An Episcopal Priest's Sermons, Prayers, and Reflections on Life, Becoming Human, and Discovering Our Divinity
A new liturgical year begins this coming Sunday, December 2, 2018, with the First Sunday of Advent. The Season of Advent consists of the four Sundays before Christmas. The liturgical color for Advent is purple or sometimes blue. We will…
Read More Shh, Be Quiet, It’s Advent.
A Word from the Desert Abba Macarius the Great said to the brothers at Scetis, when he dismissed the assembly, 'Flee, my brothers.' One of the old men asked him, ‘Where could we flee to beyond the desert?' He put…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: Fasting From Words
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]…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detaching From Another’s Scorn or Praise
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…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: Is it Yours?
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…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detachment and Simplicity
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…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: How Should One Fast?
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…
Read More Lent with the Desert Fathers: A Series on Fasting and Simplicity
The 14th century Sufi poet and mystic, Rumi, wrote, “Return to the root of the root of yourself.”¹ His words remind me that I often live on the periphery or circumference of life, disconnected from the root of my being…
Read More Silence, the Way Home
You need a spiritual pilgrimage. Begin by closing your mouth. - The Sayings of the Egyptian Fathers (Quoted by John McGuckin in The Mystical Book of Chapters, 47).
Abba Poeman said... A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning others he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent; that is,…
Read More Abba Poeman on Silence
Interrupting the Silence 