He was weak and wounded, but He cures all infirmity and all weakness. He was nailed to the wood and lifted up, but He restores us by the tree of life…. He dies, but He brings to life, and by His own death destroys death.
In Praise of Athanasius
"In praising Athanasius, I shall be praising virtue. To speak of him and to praise virtue are identical, because he had, or, to speak more truly, has embraced virtue in its entirety. For all who have lived according to God still live unto God, though they have departed hence. For this reason, God is called the... Continue Reading →
Adam, Eve, and Acedia: Despondency and Me
In the age of the cell phone, instant information, constant updates and never-ending distraction, we would do well to heed the words of our forebears regarding the noon-day demon. We hate the present moment and yearn for the next one, only to hate that moment in turn. Soon we grow agitated, anxious, and dejected that life holds no meaning for me anymore. God instructs Adam and Eve that the way to combat this particularly dangerous thought is by persisting in our work and through the remembrance of death-that we live for more than the next moment we yearn for. We should become free to live here and now, towards the Kingdom.
The Genealogy of Christ in My Life
If this was the story of a mere man, it would be right and pious to hide the ‘gory details’, but if of God come to descend to our weakness (cf. Phil 2.7) then this is to be glorified. Because it is Christ’s entry into all the brokenness of humanity we should not be surprised to read of his entry through this broken, but very human line of individuals.
The Human Being: Halfway Between Greatness and Nothingness
"The great Architect of the universe conceived and produced a being endowed with both nature, the visible and invisible: God created the human being, bringing its body forth from matter which He animated with His own Spirit... Thus in some way a new universe was born, small and great at one and the same time.... Continue Reading →
The Trinitarian Foundation of Creation and Salvation
For many of us, the doctrine of The Trinity is shrouded in mystery and seemingly not exactly ‘spelled out’ in the Bible. Is this perhaps because we miss what is being said in the text? Have we become so familiar with the words that we do not really grasp them or have we just stepped... Continue Reading →
We ought to think of God more often than we breath
"For we ought to think of God even more often than we draw our breath; and if the expression is permissible, we ought to do nothing else." St. Gregory the Theologian, Oration 27, The First Theological Oration, Chapter 5.
The Life-Giving Blessing: Genesis and The Eucharist
We have already seen that the first chapters of Genesis have much to teach us. In extending our dialogue to the Eucharist we move to a consideration of food, Divine food. Following Genesis: The Book of The Promise we see what is revealed about the food which God once offered to us through the law... Continue Reading →
The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his Master’s crib
"Now then I pray you accept His Conception, and leap before Him; if not like John from the womb (Luke 1:41), yet like David, because of the resting of the Ark (2 Samuel 6:14). Revere the enrollment on account of which you were written in heaven, and adore the Birth by which you were loosed from the chains... Continue Reading →
Our True Physician
"But our physician is the only true God, the unbegotten and unapproachable, the Lord of all, the Father and Begetter of the Only Begotten Son. We have also as a Physician the Lord our God, Jesus the Christ, the Only-Begotten Son and Word, before time began, but who afterwards became also a man, of Mary... Continue Reading →
The Epistle to Diognetus Part 12 – Knowledge That Gives Life
"When you have read and carefully listened to these things, you shall know what God bestows on such as rightly love Him, being made a paradise of delight, presenting [ie bringing forth] in yourselves a tree bearing all kinds of produce and flourishing well, being adorned with various fruits. For in this place the tree... Continue Reading →
Genesis: The Book of The Promise
We have been exploring some of the beauty of the Genesis text and what it has to teach us about life (Genesis: The Book of Life), about married life and love (Genesis: The Book of Love), and about our life chosen apart from God (Genesis: The Book of Life and Death). Let us now explore... Continue Reading →
An Ancient Faith For a Modern World 