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…
One of the things that Fr. Stephen De Young reminds us of in his book, The Religion of the Apostles is that God’s fundamental triumph is over chaos, death being an aspect of chaos. The Church believes and teaches that God created the world out of nothing, Genesis 1:1. However, beginning with Genesis 1:2 and following, throughout the whole bible, the emphasis is on God’s triumph over chaos. And this chaos is…
I write a weekly letter for our community and this week I thought I would share this letter with a broader audience. Dear Holy Nativity Faithful, Christ is in our midst! We celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos this week. Mary the Mother of God was born into a world full of oppression and confusion, yet she was able to become the Holy dwelling place of God.  We…
If I were to venture a guess as to the most commonly confessed passion that I hear in confessions, I would say that it is anger. Just about everyone is angry. According to many of the saints, anger and misdirected desire are the two main passions from which all vices and passions come. The sources of anger can be varied, but I think there are two sources of anger that are most…
