Barnabas Powell's Blog, page 37
July 25, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Produces Light
St. Porphyrios said “Do not fight to expel darkness from the chamber of your soul. Open a tiny window for the light to enter, and the darkness will disappear!” What a contrast to our current cultural chaos where it seems all sides want to “fight” all the time. We are driven by our egos to “defend” this or that and, in the process, we become the very thing we hate. We “fight”…
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July 22, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Produces Generosity
You may have seen a trend this week in our daily devotionals. I am using the phrase “Normal Orthodoxy” on purpose because we live in an age and society where our faithful struggle with a lack of robust catechesis. What too many think of as “normal” Orthodoxy is too small. So, I’m trying to reset my own thinking about Normal Orthodoxy and start setting the bar higher for myself and for you,…
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July 21, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Is Discerning
Here’s my biggest problem: I can’t tell a weed from a good plant. So, when I discovered that my smartphone could help out with this, I was ecstatic! Maybe now I’ll stop overlooking plants that are choking out my flowers! But that’s one of the benefits of attentiveness – it creates discernment. St. John Climacus says discernment is “the sure possession of the will of God in every time and place and…
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July 20, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Leads to Knowing Yourself
Every wisdom literature of every ancient culture has a form of the wisdom “Know Yourself.” The ancient Hellenic philosophers were all focused on developing that kind of self-knowledge to cultivate ways to live life well. But self-knowledge isn’t very helpful if you don’t have a reference point. What is a healthy person? Is it mere confidence? Is it the ability to get your way? What is this self-knowledge that even the Fathers…
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July 19, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Leads to Growth
I’m not a gardener. I’m just not good at it. But the reason I’m not good at it is that I don’t take the time to get good at it. Like any discipline, it takes perseverance to build proficiency. And, another problem I have is that I really don’t know the difference between a weed and a good plant. To be sure, I can tell when my lawn or my flowerbeds need…
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July 18, 2022
Normal Orthodoxy Makes You Teachable
I’ve spent too many years of my life convinced I was right about everything. That immature mindset never produces wisdom, only heartache, and slavery to my passions and desires. That mindset sees “enemies” everywhere. That mindset creates walls where bridges should be. And it prevents me from growing and maturing in my love for God and others. In other words, that mindset isn’t Normal Orthodoxy. Our Faith invites us to a humility…
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July 15, 2022
Childish Thinking Leads To Childish Living
The older I get, the more I see myself reacting to today’s culture in full “Old Man Yelling at a Cloud” mode! And I promised myself when I was younger that I wouldn’t be that kind of “old man.” And yet, there really are deeply troubling consequences of foolish and unwise behaviors that seem to flow from immaturity! But I guess that’s all part of growing up. Make no mistake, though, we…
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July 14, 2022
Called To BE The Church
Our modern age is suffering a crisis of meaning. This, of course, is a natural consequence of decades of the proactive dismantling of the timeless wisdom that had been shaping our culture for centuries. You can’t tear down something and not have chaos during your attempt to reconstruct something else. Anyone who has lived through the traffic during interstate construction can relate! Part of this chaos has produced an interesting and very…
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July 13, 2022
Reality! It’s What You Need
American author Laird Barron once said “Mom was all about hellfire and brimstone. Her Old Testament God was a colossal, ancient brute, a maelstrom of blood and fire, of appetite and wrath.” Sounds familiar. Our society has been shaped by a narrative, both subtle and overt, about how we think of God. And, for many people (could we say the majority?), God is exactly like Barron’s mother described: A colossal and angry…
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July 12, 2022
Seeing All As Gift
The preacher was telling the story of the plight of those in biblical times who suffered from leprosy. They were social outcasts and had to live in leper colonies and if they ventured out, they had to call before them to warn all around the “Unclean! Unclean!” You see leprosy was highly contagious, even to the point that the clothes lepers wore were burned instead of recycled or given away. The leper…
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