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Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detaching From Another’s Scorn or Praise
A Word from the Desert “A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, ‘Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved.’ So the old man said, ‘Go to the cemetery and abuse [insult] the dead.’ The brother went there, abused [insulted] them and threw stones at them; then…
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Lent with the Desert Fathers: Is it Yours?
A Word From the Desert “The same Abba Agathon was walking with his disciples. One of them, finding a small green pea on the road, said to the old man, ‘Father, may I take it?’ The old man, looking at him with astonishment, said, ‘Was it you who put it there?’ ‘No,’ replied the brother.…
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Celebrating St. Gregory the Great
Today, March 12, is the feast of St. Gregory the Great also known, especially in the East, as St. Gregory the Dialogist because he wrote a book entitled The Dialogues in which he extolled the Italian saints. Gregory served as pope from 590 until his death on March 12, 604. Though often seen as Augustinian…
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Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detachment and Simplicity
A Word From the Desert Abba Zosimos said, “In time, through neglect, we lose even the little fervor that we suppose we have in our ascetic renunciation. We become attached to useless, insignificant, and entirely worthless matters, substituting these for the love of God and neighbor, appropriating material things as if they were our own or…
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Lent with the Desert Fathers: How Should One Fast?
A Word from the Desert “Abba Joseph asked Abba Poeman: ‘How should one fast?’ And Abba Poeman said: ‘For my part I think it is better that one should eat every day, but only a little, so as not to be satisfied.’ Abba Joseph said to him, ‘When you were younger, did you not fast…
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Lent with the Desert Fathers: A Series on Fasting and Simplicity
Each Friday through Lent I will be posting about a particular aspect of the practices of fasting and simplicity as seen through the lens of the desert tradition. The posts will include a saying from the desert fathers, a reflection on that saying, suggestions for applying the saying to our lives, and a prayer. This…
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Welcome to the Human Race – An Ash Wednesday Sermon, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
A couple of years ago I was talking with a women who is and has been for many years my therapist, counselor, mentor, and teacher all rolled into one. I told her that I worked really hard to always get it right, to have the answer, to always know what to do, to speak the…
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Healing the Fever of Disconnection – A Sermon on Mark 1:29-39
“Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever” (from Mark 1:29-39, Epiphany 5B). You know what that’s like, right? Picture that in your mind. She’s in bed, flat on her back. No energy. No enthusiasm. She is separated from family, friends, and her usual activities. She’s alive but not really living, certainly not to the…
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Blessing Candles on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas)
Forty days after Christmas the infant Jesus was presented in the temple of Jerusalem and placed in the arms of the old man Simeon (Luke 2:22-40) who declared: Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you…
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Interrupting the Silence 