https://anchor.fm/stace-timothy-tafoya/episodes/Christ-is-Risen-euglc5
An impossible Lenten challenge.
I heard a sermon from an Orthodox priest on Lenten preparation a couple of weeks ago. He challenged his congregation with a simple Lenten challenge: to stop speaking of other people’s sins. I tried it and lasted about an hour. I realized how difficult it would be for myself, and then reflected that all of […]
St Isaac the Syrian
“Angels and archangels, who are the king’s great officials, are gazing steadfastly upon you at the time of your prayer to see what petition you will make of their Master; and they are astonished and exultant whenever they behold one who is made of earth forsake his dung hill and ask for what is heavenly…Thirst […]
Samizdat
Rod Dreher in his new book Live Not By Lies writes of those Christians under communism whose lives helped to inspire others to maintain their faith in the midst of extreme adversity. In Slovakia and other areas, dissidents were forced to publish their views, opinions, and cultural works via Samizdat, that is, secret literature printed […]
Fatherneo is Back!
It has been seven years since I have posted. I come to you now at the changing of the tide… Seriously, Social Media has become toxic has it not? With 2020 being as it has been and with the election, etc. I can hardly stand the poison on Facebook/Twitter. Fatherneo has always been able to […]
Letter from a Soviet concentration camp
“On Easter Day all of us who were imprisoned for religious convictions were united in the one joy of Christ. We were all taken into one feeling, into one spiritual triumph, glorifying the one eternal God. There was no solemn Paschal service with the ringing of church bells, no possibility in our camp […]
Humanity
There is an old Hasidic saying: “Human beings are God’s language.” What if we remembered this when we encounter our neighbors? Our spouses? Our children? Or our enemies?
Conversion in Ephesus
A fictional account of a first century conversion: My name is Jason. I am from the city of Ephesus. I live under the reign of Emperor Nero. I came to find life in the person called Jesus Christ. On the day of the Sun, that which the Christians call ‘the Lord’s day,’ during the Jewish […]
Ezekiel and Pentecost
We often look at the vision of Ezekiel as a shining example of hope, which it is. We must also remember, though that the book of Ezekiel is a dark book. Ezekiel was prophesying during a time of hopelessness, when Jerusalem and its people were exiled from their homes. Old Testament scholar David Garber says, […]
Of gods and men
From Father Christian, the Benedictine monk in the film of gods and men, before being killed by Islamic militarists: Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to be a victim of the terrorism swallowing up all foreigners here, I would like my community, my church, my family, to remember that my life […]