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When the Horizon Narrows
Stillness, Holy Renunciation, and the Recovery of the One Thing Necessary “But one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” — Luke 10:42 There are seasons in the spiritual life when God seems to enlarge the horizon. Doors open. Relationships multiply. Work becomes fruitful. One discovers gifts that must be exercised for others, and the heart seems drawn outward in service. There are other seasons when God appears to do pre
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 267 min read
A Second Book from City a Desert Press
The Name Above Every Name: The Revelation of Christ in the Heart The Jesus Prayer and the Life of Communion I am grateful to share that The Name Above Every Name: The Jesus Prayer and the Life of Communion is now available, the second volume in a series exploring the wisdom of the Christian desert and the recovery of the inner life. The first book, The Monastic Heart and the Future of the Church: Recovering the Inner Kingdom in an Age of Fragmentation, began with a conviction
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 243 min read
When the Night Becomes Desire
Vigil, Wonder, and the Refusal to Leave the Beloved “His mind will be quick to take flight as it were on wings, and rise up toward God with delight.” — St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 20 There are passages in St. Isaac that can sound almost impossible to modern ears. His words on vigil are among them. “Do not imagine,” he tells us, “that among all the works of monastics there is any practice greater than night vigil.” We hear such words and immediately think of sleep deprivation
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 197 min read
When the Heart Sees Who Has Come Near
Strength, Wonder, and the Desire Born of Divine Love “He is my love, my fortress; he is my stronghold, my saviour.” — Psalm 143 (144):2 There is a way of hearing this psalm that can leave us almost entirely with the language of warfare. The Lord trains the hands for battle. He is fortress, stronghold, shield and refuge. Enemies surround us; mighty waters threaten to overwhelm us; falsehood rises against us. We cry out for God to descend, to scatter what assails us and to draw
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 186 min read
Where Does the Soul Live?
The Desire That Already Belongs to Eternity “The soul from love of the Lord has lost her wits, as it were.” — St. Silouan the Athonite Where do we live our lives? The question seems simple until we allow it to expose us. We can live in the world without the world being the place where our heart dwells. We can inhabit a house, fulfill our responsibilities, care for those entrusted to us, endure uncertainty, carry grief, answer the demands of each day, and yet inwardly live som
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 167 min read
When the Heart Has Tasted God
Taking Hold of Grace and the Stronger Attraction of Divine Love “My soul thirsted for Thee, the mighty, the living God! When shall I come and appear before Thy face, O Lord?” — St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 19 Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily 19 paragraphs 2-7 There is a danger in reading passages such as this one from St. Isaac and hearing primarily a warning: Do not become negligent. Do not allow yourself to grow lax. Guard
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 126 min read
When the Name Becomes Presence
The Jesus Prayer begins not with our search for God, but with the discovery that He has already drawn near. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” — Philippians 2:10 There comes a moment in the life of prayer when the Name of Jesus begins to mean something different to us. At first, perhaps, we simply say it. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” We repeat the words because we have been taught that the Jesus Pray
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 103 min read
The Wound Love Refuses to Close
Christ’s Omni-Vulnerability and the Terrible Beauty of Loving as He Loves “He voluntarily surrendered Himself to His Passion because He was already possessed by the passion of His great love, which is stronger than death.” — Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou, The Dawn of the Eternal There are truths about Christ that console us, and there are truths about Christ that undo us. We are consoled to hear that God loves us. We are consoled to hear that He seeks the lost, forgives th
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 910 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
Before the Foundation of the World
The Love That Precedes Our Search and the Gathering of All Things in Christ “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world.” — Ephesians 1:4 There are words in Scripture that we have heard so often that we no longer tremble before them. We recognize them. We assent to them. We move on. The desert teaches us to do something else. Remain. Take a single word into the cell of the heart and refuse to leave until it has disclosed the wound within us—or the mercy of God hidd
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 146 min read
The Temple of the Living God
The Heart That Becomes Christ’s Dwelling Place “We are the temple of God.” — 1 Corinthians 3:16 The Christian life is not first the struggle to become better people, but the gradual unveiling of what we have already become through Christ. We have been fashioned to be the dwelling place of the living God. Every act of repentance, every hidden prayer, every battle against the passions, every tear shed in sincerity serves this one purpose: that the heart might become a temple in
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 13 min read
Abide in the Love That Seeks You
From Compunction to Surrender in the Fire of Divine Eros “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 There is a compunction that still circles the self. Tears can be shed that are secretly about my failure. My weakness. My fall. My loss of image. Even repentance can become a mirror in which I stare at myself. The fathers warn us that the ego is subtle. It will clothe itself even in sackcloth. The sorrow that leads to life does not end in self absorption. It breaks the he
Father Charbel Abernethy
Feb 234 min read
The Earthquake of the Name
On the Crucifixion of Eros and the Violent Birth of Pure Desire “My eros is crucified.” — Saint Ignatius of Antioch ⸻ There is a moment when the Name of Jesus stops being a prayer you say and becomes a force that breaks you open. Not gently. Not therapeutically. But like an earthquake that splits the ground beneath the life you built in order to expose the bedrock of who you really are. Before that moment, you pray because you are religious. After that moment, you pray becaus
Father Charbel Abernethy
Feb 33 min read
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