Category: meditations

  • Publican and Republican

    Publican and Republican

    The readings for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee: LAST NIGHT I attended the vigil service at Holy Trinity Cathedral (OCA), my former parish. Since my Byzantine Catholic Parish does not have vigil services, I think I may make a few trips over to the Cathedral this Lent. The Dean greeted me and…

  • Not a Tame Lion

    Not a Tame Lion

    WRESTLING with the idea that one should both Fear God and Love him, praying for wisdom. The image arises first of the Icon of God, a human person. They are awesome, but – even if I do manage to love them for the right reasons, I never fear them except for what they could do…

  • Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims

    Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims

    ALONG WITH THE “Rule” of the Late Fr Alexander Schmemann, which he wrote in his Journal on Tuesday, January 20, 1981 (see my copy here) the 55 Maxims of the Late Fr Thomas Hopko are, for me, a sure guide to living a Christian life as a single man living in the world. I can…

  • Homeless Life in SF

    Homo quidam erat dives…There was a certain rich man… WE HAVE A HUGE HOMELESS problem in San Francisco. The problem is we have a huge, wealthy population that’s scared of homeless people.They are scared that property values might fall.They are scared that job candidates might get turned off.They are scared that poor people might cause crimes.They…

  • The Virtues of the Name JESUS

    From the Book, For the Love of Jesus, compiled by Robert Hugh Benson in 1906. Introduction IF thou wilt to be with God, and to have grace to rule thy life, and to come to the joy of love; this name Jesu – fasten it so fast in thine heart , that it come never…

  • The New Temple

    The New Temple

    MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD is celebrated on 1 January, the Octave of Christmas. (Fr Vincent pointed out in his Homily that this is feast the Latin Church lifted from the East. There it is observed on 26 December.) Mary is seen as a type of the Church because she opened her heart and her…

  • Be the Mikveh

    Be the Mikveh

    And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. – Matthew 8:3He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:38Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will…

  • Washing Up

    AS A CHILD your host was raised (for 5 or 6 years) by his grandparents. They were not “Children of the Depression” but rather “Adults of the Depression”. Grandpa had been in his 20s. Grandma, born just prior to the turn of the century, was 30 when the stock market crashed. So their habits and,…

  • Time flies…

    Time flies…

    LEARNING, TONIGHT, OF TWO different readings of this passage. One will be familiar to my Christian readers, the other to my Jewish ones. There may be some overlap, but they seem to be mutually exclusive. There may be a way to pull in the both-and option, but we’ll see. The Torah Portion that was read…

  • Our Idols Our Selves

    Our Idols Our Selves

    WHILE LISTENING to the most recent episode of Clerically Speaking, I was struck by Fr Harrison’s ruminating on his ADHD and his free will. If we make out a part of us to be “who I am” then everything is filtered through that. Father seemed to be asking if he’s created too much of a…

  • No Longer Strangers

    No Longer Strangers

    THIS READING CAME UP a week or so ago on the Feast of St Simon and his buddy. It’s been a bit of a wrestling match since then. Getting along with Christians who disagree with us is part of this (that’s where our preacher took it last Friday). But it’s the relationship between our elder…

  • Crocheted

    Crocheted

    FINALLY CATCHING THE Binge Bug this late in Covidtide. I’ve been Rapidly Consuming the Israeli TV Drama Srugim – סרוגים (the word means knitted or crocheted as a plural adjective) from 2008-2011. If you’ve been watching Shtisel on Netflix, this was Israeli TV’s Shtisel-before-Shtisel. Many of the ways Netflix show is said to break ground…

  • Mercy Sakes Alive

    Mercy Sakes Alive

    POPE BENEDICT XVI has this pedagogical trick, pardon the word, of pulling back from a Biblical pericope to look at the context in which the writer has placed the words of Jesus. It’s not a trick really, but so few people do it. It’s a logical and yet entirely different way to look at scripture…

  • St Mary in the Sabbath

    St Mary in the Sabbath

    IN THE WESTERN DAILY OFFICE and Mass there is a tradition of commemorating the Blessed Virgin on Saturdays outside of Lent. There are propers for the office as well as for votive Masses offered on these days. In the older Western Rite, this commemoration began with Vespers on Friday night with a special hymn and…

  • Psalms 118 and 136

    POP QUIZ! What do these two psalms have in common? They have the same response line (below in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin): ki l’olam khasdo כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ׃ ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ (h)oti eis ton aiona to eleos autou quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus. For Ps 136, especially, it’s an interesting line. It’s usually translated as “for his…