None of Your Beeswax?

In the News...
Candle use linked to cancer risk

South Carolina State University experts found that paraffin wax candles give off harmful fumes linked to lung cancer and asthma. They did, however, admit that it would take many years use to risk health.

The scientists suggested switching to candles made from beeswax or soy, which do not release significant levels of the chemicals.

I light the candles in my icon corner when I pray at night. Guess I'll be spending the extra money for beeswax from now on. No more bulk votives from Big Lots for me!

Hail Holy Queen Enthroned Above

Hail holy queen enthroned above,
Oh Maria.
Hail mother of mercy and of love,
Oh Maria.
Triumph all ye cherubim,
Sing with us ye seraphim.
Heaven and earth resound the hymn.
Salve, salve, salve regina. :|

Bogurodzica

Oh Mother of God, Oh Virgin,
Maria, blessed by God,
Your son, our Lord,
Maria, chosen Mother,
Return to us, bestow upon us.
May the Lord have mercy.

This poem is the earliest known original literary composition in the Polish language

Dormition of the Theotokos

O marvellous wonder! the source of life is laid in the tomb, and the tomb itself becomes a ladder to heaven. Make glad, O Gethsemane, thou sacred abode of the Mother of God. Come, O ye faithful, and with Gabriel to lead us let us cry: "Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, granting the world through thee great mercy".

Glorious are thy mysteries, O pure Lady. Thou wast made the Throne of the Most High, and today thou art translated from earth to heaven. Thy glory is full of majesty, shining with grace in divine brightness. O ye virgins, ascend on high with the Mother of the King. Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, granting the world through thee great mercy.

The dominions and the thrones, the rulers, the principalities, and the powers, the cherubim and the fearful seraphim glorify thy Dormition: and those who dwell on the earth rejoice, adorned by thy divine glory. Kings fall down and sing with the archangels and angels : "Hail, thou who art full of grace: the Lord is with thee, granting the world through thee great mercy".

~Stichera from Dormition Vespers (Tone 1)

The Church is One

The separation of Churches or, better said, the schism of Christianity is the greatest failure of the Christendom in history. This failure testifies, how much freedom the Providence of God has given to man, and how much man has misused this freedom.

In the Church there cannot be separation, because the Church is One, and it is homogeneous. Its oneness is determined through the fact that Christ is living in it, that it is mediating the gifts of Grace, and that in it are administered the sacraments.

It is not the Church that is divided, but rather Christian humanity. The separation happened within the kingdom of Caesar which became interweaved with the Kingdom of God, but it is not in the Kingdom of God, in which there cannot be separation.

~Nikolai Berdyaev

"Unifying Christians of the East and the West" (1926)

There is only one Church, not several Churches. And de facto the schism was not in the Church of Christ, but in sinful humankind, in the kingdom of this world, in the kingdom of Caesar. And the restoration of Christian unity does not consist in unifying the Churches, but rather in reunion of the splintered parts of Christian humankind. All parties are guilty of the schism between Christians.

Even when I am convinced that the dogmatic Truth is with Orthodoxy, I must still however feel the guilt which is on us, Christians of the Orthodox East. Also with us there was a lack of love, self-assertion, aloofness, an aversion to engage a spiritual world which seems to be something strange, also with us there was the ecclesiastical nationalism and particularism, there was the recoursing to the typical confessionalism.

Reunion and union of the Christian world must begin with community and unification of Christians of all Confessions, with mutual respect and love, with an inner universal spiritual attitude. All must begin with spiritual life, with spiritual unity, and it must work from inside outwards.

Unification of the Churches can only be a work of the Holy Spirit. But we can prepare this work spiritually in our human part, we can create a favorable spiritual soil. Christian unity must not begin with negotiation of Church governances, but with a spiritual unification of Christians, with forming a Christian friendly association, which is possible while also remaining true to one's own creed.

~Nicolai Berdyaev
"Orthodoxy & Ecumenism" (1927)

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O Holy Spirit, most merciful Comforter: You proceed from the Father in a manner beyond our understanding.

Come, I beseech You, and take up your abode in my heart. Purify and cleanse me from all sin, and sanctify my soul. Cleanse it from every impurity, water its dryness, melt its coldness, and save it from sinful ways. Make me truly humble and resigned, that I may be pleasing to You, and that You abide with me forever.

Most blessed Light, most amiable Light, enlighten me. O rapturous Joy of Paradise, Fount of purest delight, my God, give Yourself to me, and kindle in my innermost soul the fire of Your love.

My Lord, instruct, direct, and defend me in all things. Give me strength against all immoderate fears and against despondency. Bestow upon me a true faith, a firm hope, and a sincere and perfect love. Grant that I always do your most gracious will.

Amen.

~St. Antiochus of Lyons (5th c.)

Need for the Holy Spirit

Without the Holy Spirit, God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter the Church is simply an organization, authority, a matter of domination, mission, a matter of propaganda, the Liturgy no more than an evocation Christian living a slave mentality.

But in the Holy Spirit, the cosmos groans with the birth pangs of the kingdom; the risen Christ is there, the Gospel is the source of life, the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity, authority is a liberating service, mission is a Pentecost, the Liturgy is both memorial and anticipation, human action is deified.

~Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch ATHENAGORAS (1948-1972)

Catholic Without Being Latin

"Dear brothers from Rome, one can be Catholic without being Latin. And we were attacked on two fronts, Catholic-Latin and Orthodox-Byzantine. And we said: No, dear brothers, one can be Ukrainian, one can be Byzantine, one can be at the same time Catholic. These different elements do not contradict one another. So this is why neither the Latin Church nor the Orthodox Church is very happy with us. "

~His Beatitude Lubomyr Husar,
Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Patriarch of Kviv-Halych

Ghetto Mentality: Threat to the Eastern Catholic Mission

In a ghetto life is closed in upon itself, operating only within itself, with its own ethnic and social clichés. And the Parish lives upon the ethnic character of the community; when that character disappears, the community dies and the parish dies with it.

One day all our ethnic traits - language, folklore, customs - will have disappeared. Time itself is seeing to this. And so we can not think of our communities as ethnic parishes, primarily for the service of the immigrant or the ethnically oriented, unless we wish to assure the death of our community. Our Churches are not only for our own people but are also for any of our fellow Americans who are attracted to our traditions which show forth the beauty of the universal Church and the variety of its riches.

~Melkite Archbishop Joseph Tawil
"The Courage to be Ourselves" Christmas, 1970

Jesus Takes a Break

Jesus withdrew with His disciples...(Mark 3:7)

I found this curious. He was healing people and casting out demons, showing His power, yet Jesus was concerned about being crushed by a mob. He told the disciples to have a boat ready so he could get away (Mark 3:9).

Was He turning His back on people who needed to be healed?

Here again we see the humanity of Jesus. From reading Mark's Gospel it seems like Jesus has been going non-stop since emerging from the desert. He's been so busy: preaching, healing, calling His disciples. Action, action, action!

It's as if He finally wore out and just needed to get away from the crowd.

This is important to remember in our own lives. I've seen people get so busy in their work for the Lord that they burn out.

You can't heal everybody.

Take time to rest. Time to breathe. Time to think. Time to discern.

Renewal and Prelest

I remember talking with an Eastern Orthodox brother about the Charismatic Renewal and he referred to it as "Prelest". That there are no shortcuts in the spiritual life, so the idea of "baptism in the Holy Spirit" and speaking in tongues was delusion.

This Russian Orthodox word "Prelest" is often translated into English as spiritual deception, illusion, or delusion. It is the opposite of spiritual sobriety or watchfulness.

General Prelest is to think that you have no sin or need for forgiveness. Like the pharisee you see yourself as righteous before God based on your own efforts. The reality is that without Christ you are nothing. As you truly grow in holiness you become more aware of your sinfulness.

The Eastern fathers often speak of a particular Prelest that happens when you "live beyond your capabilities". This is someone who hasn't been cleansed of passions yet strives for a life of contemplation and desires the delights of spiritual grace. This spiritual "eagerness" leads to demonic exploitation of these desires. This person imagines that they are near to God and in a higher dimension of spirituality.

Seraphim of Sarov warned that "Surpassing their acquaintances in struggles of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace. In every event of their lives, they see special intentional directions from God or their guardian angel. And then they start imagining that they are God's elect, and often try to foretell the future."

The possibility of falling into Prelest is the leading cause of Eastern reluctance to the Charismatic Renewal. "The monks on Athos don't speak in tongues, so how could Nick the usher?"

I've been around the Charismatic movement since I was in diapers and will admit there were ups and downs in the last four decades. Mistakes and mis-steps have been made and some people do swim out over their heads and get into trouble.

The best safeguard against Prelest, according to Eastern writers, is to have a good spiritual director. If you are accountable to a priest or other elder in the Lord you are less likely to fall into error.

And that is exactly what the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church did. Those who had experienced this new outpouring of the Holy Spirit went to the Church hierarchy for guidance and clarification. In their wisdom the Pope along with many cardinals and bishops recognized the "new Pentecost" that they were praying for.

My experience in the Orthodox church showed me a different reaction. Suspicious bishops "disciplined" priests who encouraged Charismatic experience. Lay people who experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit had their enthusiasm "bridled".

Direct access to the Holy Spirit? That's something you earn by fleeing the world and living a life of strict asceticism--even then there are no guarantees. Illumination is a reward--no shortcuts!

This rigid thinking has led to a quenching of the Spirit. Like the pharisees they only expect God to act in a certain way according to established rules. Anything outside of those rules is suspicious, delusional, or even heresy.

It's all based on fear. Fear of prelest, fear of diluting or destroying tradition, fear of losing ethnic identity, fear of "ecumenism".

We are so fortunate in the Catholic Church to have a shepherd that encourages all the faithful to experience the baptism in the Holy Spirit (May 2008). We have a growing Charismatic presence that compliments and enhances our ancient rituals and devotions.

Pray for our brothers and sisters of the East that they would overcome fear and re-discover the joy and freedom found in the Holy Spirit.

St. Symeon the new Theologian

Let us be like those who knock patiently and to whom the Lord opens the doors of His kingdom, according to His promise, and like those who seek and are given the Holy Spirit. It is impossible for a man who seeks with all his soul not to find the Holy Spirit and be enriched by His Charismata. (Cateshesis 22)

A person who has within him the light of the most Holy Spirit, unable to endure it, falls prostrate upon the ground; and he cries out and shouts in terror and great fear, for he sees and experiences something that surpasses nature, thought and imagination. He becomes as one whose entrails have been set ablaze: devoured by fire and unable to bear the scorching flame, he is beside himself, and he cannot control himself at all. And though he sheds unceasing tears that bring him some relief, the fire of his longing is kindled to yet fiercer flames. Then he weeps more abundantly and, washed by the flood of his tears, he shines as lightning with an- ever-increasing brilliance. When he is entirely aflame and becomes as light, then is fulfilled the saying, ‘God is joined in unity with gods and is known by them. (Practical and Theological Chapters 3:21)

When someone suddenly lifts up his gaze and contemplates the nature of existing things in a way that he had never done before, then he is filled with amazement and sheds spontaneous tears without any sense of anguish. These tears purify him and wash him in a second baptism, that baptism of which our Lord speaks in the Gospels when He says, ‘if someone is not born through water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.’ Again He says, ‘If someone is not born from above’ (John 3:5,7). When He said ‘from above’, He signified being born from the Spirit.