Glory to God For All Things

September 15, 2020

A Cruciform Providence

The entire mystery of the economy of our salvation consists in the self-emptying and abasement of the Son of God – St. Cyril of Alexandria Trust in the providence of God is much more than a general theory of how things are arranged in our lives and in the world. We tend to discuss the […]
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Cross, Modernity, Reflections
September 9, 2020

Doors, Windows, Mirrors, and the Secret Place

My first impression of the monasteries on Mt. Athos began with their doors: massive, thick, iron and steel configurations with bars and locks. They are not decorative in the least. They are meant to keep out marauding Turkish pirates and the like. The walls of the monasteries are similar in their function. The whole structure, […]
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Beauty, Icons, Knowledge of God, Prayer, Reflections
September 1, 2020

Forged in the Fires of a Dying Sun

Today I stood at the altar and marveled at the gold of the chalice. It is, of course, supremely blessed, holding (as it does) the very Blood of God. But I was simply thinking of its journey to that altar, its transformation, indeed, its transmutation. If the science of cosmology is followed, then heavy elements […]
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Beauty, Morality, Reflections, Secularism, The Sacraments
August 25, 2020

The Greatest Battle Is at Hand

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul warns of the dangers of being “tossed about with every wind of doctrine.” Early Christianity had very little institutional existence or stability. Churches met in homes (usually those of the wealthy). They gathered around their Bishop (or Bishops) with their Presbyters and Deacons. They were grounded in […]
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Communion, Reflections, The Church
August 17, 2020

Fleeing Paris with Vladimir Lossky

Times of relative peace and prosperity are far more rare than we realize. Our present difficulties reflect stresses and strains that have been common in many parts of the world and through time. I have found some comfort in reading lives and stories from those times and places, particularly those accounts that point towards a […]
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Reflections, Thankfulness, Union with God
August 15, 2020

Every Generation

In my childhood, it was not unusual to hear someone ask, “Who are your people?” It was a semi-polite, Southernism designed to elicit essential information about a person’s social background. The assumption was that you, at best, could only be an example of your “people.” It ignored the common individualism of the wider culture, preferring […]
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Family, Mother of God, Personhood
August 12, 2020

Doing the Good You Can Do

St. John the Baptist confronted a difficult question. Soldiers came to him (it’s not clear what kind of soldiers these were). We are told: Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with […]
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Reflections, Salvation
August 10, 2020

The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) was a Jesuit priest (a convert from Anglicanism) and perhaps the greatest modern (?) poet of the English Language (ok, he’s my favorite). I first posted this poem back in 2007, making among my earliest postings. It was brought to attention by my daughter, Khouria Kathryn Rogers, dear to my heart. […]
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Beauty, Mother of God, Reflections
August 5, 2020

The Light of Christ and the Transfiguration

My attention was drawn to the event of the Transfiguration during my college years. It was then that I first read a book on St. Seraphim of Sarov, who himself was transfigured in a famous incident in his conversation with Motivilov. There, on a snowy winter’s day, the saint shown with a brilliant light, and […]
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Cross, Knowledge of God, Reflections
August 4, 2020

Messiness in the Modern World

Salvation can be messy. I believe this with all my heart and so I state it at the outset of this article. As such, it marks me as a heretic in Modernity. I not only believe that salvation is messy – I believe that messiness is pretty much inherent to salvation. And along with that, […]
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Modernity, Reflections, Salvation

Thanks for that Dee. Yes, Dee, I believe so too about the face, but both icons and the heart are…

Janine and Sam, As we reflect on Peter’s response in the courtyard, I sometimes wonder what was happening in Peter.…

Stunning — Gethsemane

Sam, amazing — it seems your comment (and Father’s) is an enormous source of insights, and it tells us something…

Janine, that’s a terrific insight. I’ve never thought of it in those terms. Meditating on the Holy Face opens up…