When at church, or when we are meditating at home, all kinds of stray thoughts often go through our head. Whether or not they are wholesome, they can be distracting, as they have us think of things other than what we are doing. We should not let this bother us. If we don’t pay attention to them, they will leave us as quickly as they came. This is why it is best that we ignore them when we can. If... Read more
Jesus tells us he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (cf. Rev. 22:13). In this revelation, we are given a paradoxical truth: the archon (the beginning) and the eschaton (the end) are one. The future is connected to the past, eschatology can be engaged through archeology. When we have a way to examine the past, we also have a way to engage and understand the future. Since our ascertainment of the past is limited, what... Read more
The historical time before Christ was a time of preparation; grace was seeded throughout the world, and those who accepted it, those who integrated what grace and revelation they had been given into their lives, became great women and men of God. They did not have all that we have, and so we should understand them and their lives within the context which they were lived. They could get things wrong. They could and did misunderstand God and God’s intentions.... Read more
Two different, but similar, temptations turn us away from the needs of the present moment. One is to have us dream about some utopian future, thinking we can and will produce the perfect society. Such futurism, of course, is denied by those who feel the world and everything in it is falling apart, becoming worse by the day, so that instead of looking to the future, such people look to the past for their ideal society, creating a romantic vision... Read more
Mary is the seat of Wisdom, for from her was born the Logos, the Son of God. In and through her, the sins of the past have been overcome with grace; humanity attained its natural glory and now through her, our humanity can be taken up and assumed by the Logos for its deification. It is proper and just for us to join in together with joy, remembering the conception which brought us Mary, the Theotokos, marveling both at the... Read more
There are many doctors who have been recognized as saints; tradition suggests the author of the Gospel of Luke is one of them. The practice of medicine is an important, indeed, it is a great way for Christians to embrace their faith. This is because those who practice medicine can be seen to imitate and follow after Christ, for Christ came to heal people in soul and in body. This is why St. Basil, writing to a doctor, could say:... Read more
Creation, and all that is in it, are united as one. All creation shares with each other a created nature, and with that common nature, their destinies are intertwined. Together they form an interdependent unity. They are bonded together in a pluralistic unity which recognizes distinctions within its oneness (that is, theirs is a compounded unity, a unity composed of parts). The parts which form the whole can be separated from each other. If they are, instead of having a... Read more
Jesus was often criticized because of the various kinds of people he wanted to help. He came to be a friend to all, including sinners, and as such, his critics accused him of being a sinner. “The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, `Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” (Lk. 7:34 RSV). Some, however, recognized that something supernatural was happening around Jesus; they said that if he were... Read more
The Son of God assumed human nature to become the Son of Man. Paul tells us this was done through kenosis, that is, self-emptying, so that Jesus, being the form (or nature) of God, emptied himself of all that glory to become one of us: “Have this mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the... Read more
Just as God is known through the uncreated energies (that is, the divine activity), revealing to us what we can know about the divine nature (for we can use them to describe God) , so we are known through our actions. Indeed, it can be said that we are what we do. This is because we establish who we are, our character, by what we do. Others will know us and who we are through our actions. Likewise, when we... Read more
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