St. Paul gives us his doctrine of the “two laws” at work in the life of man. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with … Continue reading
Category Archives: Eastern Christian Spirituality and Prayer
Spirituality in the Christian East means the everyday activity of life in communion with God. The term spirituality refers not merely to the activity of man’s spirit alone, his mind, heart and soul, but it refers as well to the … Continue reading
In the Eastern Church, theosis is the understanding that human beings can have real union with God and so become like God to such a degree that we participate in the divine nature. It is a concept derived from the … Continue reading
The goal of Eastern Christian spirituality is a mystical life of union with God. The path that leads to this union includes the ascent that leads to this peak. As such, this path is different than the peak; yet it … Continue reading
Eastern Christian spirituality aims at the perfection of the faithful in Christ. This perfection can’t be obtained in Christ, except by participation in His divine-human life. Therefore the goal of Eastern Christian spirituality is the perfection of the believer by … Continue reading
I would continue to share thoughts about the 30th Step on John’s Ladder of Divine Ascent. The 30th Step is Faith, Hope and Love. The highest degree of love for God, which is the love of the dispassionate, is described … Continue reading
The 27th Step on John’s Ladder, STILLNESS, is probably one of the more difficult ones to achieve because of the busy lives that most of us live. Our lives are constantly filled with noise of some sort. In order to … Continue reading
The 26th Step of John’s Ladder deals with the idea of DISCERNMENT. One of the component of discernment is, of course, perceiving the will of God. In order to do this it is critical that we work to develop an … Continue reading
DISCERNMENT is the 26th Step on St. John’s LADDER of Divine ascent. It clearly reminds us that whenever we judge, criticize or accuse others we show that we have no discernment. We may think of someone as a bad person, … Continue reading
I have already covered 25 of John’s 30 Steps of the Divine Ascent. The 26th step, which I introduced in last week’s Bulletin, is Discernment. This step truly deals with real self-knowledge. We must, however, also be aware of our … Continue reading