St John Damascene on 27th March
For just as God made all that He made by the energy of the Holy Spirit, so also now the energy of the Spirit performs those things that are supernatural and which it is not possible to comprehend unless by faith alone.[1]
Yuhanna ibn Sarjun ibn Mansur[2] was born into a prominent Christian family of Damascus in 675. Arabic records make reference to his grandfather and his father since they served in the civil administration of the city when the Muslim Caliphate was established there in 661, the city having been conquered by Arab Muslim forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid in 634.[3] Both continued to be employed in the public service of the new regime given that Christian civil servants were retained at the Umayyad court. Some have even asserted that John himself followed in their footsteps and took employment as well, although this cannot be verified. Apparently, the initial aftermath of the conquest was relatively benign. Christians continued to worship in the Byzantine basilica for the …More
traditioninaction.org/SOD/j172sd_JohnDamascene_3-27.html
Great comment in his letter to Leo the Isaurian regarding heresy and bishops who care more about career than their flock
The Truth about Islam and why the Pope is wrong.
The Feast of St Joseph
Beatus vir qui in lege Domini voluptas eius est, et de lege eius meditatur die ac nocte.
Blessed the man whose delight is the law of the Lord, and ponders his law, day and night.
Come with me to the first of the psalms to get a glimpse of the character the scriptures give of this enigmatic Joseph, drawn for us by both St Luke and St Matthew in their infancy narratives. St Matthew handed down a text that is written from the perspective of Joseph, as the descendent of the royal line of King David. Two strands are evident in his account, the first being the genealogy of Joseph and the second, the annunciation by the angelic messenger. The first is designed to show Joseph’s descent from Abraham and the royal Davidic line in a torrent of begetting repeated thirty-nine times. Abraham begot[1] Isaac… Jesse begot David… and so on, only to halt abruptly with Jacob begot Joseph. Given the rhythm of the text one expects the next step to be Joseph begot… but no! Joseph does not beget. In the …More
For the Season of Lent
Si ascendero in caelum tu illic es: si descendero in infernum ades; etenim illuc manus tua deducet me: et tenebit me dextera tua.
If I ascend into heaven you are there: if I descend into the underworld you are present; and even there shall your hand stretch out to me, and your right hand shall hold me. [1]
The liturgy for the first Sunday of Lent focuses on the leading of Jesus into the desert by the Spirit.[2] After being baptised in the Jordan by John the Baptist, the beloved Son is immediately challenged and tested by the Accuser, Satan. Perhaps the desert is taken for granted, there is so much of it here in Australia. The desert of Jordan, though not so vast, is just as forbidding, a place of emptiness (ربع الخالي), of silence, of solitude, in fact of death.
The desert is thought of as stable, even peaceful. However, not so widely known or experienced, is a desert storm: a wall of sand many metres high approaching at the speed of galloping camels that blackens the atmosphere with an …More
Reflection for Annunciation
On the Feast of the Annunciation
This air, which, by life’s law
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God’s infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race –
Mary Immaculate.
These lines of Gerard Manley Hopkins, when thoughtfully considered, offer within the framework of poetic meditation, an aesthetic catechism comparing the Blessed Virgin Mary to the air we breathe. They turn one’s mind at once to that most important of all the New Testament texts about Mary, the narrative of St Luke’s gospel concerning the Annunciation. This text is arguably the one that is best known and most loved throughout the Christian tradition. Artists, sculptors and painters of renown have chosen to depict its subject with all its potential for delicacy, for mystery, for drama, for conveying both uttered and unuttered dialogue.[1] The Fathers of …More