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When the One Thing Necessary Is Lost
St. Isaac the Syrian and the Terrible Sorrow of a Heart That Has Tasted God and Turned Again Toward the World “Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:42 There are losses that break the heart. A person dies. A friendship disappears. A home is lost. A community changes beyond recognition. A vocation once imagined no longer seems possible. The work of decades passes into other hands or simply fades away. Age takes strength from the b
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 287 min read
The Quiet Emptying
A Dialogue Between a Disciple and St. Arsenius “Be silent, and your heart will learn that every loss offered to God becomes a wider place for His love.” The disciple came to the old man while the evening light still rested upon the stones of the desert. He bowed and remained silent for a long while. At last Arsenius looked upon him. “What troubles your heart?” The disciple hesitated. “Father, I desired silence, and God has granted it.” Arsenius smiled gently. “And yet you hav
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 203 min read
The Undivided Heart
What St. Isaac Is Really Guarding “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” — Psalm 27:4 Few passages in St. Isaac the Syrian can be as easily misunderstood as this one. Read superficially, it can sound severe, even offensive to modern ears. His warnings about women, nuns, relatives, and young companions may appear to reflect suspicion toward persons rather than wisdom about the spiritual
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 153 min read
Not Merely Good
A Dialogue Between Abba Arsenius and a Disciple on Holiness “You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” — Leviticus 20:26 A brother came to Abba Arsenius and said, “Father, this word troubles me: ‘You shall be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy.’ I strive to avoid sin, to pray, to fast, and to be kind to others, yet holiness still seems far away.” The old man said, “Perhaps because you think holiness mea
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jun 222 min read
The Bread Eaten Alone
Patience, Solitude, and the Sweetness of Unceasing Conversation with God “Blessed is he who is patient in stillness for the sake of God and eats his bread alone, since he converses with God always.” — St. Isaac the Syrian There is a kind of loneliness that wounds the heart because it feels abandoned. But there is another solitude entirely—a solitude sought “for the sake of God,” as St. Isaac says. This solitude is not emptiness but fullness. It is not withdrawal from love but
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jun 163 min read
The Cry of the Inward Child
St. Isaac, Tears, and the Birth of the Soul into the Air of Grace “When you attain to the region of tears, then know that your mind has left the prison of this world and has begun to breathe that other air, new and wonderful.” — St. Isaac the Syrian Synopsis of Tonight's Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily 14 There are passages in the Fathers that do not merely instruct us. They unsettle us because they seem to speak from a place beyond ordinary lan
Father Charbel Abernethy
May 204 min read
We Are Adam and Eve
On the unity of our fall and the unity of our salvation “Adam, after his fall, became the image of all mankind.” — Isaac the Syrian A brother once asked an Elder, “Why do the Fathers say that we must love every man as ourselves?” The Elder answered, “Because every man is yourself.” We are Adam and Eve. Not only in the beginning, but now. Their story is not ancient history. It is the present condition of the human heart. Every day the same drama unfolds within us. God speaks a
Father Charbel Abernethy
Mar 82 min read
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