“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, surfeit of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy” (Ezek. 16:49 RSV). The sin which lay behind the destruction of Sodom, the sin which cried up to the heavens, was the lack of social justice within the city, so that the poor and needy were deprived of the basic necessities of life so that the rich and powerful could enjoy... Read more
I woke up this morning and saw, to my dismay, the horrible mass killing of Muslims in New Zealand. Over forty Muslims were shot and killed at two different mosques. This was an orchestrated terrorist attack. One of the gunmen involved, a young man from Australia, posted a manifesto explaining that the attack was racially motivated: he was a white supremacist who saw foreigners as a deadly threat to be destroyed. We have a major problem, not only in the... Read more
And he said to them, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Lk. 12:15 RSV). Covetousness, the desire to possess the world and dominate it, forcing it to be a slave to one’s own desires instead of seeing it as a gift of God to be shared by all, is one of the great sins which we must overcome. It leads us far away from God, generating,... Read more
St. Salvian, talking about the horrors the poor faced in his day, could easily be talking about the current situation of American politics, where politicians seek personal gain on the backs of the public: There is no greater pillaging of poor States than that done by those in power. For this, office is bought by the few to be paid for by ravaging the many. What can be more disgraceful and wicked than this? The poor pay the purchase price... Read more
The Christian way is the way of love. Love is not boastful, it is not proud; it desires good for all. It will not look for excuses to judge others: rather, it will be saddened by our own faults and blemishes, our own imperfections at love. Thus, Amma Syncletica, speaking to her community in the desert, gives advice which all should follow: She [Syncletica] also said, ‘Imitate the publican, and you will not be condemned with the Pharisee. Choose the... Read more
We are on a journey – a journey towards our true homeland, the kingdom of God. Along the way we will come to know ourselves. Who am I? What am I? What is my purpose? What exactly is this “I” that I speak of? Unless we come to know ourselves, unless we come to know and understand what this “I” is, and what it is not, we will not find our way to the kingdom of God. It is only... Read more
Several theological and philosophical paradoxes emerge as we try to deal with and contemplate the transcendental God within the limits of the human intellect and the thoughts and words it produces to theorize about God. As we reach out towards that transcendence, and realize truths which are revealed from it, we will find it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to coordinate all those truths into a consistent system. We must recognize and accept this from the onset. We can try... Read more
Water is good. Water is necessary for life. We need water. We need to drink water. We are mostly made up of water. But too much water will kill. The fact that water can kill does not make water bad: it only shows the relative value of water and the balance which we need to have with it. If we have too little, we die, and if we have too much, we die. Oxygen, likewise, is good. We need it.... Read more
We all tend to look to others, desiring the approval of our peers. There is, to be sure, something natural about that: we are social creatures, and having our thoughts and deeds affirmed by others makes us feel as if we have found our place in society. The problem is that this easily turns into vainglory. We more than seek after the approval of others, we desire to be praised, to hear how great others think us to be. The... Read more
The Great Fast, Lent, is not only the time set aside to prepare the faithful for the Paschal (Easter) celebration, it is also the time during which the faithful should reflect upon their temporal existence and their preparation for their participation in the Resurrection of Christ at their own resurrection in the eschaton. The time of Lent can be seen to represent temporal, earthly existence and the slow spiritual evolution or pilgrimage of life which we go through before we... Read more
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