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The Grammar of the Heart — Reflection VI
When Prayer Becomes a Way of Seeing “The remembrance of Jesus, combined with heartfelt fervor, will destroy all the enchantments of our thoughts.” — St. Hesychios the Priest We usually begin prayer by thinking that prayer is something we do. We set aside time. We say words. We keep a rule. We read the Psalms. We stand before an icon. We invoke the name of Jesus. We become distracted and begin again. All of this is necessary. But after many years another possibility begins to
Father Charbel Abernethy
Oct 177 min read
Philokalia Ministries — Returning This Fall
A return to prayer, the Fathers, and the life of the heart After a brief time of quiet, Philokalia Ministries will resume our gatherings in October. Sometimes it is necessary to step away for a little while—not simply to rest, but to remember why we began. Our purpose remains very simple: to sit together at the feet of the Fathers, to listen attentively to the wisdom born of prayer and struggle, and to allow their words to lead us more deeply into the mystery of Christ. We wi
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 292 min read
When Peace No Longer Depends Upon What Happens
Courage is born when the heart ceases to demand that the world make God trustworthy “The essence of Christ’s peace lies in his perfect knowledge of the Father.” — St. Sophrony of Essex, His Life Is Mine There comes a point in the spiritual life when peace can no longer mean that things have been resolved. Perhaps this is one of the most difficult truths we ever learn. For much of our lives, we imagine peace as the fruit of circumstances finally coming into order. A door opens
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 255 min read
The Place Beneath All Answers
A Dialogue for the Feast of Saint Silouan the Athonite “My soul yearns after the Lord, and I seek Him in tears.” — Saint Silouan the Athonite The disciple came to the elder before dawn. He had not slept. For many months he had prayed that God would make the path clear. Instead, one door after another had closed. Things that once seemed certain had become uncertain. Names by which he had known himself no longer seemed able to hold him. Even good desires had become painful beca
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 245 min read
When the Lord Himself Becomes Our Trust
Beyond trusting God to having nothing but God “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.” — Jeremiah 17:7 There is a difference between trusting in the Lord and having the Lord as our trust. The difference is almost imperceptible at first. Yet it may contain the whole spiritual life. We often say that we trust God when what we mean is that we trust Him for something. We trust Him to guide us. To protect us. To heal what is wounded. To resolve what is
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 223 min read
The World After You Have Died to It
Phronema and the Recovery of Wonder “What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation.” — St. Isaac the Syrian There is a way of leaving the world that is really an attempt to escape it. And there is another way of leaving the world that finally allows us to see it. The Fathers went into the desert not because they despised creation. They went because they understood how difficult it is to see anything clearly while we are trying to possess it. The pa
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 215 min read
Phronema Is a Way of Seeing Born from a Way of Dying
The Fathers do not give us a religious identity. They lead us to the place where only Christ remains. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” — Galatians 2:20 Phronema is not first a collection of ideas. It is a way of seeing born from a way of dying. We often approach the spiritual life believing that we are going to acquire something. Knowledge. Wisdom. Peace. A deeper understanding of prayer. Perhaps even holiness. We imagine that the person who begins th
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 216 min read
Life to Me Is Christ
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.
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 204 min read
What Cannot Be Captured
The unconscious may disclose what is hidden in man. The soul reveals that man himself is hidden in God. “The heart is but a small vessel; and yet dragons and lions are there, and there are poisonous creatures and all the treasures of wickedness; rough, uneven paths are there, and gaping chasms. There likewise is God, there are the angels, there is life and the Kingdom, there is light and the apostles, the heavenly cities and the treasures of grace: all things are there.” — St
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 205 min read
When Certainty Is No Longer a Criterion
The freedom that comes when the soul no longer asks where it will be safest, but where it can belong wholly to God “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” — Psalm 37:5 There comes a point in the spiritual life when certainty is no longer a criterion. Not because certainty is undesirable, nor because prudence has ceased to matter. Rather, the soul discovers that there are moments when every road disappears into mist. No choice guarantees security. No deci
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 185 min read
Built Upon the Rock
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
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 185 min read
The Grammar of the Heart
How God Teaches the Soul the Language of Prayer “We have the mind of Christ.” — 1 Corinthians 2:16 There is a language that cannot be learned from books. Books may awaken us to it. The Scriptures give us its words. The Fathers teach us its grammar. The liturgy allows us to hear its cadences. The lives of the saints show us what it sounds like when spoken fluently. But eventually God Himself must teach it to the heart. This is perhaps one way of understanding phronema. We ofte
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 176 min read
Subjected in Hope
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
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 174 min read
When We No Longer See
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
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 174 min read
Desire and Wonder: A New Three-Volume Series Is Published
St. Isaac the Syrian, the Longing for God, and a Path Forty Years in the Making “What unfolds across these pages is one movement of desire—the heart awakening to wonder, being drawn beyond itself, and discovering that its deepest longing has always been for God.” There are books we write, and there are books that seem to have been writing themselves within us for years before we finally recognize them. Desire and Wonder belongs to the latter. I am very grateful to announce th
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 157 min read
What Is Lacking
To love with the love by which Christ loves “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body.” — Colossians 1:24 There are sentences in Scripture before which one should become silent. This is one of them. “I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.” Nothing is lacking in the Cross. Nothing can be added to the sacrifice of Christ as though His offering were incomplete. “It is finished.” The Fathers never tire of returning us to
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 156 min read
I Am the Lord’s
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
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 145 min read
What Has Already Been Given Cannot Be Taken
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
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 145 min read
Sons of Light
The Cross and the Becoming of the Heart “While you still have the light, believe in the light, and you will become sons of light.” — John 12:36 There is a difference between seeing the light and becoming light. We can spend much of our lives standing near holy things without allowing them to change us. We can speak of Christ, defend Christ, teach Christ, even suffer in the name of Christ, while still guarding some hidden territory of the heart from Him. But the Gospel speaks
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 145 min read
The Shore Where It All Began
Sometimes the Risen Christ leads us back to the beginning, not to recover the life we had, but to discover the life that has been quietly forming within us. “It is the Lord.” — John 21:7 There is something mysterious about the return to Galilee. After everything that has happened—the calling, the years of following, the miracles and arguments, the supper, Gethsemane, the Cross, the bewildering news of the empty tomb—the disciples find themselves again beside the sea. Galilee.
Father Charbel Abernethy
Sep 136 min read
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