Philokalia Ministries

Tonight we made the transition from St. John’s Step on Gluttony and its offspring to our discussion of Purity and Chastity in Step number 15. Again, as we read slowly through the text and begin to unpack it, we begin to see the larger picture; the image of humanity redeemed. We see what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, and the experience of embracing our full dignity and identity.  What is held out to us is an incorruptible freedom and joy as our love becomes ordered toward God. We begin to see the true beauty of the things of the world, of others, and of God himself. As I’ve often mentioned, the desert fathers were the first depth psychologists; they present to us the path that brings healing of soul. They see the human person in his fullness and we see in their writings such our true dignity and destiny.  Our struggle often is found in the fact that we’ve never come to taste that freedom, the joy, the capacity to love unimpeded by our sin. The ascetic life is not about endurance, or personal health or the ordering of our life so much as it is about the desire for God, his love, and to share in the life that he makes possible for us. It has been said that “Beauty will save the world”. In the writings of the fathers, we are called to see this beauty first in the person of Christ; and in and through him the beauty of the life that is held out to us. May we desire it with all of our hearts. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:12:16 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Who? Author?   00:12:44 Anthony: Pope Shenouda   00:13:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: THanks   00:13:35 FrDavid Abernethy: page 138   00:13:38 FrDavid Abernethy: no 32   00:14:03 Anthony: If y'all have Coptic Orthodox parishes nearby with food festivals .... GO!   00:23:15 Cindy Moran: This reminds me of: the kingdom suffers violence and the violent seize it by force--Mt 11:12   00:25:17 Debra: What Step and paragraph   00:26:44 Lori Hatala: step 14 para 36   00:26:55 Debra: Replying to "step 14 para 36"   Thank you!   00:32:35 Anthony: I get it, but cooking is an art.  Food is beautiful.  Nothing God made - matter or form - is evil.  What we consider to be food needs reform.  Our habits need reform to appreciate the art.  But I'm a bit concerned that some of these fathers are a presenting the stick too much and the carrot to little.   00:39:23 Ambrose Little, OP: Replying to "I get it, but cookin..."   The carrot is food, which is bad. ;)   00:39:39 angelo: Reacted to "The carrot is food, ..." with 😂   00:40:08 Anonymous Sinner: The movie Babette’s Feast comes to mind   00:42:27 Anthony: In Sicilian, the word for this kind of boorish glutton is gavonne (cafone).   00:43:47 Bonnie Lewis: I love that movie.  It's beautiful.   00:47:27 Anthony: I don't suppose I pray as much as I "should," but I have a wondrous happiness when creating like cooking   00:48:58 Bridget McGinley: Father this is a little off topic… was St John Cassian a priest? Also, Do you know of any books which talk about his devotion to St Mary Magdalene? I recently returned from France/Spain where I learned St John founded a monastery adjacent to her cave in 415. The Cassians protected her cave for hundreds of years. The Dominicans have had it since about the 1200’S. It just seems like he understood penance on the same level as she did.   00:49:54 wayne: Well we now have foods that create little preparation and in turn we have lost the art form of preparation and also we don't have the sense of where our food comes from.   00:50:57 Bridget McGinley: Sorry I know it was a little off topic.   00:51:39 angelo: That is true Father that the meal table is no longer table of sharing, I live and I am from a family first immigrant of this country and we all have jobs in different shifts and we don't see each other, eating alone is so sad that leads to eat more and more and watch tv until we doze off.   00:52:02 Anthony: Replying to "I get it, but cook..."   Carrot slaw, carrot cake....   00:52:10 Anthony: Reacted to "The carrot is food..." with 😂   00:52:21 Anthony: Reacted to "Well we now have f..." with 👍   00:52:39 Anthony: Reacted to "That is true Fathe..." with ❤️   00:54:34 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: In Eastern monasteries, the refectory walls are covered with iconography.   00:54:44 Anthony: Reacted to "In Eastern monaste..." with ❤️   00:54:49 Vicki Nichols: Replying to "Father this is a lit..."    Saint Mary Magdalene by Fr. Davidson is a good book   00:55:17 angelo: Reacted to "In Eastern monasteri..." with ❤️   00:55:33 Ashley Kaschl: Reacted to "Saint Mary Magdalene…" with ❤️   01:18:43 Ashley Kaschl: It’s probably obvious, but this section makes me think of the Beatitudes. Aristotle had a maxim that said, “As a person is, so does he see.” And I think that once we are granted the grace necessary to slowly make our hearts undivided in love, then too, do we become pure of heart, and our vices are chipped away to make room for virtue so that we might, at the end of our lives, see God face to face. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”   01:19:37 Anthony: Reacted to "It’s probably obv..." with ❤️   01:19:48 Ashley Kaschl: 😂😂😂   01:20:09 angelo: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:20:10 Ambrose Little, OP: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:20:18 Debra: Reacted to "It’s probably obviou..." with ❤️   01:21:38 angelo: thank you   01:21:48 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:21:51 David: Thank you father!   01:21:52 Bonnie Lewis: good night Father.   01:21:56 Jeff O.: Thank you! God bless your pilgrimage Angela!   01:21:58 Rachel : Thank  

We rarely think of the importance of stability; not only in our external environment, but the stability of thought and emotion. It is precisely this that is addressed in Hypothesis 40. One can easily be tempted, with good reason, for a multitude of reasons, to move to another place, where one can find greater tranquility and peace in the spiritual life. Yet, such thoughts are often the work of the evil one. Wherever we go, we take our selves with us, including our passions.  And so, we receive multiple stories and examples of monks and saints who were put to the test in this regard.  We can allow ourselves with great ease to begin to daydream; to imagine a kind of life that will bring peace and happiness to us or that would be pleasing to God. The danger is that we often are motivated by our personal judgment and sensibilities or by the actions of the evil one.  We must understand that in this world we know no peace, except for that which is found in Christ. While we are in this world, we are engaged in constant spiritual warfare and should expect nothing less. In fact, we were told that we must become like the cherubim - “all eyes.”  We must constantly watch for the subtle ways that the evil one seeks to draw us away from the path of obedience and humility. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:11:33 FrDavid Abernethy: page 330 Letter E   00:54:48 Erick chastain: What hypothesis/ book are we on?   00:55:21 carol nypaver: P.334   00:55:26 Eric Ewanco: XL.A.2   00:55:59 Erick chastain: Reacted to "P.334" with 👍   00:56:28 carol nypaver: Please say book name again?   00:56:52 John Ingram: https://www.amazon.com/Life-Repentance-Purity-Pope-Shenouda/dp/0881415324?ref_=nav_ya_signin   00:56:59 Cindy Moran: Great idea.   00:57:55 Sean: Reacted to "Great idea. " with 👍   01:03:37 Sean: Along this line, I have friends who have considered converting to Orthodoxy. Can you speak to pursuing holiness in our Church and not leaving in this context? Thank you, Father☦️   01:06:26 Erick chastain: Pope Francis said Sunday that evangelization doesn't get done by keyboard warriors   01:08:17 John Ingram: I think Our Lord told us that in these times, charity would grow cold - which is exactly what is happening with all these internal disputes in the Church.   01:17:31 Eric Ewanco: “One does not proclaim the Gospel standing still, locked in an office, at one’s desk or at one’s computer, arguing like ‘keyboard warriors’ and replacing the creativity of proclamation with copy-and-paste ideas taken from here and there. The Gospel is proclaimed by moving, by walking, by going.” — Pope Francis, General Audience, Wednesday, 12 April 2023   01:27:27 Cindy Moran: 🙏   01:27:58 sue and mark: God Bless everyone.  

How striking it is to hear the nature of the struggle with gluttony and the need for fasting spoken of with such zeal and clarity! Such practices have for the most part fallen by the wayside or have been minimized to such an extent as to be equally nonexistent. The unfortunate fruit of this is that we often have never tasted the freedom and the strength comes through ordering our appetite for food. Thus, the humbling of the mind and the body and the deepening of the experience of prayer through the stilling of the thoughts is also rarely experienced.  We need to take hold of the wisdom of the fathers and their zeal that will allow us to put it into practice.  St. John tells us that when God sees the movement of the mind abs the heart towards Him through these practices that He will aid us with His grace.  We also see that the fathers have a very clear sense of the workings of the human mind and how we experience our bodily appetites. Their observations of what takes place on a physiological level are astute and reveal the depth of their experience. All of it is meant to fashion within our hearts a renewed desire for the ascetic life.  We must see that which is uniquely an distinctively Christian about these practices. For while St. John and the other fathers speak of them so frequently, they also understand that their beginning and end is found in one’s relationship with God. The desire for God’s love must compel us.  --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:51 FrDavid Abernethy: page 136. paragraph 17   00:11:08 FrDavid Abernethy: page 136 paragraph 17   00:17:21 Bridget McGinley: Whose end is destruction; whose God is their belly; and whose glory is in their shame; who mind earthly things- Philippians 3:19   00:23:45 Emma C: I have a question!   00:24:02 Emma C: I was wondering can fasting help with other attachments to the world like shopping?   00:24:10 Brett Pavia, BCMA: I have a question …   00:24:15 Emma C: Excessive shopping*   00:36:18 Rachel : That's a fantastic idea.   00:36:40 Anthony: The back of the Publican's Prayer Book has a guide to ease into fasting, written by Patriarch Gregorios III. Also, Italian food is a LOT of peasant food (cucina povera).   00:41:40 Rachel : You have good friends. In Cali, you can find something at a steakhouse though.   00:42:12 Rachel : "Crab feed"   00:42:19 Anthony: This one does.  Fish is usually penance.  So is soup. ;)   00:42:21 Ambrose Little, OP: I dunno. Ours is plain, and I don’t like fish. 😄 😄   00:42:27 Ren Witter: Reacted to "I dunno. Ours is pla..." with 😄   00:42:44 Ren Witter: Yea, I’ve smelled some fish fries that seem pretty penitential   00:57:18 Ambrose Little, OP: Ora et labora?   01:01:31 Anthony: Prayer is serious. It takes work.  A person can stay up and watch entertainment, but it isn't work - but stay up too late and you feel horrible.  Maybe it's a counterfeit to work to make the work of a vigil distasteful.   01:06:06 Anthony: Same here, Brett   01:08:01 David: A priest suggested finding a rock or something to hold in one hand during prayer. I have a rock from a Jesuit retreat house and it helps get my mind focused. It becomes a habit when held my mind goes to God.   01:15:31 Debra: Reacted to "Yea, I’ve smelled so..." with 😆   01:15:51 Mitch: On our commitment to Christ I’ve often felt like I have spiritual amnesia. I feel at home when in the spiritual work and then I go out into the world with its suffering again and forget my true home. I feel like my task each day is to remember the truth   01:19:33 Sean: Met. Kallistos of blessed memory said that unceasing prayer is not something that we say from time to time, but rather something that we are, all of the time (even during sleep)☦️   01:20:21 Jeff O.: Reacted to "Met. Kallistos of bl..." with 👍   01:22:29 Mitch: Thank you very much Happy Easter/Pascha to everyone!   01:22:30 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you!🙂 Happy Easter everyone   01:22:34 Sean: Thank you, Father   01:22:36 Jeff O.: Thank you! Happy Easter   01:22:36 angelo: thank you   01:22:37 Rachel : Thank you!   01:22:43 David: Thank you!   01:22:43 Deiren: Happy Easter  

As a special reflection for this Holy Week, we chose a reading from Fr., Thomas Acklin‘s book “The Passion of the Lamb.”  In particular we reflected on the chapter entitled “Behold His Face.” As one participant in tonight‘s group stated: “This reflection is a gem!”  I agree. It is a rarest of gems and I’m grateful to Fr. Tom for writing it and the entire book. While small, it has had an incalculable effect upon me and I hope for all who listen to this podcast.  What Fr. Tom seeks to do is to open our minds and our hearts to the truth revealed in the Passion of Christ. So often we approach this mystery bound by the limits of our reason and our sin. Fr. Tom challenges us to allow ourselves to be guided and drawn into the mystery by faith; to comprehend what God has revealed to us and what is beyond the measure of man’s mind.  Many Christians throughout the centuries have struggled with the mystery of the Cross and the reality of our Lord’s suffering. Theologically, the human mind, almost in a form of resistance, intellectually and spiritually, tries to hold on to the notion of God being impassible. We are comfortable with notions of God being all powerful and all knowing. What we have trouble understanding and what we are often unwilling to embrace is the reality of a God who is Omni-kenotic and Omni-vulnerable. What Fr. Tom wants us to reflect upon is a God in whom we see and attribute not human deficiencies and sinfulness, hatred, ignorance, or illness. Rather, he wants us to contemplate and attribute to God in an infinite and perfect way the good qualities that we have in a finite and even deficient way. Thus, Fr. Tom says, rather than being impassible, incapable of feeling or having passion as we do as human beings, it would be more accurate to say that not only Christ but all three persons of the Trinity are infinitely caring, infinitely affected by us; Omni-passible. To believe such a thing is to understand that “at the height of his agony, he could see, not only the people who stood before him, jeering or weeping, but all the people of all time. He saw us in our loving and in our refusing to love, our sinning and our repenting. At the same eternal moment, he took on all the moments of every life and death. He could be the infinite love of God in person to each human being who ever lived, and who will ever live.”  May God bless us this Holy Week with the gift of faith to see this love, this perfect vulnerability, even in the smallest measure. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:05:42 FrDavid Abernethy: https://mcusercontent.com/c38acab568d650f7ef65f39df/files/679d1720-7a17-e9b4-7355-2bd4ae5431fd/Behold_His_Face_Booklet.pdf   00:14:52 Cath Lamb: I don't have microphone or camera 😊   00:18:31 Rebecca Thérèse: England   00:18:36 CathyQ: Canadian too!   00:18:41 Kristen's I Phone: Alberta Canada!   00:18:59 Michael: Pittsburgh!   00:19:07 michele: Buffalo ny   00:19:09 Cath Lamb: Colorado USA   00:19:10 kevin: BOSTON   00:19:16 James Moran: Appleton WI   00:39:47 Michael: Shroud of Turin video https://www.youtube.com/live/HAbuG-oVq1Q?feature=share   00:43:25 CathyQ: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide..." with ❤️   01:44:49 Sean: Hi Father, I think (from what I have seen) that a problem might be people seeing heaven in the future rather than deification as a reality we can begin to participate in here and now. ☦️   01:44:49 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:45:53 Kristen's I Phone: Reacted to "Shroud of Turin vide…" with ❤️   01:47:30 sheri: Thank you.  Good night.   01:47:40 Patricia: Thank You!   01:47:46 Michael: Thank you Fr   01:48:04 Kristen's I Phone: Thank you!   01:48:12 michele: Thank you   01:48:53 kevin: beautiful talk excellent ,  thank you for sharing Father   01:49:08 David Fraley: Thank you, Father David.   01:49:09 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Fr. Tom needs our +prayers.. He's sick.   01:49:28 Sr Barbara Jean Mihalchick: Long term problem   01:49:34 Patricia: Do you know Fr. Justin?  

We continued to our reflection on step number 14 - gluttony, or that “clamorous mistress, the stomach.”  We are being exposed to the wisdom of the fathers, so deeply rooted in their experience of human nature and how it has been effected by sin. St. John, in his typical fashion, reveals to us the subtleties (psychological, emotional and spiritual) of how we are deceived by the evil one and how our bodily appetites can be used against us. It is precisely because our appetite for food is natural and needed for sustenance that it is something that can be used against us and so powerfully.  This step shows how St. John and the other fathers were not only spiritual warriors, but the first depth psychologists. They knew how the mind and the heart work. We are easily deceived and easily moved to rationalize our use of food. Perhaps what is most significant is that St. John shows us how essential this practice of fasting and abstinence is in our spiritual life. We can’t be dabblers or minimalists. Because it is such a part of who we are, our appetite for food must be formed and shaped both by discipline and by the grace of God. What and how we eat is often a reflection of our emotional state a response to a need and desire for consolation. Rather than nourishing ourselves upon the love of God, we will choose some thing that offers immediate satisfaction - even though we know it is ever so temporary. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:22:56 Anthony: Months ago we talked about the monk who cut off his genitals, to great spiritual and physical harm.  Fasting is a healthy way of cutting off an appetite; it cannot be complete, since that is absolutely repulsive to natural law.  It encourages both cutting something off and moderation in approach.  Maybe that is a reason why fasting is a help for both gluttony and lust.   00:24:00 Anthony: In addition, fasting is accessible to both men and women - a remedy for all.   00:25:03 angelo: Reacted to "Months ago we talked..." with 👍   00:28:20 sue and mark: am I correct in thinking that this can be modified for special health needs effected by diet.   00:28:40 Sean: I recently watched a good lecture on Evagrius, “Evagrius the Monk and the Care of Souls” by Dr. Robin Darling Young at the Byzantine Catholic Seminary: https://youtu.be/Lp-EpQB_A6U I didn’t know that he was condemned along with Origen. I have only heard good things. Thank you, Father.   00:38:41 David: Aren't a lot of perceived contradictions looking at absolutes rather than stages and a process. As a child uses training wheels, then has someone behind him, then only a flat road. Over the period of time and conquering basic steps bigger challenges can be adopted.   00:41:00 sue and mark: Reacted to "Aren't a lot of perc..." with 👍   00:46:47 Anthony: So, Mardi Gras can actully harm the spiritual goal of Lent, but Meatfare then cheesefare is to enhance the Lent   00:47:52 Jean-Baptiste Giroux: There are many people these days practicing prolong fasting up to 72 hrs. Should that be  encouraged?   00:48:11 Patrick Caruso: Fr. David, could you please speak to how one should incorporate fasting and/or restraint on Sundays, solemnities, etc? With the approaching Easter season, how is one to best continue forward with some of the fasting they may have been practicing during Lent in the Easter season?   00:49:31 Adam Paige: Reacted to "There are many peopl…" with 👍   00:49:34 Adam Paige: Reacted to "Fr. David, could you…" with 👍   00:53:48 David: In the early church wasn't Wed and Friday all year what Christians were know for in fasting?   01:05:11 Jeff O.: Reacted to "In the early church ..." with 👍   01:05:35 Brad Smith: If the “warrior-ascetic” is distinct from the “perfect ascetic,” is Climacus implicitly warning the warrior to be careful not to delight to the point of succumbing to pride in there heat of battle when successful?   01:14:54 carol: “You are she who is not, I AM He Who Is.” to St.Catherine of Siena   01:18:16 David: Fear of the consequences of our sins? And acknowledging he is also All Just, a Judge? Ideally fear of disappointing God through love is best but sometimes fear of consequence can be good at times.   01:21:22 Anthony: Wisdom Chapter 12 - God tries to correct people by degrees.   01:23:22 carol nypaver: Well said, Father!   01:23:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂   01:24:10 Krissy: Thanks!   01:24:49 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!   01:24:53 David: Thanks you and bless you Father!   01:24:55 angelo: thank you   01:24:55 sue and mark: good night an dGod bless you father.   01:24:58 Brad Smith: Thank you   01:24:59 Jeff O.: Amen, thank you!  

Tonight, our 100th Episode of the study of the The Evergetinos, we began reading Hypothesis 39.  The subject matter is manifold. We are not to trust or be overly confident in ourselves, our own judgment or our spiritual strength. Rather, we are to trust first and foremost in the grace of God and also the intercession of our spiritual father. Every good that we accomplish takes place because of God’s mercy; this includes the prayers, and the intercession of one’s elder.  We are presented with a multitude of stories of individuals who were protected, strengthened, or guided by the prayers of their spiritual fathers. However, we are not to see this as  magic; nor are we to see it as something that would protect us from hardship, or the crosses we may be called to carry. Rather what is emphasized for us is the radical solidarity that exists among us as men and women of faith. We do not travel the road through this world in isolation. Rather, we are under the care of others or we are responsible for on another’s well-being.  As so many times before, such stories emphasize for us the need for humility. We have to let go of the illusion of power. In fact, we cannot present the gospel from a standpoint of power, at least not as it is seen and understood in the world. The love that we bear witness to is obedient and self-emptying. The truth and the wisdom that we speak is that of the kingdom. Are these the realities the guide us in our life?  Are our sensibilities any different from those who do not have faith? --- Text of chat during the group:   00:10:14 FrDavid Abernethy: page 322   00:10:23 FrDavid Abernethy: New Hypothesis XXXIX   00:29:03 Rachel : This happens when we in our ascetic efforts in union with Christ, try to divest ourselves of self and the world.   00:31:11 Anthony: I just finished reading St. Bonaventure's life of St. Francis.  It made the real power of intercession more real to me. St. Francis and his friars are very much in the mold of these older Fathers.  It shows me the real catholicity of the Faith.   00:40:16 carol nypaver: What would you recommend for a young man who feels drawn to the priesthood in this day/age?   00:48:57 David Fraley: Reacted to "What would you recom…" with 👍   01:09:04 Anthony: Modern practical question: Does this speak to Concealed Carry of Firearms, especially now when brigandage is more common than in past decades?   01:14:58 Ambrose Little, OP: Be inspired by the circumcellions! ;)   01:15:55 Paul Fifer: “He said to them, “But now one who has a money bag should take it, and likewise a sack, and one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.”  Luke 22:27   01:17:07 Rodrigo Castillo: Ambrose:  Donatists in North Africa in St. Augustine’s time.   01:20:52 Paul Fifer: The verse before that… “He said to them, “When I sent you forth without a money bag or a sack or sandals, were you in need of anything?” “No, nothing,” they replied.”   01:22:13 Ambrose Little, OP: NAB commentary at end of that passage: “It is enough!: the farewell discourse ends abruptly with these words of Jesus spoken to the disciples when they take literally what was intended as figurative language about being prepared to face the world’s hostility.”   01:26:07 David Fraley: Thank you, Father!  

Tonight we picked up with Step, 14 on “that clamorous mistress, the stomach“. Climacus begins to draw us into a discussion of one of the most important and neglected spiritual practices - fasting and the struggle with gluttony.  This is a struggle, Saint John tells us, that remains with us through our entire life. Our desire for food or our misuse of food is something that is part of the very fabric of our life. It is a bodily appetite. Not unlike other appetites, it must be ordered toward the good or in the way that is in accord with the wisdom of God.  Yet, John tells us, gluttony is hypocrisy of the stomach. In a sense it deceives us. Even when we are filled, it tells us that we are empty, and even when we are bursting, it “cries out that it is hungry.“.  It also leads us to devise seasonings, and sweet and rich dishes. The moment that we think that we have control of it, it shows itself in another area of our life. Unchecked, it leads to something even more serious - fornication. If we do not order this basic appetite for food, then we are going to be disordered and the use of our other bodily appetites, including our sexual appetite. And so, St. John tells us that he who coddles the body makes it wilder.  If we do not control it, then it will overcome us.  If we are self-aware, we know we eat for many different reasons. On an emotional level, we often eat to console ourselves or because we are feeling aggressive or anxiety. We distract ourselves and deal with feelings of emptiness by filling our bodies with food. There are many ways that we convince ourselves that restraining ourselves is inappropriate. For example, we tell ourselves that hospitality demands that we break our fasting practices. Rather than being honest with ourselves and others, we freely let go of these disciplines, not out of love for others but to satisfy our baser needs. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:14:38 Bonnie Lewis: I agree wholeheartedly!   00:15:46 Bonnie Lewis: Let's do it.   00:16:35 CMoran: Was it Rod Dreher?   00:36:57 Anthony: On Fasting, I recall sayings from people like St. Paisios to the effect that we live like pagans since we neglect prayer and fasting.  I wonder if there is an inverse correlation between a failure to fast and pray and the increased use of unwholesome images.   00:38:05 Jeff O.: Is there a reason or importance in the way Climacus orders anger and acedia before gluttony/fornication/greed etc on the ladder? I just find it interesting the order of things and the way he presents the vices   00:42:30 David Swiderski: What is the best practice in fasting. I fasted with a Syrian roommate a couple years he for Ramadan me for Lent. The hardest was no water all day which could be dangerous. What was strange most Muslims gain weight and have huge feasts every night and before the sunrose would drink juices to excess.   00:53:24 Anthony: I was talking about Easter Grain pie within the last 90 minutes....   00:56:49 Eric Ewanco: If we go over to someone's house during a fasting/abstinence period, how should we handle this if they plan food that breaks the discipline?   00:57:07 angelo: Reacted to "If we go over to som..." with 👍   00:58:24 Ambrose Little, OP: Well, our Lord did tell us to not appear to be fasting. 🙂   00:58:37 Eric Ewanco: Reacted to "Well, our Lord did t..." with 👏🏻   01:01:08 Ambrose Little, OP: “When you give, do not let your right hand know what your left hand is doing.” There does seem to be an impetus to “hide” our discipline and good works, to avoid pride.   01:01:14 Bonnie Lewis: excellent Father   01:01:17 Brad Smith: Your reference to hospitality as an excuse for gluttony seems the height of fornication (paragraph 1) as it is essentially to use the other person as a means to our own ends; gluttony is to misuse God’s good creation for our self-centered ends. Yes?   01:02:07 Brad Smith: I meant paragraph 5…Brad   01:02:07 Ambrose Little, OP: So we can’t win. LOL   01:04:37 CMoran: A few of my casual Catholic friends think that no meat on Friday has been done away with after the reforms.   01:05:43 CMoran: Not even knowing that some other penance is required.   01:08:28 Helena Babington Guiles: He who is in us is greater than he who is  in the world…and when we commune with Him within, His  nourishment exceeds any other.   01:10:49 Ren Witter: I am going to someone’s house for dinner tomorrow, and they already know I am vegetarian so I was going to just go and eat what was there, but I literally just texted them to say I can’t have eggs or cheese 😄. It makes me feel strangely anxious 🤣 I also told them to blame Father David 😄   01:11:09 Bonnie Lewis: Reacted to "I am going to someon..." with 😂   01:11:20 angelo: can we replace fasting with good works? This was my experience years ago when I was aspirant in a religious community.   01:14:07 Eric Ewanco: You can't "beat your body and make it your slave" (St. Paul) by doing good works   01:14:13 carol nypaver: We should not make others “suffer” because of our sacrifices. Right?   01:15:35 Rebecca Thérèse: I thought that the recommendation for a fast day was two small meals OR one large one, is that what you meant?   01:16:18 Debra: I gave up coffee on Lent...and my family suffered lol   01:17:16 Eric Ewanco: @rebecca the requirement is one meal, and up to two smaller meals not adding up to another meal as needed to maintain your strength   01:17:18 Ren Witter: Replying to "I thought that the r..."   In the Latin Rite the official rule is “one large meal, and two small meals that do not together equal one large meal” and yes, its pretty lame :-D   01:17:25 Ren Witter: Reacted to "@rebecca the require..." with 👍   01:17:49 carol nypaver: When I have to prepare a meal for someone who is “wheat-free,” meat-free, dairy-free makes me not want to host them.  They don’t have allergies, just sacrificing these things.  That makes me “suffer."   01:17:58 Bonnie Lewis: No, don't Father.  Amen   01:18:25 Rebecca Thérèse: @Ren thanks   01:20:05 Ambrose Little, OP: Here’s the USCCB on the topic: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/liturgical-year-and-calendar/lent/us-bishops-pastoral-statement-on-penance-and-abstinence     The focus seems to be about internalizing and owning our asceticism (as Christian adults) rather than having it spoon fed to us in a one-size-fits-all approach. But the important part of the message seems to have been lost on many.   01:21:05 Eric Ewanco: "many" is an understatement   01:21:30 Bonnie Lewis: I never hear this spoken on from the pulpit.   01:22:17 Ren Witter: Replying to "When I have to prepa..."   Its actually a pretty reasonable thought - “don’t host them” when I think about it. If I had friends, and they were strictly kosher for instance, it would be basically impossible for me to host them because I don’t know how to cook that way. At that point, its better if we go to a kosher restaurant, or if I simply go to their home and play with the kids while they cook.   01:22:48 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂   01:23:26 CMoran: Thank you Father...excellent session...most necessary for me!   01:23:35 angelo: Thank you   01:23:37 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:23:44 Cath Lamb: Thank you!   01:23:44 Debra: Thank you Father! This was really good!   01:23:47 iPhone (2): Thank you!   01:25:02 David Swiderski: Thank you father!  

As we move more deeply into the first volume of the Evergetinos - reading hypothesis 38 - we find ourselves also being drawn more deeply into the mystery of humility and obedience. The wisdom of God, revealed in our Lord through his incarnation and through the Paschal mystery, shows us the vulnerability of divine love and humility. For the love of us Christ empties himself, becomes a slave and obedient unto death on the cross. It is upon him that we must fix our gaze if we are not to be drawn into the illusions of pride.  Religious people are not above having their own delusions; including and especially the delusion of holiness. We hold on to the demands of our ego. Pride rules our will.  Thus, we were given multiple stories this evening of God in his providence guiding souls along a path He desires and presenting them with circumstances that unexpectedly revealed to them these greater truths. There is so much of us that is prideful that we are often blind to the humble ways that God comes to us and reject those through whom He speaks to us. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:14:43 FrDavid Abernethy: page 314 letter C   00:23:57 Anthony: Is this the concept of "doing Purgatory" now so you don't have to go to Purgatory later?   00:39:57 Anthony: On preaching the gospel, among "Evangelicals," there is an emphasis of calling someone to recognize their sin and "accept Christ."  That doesn't seem to be the Catholic tradition, is it?  In the Bible it seems only prophets did that and we are not prophets.   00:47:24 Eric Ewanco: think you missed a paragraph?   01:13:16 Anthony: This so goes against modern education.  The intellect is separated from morals and we are taught to set ourselves up as judges   01:17:04 Anthony: "you have many teachers but not many fathers"  

INTERIORIZED MONASTICISM PART II FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS • Prayer • Eschatological Maximalism • Evangelical Counsels as Seen through Three Temptations of Christ in the Desert: 1. Poverty Next Week: Chastity: the Sacredness of Creation and the Virginity of Heart that Should Belong to All Obedience to God: Receptivity to the Spirit of Truth and the Creative Freedom of the Life of Grace.