I remember once hearing an Orthodox priest saying that he couldn't imagine becoming Protestant because Protestant prayer is so lonely. He said this because Eastern Orthodox worship — and all traditional Christian worship — makes no secret of its belief that when the faithful gather together in prayer, all the Saints, Angels, and Archangels join … Continue reading God Has Done So Much: Reflections on Angels and Guides
Last week, many Christians (myself included) were thoroughly saddened to learn the news that Jean Vanier, the founder of the l'Arche communities and a man revered by many as next thing to a saint, was found to have been a serial sexual predator. It's a sad statement on the state of our institutions that, while … Continue reading Saints Behaving Badly
Love is the natural state of the universe, and love of God first and foremost, since, after all, God is love. This is a basic assumption of the Christian faith, and yet, loving isn't easy for us. Most of us are, more of than we'd care to admit, counter-examples for this assumption about the world. … Continue reading A Drop of Water Poured into Wine: The Four Loves of St Bernard of Clairvaux
This series on knowing God began with the ancient truth that God can be known but can never be fully understood or described using human concepts and language. Then, over the past few weeks, we've talked about the importance (and limitations) of symbols in talking about God, and worked through how these truths played out … Continue reading Three Movements in Knowing God
In the most recent post in the series exploring esoteric spiritualities, I touched briefly on Kabbalah and the Tree of Life. Today I want to use the Tree of Life as a jumping off point to talk about the language of ascent and descent, its philosophical history, and its impact on Christian spirituality throughout the … Continue reading Ascent or Transformation?
Matthew Root 