Tag: Christianity

Wearing red vestments for the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, Pope Francis knocked on the door of the church in Rome’s Rebibbia prison complex and walked over its threshold.

After reciting a formal prayer before opening the prison’s Holy Door Dec. 26, the pope took the microphone back to explain that he had inaugurated the Holy Year 2025 by opening the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

“I wanted the second Holy Door to be the one here, at a prison,” he said. “I wanted all of us, inside or out, to have an opportunity to throw open the doors of our hearts and understand that hope does not disappoint.”

Members of the penitentiary police band played the official hymn of the Holy Year 2025 when the pope arrived, while about 300 people waited inside the church; they included just over 100 women and men serving time at Rebibbia, some of their family members, volunteers, prison staff, Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and officials of the Italian justice department.

The door of the prison’s Church of Our Father was decorated with a pine garland with white roses and silver-tinted pinecones. Inside the church, a manger with the baby Jesus sat in front of the altar. The inmates, with the help of volunteers, provided the music while a prisoner and a female guard did the readings.

The prayers of the faithful included a petition for governments to focus on rehabilitating and assisting all people, especially those who have made mistakes.

Seated in his wheelchair in front of the church door, Pope Francis had prayed: “In the joy of Christmas, let us welcome the call of the Lord Jesus to follow him. He is the door of life, the hope that does not disappoint, the good news that saves.”

“May the opening of this Holy Door be for all of us a call to look to the future with hope,” he said. “Let us open our hearts to the mercy of God so as to celebrate with the whole church his unending love.”

The Vatican press office had distributed the text of the homily the pope prepared for the Mass, but the pope did not use it.

Instead, Pope Francis spoke directly to the inmates. He told them that all Christians need to remind themselves that “hope does not disappoint, it never disappoints. I need to think about this, too, because in life’s difficult moments one thinks that everything is over, that nothing can be resolved. But hope never disappoints.”

“I like to think of hope being like an anchor on the shore, and we, holding the rope, are there, safe because our hope is like an anchor” hooked into the earth. “This is the message I want to give all of us, including myself: Don’t lose hope.”

At the end of Mass, before greeting and shaking hands with each of the 300 people present inside the church, Pope Francis repeated his message. He told inmates, “Now, don’t forget the two things we need to do with our hands: First, hang on to the rope of hope, hang on to the anchor by its rope, never let go; second, throw open your hearts, have an open heart.”

God wants to save each and every person, and Christians are called to give witness to that fact by praying even for people who have harmed them, Pope Francis said.

Marking the feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, the pope led the recitation of the Angelus prayer Dec. 26 with people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The Acts of the Apostles recounts how, as he was being stoned to death, St. Stephen cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

The martyr’s dying words are a testimony to the fact that God “has one great desire: that all people should be saved — this is the desire in God’s heart — and that none should be lost,” the pope said. “Stephen is a witness to the Father, our Father, who wants good and only good for each of his children, always.”

God is a father “who excludes no one, who never tires of seeking them out and of welcoming them back when, after having strayed, they return to him repentant,” he said.

“Remember this,” the pope told people in the square: “God always forgives and God forgives everything.”

The feast of St. Stephen, he said, is also a reminder to pray today for the “many men and women who are persecuted, at times up to death, because of the Gospel.”

After the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis noted that Hanukkah had begun Dec. 25, and he wanted to publicly send “our Jewish brothers and sisters” his “best wishes for peace and brotherhood.”

He also greeted Holy Year pilgrims who had come to St. Peter’s Basilica to cross the threshold of the Holy Door, a pilgrimage that he said was “a sign that expresses the meaning of our lives: setting out to meet Jesus, who loves us.”

Earlier in the day, he said, he had been at Rome’s Rebibbia prison to open a Holy Door at the prison church, which he described as “a cathedral of suffering and hope.”

Keeping with the biblical jubilee tradition of forgiving debts, Pope Francis also encouraged people to support the project of Caritas Internationalis “to give relief to countries oppressed by unsustainable debt” by signing their petition at www.turndebtintohope.caritas.org.

“The debt issue is linked to the issue of peace and the ‘black market’ in weapons,” he said. “No more colonizing peoples with weapons! Let us work for disarmament, let us work against hunger, against disease, against child labor.”

“And let us pray, please, for peace throughout the world,” he said, “peace in the battered Ukraine, in Gaza, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu and in so many countries that are at war.”

Fr. Sophrony Leaving her spiritually fruitful solitude in the Alps, Marie Madeleine, at the advice of her friend, went to Essex, where The Theology and Memory of Elder Sophrony (Sakharov)”Coming into contact with Father Sophrony was always an event of a most especial kind. His monastics, first and foremost, but also those who made up his wider spiritual family, ‘lived,’ as Father Zacharias put it, ‘in an abundance of the word of God.”’

“>Fr. Sophrony lived after his forced move first from Mt. Athos, and then from France. She was thirty-eight at the time, so this was around 1984. The future meeting inspired her with great hopes and expectations, but everything turned out to be not as simple as she had imagined in her bright and inspired dreams. Fr. Sophrony was almost ninety, and his health, undermined by many years of ascetic labors, was very poor. In those years the elder had a completely clear and sober mind, but health did not always give him the chance to speak with numerous visitors. The arrival of the Frenchwoman, who was in an intense spiritual search, coincided with a period of his illness, so the elderly father-confessor had to remain in seclusion in his cell. The strict observance of this daily routine was ensured by his cell-attendants, who strictly forbade anyone to disturb the sick ascetic. Before their unyielding determination to protect their spiritual father from any unwanted intrusions, Marie Madeleine’s path, full of hopes, was almost cut short. She found herself in front of a locked door that was hiding from her the light of her whole future life, capable of illumining her path that lay in darkness and bringing her to the knowledge of the Truth.

For Marie Madeleine that meeting was so crucial and vital, because she felt the providential nature of the circumstances that led to it. The Lord had shown her the way to the elder in the most extraordinary manner, and now she was waiting for his guidance as the words of God Himself. No one could understand better than Fr. Sophrony what had happened to her over the years—their spiritual paths and experience were very similar in many ways. In his youth the elder, having accepted an enemy thought inspired by demonic Eastern spirituality, fell away from his extraordinary child’s faith, forcing himself to stop the grace-giving work of prayer in his soul. After spending seven years in such inner darkness of apostasy, he was called back to communion with God by a vision of Uncreated Divine Light, resulting in him becoming a monk at the Russian St. Panteleimon’s Monastery on Mt. Athos, where, as he wrote later, “Divine Providence threw him to the feet of Elder Silouan.” Therefore, he was aware of the most deep fall that had occurred both with him and with Marie Madeleine, the regenerative effect of Divine Revelation, and all the bitterness of penitent tears shed from the awareness of offending by his unbelief the Love of Christ that surpasses human understanding. So, Marie, with the perseverance of the Canaanite woman from the Gospel, strove to get into the cell that was hiding Christ from her as the last hope of salvation.

So, she continued to persistently convince the elder’s cell-attendant that she really needed to see him, but he repeatedly answered her that it was absolutely impossible at that moment. They bickered and argued until the door to the cell suddenly opened and Fr. Sophrony appeared on its threshold. He was indeed very ill and weak, but his face shone with extraordinary joy and love. “It’s me!” he proclaimed triumphantly from the threshold, inviting his guest into his cell. There they had a conversation in which the elder supported Marie Madeleine’s desire to convert to Orthodoxy and gave her very important instructions that convinced her of the correctness of her chosen path. However, he deemed it impossible to perform the sacrament of Holy Baptism over her there in Essex. Fr. Sophrony explained to her that until recently they had so often received into Orthodoxy those who wished, that the local authorities began to accuse them of proselytism. There was the threat of possibly having to close the monastery in which they had invested so much labor and funds, and it was unthinkable to imagine a move from there to a new place, given its founder’s advanced age and poor health. Elder Sophrony so wanted to find his resting place there.

​St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia     

For this reason, Fr. Sophrony sent Marie Madeleine to another great Athonite elder, Saint Porphyrios, Wonderworker of KavsokalivaAt the age of twelve he left for the Holy Mountain in secret, desiring to emulate Saint John the Hut Burner, whom he loved very much, after he had read his Life.

“>St. Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia, saying that he would arrange her future life according to the will of God. So she traveled from Essex to Greece with the prayers and blessing of the great twentieth century Russian ascetic, who was recently canonized by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, under whose omophorion he was transferred in obedience to His Holiness Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky) of Moscow. Now her path lay through northeastern Attica, where between the towns of Oropos and Malakasa, near the small mountain village of Milesi, Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) had built his hesychasterion in honor of the Transfiguration of the Lord. This monastery is situated almost opposite his native island of Euboea (Evia), which he left in his youth in order to begin his monastic path at the Kafsokalyvia Skete on Mt. Athos. A few years later he had to leave the skete due to a serious illness, after which he was the father-confessor of the Monastery of St. Charalampos close to his birthplace, and then for a long time he served at the hospital church of St. Gerasimos in Athens, where he acquired the gifts of clairvoyance and healing. In 1979 he founded a convent, where he struggled together with some like-minded nuns. At that time the elder was already very ill and could not be without care and help.

When Marie Madeleine arrived in Milesi, Fr. Porphyrios lay on his sickbed, but visitors were allowed to come up to him. In silence they would approach the prostrate elder, reverently kiss his hand as a sign of the silent blessing they had received, and step aside. The Frenchwoman who had just arrived at the convent was to do the same. However, when she approached the saint, he suddenly opened his very lively (although by that time almost blind) eyes and held her hand tightly. “Anchoress, anchoress!” he addressed her with the Greek word that wisely characterized her entire subsequent life’s path. They had a conversation, during which Fr. Porphyrios blessed her to go to Jerusalem and prepare there for the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Thus a new direction was determined in the spiritual journey of Marie Madeleine, which continued to guide her in the footsteps of her patron-saint—this time to her homeland, from whence her apostolic labors and great ministry of the spread of the Resurrection of Christ began.

Arriving in Jerusalem with the blessing of the Holy Elder Porphyrios, she was accommodated in one of the cells belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and located in the patriarchate quarters. The complex of buildings belonging to the ancient Patriarchate of Jerusalem is in the northern part of the Old City on the site where, according to tradition, was the garden in which the Savior was buried. It occupies a fairly large area and is built on a hillside, so that its premises are on situated on different levels with regards the city streets. Therefore, can go through one gate and after walking a bit suddenly find yourself on flat roofs, passing into other quarters where churches or cells were built, and below, through the bars of the skylights, you can see the busy city streets with its endless crowds of a wide variety of people walking along them. The fathers of the Patriarchate accommodated the Frenchwoman who came to them to embrace Holy Orthodoxy in just such a cell. She lived there for several months, eagerly reading one theological or spiritual book after another. At night she went to services in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher celebrated by clerics and monks of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher. These night services, which are usually attended only by monks of the the Brotherhood with doors closed to other visitors, are full of an unforgettable prayerful atmosphere, uplifting to the soul. The Divine Liturgy is celebrated there on the very spot where the Most Pure Body of Christ once lay, removed from Holy Golgotha and entombed for three days and three nights in the darkness of the burial cave, from where the Light of the Resurrection shone forth to the whole universe. Therefore, the devout Marie Madeleine tried not to miss a single precious night service at this greatest Shrine. In the afternoon, when there was a chance to rest after prayer, it was quite hard to do so because of the continuous noise of crowds of people on the street directly below her cell. Over the six months that Marie Madeleine spent in Jerusalem she almost never had the opportunity to get enough sleep and rest. However, despite constant fatigue and lack of sleep, she was happy and always thanked God for the time spent in the Holy City.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher     

Finally the day arrived that Marie Madeleine had been so diligently preparing for and what the Lord had guided her to in His all-wise ways was fulfilled. She received the sacrament of Holy Baptism, and became an Orthodox Christian. Catholics who convert to Orthodoxy are usually received into the Church through repentance and a special rite of renunciation of all Latin false teachings and heresies. If a baptized Catholic for some reason has not been confirmed, he is received through the sacrament of Chrismation, which in Orthodoxy follows immediately after Baptism (while in Catholicism it is not given until the age of seven, like first Communion). But many Greek Orthodox ascetics, who believe that the most important teaching of the Most Holy Trinity was distorted in Catholicism, find that it is better to rebaptize those who are leaving the Roman Church in order to avoid any uncertainties.

As for Mary, she had never questioned the need to go through the Orthodox sacrament of Baptism, especially since she was still lamenting her past apostasy. So with great spiritual joy, after a long period of preparation, she was baptized in the holy waters of the “To the Jordan River”“And we, the children, would run home, covering our cheeks from the Theophany frost with our hands in mittens. It is warm… Our souls are rejoicing. O Lord! How rich we the faithful are in beauty and purpose!”
—Metropolitan Veniamin (Fedchenkov)

“>Jordan where the Lord Jesus Christ Himself once established this Sacrament. She was baptized by a remarkable ascetic and long–time cleric of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archimandrite Timothy, who for several decades was the abbot of the Monastery of the Twelve Apostles in the town of Tiberias—very near St. Mary Magdalene’s birthplace. Marie Madeleine was given this name Baptism, thus retaining a double name rare in the Orthodox tradition, as well as the spiritual bond with her Heavenly patroness. The Lord providentially and wisely guided this new Mary Magdalene back to the source from which the ministry of His faithful evangelizer once began. From France, where “seven demons” of all the sinful passions were cast out of her by repentance, through prayerful search for Him in the solitude of the Alps, and wanderings in Europe and Greece, to Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulcher and the place of the glorious Resurrection, and to Galilee, to the banks of the holy Jordan and to the surroundings of the former fishing center of Magdala. Of course, this was far from the end of her path—it was only the beginning.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As millions of pilgrims prepare to cross through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica for the Jubilee Year, Pope Francis called on individuals, nations and the global community to take a transformative step toward peace and reconciliation by walking through the “door of salvation” that is Jesus Christ.

“Jesus is the door of peace,” he said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica Dec. 25, the day after opening the Holy Door to mark the start of the 2025 Jubilee Year. “This Christmas, at the beginning of the Jubilee Year, I invite every individual, and all peoples and nations, to find the courage needed to walk through that door, to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sound of arms and overcome divisions!”

Prior to offering his blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world), the pope prayed for various countries grappling with conflict and crisis.

Although there was a strong wind, the Roman sun shined brightly on the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray with the pope.

In his Christmas message, Pope Francis called for an end to hostilities in Ukraine, praying for “the boldness needed to open the door to negotiation and to gestures of dialogue and encounter, in order to achieve a just and lasting peace.” Several Ukrainian flags were visible among the throngs of faithful.

Speaking while seated, the pope then prayed for peace in the Middle East, asking that “the doors of dialogue and peace be flung open throughout the region.”

“In contemplating the crib of Bethlehem, I think of the Christian communities in Israel and Palestine, particularly in Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” he said. “May there be a ceasefire, may the hostages be released and aid be given to the people worn out by hunger and by war.”

The pope also highlighted the plight of Christians in Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time.” Just over two weeks after the fall of the Assad regime, hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Damascus Dec. 24 to protest against anti-Christian sentiment following the burning of a Christmas tree in central Syria.

With the Holy Door standing open beneath him in the basilica, Pope Francis pleaded that the Jubilee be an occasion for global forgiveness, especially for alleviating the financial burdens of the world’s poorest nations.

Cardinal Silvano Tomasi, a retired papal diplomat who negotiated debt-relief agreements for the world’s poorest countries, stood alongside the pope as he delivered his message from the balcony of the basilica.

Low- and middle-income countries owed a record debt of $8.8 trillion at the end of 2023 — an 8% increase over 2020 — according to data from the World Bank, and developing countries spent a record $1.4 trillion to service their foreign debt in that year.

“Each of us is called to forgive those who have trespassed against us, because the Son of God, born in the cold and darkness of the night, has forgiven our own,” the pope said in his Christmas message.

Pope Francis prayed for communities affected by a measles outbreak in Congo, and for those suffering from the humanitarian crises in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Mozambique “caused mainly by armed conflicts and the scourge of terrorism” and “aggravated by the devastating effects of climate change.”

In the Americas, he asked that Jesus would inspire political authorities and all people “to find as soon as possible effective solutions, in justice and truth, to promote social harmony, particularly in Haiti, Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua.”

“On this festive day, let us not fail to express our gratitude to those who spend themselves, quietly and faithfully, in doing good and in serving others,” he added, commending parents, educators, teachers, health care workers, charity workers and missionaries for their contribution to society.

Jesus, Pope Francis said in his message, “is the wide-open door that we are invited to enter, in order to rediscover the meaning of our existence and the sacredness of all life, and to recover the foundational values of the human family.”

He prayed that society’s most vulnerable members — children, the elderly, refugees, the unemployed, prisoners and persecuted people — may meet God at the threshold of that door.

“As pilgrims of hope, let us go out to meet him,” he said. “Let us open to him the doors of our hearts, as he has opened to us the door of his heart.”

Exodus. Artist: Horace William Petherick     

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us. Amen.

The Pentateuch and its contents

The clearest collection of books in the Old Testament is called the Pentateuch. This term comes from the Greek πεντάτευχος, which means “five volumes”. It refers to the so-called books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The main narrative in the Pentateuch is the movement of the Israelites from their native land to Egypt, where after some time they became the slaves of Pharaoh, until God decided to get them out of slavery in Egypt, and under the leadership of Moses bring them back through the Arabian Desert to the Promised Land.

Some of you will wonder: Why is this narrative so important? What is its great significance both in the Old Testament and in Church history? Of course, one of the reasons is that God’s help is clearly visible in this narrative. But there is also another reason, less obvious, that the story of the Exodus of the chosen people from Egypt, their wandering through the desert and entering of the Promised Land reflect the stages of the ascetic’s spiritual life on his path to Paradise.

A similar phenomenon in modern society

Pharaoh burdened the Israelites with work and did not give them time to worship God. A similar phenomenon is seen today: we have tyrannical rulers, who don’t know God and make their subjects work all the time so that they don’t have time to think about themselves, about others and about God. Scads of “needs” are generated that are not real needs. The prince of this world, through his instruments, offers us numerous temptations and passions to keep us captive so that we can’t strive for our loving God.

Egypt in the Old Testament was a symbol of the material world, the world that we live in today.

The first period of spiritual life

The first period of spiritual life is the struggle with passions, a period when grace should be as obvious as possible, when you need to see how your spiritual mentor performs many miracles by the grace of God. These miracles can be real—that is, overcoming by the grace of God the laws of nature established by God Himself—or they can be an attitude that is miraculous only for a neophyte. Such a neophyte vision is also from grace, and it is of great importance, because the neophyte needs to have reverence for his spiritual mentor just as he needs the air to breathe, because otherwise he will not be able to continue on his path to Paradise.

Grace helps the disciple very much by giving him zeal, prayer and willingness to obey. Here he needs self-denial and attention to obedience, prayer and his daily routine.

The obstacle created by self-love

If a young man shows selfishness, demands logical explanations for his mentor’s orders and grumbles, then he stops on his journey even before leaving Egypt. And if he does not stop there, he will stop on the shores of the Red Sea—that is, where a horde of memories and worldly pleasures will rush in pursuit of him, and a huge miracle from God through his spiritual mentor will be required to shield him from temptations and memories of the world, which the love of God will plunge into the depths of the Red Sea.

The second stage of spiritual life. Entering the Promised Land

After crossing the Red Sea, wandering in the Arabian Desert begins, because our faith is not strong enough to be able to enter the Promised Land directly. Remember that God led the Israelites directly to the Promised Land; but since the scouts—except for two—disobeyed Moses, the man of God, and put logic first, God led them through the Arabian Desert for forty years until the entire generation who had had experience of tasting the worldly pleasures in Egypt died out.

For this reason the second period of spiritual life is called enlightenment, because a person, as a result of gradual liberation from passions, begins to see the light of God’s love in his heart. Grace leaves him after three or four years, but if during the period of grace the disciple does not waste time from the very beginning and zealously and faithfully fulfills his obedience and prayer rule, then he lights his tiny candle from the great light of grace, which abounds at the first stage.

Surely, this little candle is also grace and a gift from God, but it is different, because now he has also made his tiny contribution. But during this period he must have patience, because grace hides, and the person remains in relative isolation so that he can have the opportunity to show that he loves God. And if he had a good start, thanks to focusing on obedience, prayer and sacrifice, then he manages to reveal his best qualities before Christ crucified and those whom Christ will send him as mentors, and he will safely move forward. If he fails to start and does not light his candle before the great light disappears, then he will blindly drag in the darkness of pleasure, thoughts, curiosity and self-will.

How the old man dies and what it leads to. The departure of grace

The old man must die in the desert of isolation from the world, because if the disciple does not cut off all the ties connecting him with the world, it is very likely that his ascent to God will be partially or even totally unsuccessful. He will crash on takeoff. It is very important not to have links with the world that are not to our benefit, but to focus on Christ and people around us, whom God sends us and who can help us move forward on the path to the promised Land without returning to the “Egypt” of bodily pleasures. For this reason, shortly before grace leaves him, the young man is made a novice or a monk according to the abbot’s decision, depending on the disciple’s obedience and diligence.

We must step forward, focusing on our transformation from caterpillars of hate (which is what we are) into butterflies of love that we are called to become. This is true even if we take considerable pleasure in having achieved something in the eyes of others or even in our own; and it is also true when we experience the anguish of demonic despair due to some mistake.

If we are curious to see what others are doing, then we are like dogs which, instead of chasing the game, stop to see what the other dogs are doing, and thus miss the game. If the other dogs run back and/or go astray, we will nevertheless continue on our way to the aim that the “Hunter” has outlined for us. Even if we remain alone on the path, we will try not to hesitate or slow down: we will be constant in our routine, established by God through the Church.

We must have patience in temptations, since without them no one will soften his heart so that it can love people and God. If the heart is not softened, there will be a “stone” inside us. We need to split the “stone” around our heart so that it can become intelligent (understanding), and the light of the love of God can penetrate into it. Then, by his experience and feeling, a person begins to understand things he did not even suspect, and little by little further reflect this love, refracted through the diamond of his heart.

An example of understanding the interconnectedness of people

I will cite you such an example. There was a young brother who many times heard the teaching of the “global Adam”, wherein the Holy Fathers say that we are all members of one single person, and are interconnected, even if due to sin this bond has become much weaker. But he understood this only rationally—that is, he misunderstood it. At some point a monk who loved him dearly asked him to try not to sin, as it dragged him down too, because of the love that bound them as members of the global Adam.

The brother, who knew that he had sinned, said, staring with surprise:

“It that so?”

And the monk answered him:

“Haven’t you heard that so many times? How else could it be?”

Then the brother came to realize this and constantly repeated: “It is so!” because he had begun to understand it from experience.

Brethren, the teachings of the Holy Fathers are real, truly real! But we often lack the spiritual mind to understand that they are concrete, and we do not have genuine faith. We must have faith and undergo Orthodox “therapy,” so that the mind can be enlightened by the grace of God, and we can truly contain with our mind what the Holy Fathers say. Otherwise, we will focus at best on rational knowledge, which is far from true knowledge.

The impact of personal sin on our neighbors

I emphasize this because it applies to all of us. We must try not to sin, because then we slide down and hurt both those who are related to us by love and those around us, especially if this love is great. And since you may not be aware of this, I will tell you even more specifically so that you will understand. Those of you who have young and pure children bound to you by great love: Try not to sin, because you do them great harm.

Never say that they don’t see or don’t understand. Since a small child has committed no personal sins and is pure, he feels both grace and demonic activity alike coming through his parents who gave him life and to whom he is bound.

The purity of a spiritual mind

By the way, regarding small children and the first signs of clearing the mind: When a person through obedience moves forward towards the light of God, he begins to acquire the purity of a small child again—but with the mind and experience of a mature person and with the depth of experience that such a mind bears.

I remember once being with a brother who was in a similar state, and we touched on the topic of light. Then I said that light is radiation emitted by a star (the Sun), a light bulb, or a candle, and is partially absorbed by all the bodies around it. A part of the wave particles of wave packets, which is reflected from the chemical structure of the corresponding object and is perceived by the back of our eye, creates a sense of the color of this object. All these particles/packets, continuously moving at a speed of 300,000 km/s, collide with all objects and form combinations of the colors that we see.

The young monk opened his eyes wide and exclaimed, “Really?!”, and then began to look around, discovering all this for the first time. With indescribable joy he looked at everything around him, starting with the light coming through the window and colliding with dust particles, and ending with coils of colored thread in the tailor’s shop where we were. He gazed around in admiration and amazement, as if wanting to touch everything, but stopped so as not to inadvertently crush this wonderful beauty of the world. This also happens to other brothers in the same spiritual state, when so much beauty is opened up around them that those who see it begin to weep and praise God.

The Departure of Grace

During this period the departure of grace begins, and if the traveler is careless, he falls and hits his head on the ground, and can be injured. I remember once telling a very young brother, who had made a very specific mistake, to say in such cases, “Please forgive me.” To which he flared up:

“You are not my elder!”

Such outbursts of anger throw the traveler many steps back and often injure him unless he repents. Let’s be truthful—these actions traumatize those who do them, and not those who are objects of such aggression. The same thing happens in the family. Parents are not upset by the outbursts of their children’s anger—they feel pain because they know that they will suffer evil in accordance with spiritual law, unless of course they ask forgiveness.

What leads to the departure of grace?

During this period, light alternates with darkness, and grace with demonic influence. It is impossible for anyone to retain grace without being completely cleansed of the passions.

The most common problems at this stage are trust in your own thoughts, disobedience to your mentor, and mental extremes—that is, despair or pride. The devil, who knows his work well, incites the traveler to rely on his own strength, since he has gained some experience and “plumbed the depths of misfortune”. The Devil wants him to get out from under the protection of obedience so that he can beat him mercilessly, forcing him to sin, and then push him to the other extreme—despair and refusal to fight. This rapid change is the most dangerous. It destroys.

What saves us when we lose grace?

What is absolutely vital is constancy in the spiritual struggle, obedience to your mentor and brethren in Christ, and your daily routine. The daily routine should be viewed with some flexibility, like a car’s suspension, which smooths out everyday difficulties. Then our journey will become smooth, and the mind will remain undisturbed and crystal clear, like water in an untouched glass. If you shake a glass, then all the dirt lying on the bottom muddies the water, and it becomes opaque. Likewise, the mind that attaches excessive importance to certain things or is filled with all kinds of passing curious facts becomes opaque to the light of the grace of God.

Thoughts and imagination are the devil’s gates

These impulses can come from the past or the future—that is, we remember all sorts of past events and the anguish they caused us. If they are from the future, they excite or agitate us because we think how pleasant or, conversely, painful it will be for us in the future, depending on the phantasmagoria that The devil fills our mind with.

True, worries can also come from the present, from outside or from within us, based on incorrect judgments related to various factors of influence—people or events. The Devil piles up lots of thoughts for us, because he knows that he can influence us only through thoughts, and any mistake in the real world stems from an error in the world of thoughts. We should be very cautious, preserve our minds and protect our imagination, because these are the gate there through which the enemy enters.

The stage of fluctuation: From grace to temptations

This stage of enlightenment is characterized by the stabilization of alternating periods of grace and temptation. Temptations can be caused by some specific factor, but it can simply be a consequence of Adam’s fall—that is, grace leaves, no matter what we do, for educational purposes. No wonder this period is likened to the passage of the chosen people through the Arabian Desert. Grace leaves to teach us humility, but it will come again. It will also leave again, and then come again. If we fight with all our might, then although we are not able to keep grace or practice virtue, and we cry bitterly when grace leaves us, if we still fight, our Heavenly Father will look down at our unsuccessful struggle as proof of our determination, and will make us victors.

God does this intentionally so that both our weakness and God’s loving omnipotence can be manifested. The whole point is that we must resolutely, heroically and zealously remain on the path of our ascent to God. The passion that St. Joseph the Hesychast feared the most was negligence, because it shackles a person within the very narrow limits of his own blind selfishness.

To be continued…

At Holy Family Church in Artesia, Simbang Gabi was celebrated before dawn, the Misa de Gallo (Mass of the Rooster) starting at 5 a.m. Every church pew was occupied by mostly Filipino families who anticipated the preparation of Christmas.

Some women wore traditional white clothing from their homeland, while the Knights of Columbus choir wore a Salakót — a traditional Filipino hat — (at least a portrayal of one) hanging from their backs and a colorful bandanna wrapped around their necks as they sang throughout the Mass.

For Kirk Bravo, a young adult attending Holy Family, it was a sacrifice to wake up at 4 a.m. for the early-morning Mass, but it was worth it.

“The sacrifice comes from the love of God and the love for Mass and the Eucharist, where I just need to do it. I am not required to do this,” Bravo said.

“It doesn’t feel like Christmas unless you begin with Simbang Gabi.”

Simbang Gabi is a Filipino tradition of a nine-day novena Mass in preparation for Christmas. Before the 17th century, Spanish missionaries introduced Christianity to the Philippines. The Masses were scheduled for farmworkers, leading to the tradition of Misa de Gallo, as the Mass was held before dawn.

Today, most Filipino Catholics in the archdiocese celebrate the evening version of Simbang Gabi, which takes place from Dec. 15 or 16 to Dec. 23 or 24.

But at Holy Family, a parish with a large contingent of Filipino descent, the pastor, Father John Cordero, opted for the early-morning festivities thanks to the devotion of his church’s parishioners.

“You need a pool of committed volunteers to help and serve with a nine-day Misa de Gallo,” Cordero said. 

The Masses were conducted in English to foster inclusivity, ensuring the message resonates with a broader audience and strengthens the spirit of unity. After Mass, everyone gathered for fellowship, and traditional Filipino foods like rice cake, soup, and tea.

Some carried a petition for God to answer their deepest prayer requests, while others celebrated attending Mass and thanking God.

“I still have pain [in my back], but I rejoice that I am here,” said Mafalda Canlas, an elderly parishioner at Holy Family who was happy to attend a Misa de Gallo with her family and friends after being unable to attend a Simbang Gabi Mass since 2018.

Over at St. John of God Church in Norwalk, Christine Cayetano, a choir director at the parish, helped celebrate Simbang Gabi by bringing a musical focus.

“When I was a child, my grandma brought me to church and asked me to play the piano. Then I joined a choir, and that’s where it all started,” she said.

Since then, Cayetano has been actively playing at Sunday Masses, especially during Simbang Gabi. She helps connect Filipinos with their faith through liturgical music while having her singers perform in Tagalog.

At the end of a Simbang Gabi Mass, a girl approached Cayetano. 

“She came from the Philippines, and she was in a choir there,” Cayetano said. “I was the same. When I came here [to the U.S.], I looked for a choir that sang Tagalog.”

The familiar sounds of Filipino hymns during the Mass evoked deep nostalgia and joy for many parishioners. Songs like “Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit,” which translates to “Christmas Has Arrived,” and “Halina Hesus, Halina,” which translates to “Come, Jesus, Come.”

“I look forward to listening to the choir during the Filipino Mass,” Michelle Gomez, a Filipina Catholic, said. “I hear songs sung in Tagalog, and I enjoy it here.”

“I can also sing along with them,” added Beatriz Gomez, Michelle’s mother, who sat next to her daughter and granddaughter. The family enjoys celebrating Mass at St. John of God because the service and choir remind them of their home in Manila.

For both women, the importance of continuing the tradition of Simbang Gabi resonated deeply. 

“She was born here, and I want my daughter to continue the tradition,” said Michelle, on the importance for her daughter to connect and understand her Filipino Catholic roots.

Similar to Father John Cordero, Father Francis Ilano, pastor at St. Philomena Church in Carson, was born in the Philippines and they have fond memories of parols — a Christmas lantern. Some parishes have star lanterns displayed near the altar or have them as decorations around the church.

“In the old days, in the absence of streetlights, people would hang lanterns on the house to light the way to the church for the people attending the novena,” Ilano said, “which became the symbol of the Star of Bethlehem.”

“Now, the star parol has become one of the symbols of Simbang Gabi, the Christmas season for Filipinos all over the world.”

Ukraine, December 26, 2024

Photo: interfax.com.ua     

More than 200 parishes “transferred” from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church under His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine to the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” in 2024.

In a response to Interfax-Ukraine’s request for data, the State Ethnopolitics Service of Ukraine reported that 218 parishes made the move.

While a handful of clerics and parishes may have transitioned voluntarily, it is well known that the vast majority of the “transfers” were in fact accomplished through violent physical seizures, falsified parish registration documents, or a combination thereof.

The Violent seizure of Orthodox cathedral in Cherkasy leaves dozens injured (+VIDEO)The anti-Orthodox schismatics and nationalists of the “Orthodox Church in Ukraine” (OCU), founded by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, finally managed to violently seize the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy after several attempts.

“>October attack on the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Cherkasy was among the most violent seizures. The representatives of the graceless OCU sprayed tear gas and fired guns in the church, and brutally attacked His Eminence Metropolitan Theodosy of Cherkasy and others. They also plundered church valuables.

Meanwhile, Epiphany Dumenko and other representatives of the graceless OCU continue to blatantly lie in public statements, claiming there is no persecution against the canonical Church.

The State Ethnopolitics Service reported the following numbers for parish “transfers” since the creation of the OCU:

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When I was a young boy growing up in a Catholic community, the catechesis of the time tried to inspire the hearts of the young with stories of martyrs, saints, and other people who lived out high ideals in terms of virtue and faith. I remember one story in particular which inspired me, the story of a third-century Christian martyr, St. Tarcisius.

As legend (or truth) has it, Tarcisius was a 12-year-old acolyte during the time of the early Christian persecutions. At that time, Christians in Rome were celebrating the Eucharist in secret in the catacombs. After those secret Masses a deacon or an acolyte would carry the Eucharistic species, the Blessed Sacrament, to the sick and to prisoners. One day, after one of those secret Masses, young Tarcisius was carrying the Blessed Sacrament enroute to a prison when he was accosted by a mob. He refused to hand over the Blessed Sacrament, protected it with his own body, and was beaten to death as a result.

As a 12-year-old boy, that story inflamed my romantic imagination. I yearned for that kind of ideal in my life. In my young imagination, Tarcisius was the kind of hero that I wanted to be.

We’ve come a long way since then, both in our culture and in our churches. We are no longer moved much romantically by either the saints of old or the saints of today. Yes, we still make an official place for them in our churches and in our abstract ideals, but we are now, in effect, moved much more by the lives of the rich, the famous, the beautiful, our pop stars, our professional athletes, the physically gifted, and the intellectually gifted. They now inflame our imaginations, draw our admiration, and it’s them we want to be like.

In the early 19th century, Alban Butler, an English convert, collected stories of the lives of the saints and eventually set them together in 12-volume set, famously known as “Butler’s Lives of the Saints.” For nearly 200 years, these books inspired Christians, young and old. No longer.

Today, “Butler’s Lives of the Saints” has effectively been replaced by multiple magazines, podcasts, and websites which chronicle the lives of the rich and famous and stare out at us from our phones, our laptops, and from every newsstand and grocery store checkout line.

In effect, we have moved: from St. Tarcisius to Justin Bieber; from Thérèse of Lisieux to Taylor Swift; from Thomas Aquinas to Tom Brady; from St. Monica to Meryl Streep; from St. Augustine to Mark Zuckerberg; from Julian of Norwich to Oprah; and from the first African American saint, St. Martin de Porres, to LeBron James. It’s these people who now inflame our romantic imagination and whom we would most want to be like.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that these people are bad or that there’s anything wrong with admiring them. Indeed, we owe them some admiration because all beauty and talent take their origin in God who is the author of all good things. From a saint’s virtue to a movie star’s physical beauty, to an athlete’s grace, there’s only one author at the origin of it all, God.

Thomas Aquinas once rightly pointed out that to withhold a compliment from someone who deserves it is a sin because we are withholding food that someone else needs to live on. Beauty, talent, and grace need to be recognized and acknowledged. Admiration is not the issue. Rather, the issue is that while we need to admire and acknowledge talent, grace, and beauty, these do not in themselves radiate virtue and saintliness. We shouldn’t automatically identify human grace with moral virtue, though that’s the temptation today.

As well, a weakness in our churches today is that while we have vastly refined and upgraded our intellectual imagination and now have better and healthier theological and biblical studies, we struggle to touch hearts. While we have more power to satisfy the intellect, we struggle to touch the heart, that is, we struggle to get people to fall in love with their faith and especially with their churches. We struggle to inflame their romantic imagination, as we once did by invoking the lives of the saints.

Where might we go with all of this? Can we find saints again who inflame our ideals? Can the fine work on hagiography (on the lives of the saints and other moral giants) being done today by Robert Ellsberg become the new “Butler’s Lives of the Saints”? Can secular biographies of some moral giants in our own age draw our imitation? Can the life of a Dag Hammarskjold become for us a moral and faith inspiration? Is there a new Thérèse of Lisieux out there?

Today, more than ever, we need inspiring stories about women and men, young and old, who have lived out heroic virtue. We need moral exemplars, moral mentors. Otherwise, we cheat ourselves by simplistically identifying human grace with moral virtue. 

Ioannina, Epirus, Greece, December 26, 2024

Photo: ekklisiaonline.gr     

His Eminence Metropolitan Andreas of Dryinoupolis, Pogoniani and Konitsa is in critical but stable condition after being rushed to the hospital on December 24.

He is being cared for the in the ICU at Hatzikosta Hospital in Ioannina after suffering a cerebral hemorrhagic episode, the diocese reports.

According to Ekklisia Online, the Metropolitan underwent surgery and was then transferred back to the ICU.

Prayers are requested for His Eminence’s complete recovery.

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Speaking just hours after his wartime Christmas visit to Gaza City Holy Family Parish, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, delivered a poignant Christmas message during a press conference at the Latin Patriarchate Dec. 23.

The cardinal called for renewed hope and solidarity in a region marked by violence, displacement and despair.

“The Lord’s Nativity is near, and as every year, despite everything, we want it to be a moment of peace, joy and hope,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. “This year, the Nativity also marks the beginning of the Jubilee, a year dedicated to hope. We need hope in this land, marked by so much violence, hatred and wounded by contempt and fear.”

The cardinal drew from the Gospel account of the shepherds in Bethlehem, highlighting their role in discovering hope through Christ. He said, “The shepherds are told that the Savior is born for them, precisely for them. A Savior has come, and he has come for you.”

The outspoken leader of the Latin Church in the Holy Land managed to get into the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing on Dec. 22 and recounting his overnight visit, Cardinal Pizzaballa described scenes of profound suffering juxtaposed with what he characterized as “hopeful” signs of resilience. He said the destruction he saw in May “was already enormous, now it is much more.”

He detailed the harsh living conditions: open garbage piles, sewage, the acrid smell of decay and streets reduced to rubble full of children, many without shoes. “It was really very difficult from a human point of view.”

Despite the dire circumstances, the cardinal witnessed a remarkable spirit among Gaza’s residents. “I saw people still able to smile, to find joy in simple things.” Cardinal Pizzaballa reiterated the church’s commitment to supporting Gaza’s Christian community, which he described as deeply fatigued yet determined.

The cardinal’s pre-Christmas visit centered on activities in Holy Family Parish in Gaza and the families sheltering in the school in the church’s compound. Notably, he observed a lack of anger or blame among the many Christian families he visited, describing their resilience as “a sign of hope.”

Aiming to bring the joy of the season to the suffering community, Cardinal Pizzaballa told Gaza Christians that they “have become the light” of the Catholic Church “in the entire world.”

“They are asking for school,” the cardinal said at the Jerusalem press briefing, pointing to this request as a sign that families are not giving up. School is more important to families than water, housing or food, the cardinal explained. “It means that you are still determined to continue, to invest in your life there,” he said.

When in Gaza Dec. 22, he told the Holy Family community: “When the war ends, we will rebuild everything: Our schools, our hospitals and our homes. We must remain resilient and full of strength.”

Some 500 Christians shelter on the premises of Holy Family Parish.

Visibly moved, the cardinal told them: “I repeat: We will never abandon you, and we will do everything we can to support and assist you.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa celebrated an early Christmas Mass in the Gaza City Catholic parish, paying a visit to families, elderly and disabled living in the compound. During the Mass, he also imparted the sacrament of confirmation to three young people, and distributed the gifts he managed to bring.

In response to questions, the cardinal encouraged pilgrims to return to the Holy Land, highlighting their vital role in sustaining the region’s Christian communities. “Pilgrims are part of the Holy Land’s identity. Their absence impacts not just the spiritual but also the economic life of many families, particularly in Bethlehem,” he said, urging visitors not to be deterred by fear.

“Pilgrimage is safe. Come, as the shepherds did, to Bethlehem.” He pointed out that “the two main sources of income, from the economic point of view — pilgrimages and working in Israel — are now stopped for different reasons as everyone knows,” the cardinal explained. “We also had the COVID-19 pandemic before, so for many, many families, it’s becoming very problematic.”

“It’s not the first time we’ve had a crisis like this,” the cardinal said, adding that actions and gestures give credibility to hope.

The cardinal also called for new political leadership in the region to address the root causes of instability and enact changes on the ground. “We cannot build a new future with the same faces.” Despite being a small presence in the region, the cardinal insisted that the Catholic Church could help foster the cooperation necessary for future collaboration among a responsible team of new leaders who “have the courage to meet and organize something together.” Changes are “really very dramatically needed,” he said.

Cardinal Pizzaballa addressed the emigration of Christians from the Holy Land, particularly from Gaza and the West Bank. He denied claims that the church encourages emigration, emphasizing that the church supports individuals’ freedom of choice while striving to help them remain. “The idea that we encourage immigration is false. Our mission is to protect and support them as much as possible.”

As the Holy Land faces one of its most challenging Christmas seasons in recent memory, Cardinal Pizzaballa’s message centered on the enduring power of hope and the importance of solidarity. “Jesus enters history this way, as one who cannot find a place, who does not impose himself, who does not demand, who does not make war to find a place.”

The cardinal concluded with a heartfelt invitation to the global Christian community: “This Christmas, let us make room for those who have no place and journey together toward the One who brings peace, joy and hope.”

On Dec. 24, the Christmas Eve, the patriarch will make his solemn entry into Bethlehem, in the West Bank, where he will celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St. Catherine’s Church, located right next to the Basilica of the Nativity.