PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

When the Heart Ceases to Live as Though Anything Existed Apart from God “Let all men know from the rising to the setting of the sun that, apart from me, all is nothing. I am the Lord: there is no other.” — Isaiah 45:6 There are words in Scripture that console us, words that instruct us, and words that seem to leave nothing standing. This is one of them. “I am the Lord: there is no other.” We can hear such words as a declaration about the uniqueness of God. And certainly they

A Dialogue on the Painful Mercy of Learning to See “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” — 1 Corinthians 13:12 The disciple came to the elder late in the afternoon. For a long while he said nothing. Finally the elder asked, “What troubles you?” “I no longer know what is real.” The elder looked at him. “That is not always a bad beginning.” “I thought you would tell me not to doubt.” “Perhaps you are doubting the wrong things.” The disciple lowered his eyes. “F

St. Gregory the Great and the terrible possibility of doing the work of God while neglecting God “They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.” — Song of Songs 1:6 There are words of the Fathers that console us. There are others that leave us nowhere to hide. St. Gregory the Great’s words about the priesthood belong to the latter kind. “We accept the duties of office,” he says, “but by our actions we show that we are attentive to other things.” I

The strange freedom that begins when we cease clinging even to what was once given by God “He did not cling… but emptied himself.” — Philippians 2:6–7 There are things we cling to because we love them. There are other things we cling to because we are afraid of who we would be without them. The distinction is not always apparent. A vocation may be received from God. A work may be blessed by God. A place, a relationship, a responsibility, even a particular way of understanding

When every path disappears into the One we seek “Life to me is Christ.” — Philippians 1:21 There comes a point in the spiritual life when the question is no longer: Where will this road take me? The question becomes simpler. Whom do I seek? There are seasons when God permits us to think about paths, places, vocations, works, communities, beginnings and endings. These things matter. They are the substance through which obedience is lived. But they are not life. Christ is life.

The mercy of being prepared for temptation “My son, come to the service of God. Stand fast in fear and in righteousness, and prepare your soul for temptation.” — St. Augustine, On Pastors There is a kindness that comforts us by telling us that the storm will pass. There is another kindness that teaches us how to stand when it does not. Saint Augustine speaks with the severity of one who knows the difference. The negligent shepherd, he tells us, does not necessarily abandon th

When everything passes away and only the promise of God remains “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.” — Romans 8:21 There comes a time when we begin to understand that the ache we carry is not merely our own. Something is wrong with the world. We feel it in the body as it grows tired. We see it in those we love as strength diminishes. We experience it in friendships interrupted by death, commun

The terrible mercy of being led into exile “You have eyes to see, but see not; you have ears to hear, but hear not.” — Ezekiel 12:2 There is a blindness that comes not because there is no light, but because we have grown accustomed to not looking. There is a deafness that comes not because God has ceased speaking, but because we have learned how to hear everything except the word that would require us to change. This is the terrible warning in Ezekiel. The people have eyes. T

Memento Mori and the Freedom of No Longer Needing to Solve One’s Life “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” — Romans 14:8 There comes a point when even the desire to understand one’s life must be surrendered. We spend so much of our existence trying to solve it. We turn circumstances into problems. We turn other people into problems. Eventually, and perhaps most cruelly, we turn our

The Freedom of the Cross “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” — John 10:18 There is a freedom that comes only when we have ceased trying to keep our life. Christ reveals it from the Cross. “No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord.” Those words change everything. From the outside, His life appears to be taken from Him. He is betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, stripped, mocked, condemned, and nailed to the wood. Others seem to possess

The Beheading of John the Baptist and the Freedom of the One Who Has Become the Friend of the Bridegroom “He must increase, but I must decrease.” — John 3:30 There is something almost unbearable in the apparent smallness of John’s death. This is the Forerunner. The voice crying in the wilderness. The one who leapt in the womb at the approach of Christ. The one who stood at the Jordan and pointed away from himself toward the Lamb of God. The one whom Christ Himself called more

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

The struggle to remain with the Lord is often fiercest precisely when we have resolved to seek nothing but Him. “Abide in me, and I in you.” — John 15:4 There are moments when the spiritual life seems suddenly to become very simple. Not easy, but simple. After years of trying to understand circumstances, discern paths, resolve questions, and discover where everything is leading, the heart hears again the one word that was there from the beginning: Remain. Abide in Me. There c

St. John the Baptist and the Freedom of a Hidden Life “He must increase, but I must decrease.” — John 3:30 There are few saints whose birth the Church celebrates. We celebrate the birth of St. John the Baptist because from the beginning his life was ordered toward a single purpose: to prepare a place for Christ. John’s greatness did not consist in what he accomplished. It did not consist in the crowds that gathered around him, the power of his preaching, or even the austerity