In the Desert

I. “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” (John 6:8-9).

After the first autumn harvest, the people across England gathered to celebrate Loaf Mass. It was a time of great jolly for the children and townspeople, but most of all for the wheat farmers. They tilled the soil, planted the seeds, and labored in the fields of grains. Now it was time. Each wheat farmer baked a loaf of bread from their first flour and presented it at church to be blessed. This may seem a silly custom today, but it says something profound. In fact, this and all the blessings in the Church sum up the spirit of Christianity. God wants us to offer up all that we have and he sanctifies us through it.

Continue reading “Orthodoxy and Secularism”

“Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:17).

Bishop Anthony Bloom was an old man when he wrote about anger. He was dying. As he prepared for death, he found himself convicted by anger. He searched through his heart for any traces of anger, as earnestly as a surgeon searches for cancer. Why? Why should an old man think about anger? Why should any of us get concerned about anger? Why do the epistles warn us to not let the sun set on our anger? Why does Christ tell us we are liable to judgment and even damnation for anger? 

Continue reading “Buried Anger”

“No Christian is an alone Christian, and an alone Christian is no Christian.”

This is a ditty sung in the early Church. Though it is not scripture it is valuable, because it best describes the spirit of those first Christians. In fact, it is the heart of our faith preserved through these last 2,000 years in the Orthodox Church. Christ came to restore community, a true community, a kingdom with Christ at its core. This is the spirit lived out by St. Benedict, whose feast we celebrate this week. It is the same spirit that we must live out in our own Christian walk in our homes and parish today. Yet, if we are deliberate about following Christ, we will face a challenge. We must forsake one life for another.

Continue reading “Reassess Your Culture”

“Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod” (Genesis 4:6).

When Cain murdered Abel he was exiled into a state of wandering. The land of Nod is a place of the soul. It is a place we all go to. For many of us, it is the only country we have ever known. It becomes familiar and even nostalgic. For a few who manage to break away, it is that murky and sticky place known as hell. Nod is the Hebrew word for wandering – aimless, meaningless, intoxicating wandering. 

Continue reading “Labyrinth of Existence”

The altars were prepared. The calf was sacrificed. The servants of Baal chanted from morning to noon, calling their god to pour fire from heaven. Nothing happened. Elijah taunted them, crying, “Shout louder! Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping.” The heathens prayed more fervently, but nothing happened still. Finally, Elijah took his stand. “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” Again, and again, they doused the altar with water. Elijah prayed to the God of Abraham, and fire rained down. The sacrifice, wood, stones, and soil together burned to ashes. This is the fire of the true God, which is lit today on Pentecost.

Continue reading “The Flames of Pentecost”

“The Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship, but to keep her on her course” ~ St. Boniface, Enlightener of Germany

Boniface was a man dedicated to building Holy Church. He became a monk in England, and spent most of his youth studying and praying. Then news spread from Germany. The Germanic culture was deteriorating. Its society resembled ours all too well. Once thoroughly Christian, its people had returned to their pagan roots. Boniface was an older man when he decided to set sail to Germany to build the Kingdom. His example reminds us today that we cannot sit idle while culture fades. We cannot sit and grumble or worry. We have one cardinal obligation as the Church, to nurture Christian community wherever we are.

Continue reading “Starving for Truth”

“By the grace of God I am a Christian man, by my actions a great sinner, and by calling a homeless wanderer of the humblest birth who roams from place to place. My worldly goods are a knapsack and some dried bread in it, and a Bible in my breast pocket. And that is all.”

Continue reading “Baal of the Times”

“As the Lord put on the body…so Christians put on the Holy Spirit, and are at rest” (St. Macarius the Great).

Christianity is a divine exchange. The Word of God clothed himself in flesh so that we can cloth ourselves in spirit. Drop an ice cube into lukewarm water. The ice melts and the water cools. The Holy Spirit has a similar impact. Drop heaven into humanity, and humanity becomes a little more like heaven. 

Continue reading “Infused in Spirit”

“What you will find in your heart is not heaven but a picture of heaven, a silhouette of heaven, a heaven-shaped shadow, a longing unsatisfiable by anything on earth…What you will find in your heart is not heaven but a heavenly hole, a womblike emptiness crying out to be filled” (Peter Kreeft). 

Continue reading “Contemplate Hope”