Category: Communion

The Healthy Shame at the Heart’s Core

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 26 Leave a Comment on %s
Imagine: A large crowd has assembled and you know that something special has been planned. Unknown to you, however, is the fact that the something special is for and about you. At a given moment, you are called forward. A short speech detailing some extraordinary thing you haveĀ done is given. You had not thought anyone would notice, and you did not expect them to. However, you are being noticed. You are beingā€¦

Comfort for a Child – Speaking Peace to Shame

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 51 Leave a Comment on %s
In my previous article, I described the origins of the ā€œself-talkā€ (logismoi) that haunt our minds with negative chatter. They lie very deep within us, even having something of a signature within the deeper parts of the brain itself. It is very ā€œoldā€ and yet very ā€œyoung.ā€ It is old in that its foundations were formed as early as infancy. It is young in that it is much more akin to anā€¦

The Fiction of Relationships and the Fullness of Life

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 42 Leave a Comment on %s
It is very interesting that we use the word ā€œrelationshipā€ to describe everything from God to our lifestyle. More interesting still, is that, used in this manner, the word dates back to only around the mid-20th century. There are older examples, but the psycho-social meaning that it carries today does not appear until around 1940. This also means that no one, prior to that time, spoke about having a ā€œrelationshipā€ with God.ā€¦

A Deadly Communion

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 53 Leave a Comment on %s
  Habits are hard things to break. I quit smoking almost 30 years ago (cold turkey). It was more than difficult and came only after many failed attempts. But, in many ways, such a habit is among the easier to deal with. Far more difficult, and far more deadly, are the habitual patterns of human interaction that mark our lives. They are the single most important source of anxiety, depression and despairā€¦

To See Him Face to Face

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 79 Leave a Comment on %s
  ā€œThe self resides in the face.ā€ ā€“ Psychological Theorist, Sylvan Tompkins +++ There is a thread running throughout the Scriptures that can be described as a ā€œtheology of the face.ā€ In the Old Testament we hear a frequent refrain of ā€œbefore Thy face,ā€ and similar expressions. There are prayers beseeching God not to ā€œhide His face.ā€ Very clearly in Exodus, God tells Moses that ā€œno one may see my face andā€¦

Keeping Christmas

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 16 Leave a Comment on %s
It is not unusual to give thought to how we keep a fast. Will it be in a strict manner? How will my fasting be possible when Iā€™m at work or at school? How will I teach my children to fast?Ā  When we ignore the Fast, we feel guilty and the need to confess. It is strange, however, that we do not give similar thought and time to what it means toā€¦

The Material God

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 65 Leave a Comment on %s
In my previous article I used the example of kinesthetic knowledge (as in riding a bicycle) as a means of describing noetic experience, the means of knowing God through communion with Him. It is worth noting that the example is quite material and mundane. It is not an esoteric, exotic meditation or technique. It is so simple that we know it without knowing that we know it. As I type this article,ā€¦

The Communion of Friends

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 76 Leave a Comment on %s
You meet someone and like them. You slowly get to know them. Conversation and sharing, listening and learning, a picture or a reality beginĀ to emerge. You think about them when theyā€™re away. Youā€™re aware that you matter to them as well. The thought of anything hurting them is painful. This is friendship. We easily reduce friendship to a set of shared emotions. Why we like someone else, we can imagine, rests onā€¦

Psychology as the New Sacrament

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 87 Leave a Comment on %s
The creation of the ā€œtwo-storey universeā€ was an unintended consequence of the Protestant Reformation. I have recently been enjoying Brad Gregoryā€˜s The Unintended Reformation, in which he traces the various historical currents and ideas that gave rise to the modern secular notion of the world. It is a magisterial treatment, and I recommend it to serious students of history, as well as anyone wanting to better understand our modern culture. I haveā€¦

Being Saved – The Ontological Approach

· Fr. Stephen Freeman 152 Leave a Comment on %s
I cannot begin to count the number of times I wished there were a simple, felicitous word for ā€œontological.ā€ I dislike writing theology with words that have to be explained ā€“ that is, words whose meanings are not immediately obvious. But, alas, I have found no substitute and will, therefore, beg my readerā€™s indulgence for dragging such a word into our conversations. From the earliest times in the Church, but especially beginningā€¦