http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info A journey through our Orthodox faith as we live it every day Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:43:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/favicon.ico Copyright © Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog 2010 blogadmin@stjohndfw.info (Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog) blogadmin@stjohndfw.info (Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog) http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info 144 144 A journey through our Orthodox faith as we live it every day Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog blogadmin@stjohndfw.info no no http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2012/02/the-empty-churches-of-the-city-of-lights/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2012/02/the-empty-churches-of-the-city-of-lights/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:43:26 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1497 Visiting Paris, the city of lights, is a wonderful experience, anytime of the year. The boulevards, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and even more so the great cathedrals: Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Saint Sulpice and so on, attract visitors like flies. From a tourism perspective it is wonderful to see these great historical churches full of people all day long. But if you cast a closer look and try to find the people that enter to actually pray, you soon realize that the flock is very small for the grandiose size of the gigantic stone and marble monuments. In contrast, during a recent trip to the same city I’ve been blessed with participating in the Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2012/02/the-empty-churches-of-the-city-of-lights/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/setting-a-good-beginning/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/setting-a-good-beginning/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:08:35 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1487 As the New Year is just around the corner, for many people also comes the time for setting their New Year resolutions. This year I will reach my ideal weight, this year I’ll take better care of my health, this year I’ll finish the college that I always wanted and so on. The first weeks of the year the gyms are full of enthusiastic first time athletes, the grocery stores have record sales for diet foods and the pharmacies sell years worth of nicotine patches.  But the statistics show however that only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions. So come February the gym crowds vanish, the excitement fades away and life goes back to its Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/setting-a-good-beginning/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/parking-in-the-priests-spot-or-what-do-we-do-when-no-one-is-watching/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/parking-in-the-priests-spot-or-what-do-we-do-when-no-one-is-watching/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:12:55 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1479 Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/12/parking-in-the-priests-spot-or-what-do-we-do-when-no-one-is-watching/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/11/the-freedom-of-morality-and-the-imorality-of-freedom/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/11/the-freedom-of-morality-and-the-imorality-of-freedom/#comments Fri, 04 Nov 2011 20:26:35 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1457 asserts, this concept can be applied to a nation for example that is free from any outside domination, can be applied to a political system, meaning that one can elect its own choice of government, but most importantly can be applied to the individual that is Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/11/the-freedom-of-morality-and-the-imorality-of-freedom/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/drought-and-redemption-%e2%80%93-the-lessons-of-global-warming/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/drought-and-redemption-%e2%80%93-the-lessons-of-global-warming/#comments Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:24:50 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1441 “And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” (Isaiah 58:11) October 2010 to July 2011 was the driest of any 10-month period on record for Texas. Scorching heat, wildfires, crops destroyed, cattle herds relocated seem to be the new norm for the Lone Star state. But we are not the only ones suffering this, Asia, Africa are also experiencing similar weather patterns, bringing millions to the brink of starvation. Who is to blame? Some say the global warming, others argue that is a natural variation of Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/drought-and-redemption-%e2%80%93-the-lessons-of-global-warming/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/spiritual-ground-zero/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/spiritual-ground-zero/#comments Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:47:20 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1429 Many people would agree that the September 11 terrorist attacks changed not only New York, not only America, but most of the world in many ways. We are involved in a 10 years war in which countless people have lost their lives, soldiers and civilians together; our travel experience hase deteriorated tremendously; our watchfulness level has been raised to paranoid heights; even some people report that church attendance, at least in the United States, might have slightly increased as a result. The main reason for all this change is that the horrible events in New York shook us all to the core and inflicted a wound that cannot be healed without a visible scar. From an emotional point of Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/09/spiritual-ground-zero/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/08/looking-death-in-the-face-or-the-aesthetics-of-dying/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/08/looking-death-in-the-face-or-the-aesthetics-of-dying/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:25:59 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1418 "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" (1Cor 15:54-55) As a parish priest one has the privilege to face all aspects of human life from birth until the final departure. In the eyes of a priest, humanity is exposed in its most glorious and most deplorable experiences. Among them one of the most challenging is death. Even writing about it is a difficult task because it is a very unpopular subject.  Nobody wants to die and even more so, nobody wants to talk about it, is a taboo, a place where you just don’t want to go Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/08/looking-death-in-the-face-or-the-aesthetics-of-dying/feed/ 1 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/always-forward-looking/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/always-forward-looking/#comments Fri, 15 Jul 2011 21:01:24 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1343 One of the issues that philosophy has spent a lot of ink on is the answer to the question: who we are? Many thinkers have tried to give a proper answer to this basic question, and yet , despite their efforts, the world is confronted with a huge identity crisis with profound effects at all levels of our society. In Christianity however, this question is already answered and answered in a very fulfilling way. We know who we are: the Creation of the Most High, fashioned out of His boundless love. Our origin is in Him and this suffices for us. The more important question, as Christians, should be however:  where are we going? The human life should Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/always-forward-looking/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/my-summertime-with-god/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/my-summertime-with-god/#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 20:19:26 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1334 Time is a very precious asset. As a priest, in Confession one of the most common sins I hear is the lack of time for prayer. The majority of the people realize that their prayer life lacks the breadth and the depth it should have and yet over and over they repeat the same mistake. I know very well out of personal experience what a busy schedule looks like, so I generally have a lot of compassion in this respect. The other day however I read an interesting survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics regarding how the average Americans spend their time, and my sympathetic mindset has been severely shook. Here is the daily schedule of Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/07/my-summertime-with-god/feed/ 0 http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/06/the-chronicle-of-a-social-death-foretold/ http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/06/the-chronicle-of-a-social-death-foretold/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 20:55:06 +0000 Fr. Vasile http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/?p=1326 A friend of mine died yesterday. He made a public announcement about it and then he committed suicide. Not physically, spare the thought, but for all practical purposes he is now dead to the world. How did it happen? Well, he officially announced that he is quitting Facebook for good, and, with this, his life has ended; no one will even remember that he ever was; he has passed into the World Wide Web oblivion. He is not the only one to end like this. Today, if you do not have an electronic presence, you are a nobody to the world. If all your friends do not know what time you woke up and what you ate for breakfast Continue reading]]> http://dialogues.stjohndfw.info/2011/06/the-chronicle-of-a-social-death-foretold/feed/ 3