Fear and anger, however, seem to trump common sense and faith in God. Fear and anger open in us a floodgate of animal passions making it seem appropriate to demonize (or de-humanize) those we disagree with. Fear and anger release our inner muskox ready to trample those who are less clear thinking than we are, less concerned for liberty or the common good than we are, less eager to create a just and safe society than we are—or at least that’s how it appears to us. And we don’t have time to listen, truly listen, to one another. Fear and anger create urgency so that we don’t have time to listen, we don’t have time to care, we don’t have time to be Christians.

To begin with, we must remind ourselves that salvation is a mystery, and that discerning principles and rules in the scriptures and self consciously applying them to ourselves is no guarantee that we will find salvation. In fact, it seems that this approach to seeking to discover and apply the correct formula or law to his life is exactly the approach used by the ruler who fails to find salvation.

In St. Paul’s famous passage about spiritual warfare in 2 Corinthians 10, he specifically mentions arguments as one of the high things that must be cast down because they exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Arguments, St. Paul tells us, along with every other “high thing” must be brought into obedience to Christ. Forcing myself to turn away from the argument in my mind and to return to Christ in my heart is the only way I have found to recapture the peace which fled when I accepted the devil’s bait and began to argue.

Fr. Michael talks about the difference between inwardly-focused spiritual zeal and outwardly-focused emotional zeal.

Fr. Michael examines Jesus's exhortation to "take heed that you do not despise the little ones."

Fr. Michael Gillis reflects on the life and writings of 20th century Catholic author, Flannery O’Connor. "Good in this broken world is always something under construction. The grotesque—physical, moral and spiritual—that presents itself to us as the terribly deformed face of a cancer ridden child very often hides from us the Grace of God at work constructing good in that person’s life. How many people have I dismissed because I have connected the visible cancer of a terribly confused and broken moral or spiritual life with the “grotesquerie of sin”? How often have I failed to see, failed to even look for the good under construction, the glimmer of Grace at work in a life disfigured by the brokenness of sin? Truly the thought of this question overpowers me sometimes."

Fr. Michael Gillis answers the question of “how to overcome thoughts of pride in our hearts that inevitably come after labouring on good works for our families and people around us.”

The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives always takes place on two levels, both on the level of what is outside us or what comes to us, and on the level of what is within us or how we receive what comes to us.

Just as surely as there is a time of sowing, there is a time of reaping. God changes us and touches the hearts of others through our prayers, our giving and our service to others. Seeds become trees and trees change the environment. Sowing is hard. Trees grow slowly, almost imperceptibly. It requires faith and often tears.

For those of us who are still working on getting that first few rows of stones around the foundation of faith, focusing on acquiring a little bit of every virtue helps us to keep picking up the stone (of virtue) that is needed at a given moment and putting it down at the correct place in our spiritual house. Baby steps for baby Christians. May God grant that we are all found to be children in His Kingdom.

Acknowledging the ugliness in our heart is like taking out the garbage. When we pretend it’s not there, it doesn’t go away. It just festers. But when we confess our sin by acknowledging before God the ugliness of our heart, a ray of light shines there and we take a step toward healing.

Is there a difference between men and women in regard to theosis? Short answer: No. Long answer: Every human being is unique. Gender is part of that uniqueness.

Just about any discipline that has to do with the body, if you really think that discipline is important, is mostly just a matter of making yourself do it; but forgiveness is not merely a bodily matter. Forgiveness is a matter of the soul, of the heart. Forgiveness is not so easy. On its most basic level, forgiveness means that you will not seek revenge. It means that you are letting go of your right to get even. When you forgive someone, you stop punishing them in your mind. It means that you stop rehearsing in your mind how much they hurt you.

"We have to read with discernment and humility."

We live in a generation that has been taught to tie their personal identity to their imagined sexual preferences. Consequently, it is difficult to help people who struggle with sexual passions to find hope and repentance. However, the teaching of holy fathers such as St. Isaac the Syrian and St. Barsanuphius of Gaza provide a very helpful alternative to the world’s way of thinking about such passions. For these saints, same-sex attraction is a passion like any other. It is not part of one’s identity, but is a parasitical passion, resisted and struggled against as all other passions are.

"How could God let his representatives get away with such things?"

There is strength in humility.

One of the problems with vainglory, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, is that “it hands that person over to” either fornication or pride. But before we can talk about how vainglory hands one over to either fornication or pride, we need to understand what vainglory is. Nowadays the word vain means to have a high opinion of oneself, but that is not what it originally meant, nor what it means in the Bible or in the hymnology of the Church. This is why many English-speaking Orthodox Christians have no idea what vainglory means.

What will we finally say when death visits us - and not for coffee?

Someone recently asked me about how to understand the evil thoughts they experience.

The movement of thoughts in a man originates from four causes.

It is time for a public confession from the chief hypocrite.

"The grace of God is not in the man who does not love his enemies."

Fr. Stephen begins his verse by verse study in the Gospel according to St. Luke. This first episode give an introduction to the book. (Please note that the first 2 episodes will not have the same high quality audio as all of the subsequent ones.)

Fr. Stephen begins his study of the Gospel of Luke with chapter 1, verse 1.

Fr. Stephen continues the study of Luke, at chapter 1, verse 39.

Fr. Stephen concludes Luke, Chapter 1, and begins Chapter 2.

Fr. Stephen continues through Luke 2.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 2.

Fr. Stephen begins the study of Luke 3.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 3.

Fr. Stephen begins the study of Luke, Chapter 4.

Fr. Stephen concludes the study of Luke, Chapter 4.

Fr. Stephen begins the study of Luke 5.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 5.

Fr. Stephen begins the study of Luke 6.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 6.

Fr. Stephen begins the discussion of Luke 7.

Fr. Stephen continues the study of Luke 7.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 7.

Fr. Stephen begins the discussion of Luke 8.

Fr. Stephen continues his discussion of Luke 8.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion of Luke 8.

Fr. Stephen begins the discussion on Luke, chapter 9.

Fr. Stephen continues discussing Luke, Chapter 9.

Fr. Stephen wraps up the discussion on Luke, Chapter 9, and begins discussing Chapter 10

Fr. Stephen continues his discussion of Luke, chapter 10.

Fr. Stephen finishes his discussion on Luke, Chapter 10

Fr. Stephen begins a discussion of Luke 11, including the Lord's Prayer.

Fr. Stephen continues the discussion of Luke 11.