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When the Heart Dances Before God
Recovering Holy Wonder Before the Presence of the Lord “David danced before the LORD with all his might.” — 2 Samuel 6:14 The Desert Fathers would tell us that the greatest tragedy of the spiritual life is not simply that we fall into sin, but that we lose our capacity for wonder. The heart grows accustomed to holy things. We handle mysteries as though they were ordinary. We speak the Name of Christ without trembling. We stand before the Holy Mysteries with distracted minds.
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jul 24 min read
The Kingdom Hidden Within
On the Glory We Have Forgotten and the Life of the Spirit Within the Heart “This is Jerusalem and the Kingdom of God which is hidden within us.” — St. Isaac the Syrian Synopsis of Tonight’s Group on The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian Homily 15 paragraphs 4-11a When we read a passage like this from St. Isaac, it is tempting to focus on the warnings. We notice his words about passions, distraction, worldliness, anger, vainglory, and talkativeness. We see the severit
Father Charbel Abernethy
Jun 33 min read
The Fire of Desire and the Wonder of God
What St. Isaac the Syrian teaches us about the ascetic life “Paradise is the love of God, wherein is the enjoyment of all blessedness.” — St. Isaac the Syrian When we read St. Isaac the Syrian, one of the first things that strikes us is that asceticism is not driven first by fear, duty, or harsh self-mastery. It is moved by desire. For St. Isaac, the spiritual life begins when the heart is wounded by longing for God. He writes often of tears, yearning, burning love, astonishm
Father Charbel Abernethy
May 203 min read
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