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The Face That Heals the Heart
Stillness, Holy Simplicity, and the Birth of Desire Before the Face of Christ “Stand yourself directly before the face of God and always fix your eye unyieldingly upon Him.” — St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 19 Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily 18 paragraphs 4-5 and Homilu 19 paragraph 1: There is a temptation in every generation to believe that the spiritual life consists primarily in learning new methods, acquiring hidden know
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 54 min read
The Desert Beneath the Streets
St. Philip Neri and the Expansion of the Heart “The Kingdom of God is within you.” — Luke 17:21 The desert is not first a place. It is a heart emptied of everything that cannot receive the love of God. This is why the Fathers fled into the wilderness. They were not escaping the world so much as seeking that hidden place where the heart might once again become spacious enough to welcome the living God. Their battle was not against cities but against distraction, self-love, and
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 224 min read
When Love Hears Its Name
Mary Magdalene and the Wonder That Opens the Heart to the Risen Christ “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him, ‘Rabbouni!’” — John 20:16 Among all those who sought Christ on the morning of the Resurrection, it was Mary Magdalene who remained. Peter and John ran to the tomb and departed. Mary stayed. The desert fathers would not see this merely as a detail in the narrative. They would recognize in her the steadfastness of a heart that has been wholly claimed by
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 224 min read
When the River Becomes Too Deep to Walk
St. Isaac the Syrian, Ezekiel’s Vision, and the Soul Carried by Divine Love “Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.” — Ezekiel 47:5 There are moments in the writings of St. Isaac the Syrian when he seems to gather together the whole of the spiritual life into a single image. One such moment occurs in Homily Eighteen when he reflects upon the vision of
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 213 min read
Stability Beyond Place
Finding the Heart’s Rest in Christ Alone “My soul waits in silence for God alone; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.” — Psalm 62:1–2 There comes a moment in the spiritual life when many of the things upon which we once relied begin to loosen their hold upon us. It is not always because we desired them less, but because life itself has quietly revealed their inability to bear the weight we placed upon
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 183 min read
The Grace of Disappearing
On the Difference Between the Loss of Self and the Loss of Illusion “I sat alone because Thou hadst filled me with indignation.” — Book of Jeremiah 15:17 There is a way of speaking about “disappearing” that is dangerous, because it easily collapses into something else entirely. One imagines silence, withdrawal, the refusal to assert oneself, and assumes this is the same as vanishing. But the Fathers, and even the deeper currents of psychoanalytic thought, would resist such a
Father Charbel Abernethy
Apr 103 min read
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