powerless in themselves; love for God fills them with power. Men are proud in themselves; love for mankind fills them with humility. Love for man comes from love for God. Humility comes from a sense of divine power. All love for men without love for God is false, and…
Glory to God for All Things
You Never Pray Alone
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Forgive me if this offers any offense. There is a conception of what it means to be human, rooted in Medieval thought and refined in the furnace of modernity. This conception views each person as a “free moral agent.” Each of us is a unique individual. Our choices are our own and set our path for good or ill. Moral decisions may be submitted to varying forms of ethical tests. The choices…
Praying in the Rain
Susanna
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In the biblical story of Susanna as recorded in the Septuagint version of Daniel, the virtuous Susanna is falsely accused by two elders who had hoped to coerce her into immoral relations with them. The description of the fall of these two men is quite helpful in that it describes the two stages that most people pass though as they fall into temptation. The first stage of the elders’ fall is the…
Glory to God for All Things
Prayer and Communion
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Having posted on the topic of prayer – I thought that reposting this earlier piece on the mystery of prayer as communion would be helpful. In particular it should be helpful for understanding the larger life of prayer – which includes our communion with the saints. +++ Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God…
Praying in the Rain
Megamind
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What happens when bad becomes boring? This is one of many questions related to good and evil raised in DreamWorks animated movie Megamind. The tagline gives the viewer fair warning: “A superhero movie with a mind of its own.” Without telling you any more than is revealed in the trailer, the movie is about an evil villain with a large mind and “the hue of a popular primary color.” Megamind is bad,…
Glory to God for All Things
Pray About It
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I readily acknowledge that some of what I write on this topic may be offensive to some. I ask that you read it carefully and reflectively before reacting. I will offer a scene that is common enough across America (and perhaps elsewhere), leaving the identifications blank (though they may be inferred by the reader). A young couple is greeted at their door by two young men, well-dressed and well-spoken. They ask permission…
Nearly Orthodox
acedia...
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I’m struggling with motivation to be consistent in practice quite a bit now.  It’s odd considering that we’re entering the season of Advent…a time to reflect, prepare the way, listen, wait in hope.  Maybe it’s the waiting part that is kicking up my struggle.  I find I am visited more and more with this old feeling of acedia. I truly wish the “noonday demon” would contain itself to appearing at noon.  As…
Glory to God for All Things
Waking Up
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10). This fear descends on us from on High. It is a spiritual feeling, firstly of God and then of us ourselves. We live in a state of awe by virtue of the presence of the Living God together with awareness of our own impurity. This fear places us before the Face of God to be judged by Him. We have…
Praying in the Rain
On Judging Pharisees
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“He who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is.” There is a tension in the life of the Christian between law and Spirit, and often it is a very uncomfortable tension. Those of us who have tried to take St. Paul’s advice and live by the Spirit, as in “walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh,” have quickly discovered that without…
Praying in the Rain
Something To Be Thankful For
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Some days I am more thankful for being an Orthodox Christian than others. This morning I was more thankful. I was thankful that I didn’t have to create the words for my prayers. My mind was hard to control this morning. Thoughts were leading me this way and that. Nothing particularly evil. Just a constant barrage of strong impressions, ideas, thoughts, and moments of disconnected pseudo insight. (By pseudo insight I mean…
Glory to God for All Things
The Life of Thanksgiving
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This year I will make the annual pilgrimage back to South Carolina to be with family for the (American) Thanksgiving holiday. Fewer of my children will be there – a mark of the maturing of their own families and the difficulty of travel at this time of year. The year is different as well for it will be another Thanksgiving holiday without my mother’s presence (may her memory be eternal). With years,…
Praying in the Rain
Facing Myself
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I wonder if most of us have had this experience. You sin against and/or with someone and soon afterward feel regret. In fact, you feel so much regret that you admit to yourself and to God that you have sinned. And your conscience still bothering you, you set out to do what you can to make the matter right. However, to make the matter right, or at least as right as possible,…
Nearly Orthodox
Momentum
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Like every other new thing I attempt I find that I am prone to lose momentum after a few months. This is part of the reason I have tried to be vocal about my journey into orthodoxy. I want to be seen, asked, held accountable. What I want to avoid in this is pride, boasting. I don’t want to appear that I’m doing something to draw attention to myself. So it’s a…
Praying in the Rain
Ezekiel's Temple and the Human Psyche
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St. Gregory the Great comments that the heavenly temple described by Ezekiel (chs.40-48) is a type of the soul. Because this part of Ezekiel and much of the rest of the book are apocalyptic in nature, we must realize that these images refer to spiritual realities that cannot be nailed down in tight correlations such as X only and always represents Y. Nevertheless, within the Church certain interpretations of apocalyptic images have…
