During the past several weeks I have been sharing various thoughts about Eastern Christian spirituality, an idea and term which, I realize, is not, necessarily, easily understood. It is truly my firmest conviction that the spirituality of no two people can or needs to be the same. Spirituality, like our relationship with God, is unique and individual.

The Fathers of the Church have suggested, however, that there are various elements to any true spirituality. The first element, as I shared with you, must be liturgical. What do I mean in saying this? True spirituality has to include worship of God, expressed preeminently through the Divine Liturgy and a true understanding that our communion with God is only truly achieved by a deep and lasting communion with our fellowmen. I also truly believe that if we understand what transpires during the Divine Liturgy we know that communion with others is essential to an understanding of this earthly life, which has been given to us by God in order to learn how to be spiritual, human beings – children of God.

In many ways I find our modern society so interesting. There is a great emphasis placed on physical well-being. So much of our society is focused on healthy eating and exercise. The deep impression that this leaves, I believe, is that the most important thing about us humans is our physical bodies. Decreased church attendance (Other than those mega-churches that present truly spectacular entertainment), highlights that much of modern humankind gives very little thought to their spiritual nature. In saying this I do not intend to say that the people who don’t go to church are not truly nice and loving people. What I am trying to say is that modern society seems to distract people from thinking about the spiritual dimension of life. Our society has so many things that can easily distract us from spirituality. It seems to be a natural tendency, especially when things are going well in life, to forget about the fact that there is more to life than just this earthly existence. When we only live for today, we, in effect, deny that there are an eternal number of tomorrows.