I wrote this to my Church Forgiveness Sunday morning: I got up early this morning to blow the snow off my driveway, but the snow is too wet to blow. My snow blower is no match for ten inches (24 cm) of wet snow, and my back is no match for more than a few runs at it with a snow shovel. I will not be able to make it to Church…
Someone wrote me recently about the difference between men and women in the experience of theosis.  This person pointed out that the sources she had read all speak of men experiencing theosis and and experiencing various signs such as seeing or shining with Uncreated Light, miracles, etc.  Here is my response with a few additional sentences. Dear …….. So, to get to your main question: is there a difference between men and…
“When in times of darkness, kneeling [prostrations] is more helpful than anything,” so says St. Isaac the Syrian. “If our thoughts are cold and murky,” he goes on to say, “we ought to persist in long kneeling [prostrations].” In fact, he goes so far as to say, “And although our hearts should be dead at those times and we should not even have a prayer or know what we ought to say,…
Where do we begin in the spiritual life? Is it best to focus on one or a few virtues and spiritual disciplines? Should we start with the Jesus Prayer or with the reading of spiritual classics like the Philakalia? St. John the Dwarf, one of the Egyptian Desert Fathers, compares building the spiritual life with building a house and offers very insightful comments about how this is to be done.  I…
Farming is one of the most concrete examples of faith. Farmers spend a great deal of money, very often going into debt to buy seed, fertilizer and equipment only to sow the seed and fertilizer into the ground. The harvest will not come for several months, and there is very little the farmer can do but wait. Jesus spoke a great deal about sowing and reaping and used it as a metaphor…
When the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples on the day of Pentecost, there are two miracles. One miracle is that the disciples spoke in new languages, and the other is that the people heard the disciples speaking in their own languages. The Holy Spirit changed not only how the disciples “declared the wonders of God,” but also how those listening heard what was declared.  We find a similar phenomenon in…
Someone recently wrote me the following: Can you please give us a word regarding the topic of “how to overcome thoughts of pride in our hearts that inevitably come after labouring on good works for our families and people around us.” I have been struggling with that lately. How is it that we can reach a point where we don’t count and remember the good we have done for others? I would…
I have been reflecting on some conversations I’ve had over the past little while in the light of my meditation on what Flannery O’Connor said about the face of good being grotesque because in human beings good is always something under construction.  (Please read my blog, “Good’s Disfigured Face,” before proceeding.) My meditation could be read to be suggesting that the only form of brokenness that we have to see past to…
Some of you know that I am a fan of 19th century English literature. My favourites are Dickens, Hardy and Twain. I haven’t much enjoyed 20th century fiction largely because I have found it too harsh, hopeless and often gratuitously salacious for my tastes. However, a few years ago I became interested in a twentieth century Catholic novelist, Evelyn Waugh, particularly his novel Brideshead Revisited. I was uncomfortable with the marital immorality…
My bedtime reading these days has been the letters of Sts. Barsanuphius and John. I enjoy reading these letters because they almost always send me to sleep with an edifying thought of practical spiritual wisdom. In letters 540 and 541 the Saints are asked how one should deal with a conflict with a superior. The specific situation is as follows: One of the Fathers of the community is accompanying a Brother on…
