Tag: sin
The Fruits of the Spirit
John of Lycopolis said, ‘This is what it means to renounce the Devil and all his works. For through any sinful act or the onset of a perverse desire the Devil enters into our hearts, for vices are from him just as virtues are from God. So if there are vices in our heart, when… Read More ›
He had not judged the priest
It was said of Abba Mark the Egyptian that he lived for thirty years without going out of his cell. The priest used to take Holy Communion to him. But the devil, seeing the remarkable endurance of this man, decided to tempt him, by making him blame the priest. He brought it about that a… Read More ›
Youths, young adults gather for Lenten prayer, reflection at Belmont Abbey
Charlotte, N.C., Apr 9, 2009 (The Catholic News and Herald) “We are all on a pilgrimage during the Lenten season,” said Bishop Peter J. Jugis. This is a “time for interior renewal and turning away from sin, a time to embrace Jesus,” said the bishop to young Catholics from across the Diocese of Charlotte. Bishop… Read More ›
Every age poses new challenges …
7. Every age poses new challenges and new temptations for the People of God on their pilgrimage, and our own is no exception. We face a growing secularism that tries to exclude God and religious truth from human affairs. We face an insidious relativism that undermines the absolute truth of Christ and the truths of… Read More ›
Transfiguration
In the end we are dealing with a phenomenon that transformed the world. When Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor, he bestowed on history what we now understand to be an uncreated and natural grace. It has affected the way we view the world ever since. Anthony and his fellow anchorites were not just uneducated… Read More ›
Lenten Observances
Lent will soon be upon us and St. Benedict calls on us to …deny [ourselves] some food, drink, sleep, needless talking and idle jesting, and look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing. One of my favorite shows is “Clean Sweep,” where a family is challenged to make a clean sweep of one… Read More ›
Weeping Over My Sins
A brother questioned Abba Poemen in this way, ‘My thoughts trouble me, making me put my sins aside, and concern myself with my brother’s faults’. The old man told him the following story about Abba Dioscorus (the monk), ‘In his cell he wept over himself, while his disciple was sitting in another cell. When the… Read More ›
Think Seriously About the Way You Act
Abba Daniel, the disciple of Abba Arsenius, described how Arsenius told the following story as if it had happened to somebody else, though Daniel was convinced Arsenius was actually talking of himself: A certain old man was sitting in his cell when a voice came to him, saying, “Come with me and I will show… Read More ›
Abba Zenon: Can I Bear the Torture?
Abba Zenon told us how once when he was going to Palestine, getting very tired because of his journeying, he sat down to rest under a tree next to a field full of cucumbers. He began to think about getting up and going to steal some of the cucumbers to eat. “After all”, he thought,… Read More ›
Abba Prior and Judging Others
At that time a meeting was held at Sketis about a brother who had sinned. The Fathers spoke, but Abba Prior kept silent. Later, he got up and went out. He took a sack and filled it with sand and carried it on his shoulder; then he put a little sand into a small bag… Read More ›