Love is like a radiant thread woven into the tapestry of human existence formed with virtuous and vicious threads. It's the pulsating heart that animates every act of kindness, every gesture of compassion, and every offering of grace. As eloquently pronounced by St. Paul, without love, all other gifts of the Spirit are nothing more than empty vessels—void of real significance or purpose.
Read MoreIn the stillness of those quiet minutes before night wraps in its embrace, before the toils of the day are dulled to the gentle hush of dusk, the heart holds court with its deepest yearnings. It is in these moments, at the still of the evening, that the soul is called to reckon with the bonds of brotherhood which bind it to its kin.
Read MoreWithin the hallowed walls of the monastery, among the quiet cloisters and the whispered prayers, in which the soul must be a refuge and a battleground, is the mettle of the monk tested, in the tempests of the mind which rage the fiercest; in the sacred solitude of contemplation is this proven.
Read MoreIn the grand theater of human interactions, then, every soul acts out its part according to the script of its inner dispositions and the provocations that seem to come from without. There is the lively setting of all the passions pulling at the heartstrings in all directions. And this becomes the cause of scenes either in harmony or in discord. Two figures step forward from the wings among the actors: the foolish man, herded into blind motion by the untamed forces of his passions, and the wise man, who walks through tumult with his sense of moderation and charm.
Read MoreTake a contemplative journey through a soul's landscape: thoughts as travelers treading across paths of consciousness. The soul, in its pure state, would be the holy of holies of such Divine communion, into which the intellect should go like the pious pilgrim with unwearied steps in the perpetual presence of God, and each thought should be a step of approach to the Holy of Holies.
Read MorePicture a mountain stream: cold, clear, quickening, its waters flowing like hope from the springs high in the quieting peaks, a rivulet that is very much the mind shorn of all preconceptions, clear and directed, cutting through the undergrowth of spirituality with clear prayer and reflection.
Read MoreWe start to tread the life of a voyager that sails through the stormy waves of existence. Their vessel, in time past, drifted down the current of ordinary desires and was ever prone to the tempests of sin and the whirlpools of transgression. But in youth the compass of the voyager spun like a dervish at Mecca, as if under the strong influence of gales of passion, not the stars of virtue. Memories are of life in a shroud of shadows as if every decision was driving one deeper into the night.
Read MoreThere is usually at least one of those moments of profound revelation—when the scale of the universe's grandeur becomes startlingly clear and one's place within it, startlingly small, in the chronicles of seekers and sages. It makes one think of the ancient mariner looking at the expanse of the limitless sea or the astronomer who gazes into the starry heavens with awe at the infinity before him and the subsequent conclusion of his limitation.
Read MoreIn the rich tapestry of spiritual life, there are many threads that one must weave with care and precision. There is such a fine and insidious thread of the allure of self-esteem: the kind that puffs up, not with a real sense of worth, but with the vanity of one's own accomplishments and spiritual standing. An insidious enemy, who can easily spoil the cloth of our spiritual progress, with his oily mutterings, and false promises of glory.
Read MoreIt is at that moment when every day stands on the very verge of close; it is in the silence of the world, in the time between the whispering day and the hushing of the night. Here in these silent, solitary hours, one can go on a deep journey within, seeking a communion beyond the words. It's time for hunger and vigils, for psalmody and prayer—a time in which, longing for purity, the soul readily embraces the discipline of self-restraint.
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