As Jesus is the prince of peace, Christians who follow him are called to promote and defend peace. But, just as an unjust law is no law, so a false peace is no peace. Christians, who are to follow the law, are not expected to follow unjust laws; though they are to seek after peace, they are not to support or promote a false peace. “Peace at all costs” is not true peace as it relies upon and accepts injustice... Read more
Christianity traditionally teaches that creation is filled with a variety of entities, some which are material, some which are purely spiritual. Creation is vast, and, even with our collective knowledge, we only know a very small portion of it. There is far more to it than we know or understand. There is far more than we will ever know in our lifetime. We can, at times, get glimpses of things beyond our normal experience, and from them, discuss what we... Read more
The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is a very important one for anyone who claims to be religious. Christians need to pay careful attention to it and learn what it is telling them, for it warns them of what can happen with a legalistic or judgmental understanding of religious devotion. External acts of piety, while they might represent true devotion to God, are not in and of themselves a true indication that someone has the right kind of... Read more
What is in our hearts affects our souls. If we wish to do some good, but don’t have the opportunity to do so, our desire to do it and will have a positive impact on our soul. It will help us grow in virtue, even as it will direct us, making sure we continue to seek after and so what is good. Thus, if a poor wished to share with the world the bounty of their love so that if... Read more
When many churches were being administered by Arians, often put in power by civil authorities, we find various people fleeing from the cities in which they were found. They formed their own, often separate (but not completely independent) religious communities, many of which became monastic communities. They helped preserve and protect the faith, giving a place of refugee to those who were fleeing from Arian authorities, such as St. Athanasius. St. Antony welcomed Athanasius, and indeed, became as it were,... Read more
Origen saw the cosmic significance of Jesus’ on the cross; he pointed out how Jesus, the Logos incarnate, revealed his work was universal by the way he stretched out his hands: The logos is about to say something, and I say that Christ sought God with the hands, on behalf of the whole cosmos, stretching them on the wood and making them fast so that, at that time, he would pray to him with stretching hands and when the whole... Read more
Christian should be concerned with and hope for the salvation of everyone, not just other Christians. Certainly, Christ offers salvific grace to those who believe in him. He expects believers to cooperate with that grace and follow after him for it to be fully activated. But, when they follow after him, they will listen carefully to what he said, and do as he told them to do. They would love him and prove that love through their actions. And what... Read more
Most of us love attention. We love showing off. We want others to look up to us, to praise us, as this makes us feel important. For this reason, we often speak on things we shouldn’t be speaking about. We want to appear to know everything, hoping if we do, others will look up to us and listen to our every opinion. We will try to fake it until we make it. Then, we believe our influence will increase, and... Read more
How many times do Republicans make it seem as if one of their desires, one of their points, is to embrace cruelty, instead of being merciful and trying to deal with difficult situations with compassion? It is possible, and probable, many of them are seriously incompetent, and do not understand the ramifications of the laws which they try to establish, but not all of them can be so incompetent. Some must understand what they are doing, because there is no... Read more
Those who have never succumbed to a particular vice or sin can be naïve and assume everyone else like them. They will ignore signs of people being attached to or addicted to that vice, thinking very few, if any, really are, as St. Gregory the Theologian once noted: “For someone free of vice is slower to suspect vice…”. [1] The more corrupt someone is, the more attached they are to sin, especially grievous sins, the more likely they will assume... Read more
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