Something we all do sometimes. When reflecting on Jacob’s wrestling with God yesterday, I recalled one of the so-called Terrible Sonnets, “Carrion Comfort” by the English priest Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1899), for it too concerns a wrestling match. Hopkins speaks of his struggle with despair and darkness but also, as it turns out, of his struggle with […]
A Reflection on God, Man, and Life We say, “both / and”—not “either / or”. And we do not confuse the two. We cannot know how it is that God manifests Himself this way. We only know that He does. We know that the Holy Theotokos gave birth to God without seed, being both Virgin and Mother. We know that Christ is both God and man. We know that […]
It’s about being made well! In Luke 17:12-19, ten lepers stand “afar off” from Jesus, begging Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Christ commands them, “Go show yourselves to the priests.” They do so, and on the way they are cured. But only one of the lepers, who happens to be a Samaritan, (a […]
Remember that day when America was all abuzz? It was April 8 last year. Everyone was talking about the solar eclipse, waiting for that magic moment and wanting to see—but how? How can one look and not be blinded? Some purchased special glasses that are thousands of times darker than sunglasses, others built themselves pinhole […]
I recall an old song by Tommy Dorsey, popular in the 1940s. You may have heard it: There are smiles that make us happyThere are smiles that make us blueThere are smiles that steal away the tear dropsAs the sun beam steal away the dew… There are indeed many kinds of smiles! But besides the […]
In Genesis 1 of the Hebrew Bible, the word טוֹב (tov) is used to describe God’s creation. In the Septuagint Greek Bible, the word καλός (kalos) is used. Both words mean “very good” and “very beautiful”. They say that everything created by God is very good and very beautiful. This has been the deep-down reality of everything and everyone in the […]
We do not belong to ourselves. We are not our own. This is what it means to be created in the image of God. We belong to God, and we are made to become like God. And yet many of us—in fact, all of us at some time or other—do not want to become like God. You might say that this is […]
By Your precious Blood You have redeemed us from the curse of the law. By being nailed to the Cross and pierced with a spear, You have poured immortality upon men, O our Savior, glory to You! The above prayer by St. John Chrysostom is said by the priest as he prepares the gifts of bread […]
What does it mean to bless and to be blessed? The Greek verb meaning “bless” is εὐλογέω (eulogeo), from the words eu, meaning “well” or “good” and λογώ (logo) meaning “a word”; so a literal meaning of εὐλογέω would be “to say a good word upon” something or someone. But εὐλογέω takes on additional meanings within Christian worship: To bless is to reveal, as Jesus says […]
When St. John the Beloved Disciple says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8), he makes it clear that the love he has in mind is “of God” (1 John 4:7). Not all that passes for love is of God, and not all that we humans take for God is love. St. John knows this. And he knows that the […]
