HOLY SILENCE

Find it within. Find it without. Discover God's will. Follow it with hope and joy. Be a light to others, even though there is so much in the world that we can grumpy, angry, and sad about. Be anointed and healed so that you may be of help to everyone around you. Sunday of the Holy Fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council If you have a question or prayer request, please reach out here. If you can donate, please click here.

We often ask, "Why didn't they just leave?" It's a natural question, But it's the wrong one. Abuse rarely announces itself As a single, escapable event. It's a slow erosion involving a cycle of Tension, violence, apology, and false hope Repeated over and over Until the mind adapts to survive it. What looks like passivity from the outside is Exhausted vigilance on the inside. When abuse continues unchecked, and People think leaving is more dangerous than staying The real shift

There is a quiet violence in covert resistance. Here I do not mean the kind of opposition Born from the desire to be free. Absolutely not. Not at all. Here I am speaking of the Insidiousness of the withheld hand. The help that is named but never given. The agreement that never becomes action. Covert violence offers the face of cooperation While the heart stays closed. It claims to live with integrity, but A chasm remains between word and deed. Yet wisdom asks something of us

Christ calls us to freedom: freedom from the work of demons within us, from the sins that hold us captive, from our own lack of faith. He frees us so that we may know Him as Lord, God, and Savior ... and so that we may know what His will is for us. These days we stand between two feasts, Pentecost and the Transfiguration. Both speak of God's presence: in us, around us, among us. Both tell us the same thing: we are not alone. God is within and without. And through the various

Freedom is transfiguration The self ... Opened ... Illumined ... Indwelt by the ineffable God. On Tabor ... The veil between Heaven and earth thinned ... Christ was transfigured ... Apostles beheld uncreated light. The mystery's promise? Humanity's destiny ... Radiant with uncreated glory! Tabor's end and Upper room's beginning! Freedom is Pentecost(al) Winds blow while Hidden chains disappear Tongues of fire ... Set people ablaze. Contemplation stills the heart Confession un

Five weeks from today, on August 6, we celebrate the great Feast of the Transfiguration, when Christ ascended Mount Tabor and shone before Peter, James, and John with a light not of this world. I have stood on that mountain. Tabor rises alone from the Jezreel Valley. The road to its summit climbs in tight switchbacks that force you to slow, to turn, to ascend in earnest. At the top, looking out over the green hills of Galilee, I felt my own calling to the contemplative life q

Diabolic obstruction is the Dark art of the Closed door Disguised as an open one. It does not destroy the path But complicates it. Placing delay Where there should be motion, Doubt Where there should be resolve. There are hundreds of 'Reasonable' hesitations 'Good' intentions 'Better' suggestions 'Practical' ideas and 'Real' love. Its genius is patience. It rarely forbids outright. It merely postpones ... Qualifies ... Entangles ... Obfuscates. It knows that a will deferred o

We are broken and fragmented! And the Lord tells us why. "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). To heed His words and understand how this works, we must seek clarity, stability, and wholeness within and among the five parts of the self: physical, intellectual, emotional, relational, and spiritual. In other words, we must build st

Elisha was a prophet (9th c. BC Israel) and one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament (cf. 1 and 2 Kings). He was the disciple and successor of prophet Elijah. When Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elisha received a "double portion" of Elijah's spirit and inherited his prophetic mission. Elisha's ministry is marked by miracles, more than almost any other Old Testament figure. Among the best known: Purifying a spring of bad water at Jericho with salt.

Confession helps you navigate life, love, sin, and salvation. Here's how: Read: The origin of the Sacrament of Confession is rooted in John 20:22-23 where Christ gives the Apostles the authority to forgive sins. In Orthodox theology and spirituality, Confession (also known as the Mystery or Sacrament of Repentance) is understood as a vital means of spiritual healing and reconciliation with God, self, and others. Keep in mind that confession is not merely a legal transaction.