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When the Door Opens
A Visitor Speaks with Abba Arsenius as His Life Draws to Its End “Why are you weeping, Father? Are you also afraid?” “Indeed, the fear which is mine at this hour has been with me ever since I became a monk.” — Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Abba Arsenius A brother came to see Abba Arsenius when the old man was nearing the end of his life. Word had passed quietly among the brothers that Arsenius had become very weak. The man who had once stood in the palace of the emperor now
Father Charbel Abernethy
Aug 247 min read
A Few Paragraphs and Dust
On obituaries, ossuaries, and the end of our illusions “All flesh is grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.” — First Epistle of Peter 1:24 There is something almost unbearable about an obituary if you linger over it long enough. A human life, decades of breath, struggle, love, compromise, hidden sacrifice, is gathered up and reduced to a few paragraphs. A name. A date. A list of survivors. A handful of accomplishments. Perh
Father Charbel Abernethy
May 53 min read
When Nothing in This World Satisfies
On holy heaviness, simplicity, and the narrowing of desire “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” Psalm 73:25 ⸻ There is a tiredness that sleep cures. And there is a tiredness that sleep cannot touch. The body rests. The mind functions. The day moves forward. And yet beneath everything there is a heaviness of heart, not despair, not depression, not regret, but gravity. A weight that feels almost sacred. Nothing in this world
Father Charbel Abernethy
Feb 203 min read
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