***
Restraint
It isn’t easy for water
to restrain its flavors.
It isn’t easy for air
to conceal its hues.
It isn’t easy for light
to veil its lyric.
But the work of water
is to taste like nothing.
The work of air
is to look like nothing.
The work of fire
is to billow in the bloodstream,
a wave that feels like nothing,
even as it burns.
***
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fr. Thomas Hopko on The Meaning of Life
***
"We are here for communion with God who is love. The one in whose image and likeness each one of us is made. We find this communion by loving as God loves us.
Love is radical self-giving for the good of another. The denial of self by which our true selves are born. It is the emptying by which we are filled, the foolishness by which we become wise, the weakness by which we become strong. It is the dying through which we come alive for unending life.In this world love always entails sacrifice and suffering, fidelity and forgiveness. It is fulfilled only in death; it is our sole source of joy.
My spiritual father often said that the miracle of all miracles is the ability to transform through love the smallest, seemingly insignificant detail of the routine drudgery of everyday existence into paradise. The ability to become ourselves, at each moment, a fresh paradise to those around us, thereby becoming 'gods by grace' for those who are 'gods to us.'
Each person accepts or rejects communion with God in his or her own unique manner. For some the way includes an encounter with Christ. For all, it includes the encounter with God's word and God's spirit dwelling within us. There are, in any case, no techniques for its accomplishment. The act of communion comes always as grace. For those who know it, it is not life's meaning, or purpose, or goal; it is life itself. God with us, making us what God is."
***
"We are here for communion with God who is love. The one in whose image and likeness each one of us is made. We find this communion by loving as God loves us.
Love is radical self-giving for the good of another. The denial of self by which our true selves are born. It is the emptying by which we are filled, the foolishness by which we become wise, the weakness by which we become strong. It is the dying through which we come alive for unending life.In this world love always entails sacrifice and suffering, fidelity and forgiveness. It is fulfilled only in death; it is our sole source of joy.
My spiritual father often said that the miracle of all miracles is the ability to transform through love the smallest, seemingly insignificant detail of the routine drudgery of everyday existence into paradise. The ability to become ourselves, at each moment, a fresh paradise to those around us, thereby becoming 'gods by grace' for those who are 'gods to us.'
Each person accepts or rejects communion with God in his or her own unique manner. For some the way includes an encounter with Christ. For all, it includes the encounter with God's word and God's spirit dwelling within us. There are, in any case, no techniques for its accomplishment. The act of communion comes always as grace. For those who know it, it is not life's meaning, or purpose, or goal; it is life itself. God with us, making us what God is."
***
What We Sign Up For
***
I was intrigued to learn recently that Back In The Day (the time of the early Church), the following aspects or elements of the faith were not revealed to converts until after their baptism: the Lord's prayer, the gospel of John, communion, the Theotokos (or something about her, anyway--I'm not clear on that)...
In our consumerist age, we're used to refraining from commitment to anything until we've read all the fine print and know exactly what we're in for in an itemized, guaranteed-or-your-money-back kind of way. Apparently, the journey of faith is not like that. Instead, you are called, and you follow--without knowing much of what's ahead. It's supposed to be unconditional.
How refreshing, how terrifying!
I was intrigued to learn recently that Back In The Day (the time of the early Church), the following aspects or elements of the faith were not revealed to converts until after their baptism: the Lord's prayer, the gospel of John, communion, the Theotokos (or something about her, anyway--I'm not clear on that)...
In our consumerist age, we're used to refraining from commitment to anything until we've read all the fine print and know exactly what we're in for in an itemized, guaranteed-or-your-money-back kind of way. Apparently, the journey of faith is not like that. Instead, you are called, and you follow--without knowing much of what's ahead. It's supposed to be unconditional.
How refreshing, how terrifying!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Velocity
***
I once heard a preacher say that the Kingdom of Heaven has (only?) two speeds: slower than the eye can see and faster than the eye can see.
***
I once heard a preacher say that the Kingdom of Heaven has (only?) two speeds: slower than the eye can see and faster than the eye can see.
***
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Uncharted
***
I was thinking about someone I know whose life (difficulties, gifts, circumstances, etc.) is constituted by such fathomless and intricate mystery that I scarcely know how to pray for her. To attempt to pray for her is to touch the outskirts of a mystery which is so much greater than the "outcomes" I would like to see--health, well-being, etc.--though I can't not pray for those too.
Then it occurred to me--we're all like that. We're all in some sense uncharted territory for each other, and for ourselves as well.
That took me back to Romans 8 (again):
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
***
I was thinking about someone I know whose life (difficulties, gifts, circumstances, etc.) is constituted by such fathomless and intricate mystery that I scarcely know how to pray for her. To attempt to pray for her is to touch the outskirts of a mystery which is so much greater than the "outcomes" I would like to see--health, well-being, etc.--though I can't not pray for those too.
Then it occurred to me--we're all like that. We're all in some sense uncharted territory for each other, and for ourselves as well.
That took me back to Romans 8 (again):
"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified."
***
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