Glory to God For All Things

November 25, 2014

Let’s Get Physical

If you go to the self-help section of a bookstore, any bookstore, you see row upon row of books, all promising another method to change or fix how you think, feel or imagine. It is as though we were certain that our lives would be great if only we could think feel or imagine better […]
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Asceticism, Modernity, Prayer, Reflections, Thankfulness
November 23, 2014

Doubt and Modern Belief

Why do people in the modern world find belief so difficult? Obviously, many find ways to believe in God and do so with great zeal, but others, even those who describe themselves as believers, admit either to doubts about God or about many traditional teachings of the faith. The more “miraculous” teachings, the Divinity of Christ, […]
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Allegory, Modernity, Mystical Theology, Reflections
November 20, 2014

A Child Enters the Temple

The story in the gospel of Christ’s visits to the Temple in his childhood – the first at 40 days of age (marked by the Feast of the Presentation and the occasion of prophecy by the Elder Simeon and Hannah the Prophetess) and at age 12 when He is lost and later found giving instruction […]
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Allegory, Mother of God, Mystical Theology, Reflections
November 18, 2014

An Illegal Christmas

The great advantage to thinking about God in legal terms, is that nothing has to change. If what happens between us and God is entirely external, a matter of arranging things such as the avoidance of eternal punishment or the enjoyment of eternal reward, then the world can go on as it is. In the […]
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Incarnation, Modernity, Reflections, Secularism, The Sacraments
November 16, 2014

Fasting from the Sentiments of the Feast

I have a favorite Joni Mitchell song. In her very mournful style she sings about the season before Christmas: It’s comin’ on Christmas, They’re cuttin’ down trees, They’re puttin’ up reindeer and singin’ songs of joy and peace. Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on…I would teach my feet to […]
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Fasting, Liturgy, Reflections, Secularism, Union with God
November 13, 2014

What Happens When We Play (Pray)

In my previous article I compared children’s use of play to the place of ritual words and actions in the life of the Church. I absolutely did not mean to imply that one thing is like the other. I mean to say clearly that they are very much the same thing. And I say this […]
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Aesthetics, Beauty, Knowledge of God, Liturgy, Modernity, Pascha, Reflections, The Sacraments
November 12, 2014

Playing with God

There are things that children understand instinctively. And the things that children know and understand are worth consideration. They have much to teach us. Among the most natural things children do is play. Depending on how you define play, it is among the first activities in which we engage. It comes to dominate the lives […]
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Liturgy, Modernity, Pascha, Reflections, The Sacraments
November 7, 2014

Is There A Christian Theory of History?

I am a child of the 50’s. I became aware of the world around me in the 60’s. I finished college and seminary in the 70’s (and have embarrassing pictures to prove it). I could go on with my decadal memories. I daresay no people at any time have been more aware of time labels […]
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Modernity, Secularism, Time
November 5, 2014

Does It Matter How I Feel?

It is common to hear complaints about the materialism of our modern culture. For it is certainly the case that much attention is given to “things” – whether making them, purchasing them, wearing them, or simply owning them. The modern world enjoys material wealth beyond anything ever imagined in human history. But it is a […]
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Conversion, Modernity, Secularism, The Journey of Faith
October 31, 2014

Bones, Bodies and Belief

And Elisha died, and they buried him. And the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the […]
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Last Things, Modernity, Relics

Thanks Fr. Stephen.

Matthew, I think they should not be used for apologetics purposes – they’re inconsistent and less than reliable. They are,…

Good morning Fr. Stephen. I had never heard of NDE´s as being possible proof that the supernatural does exist. Interesting…

Maragaret Sarah and Father, Thank you both for your reflections. For some reason I always stumble on that passage. I…

Mallory, Living in a new place, I am now seeing new doctors. Today, was my first visit with my new…