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The gesture could not have been more striking. A popular but controversial spiritual master is gathered with his closest followers. He knows that his enemies are moving against him and that there is a traitor in the room. The rest of his disciples sense danger too, so the mood is tense and somber. What will their teacher do? Will he tell them to fight for him? Will he expose the traitor? Or will he slip away and go into hiding? More »
Have you ever noticed how much being in love can change someone? Think, for instance, of a man engaged to be married. His heart is consumed with thoughts about his fiancée. He wants to do everything he can to take care of her and to please her. He is eager to build a new life and raise a family with her. And while he recognizes that many of his priorities and everyday activities will undergo a major shift, he is more than willing to change for the sake of the woman he loves. All this happens because the man is looking forward to the time when he and his new wife will be united in Christ and become one flesh. More »
A mother gazes into her baby's eyes, and he responds with a smile and cooing sounds of happiness. A man asks a woman to marry him, and she throws her arms around him, kisses him, and says "yes," her eyes filling with tears. An elderly woman in a nursing home is visited by two close friends, and her vital statistics show immediate and unexpected improvement. Each of these examples illustrates a universal truth: When we know we are loved, it shows. Or to put it another way: Love begets love. More »
As a girl, Dalia felt there was a mystery about her family's home. She loved the high ceilings and large windows, the stone facade, and the walled garden, where a lemon tree grew. Who had built this house? What had become of them? More »
Thirty years. That's how long I've known that the church is Christ's bride and that she's being prepared to join her Groom at the marriage feast in heaven (Revelation 19:7-9). I've heard it in sermons, read it in books, sung it in hymns, and studied it in Scripture. More »
One of the desires closest to St. Paul's heart was that the infant Christian communities he served would be models of unity, their members considering themselves no longer either male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free (Galatians 3:28). In this he united himself to Christ's prayer for unity at the Last Supper: "That all may be one" (John 17:21). More »
Gregory of Nyssa was an important person in his lifetime, but it might be said that his place in history was overshadowed by the company he kept. He did not share the gift for leadership that his older brother Basil possessed. And although a good speaker, Gregory was not as acclaimed as John Chrysostom, who became known as the "golden-tongued" preacher and bishop of Constantinople. He wasn't even the most famous "Gregory" of his time! That honor went to his close friend Gregory of Nazianzus, who was seen as the champion of theological wisdom in the fourth century. More »