It's Gift Giving Season! But that can be dangerous if you don't know WHY Giving is vital to your spiritual well being! Listen to St. Poemen. "As far as you can, do some manual work so as to be able to give alms, for it is written that alms and faith purify from sin."
Why? Why…
It was a favorite Sunday School song in my 1st grade class on Sundays! "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine!" We would…
“I’m their leader! Which way did they go?” I have a cap with two bills on it, one in the front and one in the back with that slogan on it. It’s funny because it’s so often true.
Leadership is always such a rewarding and challenging calling. In fact, if you could get most leaders to…
As a “son of the South” I’ve heard people say “Bless your heart” all my life. And the irony is that this phrase that almost sounds like a prayer, is really a versatile phrase American Southerners use to both bless AND curse.
And it all depends on how it’s used. It can be a genuine expression…
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 progress and immaturity…
At a recent spiritual retreat, I was asked to conduct, I was asked how one should prepare to deal with questions about the faith when others ask about it. Usually, many of our Orthodox brothers and sisters get very nervous when somebody asks them about our Orthodox Faith.
It’s a good question, but it points to a deeper…
Why is it we avoid asking inconvenient questions? Or maybe they are just uncomfortable questions. Questions that get to the heart of a real injustice, or a deep-seated prejudice, or even a real life-stalling behavior? Why are we moderns always in therapy but never getting really free?
What will it take for us to confront some…
We really have succumbed to such a consumerist mindset that the Pavlovian trigger of “sale” actually has us queuing up outside the “box” retailers to wait in the cold to get a slip of paper that gives us permission to purchase a product at a particular price so we will “have” the product. One begins…
C.S. Lewis said it best: “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance, the only thing it cannot be is moderately important.” So true! You see, the Christian Faith isn’t merely a set of moral teachings. All religious systems have that, and most of them are fairly similar. The Christian…
The word Holy means "set apart for a specific and exclusive use." Something or someone who is holy is singularly dedicated to a single purpose and action. No wonder the Church gives us the gift of marriage as an icon of faithfulness and dedication to teach us about our true purpose in belonging only to…
