Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 35
August 18, 2022
Appreciate It. Practice It. Or Lose It!
“Father, you simply have to MOVE!” With that, my doctor, who was in the Marines as a young man, made it clear I had to change my sedentary lifestyle if I was to be healthy. In other words, if I didn’t start moving and exercising, I was going to lose my health. I had to use it or lose it. That wake-up call was just what I needed at the time. But,…
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August 17, 2022
The “Good” Son
Both of my daughters are really different. But, to their credit, I really do like them as persons. I find their differences endearing and fascinating. One daughter is most at home on stage. She really shines when she’s performing or dancing. She’s very good at it. My youngest is one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever known. She commands a room when she walks in but her main ability is in…
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August 16, 2022
A Firm Foundation – Sunday’s Homily
Ideas have consequences. If the underlying philosophy of a society is flawed, the effects are real and, if the flaws are bad enough, they spell destruction for that society. When the structure is unsound, the people are unsafe. And the whole purpose of the Faith is to be the spiritual building blocks meant to “construct” the character of Christ in you and the world. The ONLY place to get the most robust…
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The Dangers of Undisciplined Motivations
What’s the difference between Inspiration and Motivation? Well, Inspiration usually comes from the outside. I’m inspired by that act of charity, or that life well lived. Motivations, however, are usually internal; that set of desires and drives that either keep me on track or send my life down a dead end. My best friend used to say “No life is a total waste. It can always serve as a bad example!” What…
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August 15, 2022
Are You Becoming LIKE Christ?
Listen to this quote from St. Symeon the New Theologian: “In the future life the Christian is not examined if he has renounced the whole world for Christ’s love, or if he has distributed his riches to the poor or if he fasted or kept vigil or prayed, or if he wept and lamented for his sins, or if he has done any other good in this life, but he is examined…
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August 12, 2022
Chaos Is The Enemy of Peace
Isaac Newton once said, “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” How I resonate with that. Simplicity is the enemy of confusion and chaos. I’ll never forget the story of a Third world visitor to the US being overwhelmed by her first trip to an American grocery store. This precious woman broke down in tears, not at the abundance, but at the…
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August 11, 2022
Is Speaking in Tongues Real?
It’s one of (if not the) fastest growing forms of Christianity in the world, and it’s the movement I came from when I converted to Orthodoxy so many years ago. I’m talking about the Pentecostal movement. And one of the most distinctive aspects of Pentecostalism is something called “speaking in tongues.” Every month I get some question or comment or inquiry about my attitude about this supernatural phenomenon so I thought I’d…
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August 10, 2022
To Love Is To Understand
“Oh, come on. You know good and well I didn’t mean that the way you are taking it!” Frankly, I couldn’t get over that this person so misunderstood me. It almost felt like it was on purpose to discredit what I was saying. After a few deep breaths, and dialing back my wounded ego, I stopped and asked this person “Why did you think I meant that by what I said?” After…
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August 9, 2022
The Power Of The Eyewitness
Ask any police officer or investigator and they will tell you having an eyewitness to an event is great, and not so great. The reason is eyewitnesses are notorious for filtering what they see through what they think they remember. So, we were trained how to weed out what they thought they saw from what they actually saw. It can make all the difference in the world. The Early Church was faced…
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August 8, 2022
What Idols Lead You Astray?
Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, “We always pay dearly for chasing after what is cheap.” I wish I had learned this earlier in my life. I would have avoided some painful idolatries. But we humans are slow learners. And over and over again we come to the end of what we thought we could not live without and discover all too late that we certainly could live without it. We idolize the fantasy…
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