We can take Valentine’s example and let it kindle in us a passion for the people in our communities. Are there neighbors we might lift up with a timely word of encouragement, a helping hand, or a secret act of care? Are there broken relationships in our families needing the gentle touch of forgiveness?
Read MoreAs the Rector of a growing Episcopal church, I've found myself increasingly troubled by the state of Christianity in America as realized in church participation. I've witnessed firsthand the decline in church attendance and the closure of many congregations within the denomination that I grew up in. For the last 15 years in ministry, I find I am having the same conversations that range in topic from who is involved, whose job is whose as it relates to nurture of children, scarcity, various business model questions and so forth.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor explains that as the intellect is established in God, it longs to discover the principles of His essence. However, God’s inmost nature is beyond our capacity to investigate. We can, however, understand the qualities of His nature: eternity, infinity, indeterminateness, goodness, wisdom, and power.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor teaches that when the intellect contemplates invisible things, it seeks their natural principles, the cause of their generation, and their providential order and judgment.
Read MoreWhen the intellect contemplates visible things, it searches for their natural principles, the spiritual principles they reflect, or their original cause, according to Maximus the Confessor.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor explains that the pure intellect engages with passion-free conceptual images of human affairs, natural contemplation of visible or invisible things, or the light of the Holy Trinity.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor teaches that we cannot know God’s essence directly. Instead, we know Him through the grandeur of His creation and His providential care for all creatures. These serve as mirrors reflecting His infinite goodness, wisdom, and power.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor likens the revelation of divine truth to the rising sun. Just as the sun illuminates the world, revealing itself and everything it touches, the Sun of righteousness reveals Himself and the inner principles of all creation when He rises in the pure intellect.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor outlines a transformative journey for the intellect, guiding it from the ensnaring passions of the world to the sublime knowledge of the Holy Trinity. This journey involves a series of progressive steps: fulfilling the commandments, engaging in spiritual contemplation of visible things, gaining knowledge of invisible things, and ultimately, achieving direct knowledge of the Holy Trinity.
Read MoreMaximus the Confessor describes the highest state of dispassion as one where the conceptual images in the heart remain free from passion, whether the body is awake or asleep. This state is achieved through fulfilling commandments, contemplating visible things, and ultimately knowing the Holy Trinity.
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