Glory to God For All Things

July 30, 2019

Hopko on the Cross of Christ

An excerpt from a commencement address at St. Vladimir’s Seminary in 2007, given by Fr. Thomas Hopko. It is deeply worthy of conversation. I first posted this back in June, 2007, when it was “new.” That which is true is always new and timeless. …I can tell you that being loved by God, and loving […]
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Cross, Reflections
July 26, 2019

What’s with the Kingdom of God?

Thy Kingdom Come Blessed are You on the throne of the glory of Your Kingdom, seated upon the Cherubim; always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. It was You Who brought us from non-existence into being, and when we had fallen away You raised us up again, and did not cease to do […]
Read more: What’s with the Kingdom of God?
Cross, Last Things, Pascha, Reflections
July 23, 2019

On the World as Sacrament

I learned my first psalms in public school. As I recall, they were Psalm 23 and Psalm 100. No one looked funny at the teacher when she introduced the topic and no one objected. First, we didn’t know we were allowed to object, and, second, none of us would have known any reason for not […]
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Communion, Modernity, Reflections, The Sacraments
July 18, 2019

The Struggle Against The Normal Life

Within the Christianity of our time, the great spiritual conflict, unknown to almost all, is between a naturalistic/secular world of modernity and the sacramental world of classical Christianity. The first presumes that a literal take on the world is the most accurate. It tends to assume a closed system of cause and effect, ultimately […]
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Evangelism, Modernity, Secularism, The Sacraments
July 12, 2019

The Kingdom Within

In December of 1849, the Russian author, Fyodor Dostoevsky, stood waiting his turn for execution, having been found guilty of plotting against the Russian Tsar. At the last minute, under instructions from the Tsar, the sentence was commuted from death, to four years in a Siberian prison. Later that day, Dostoevsky wrote a famous letter […]
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Conversion, Dostoevsky, Knowledge of God, Reflections
July 8, 2019

The Confusion of Loves

Among the “difficult” sayings of Jesus is this: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Lk 14:26 Of course, the statement is so extreme that it is quickly recognized […]
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Family, Knowledge of God, Modernity, Reflections
July 4, 2019

The Poor, Debts and Your Enemies – Learning to Forgive

He who has pity on the poor makes a debtor of God. (Prov. 19:17) Jesus told a story about a man with a huge debt. He owed it to his master and was unable to pay. When he was dragged before his master, he begged for mercy. Strangely, the master was so moved by the […]
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Enemies, Forgiveness, Reflections
July 2, 2019

Shame and the Modern Identity

It is a common definition that the emotion of shame is about “who I am.” It centers in feelings of exposure, unworthiness, and damaged identity. Guilt, they say, is about “what I have done.” There are ways to deal with guilt – but shame, if it is actually a matter of “who I am,” runs […]
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Knowledge of God, Last Things, Modernity, Reflections, Salvation
June 28, 2019

Modernity’s Sacraments

My newsfeed must be set for “shock.” Never does a day go by that there is no something outlandishly alarming featured as a story, somewhere, illustrating the insane march of modern culture. Much of me would like to think that the problem is in the newsfeed and not in the culture itself. However, on a […]
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Modernity, Morality, Reflections, Secularism
June 22, 2019

You Have One Job – Pray – On Behalf of All and for All

The topics of heaven, hell, purgatory, hades, life-after-death, the judgment, etc., are not among my favorites. There is a particular reason for this: everybody thinks they know more about this than they do and most people assume the Church says more about this than it does. Much of the problem, I think, lies in the […]
Read more: You Have One Job – Pray – On Behalf of All and for All
Hell, Last Things, Reflections, Salvation

The Canadian iconographer, Jonathan Pageau, specializes in icon carving. I think it’s an interesting middle ground between paint-on-board iconography and…

Michael, I’m glad to hear you were recently released from the hospital. May Christ be with you and strengthen you.

Thank each and all

I have to be Laugh!!! The living, joyful Church would not be present or possible were it not for Our…

Here’s my favorite from Georgia. There’s also an English version of it. It’s the Christ is risen from the dead……