Usually temptations are a substitute for spiritual life, which is deepened by fasting. If you take the feat of fasting on yourself, then you take that path, if not, then you are given temptations
Have you ever heard of the “church face”? It’s the face you put on only Sundays. It’s the spiritual face, the pious face, the face of someone who rarely falls into sins, who never has a doubt and who ...
Integrity is the glue that holds our way of life together. We must constantly strive to keep our integrity intact. When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when ...
I was recently conversing with a young woman in my parish who had been asked what her stand was on this arrangement. She knew that she was against it, of course, but could not quite articulate why, ...
We live in a culture in which high achievement is prized above all things. Celebrity culture canonises the saints of "can do" leaving most of the rest of us feeling pretty miserable that we ...
Do we look at others—and, really, upon life itself—with joy and gratitude, or do we look with critical discontent at all the shortcomings—both real and perceived—in everything and everyone around us?
How do we know if thoughts come to us from God, or from the devil? What should we do if thoughts of our failings and sins are presented to us? The Fathers give a simple rule: if the thought of a past ...
One thing I have come to love about my Orthodox faith is that I am continually confronted with an invitation to convert. Orthodoxy avoids the notion of a once-for-all event in my life to mark my ...
God’s Will is what God wants to reveal to us. It seems to us that His Will is a sort of mystery, sealed seven times over, and that although we struggle to know it, somehow God wants to hide it from ...
Only a truly believing person, only one who is truly grateful to the Lord and loves Him, can humble himself to the extent that he can accept his neighbor as this neighbor is in reality, and not as ...
