Witness, NM

Reflections on required reading pt. iii “I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will make a test of pleasure; enjoy yourself.’ But again, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, ‘It is mad,’ and of pleasure, ‘What use is it?’ I searched with my mind how to cheer my body with wine—my mind still…

Reflections on required reading pt. ii Χριστος ανεστη! Through reading St. Maximus’ works, prayer, and the grace of God, I have come to understand the cosmic nature and consequences of The Fall through the lens of God’s love for Man. Otherwise, it is only another sacred origin story like any other, having parallels with Mesopotamian…

Reflections on required reading pt. i “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven     and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout,     giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,    so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;…

Paschal Reflections “Now if Christ is preached as raised up from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either. But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and…

Pascha Reflections Bless, O spirits and souls of the righteous, the Lord; praise and exalt him exceedingly into the eternities! Bless, O holy and low ones in your heart, the Lord; sing a hymn exalt him exceedingly into the eternities! Bless, O Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, the Lord; praise and exalt him exceedingly into the…

Paschal Reflections χριστος ανεστη εκ νεκρων θανατω θανατον πατησας και τοις εν τοις μνημασι ζωην χαρισαμενος It’s Bright Week. I celebrated Pascha, sung Greek to the world, slept for a few hours then drove three hours to a monastery. I slept for a few hours and drove back to town. I’m exhausted. I’m running on…

Final Paschal Reflections on Creation “The heavens and the earth and all their ornamentation were completed. God completed his works that he did on the sixth day, and on the seventh day he ceased from all his works that he did. God blessed the seventh day and made it sacred, because on it he ceased…

Paschal Reflections on Creation “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth a living creature according to kind, quadrupeds, and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to kind.’ And so it happened. And God made the wild animals of the earth according to kind and the livestock according to kind and all…

Paschal Reflections on Creation “And God said, ‘Let the water bring forth living, creeping things and birds flying above the earth in relation to the firmament of the heavens.’ And so it happened. And God made the very large fish and every life of living creeping things that the water brought forth according to their…