Society requires people to work together to promote the common good. It should be obvious that we must rely upon each other, that we can’t do everything all by ourselves. We all have skills and expertise which we can and should use to contribute to the common good, even as we must rely upon the skills others have, some of which we might never be able to attain if we tried. There will be people who have expertise in areas... Read more
It is sadly obvious to me that many of the social advances we have seen the past hundred years, advances related to the dignity of the human person, have proven to be quite fragile and easily overturned. This is because we have not entirely cleansed society from the evil ideologies which undermined human dignity, nor the practices which arose from those ideologies. While we might have thought they were put in check, but even if they had, they are coming... Read more
We are meant to cast aside all our idols, especially those built upon and promote ideologies which directly reject God’s ways. We are called to be holy, to experience the presence of God with and in us, but how can we do that if we constantly put up barriers between ourselves and God?  This is what we do whenever we sin; the greater the sin, the greater the barrier, with the greatest sins being those which directly reject and undermine... Read more
The world around us is good; it was created by God as good, and so should be treated as good. We should show it due respect, because by respecting it, we respect the one who created it. We, similarly, should acknowledge we were created good, for once again, if we do not do so, we would suggest our creator created something which was bad or evil, and in doing so, we would denigrate God. We must be respect ourselves in... Read more
Sodom and Gomorrah are frequently brought up in Christian conversations, but often for the wrong reasons. Too many think of them only in relation to sex, and not to the fundamental errors Scripture indicates lay behind the destruction of the cities. Politicians, and demagogues, like to mention them for the sake of culture wars, once again, dealing with sexual matters, while ignoring the real reason why the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah cried up to heaven. Yes, there was sexual... Read more
I see a small, clammy hand, Grasping after the world. My country, pounded in sand: As the oligarchs are thrilled. My ancestors died, To give us liberty, The pilgrims’s pride, Now undermined bitterly. Every mountainside, Free to be demolished. As we see the rising tide, Which should be admonished. Once I could love, The rocks and rills, With birds soaring above, Thy woods and hills. Let us all awake, Let the silence break! Dirty air we will partake, Clean water,... Read more
Compassion and mercy are both qualities which Christians must embrace in their lives if they are going to be faithful to the call Christ has given them. Christians should be kind and caring, taking into consideration the needs of others, whether or not they are Christians. With their fellow Christians, they are expected to form a bond of love, to come together and live in harmony with each other, presenting to the world the love of Christ through the love... Read more
After learning that he had been called to a special kind of life, one which was not meant for many, St. Antony the Great went to the Egyptian desert, putting all his trust in God, believing that God would make it possible for him to do what God intended him to achieve. While there were ascetics before him, some who helped train him in the way of asceticism in his youth, and there were even some who went into the... Read more
Sometimes, it feels like I am dreaming, or rather, I am living in a nightmare world, as I look out and see the insanity which seems to have taken over the world. Lewis Carroll gives us nothing equal to the madness found with Donald Trump and his followers. The Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts have nothing on Vladimir Putin and Elon Musk. When I wake up, not only do I wonder what Donald Trump said, but how his... Read more
While St. Antony the Great might not have been literate, that is, he might not have been able to read Greek, that should not lead us to assume he was uneducated. From the letters which we have by him, written in Coptic (which means he could still be seen as illiterate to those who considered knowledge of Greek necessary for proper literacy), we can discern that he was quite well educated, knowing advanced elements of philosophy and Christian theology. Through... Read more
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