The great, ancient philosopher Lao Tzu said "Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power." And I would, arrogantly, add that the first step in mastering yourself is truly knowing yourself.
And that, my angels, is much more profound than what any of us might imagine.
Of…
Our busy lives really do challenge us in keeping our priorities in the right order, don't they? We moderns are a complicated mishmash of schedules, opportunities, affluence, and "freedom." And that multiplication of events, desires, hopes, and advertisements don't seem to be slowing down. It seems that each new day brings a new barrage of…
"Hey, I know that boy. I've known him my whole life. Who does he think he is?" I confess, it hurt a bit. You see, I was preaching one of my first "sermons" and some "friend" of the family who had, actually, known me and my parents since I was a baby, was a bit…
In one of the retreats that I give around the country, I have a particular presentation about how to heal the weaknesses of our modern age. I use examples from sociology, psychology, science, and even religion. But then I get down to the timeless and purposeful answer from Orthodoxy: GO TO CHURCH! It usually gets at least…
The story goes like this: A young man sees a beautiful woman and he desires to make her his wife. All the while, his best friend from childhood, the little girl next door, secretly has grown to love her clueless neighbor. As she watches him not see her as a potential mate and waits for…
"Oh NO! Not the family tree scriptures again!" I can almost hear the congregation thinking out loud when we come to portions of the scriptures that have "and so and so begat so and so, and he begat so and so, and ..." I've even been asked "why is that in the Bible?" I remember…
In his "must read" book "On The Incarnation" St. Athanasius said "“Even on the cross He did not hide Himself from sight; rather, He made all creation witness to the presence of its Maker.” Think of that, The Creator insisted in making visible the Invisible, and to make accessible The Uncreated.
But that was God's intention…
“It is a great achievement not to be attracted by things. But it is a far greater achievement to remain dispassionate in the face both of things and of the conceptual images we derive from them.” St. Maximos the Confessor
Isn’t that great? The ability to be free from a slavery to desires, but not just…
mother scolds her child
One of the most difficult realities I’ve had to face as an adult, as a priest, as a husband, and as a father is waking up to the reality of the complexity of each human person I encounter, including myself. This continuous process of discovery has me regularly seeing places of spiritual…
“There’s no time like the present.” This and many other “time” quotes really get to a central wisdom we humans have learned: Timing is everything.
I have a dear couple who are dating. And, on top of that, they are exploring becoming Orthodox. Talk about a double whammy! Their relationship is growing with each other and…
