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No Longer Ourselves
Mercy and Humility as the Revelation of Who We Have Become in Christ Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian - Homily 6 paragraphs 9-10 St. Isaac is not describing admirable behaviors. He is naming a different kind of human being. Mercy, humility, and almsgiving are not virtues added to an otherwise intact self. They are the outward signs that the old self has already begun to die. What St. Isaac exposes is not how difficult mercy is, but
Father Charbel Abernethy
6 days ago3 min read
When the Same Breath Is Shared
Phronema as Communion Before Words There are moments when words fall quiet not because there is nothing to say but because everything essential is already being held. To be in a room with those who share the same phronema is not primarily an exchange of ideas. It is a recognition. A stillness settles in which the heart senses that it is no longer alone in its orientation toward God. One does not need to explain why silence matters or why the Name is whispered rather than spok
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jan 33 min read
When the House Grows Quiet Again
On the Spiritual and Human Fruit of Removing Television from the Home There is a particular kind of silence that returns to a home when a television is removed. It is not merely the absence of sound. It is the reappearance of space. Something long occupied steps aside, and the heart becomes aware of itself again. Television does not simply provide entertainment. It forms the inner atmosphere of a household. Even when it is not turned on, it stands ready to speak, to fill paus
Father Charbel Abernethy
Dec 29, 20253 min read
"What can bring us happiness?" many say
Reflection on Psalm 4 Praying the psalms again, one begins to recognize the quiet insistence with which David returns the heart to its true center. He does not deny the hunger that lives in us. He does not scold the question that rises so naturally to our lips. What can bring us happiness. He simply refuses to answer it on the terms the world demands. Again and again he redirects the desire itself, turning it away from what can be possessed and toward the One who must be rece
Father Charbel Abernethy
Dec 15, 20253 min read
A Communion Not of Earth
“How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity.” Psalm 133 is often read with the warm glow of natural friendship, shared work, shared meals, shared life. We imagine a band of brothers, or a monastery living in peace. Yet the deeper one goes into the heart, the more the psalm reveals something far more mysterious and far more demanding. It speaks of a communion that is not born of temperament or affinity, not shaped by shared projects or compatible personalitie
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 25, 20253 min read
The Ghosts of Communion
Stepping away from social media is like stepping out of a dimly lit room filled with a hundred whispering voices. There is an ambient warmth there, a sense of nearness, a subtle intoxication. You feel surrounded. You feel accompanied. You feel woven into something larger than yourself. But the moment you walk away, the illusion thins like smoke. You realize that most of those voices do not follow you into the silence. They remain behind, attached not to your life but to your
Father Charbel Abernethy
Nov 24, 20253 min read
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