Tag: renunciation
Spiritual Emancipation
He who is spiritually “born” as a mature identity is liberated from the enclosing womb of myth and prejudice. He learns to think for himself, guided no longer by the dictates of need and by the systems and processes designed to create artificial needs and then “satisfy” them. This emancipation can take two forms: first… Read More ›
Renunciation
Nine tenths of the news, as printed in the papers, is pseudo-news, manufactured events. Some days ten tenths. The ritual morning trance, in which one scans columns of newsprint, creates a peculiar form of generalized pseudo-attention to a pseudo-reality. This experience is taken seriously. It is one’s daily immersion in “reality.” One’s orientation to the… Read More ›
Repentance, baptismal renewal, daughter of hope
Nothing equals or excels God’s mercies. Therefore, he who despairs is committing suicide. A sign of true repentance is the acknowledgment that we deserve all the afflictions, visible and invisible, that come upon us, and ever greater ones. Repentance is the renewal of baptism. Repentance is a contract with God for a second life. A… Read More ›
Pope Benedict’s Astonishing Predictions
The reaction to the commentary, Benedict’s renunciation and the wolves within the church, was unexpected. Many of the 150 comments are well worth reading and I was able to add more information in response to some of the comments. It should be emphasized that the article was written because of a truly extraordinary action by Pope Benedict… Read More ›
Have you got any saints here?
The story is told of Blessed Basil that, making a visitation of his monasteries, he said to one of the hegemons, “Have you got any saints here?” The Abba said, “Through your prayers, my lord, we all desire to be saints.” And again, Blessed Basil said to him, “No, I mean have you got any saints here?” And… Read More ›
Thank God I am like other men
In Louisville, at the corner of 4th and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that I loved these people, that they were mine and I was theirs, that we could not be alien to one another . . . . It was like waking from a… Read More ›
To see the value and the beauty in ordinary things
One of the most important – and most neglected – elements in the beginnings of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things to come alive to the splendor that is all around us in the creatures of God. We do not see… Read More ›
Do you have any saints?
The story is told of Blessed Basil that, making a visitation of his monasteries, he said to one of the hegemons, “Have you got any saints here?” The Abba said, “Through your prayers, my lord, we all desire to be saints.” And again, Blessed Basil said to him, “No, I mean have you GOT any… Read More ›
Keeping the Commandments
If a man does not possess great humility in his heart and in his body and does not use moderation in all things and submit to reproval and constrain himself in everything and keep his death before him day after day and renunciation of the material world and renunciation of all fleshly things, he cannot… Read More ›