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
While, as the Gospel of John indicates, Jesus had performed miracles before his baptism, his public ministry began after John the Baptist’s work had come to its end. John knew he would have to decrease and finish his mission before Jesus would take up the mantle and present to the world what John said was coming, that is, the kingdom of God. Thanks to John, many knew something extraordinary was about to happen. John had told them if they wanted... Read more
God surprises us, doing things which are unexpected. The incarnation, certainly, is one of those surprises. This is not to say no one had any intuition that God could become incarnate, as clearly, many did, but the way of the incarnation, and what the God-man did in his earthly ministry, were things which could not be predicted. This is why St. John the Baptist was surprised when Jesus came to be baptized by him: Then Jesus came from Galilee to... Read more
Some people think the way we should engage and follow tradition is to simply repeat what was done in the past. They turn the past into an idol, sacrificing social and moral advances as they force society to conform to their ideological expectations for it. Tradition is important. Learning from the past is important, especially learning from the mistakes of the past so we do not repeat them. Tradition should be living, and as such, continue to develop, just as... Read more
True wealth is wealth which lasts, wealth that is eternal, and so not ephemeral. Jesus said that such wealth is not to be found in “treasures on earth” but in “treasures in heaven”: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your... Read more
Jesus’ immediate family was important to him and, likewise, to Christians after his ascension. Though he did not have any biological brothers or sisters, nor a biological father, Joseph took on the role of being Jesus’ earthly father. Joseph’s family became his own. And, as a result, Joseph was given a special task, to protect Mary and the infant Christ, which he did: Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream... Read more
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