Okay- those were the first two quick takes- but this won't be quick at all if I attempt to make this post pretty...so please tolerate the formatting craziness....here's number 3:
3. "Back to the definition of Eastern "Byzantine" spirituality we find a spirituality that is in many ways is different from what you find in western traditions more specifically the Roman Catholic church. We are in communion with the church of Rome and at the same time we have our own spiritual tradition. In these traditions we find a different approach to the same mysteries we celebrate and hence we have a different spirituality. One could even say that it has been God's plan to foster this diversity. As I said we see this in the scriptures, we see it in the history of the church. Unfortunately, we also see human weakness. We do see many divisions in the Church today which we are working to heal." ...read the rest at Eastern Catholic Spiritual Renewal
4. "The Church doesn’t exist to cure the symptoms of the human condition. She exists to cure the disease itself: death. Miracles happen to point our eyes towards the end goal, to keep us on the road. But that road lies not apart from the world and our humanity, but right down the middle. The challenge is not to avoid human suffering, but to embrace it with faith, placing all our confidence in the finality of Christ’s victory; to say with St. Paul: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philppians 1:20-21.)...read more from Fr Maximos here.
5. If you are feeling unappreciated and little...read on: An old man said, “Anyone freely praised by people is in not a little danger to his soul. But anyone not held in honor among people will finally be given glory.”
6. The blog Your Word to the Wise has a big linky list- lots to learn there!
7. For a laugh
find lots more quick takes at conversiondiary.com
Thank you for the great post. May I link to this on Kind Conversation? I'm starting a new Light of the East discussion topic called "An Introduction to Eastern Christianity and the Byzantine Catholic Tradition" in which I'll post the links to Pablo Cuadra's slideshows. I'd like to link directly to your post as well if I may.
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Sure Maureen- I just 'ran into' those slideshows and just love them
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