PHILOKALIA MINISTRIES

When listening to God may cost us the life by which we have known ourselves “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” — 1 Samuel 3:9 There are moments when I look back upon the last several years and wonder whether I should simply have stopped. Not searched. Not planned. Not tried so quickly to find another place to stand. Perhaps I should have waited longer. Waited upon the Lord. Waited until the noise within me had quieted enough that I could distinguish His voice from my fea

The terrible possibility of standing before God and still asking Him to prove Himself “Behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” There comes a point when asking for another sign is no longer prudence. It is refusal. We tell ourselves that we are waiting for clarity. We want God to make the path unmistakable. We want some interior certainty that cannot be questioned, some providential arrangement that removes the possibility of error, some word so direct that obedience wi

On simple work, silence, and the gathering of the heart “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” — 1 Corinthians 10:31 There is a mercy hidden in simple work. A floor needs to be swept. Water is drawn. The mop passes back and forth. Things are returned quietly to their places. The house is being prepared for the Sabbath, but something within us is also being put in order. The Fathers understood the importance of such labor. Work was not merely something that interrupted

The terrible danger of a life put in order but not given wholly to God “When he comes he finds it swept and put in order.” There are words of Christ that console us because they reveal the tenderness of God. There are others that strip us bare. This is one of them. “He who is not with me is against me; he who does not gather with me scatters.” There is no neutral ground. We would like there to be. We would like a small territory of the heart that belongs neither to God nor to

Wisdom begins where the heart ceases to possess “In every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God, and prophets.” — Wisdom 7:27 “May God grant that I speak with judgment and have thoughts worthy of what I have received.” This is where wisdom begins. Not with knowing. With receiving. Before the wise man speaks, he confesses that even his words are not his own. “We and our words are in his hand.” The desert understood this. A man came seeking wisdom

When Christ enters the house we have learned to guard “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” — Luke 11:20 There is something terrible in this Gospel. A man who could not speak is set free. Christ casts out the demon. The man’s tongue is loosed. He speaks. And those standing nearby do not rejoice. They explain the miracle away. Some say that Christ is in league with the demons. Others demand another sign. The man

The poverty of prayer and the gift of the Holy Spirit “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” — Luke 11:9 Ask. Seek. Knock. The Lord gives us three words. They are enough for a lifetime. He does not say: understand. He does not say: arrange your life so that nothing remains uncertain. He does not say: discover what God intends to do with you. Ask. Seek. Knock. These are the words of a poor man. The one who asks does not p

When Even the Desire to Do Something for God Must Become Still “And this is the definition of stillness, silence to all things.” — St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily 21 There are desires that arise from restlessness, and there are desires that arise only after restlessness has begun to die. For many years I thought of the spiritual life largely in terms of movement: what must be done, what must be offered, where one must go, what form one’s fidelity must take. Even the deepest desi

The frightening freedom of divine love “Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you.” — Luke 9:50 There is something almost painfully human about the disciples in this Gospel. They have discovered a man casting out demons in the name of Jesus, and immediately they are troubled. Not because the demons remain. Not because the man is deceiving anyone. Not because the name of Jesus is being dishonored. Their complaint is much simpler: “He does not follow with us.

The Incarnation and the Terrible Beauty of the Human Person “Man, completed and perfected, is wondrous, even as God is wondrous.” — St. Sophrony of Essex, His Life Is Mine “A man is born into the world.” We hear these words and think of something ordinary. Another child. Another life beginning among billions of lives. Another small creature entering a world already immense before him and destined to continue long after he is gone. But St. Sophrony hears something altogether d

The terrible ease with which we can stand beside Christ and still be occupied with ourselves “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men.” — Luke 9:44 There is something almost unbearable in the sequence of this Gospel. Jesus tells the disciples what is about to happen to Him. He does not speak vaguely. He tells them that He will be delivered into the hands of men. A darkness is already gathering around Him. Betrayal, humi

When Desire Is Purified into Love A Reflection on the First Evening of Our Retreat “If you will, you can become all flame.” — Abba Joseph We began our retreat with one of the most familiar sayings of the Desert Fathers, and yet perhaps one of the most inexhaustible. Abba Lot came to Abba Joseph and described what had become the pattern of his spiritual life. He kept his little rule. He fasted according to his strength. He prayed and meditated. He tried to maintain interior pe

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

When even the good we do for God must be surrendered “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” — Luke 10:20 The most dangerous possessions are sometimes the ones we acquire in the service of God. The seventy return to Jesus radiant. “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” They have every reason to rejoice. They have not accumulated wealth. They have not conquered cities. They