The Gospel is a harsh document; the Gospel is ruthless and specific in what it says; the Gospel is not meant to be re-worded, watered down and brought to the level of either our understanding or our taste. The Gospel is proclaiming something which is beyond us and which is there to stretch our mind, […]

The principal thing is to walk before God,  or under God’s eye, aware that God is looking at you,  searching your soul and your heart, seeing all that is there. This awareness is the most powerful lever in the mechanism of the inner spiritual life. St. Theophanes the Recluse

MORNING PRAYER OF ELDER SOPHRONY (to be said each day on rising from sleep) O Eternal King without beginning, You who are before all worlds, my Maker, Who has summoned all things from non-being into this life: Bless this day that You, in Your inscrutable goodness, give to me. By the power of Your blessing […]

Our Good God provides each person with a cross relevant to their strength; the idea is not suffering but the ascent from the cross to Heaven – because in reality the cross is a stairway to Heaven. If we realize what treasure we are saving from the pain of ordeals, we will not groan, but […]

When we patiently endure our problems and turn to God for help, we notice that He gives us the best possible solution. Unfortunately, in our days, people are very impatient. We do not love patience at all. Christ assured us, however, that only the ones who are patient will inherit the Kingdom of God. “…they […]

Love giving hospitality, my child, for it opens the gates of Paradise. In this you also offer hospitality to angels. “Entertain strangers so that you won’t be a stranger to God.” The saints submitted to whatever God sent them, with childlike simplicity, “That’s the way You want it. Let Your will be done.” Hospitality… the […]

“Our preparation for meeting the heavenly King, and for the inheritance of eternal life in heaven, should consist of these things. The heavenly King desires souls adorned with immutable virtue, souls prepared so that the Very Lord Himself could abide in them. Do not marvel that the Very Lord wants to live in us. In […]

Modesty and Girl Power I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want: for modest, feminine beauty to be appreciated as it once was and for women to stop rating themselves and each other based on sexual desirability. I know, it’s a goal which is highly idealistic, but I believe women can snap […]

“We ought to have the most lively spiritual union with the heavenly inhabitants,  with all the saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, prelates, venerable and righteous men,  as they are all members of one single body. The Church of Christ, to which we sinners also belong, and the living Head of which is the Lord Jesus Christ […]

“For it is within you, that is, it depends upon your own will,  and it is in your own power, whether  or not you receive it. For every man who has attained to justification by means of faith in  Christ, and is adorned by all virtue, is counted worthy of the kingdom of heaven”. St […]