You will know that you have completely freed yourself of this rot [of remembering wrongs], not when you pray for the person who has offended you, not when you exchange presents with him ... but only when, on hearing that he has fallen into bodily or spiritual misfortune, you suffer and weep for him as for yourself.
Is faith to be understood simply as a mental exercise, or is it somehow something more? [...]
When speaking of faith, we are describing a relational trust that is rooted in our participation in the life of God. St. Paul says that “faith works by love” (Gal. 5:6). Marriage, at its best and highest moments, can have something of this experience on a human level. The relationship is more than mental and emotional. It is physical and involves a union with the other than can only proceed from trust, freedom and love. It would not be wrong to describe such a relationship as faith. The Church asks husbands and wives to be faithful – which means far more than simply avoiding sex with other persons. It is little wonder that marriage is a common image used for the relationship between God and His Church.
I often tell people who say they are struggling with prayer to quit trying to pray like a Pharisee and learn to pray like a Publican. We often want to pray from strength – to approach God when we at least feel spiritually alive. The Publican refuses to lift his eyes to heaven. The contradiction of his life and the goodness of God are more than he can bear. And yet he prays. And, ironically, it is he who goes down to his house justified rather than the Pharisee.
Reasons 4th century Christians gave for not reading the Bible, from St. John Chysostom via Presbytera Jeannie. From another podcast I've started listening to and highly recommend, Search the Scriptures.
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To live as a Christian is impossible. As a Christian you can only die.
An excerpt from another podcast, this one from Fr. Thomas Hopko, about how our bodily afflictions contribute to our salvation.
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An excerpt from a recent podcast I've listened to. An interesting insight, I think, into how our bodies contribute to our interaction with God and are not just things to be despised because of their inclination to sin. And a profitable saying at the beginning of Lent.
This is Fr. Meletios Webber is the Abbott of the Holy Monastery of St. John of San Francisco.
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