“7. Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days.” -Fr. Thomas Hopko, 55 Maxims for Christian Living I opened the refrigerator and there it sat, the leftover birthday cake thickly iced and irresistible. It had been a long celebratory weekend of gorging on food and fun and now I was tired, bloated and heedless. With my defenses down, I caved instantaneously devouring forkfuls of sickeningly sweet butter cream frosting containing but…

  “6. Make some prostrations when you pray.” -Fr. Thomas Hopko, 55 Maxims for Christian Living My son will be graduating from High School next year and is equal parts excited and apprehensive about the future. Independence is thrilling but also intimidating, what with all its new demands and responsibilities.  A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were talking with him about job interviews, forging connections, making a good impression, etc.…

“5. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied.” -Fr. Thomas Hopko, 55 Maxims for Christian Living Back in the day, before the online real time streaming of everyone’s opinions and goings on, a large percentage of teenage girls’ energies in High School were spent on trying to interpret the bewildering actions and non-actions of our mysterious male classmates. Was he playing it cool or was he not interested? Was…

  “4. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day.” -Fr. Thomas Hopko, 55 Maxims for Christian Living At 5:30 pm, our house is a whirlwind of coming and going, supper being prepared, homework starting, and afternoon giving way to evening. Sometime around 6:00 pm the table is finally set. At 6:15 pm, I begin calling, ”Dinner’s in five minutes!” to whoever is within earshot. From upstairs and downstairs, the members of our…