I re-read the story of Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke (19:1-10) a little while back, which is sufficient reason for me to post a reflection on it. The Gospel doesn’t say much about him except that he was a rich tax collector, that he was short, and that he lived in Jericho. Jericho was [...]
[I remember many years ago finding a little booklet in our library (the strangest things can be found in monastery libraries) of a sermon delivered by the Rev. John Jasper, a former slave turned preacher, in the late 19th century. Evidently it was quite popular, since he was asked to give it over 250 times. [...]
The summer issue of our monastery newsletter, which we call Gladsome Light, and which really isn’t a newsletter after all, since it mostly contains articles and reflections for your spiritual edification, and since there really isn’t much news fit to print around here anyway, is now available online. You can just click here or, if [...]
Before we go on about the phony brand of non-judgmentalness, which is another way of dodging the issues of truth and falsehood, good and evil, let us look at what is meant when the Lord indeed warns us not to judge (Matthew 7:1ff and elsewhere). A necessary distinction must be made between judging persons and [...]
[The following is an article I published a couple years ago in our monastery newsletter, which perhaps many of you did not see. I’m re-publishing it here, since it seems still to be timely, and it makes some distinctions that Christians need to understand on this subject.] A lie is contrary to the truth. A [...]
I think I have finally discovered my vocation—or rather, a certain vocation within my vocation has been more clearly manifested to me. To be able to share this with you, I’ll have to give some background. St Silouan of Mt Athos, a monastic saint of the 20th century, was known for the depth of his [...]
At first glance, today’s Gospel (Mt 9:27-35) seems to be just another account of something we often see in the Gospels: physical healings and casting out of demons. Perhaps after reading or hearing the Gospels so many times we get desensitized to the miraculous. But wait a minute: those two men were blind, yet now [...]
[I was thinking about a passage from St Luke, the one that tells us that Jesus “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.” I don’t know precisely what that would have been like for the Lord, but it made me think of the experience described in the following post, which I published almost four years ago, so [...]
Quite a few years ago, when I was guestmaster of the monastery, I used to tend the rose garden at the retreat house. I had learned how to plant and prune them, to water and fertilize them, and to (attempt to) keep away the bugs and the blackspot. When I became the abbot, I just [...]
Some have said that the Scriptures, especially the Gospels in which Jesus Himself speaks, are God’s “love letter” to us, and we should read them as if He is speaking directly to us. I opened chapter six of the Gospel of Luke the other day and received this loving sentiment: “You hypocrite!” Uh, thank You, [...]
