Control your body, and set your soul free Your soul needs to take control of your body, says St. Leo the Great. By suppressing your bodily desires, you give yourself more time for meditation and prayer. Everyday experience, dear friends, proves that overindulgence of the flesh blunts the edge of the mind. Too much food dulls the strength of the heart. So the delights of eating work against even bodily health, unless we resist the temptation with reasonable moderation, and... Read more
Gluttony brings you down to earth The abbot Serapion tells St. John Cassian that we can see what gluttony is like by watching the flight of the beautiful and noble eagle. We can make an admirable illustration of the passion of gluttony—with which a monk, however spiritual and excellent, is sure to be hampered—if we compare it to the eagle. For the eagle soars above the highest clouds in its flight high in the sky, and withdraws itself from the... Read more
The opposite of gluttony is moderation You’re never too sick or weak to be virtuous, says St. John Cassian. To avoid gluttony, eat to keep yourself healthy, not to satisfy every craving. So it is very true and most excellent what the Fathers have said: that the right way to fast and abstain is found in moderation and controlling the body. This, they say, is the goal of perfect virtue for everyone: that, although we still have the desire for... Read more
This week publisher ministry23 sponsors the giveaway. THREE lucky winners will receive a copy of The Better Part App from itunes based on the book The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer (you can read my review of the book here). I use Rafflecopter to run my giveaways which makes it simple for you and me! Enter below. The contest starts at midnight tonight EST and will end 12AM EST 4/24 with a winner being announced later that day. Good luck!... Read more
Be moderate and give thanks You don’t have to starve yourself to be a Christian, says St. Clement of Alexandria. If you’re at a gourmet feast, eat moderately, show respect for your hosts, and give thanks to God. We don’t have to keep away entirely from various kinds of food. We just shouldn’t be obsessed with them. We should eat what’s set before us, as becomes a Christian, showing respect for our host by a harmless and moderate participation in... Read more
The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer is a book I have used and enjoyed often since receiving it. Father John Bartunek is the author of this extensive guide that serves as a daily prayer companion. The more I use it the more I have come to realize what a rich resource it truly is. First off, what is it? The book contains 303 meditations. Each of these meditation units begins with a Gospel passage from either Matthew,... Read more
Don’t run away from sloth Sloth, laziness, boredom—these are problems that can sap our energy for doing what needs to be done. St. John Cassian remembers the wise words of an experienced monk who told him that running away from laziness will never work. When I was beginning my stay in the desert, I told Abbot Moses, the chief of all the saints, that I had been terribly troubled yesterday by an attack of laziness, and that I could only... Read more
Prayer should be the cornerstone of one’s faith. It comes in many forms from vocal prayer to meditative prayer to contemplative prayer. You will learn about all of these in Father John Bartunek’s A Guide to Christian Meditation: How to Engage More Deeply in Personal Prayer. Early in the book Father John explains what prayer is. “Prayer at its most basic level is conversation with God. This seems obvious, but it harbors an awesome reality. To converse with someone implies... Read more
Rise above popular opinion If you look to what other people think of you for your reward, says St. Ambrose, you have your reward here on earth—but you miss the reward of eternal life. Clearly, blessed is the life that is not valued by the opinion of outsiders, but is known, as judge of itself, by its own inner feelings. It needs no popular opinion as its reward in any way; nor has it any fear of punishments. Thus the... Read more
Beware of desiring praise Most of us need people to think well of us—that’s how we get and keep the jobs that feed our families. But St. Augustine warns us that it’s far too easy to let that praise go to our heads. The devil wants us to find our joy in the praise of others rather than in God. Wanting to be feared and loved by other people, for no other reason than to experience a joy that is... Read more
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