Gladsome Light Dialogues - An Orthodox Blog » saints

Pearls to the pigs and communion to dogs

Fr. Vasile — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:29:05 +0000

“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine” (Mat 7:6) When I was a kid I had a pet, a cat, and loved it dearly. It slept with me every night and in my teenage years felt at times as my only true friend. But there was no moment during the time we had together, that I confused my pet pal with a true human friend; it remained a cat the entire time. There seems to be however a lot of confusion nowadays about animals and their role in our lives. People treat their animals as family, take them to beauty salons and spas, leave them fortunes in their wills and expect to be joined by them in heaven Continue reading

How can God be inside man? – St. Nikolai (Velimirovic)

Fr. Vasile — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:26:35 +0000

To a soldier of a student's brigade who asks how God can be inside man

You asked somebody, "where is God?" And you got an answer that God is inside you. And you marvel at this answer. How can that be?

Kind of like light in a room, or like fire in a; stove. When you are able to feel God within you, you will feel and know that He is inside you, but you will not be able to explain it to someone else. But you will look for images in nature and then you will speak to the other person as I speak to you: God is within me like light in a room, or

The Egypt’s Desert Fathers – Humility

Fr. Vasile — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:55:54 +0000

An old man was asked, "What is humility?" and he said in reply, "Humility is a great work, and a work of God. The way of humility is to undertake bodily labour and believe yourself a sinner and make yourself subject to all." Then a brother said, "What does it mean, to be subject to all?" Continue reading

Marriage As a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints

Fr. Vasile — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:14:55 +0000

"Marriage As a Path to Holiness: Lives of Married Saints" is a very interesting book taking a closer look at saints that lived a married life. Here is an excerpt from the foreword by Bishop Kallistos Ware "Drawing on that rich but often neglected source, the Lives of the Saints, this book provides us with a representative selection of models, of icons in words, to encourage us on our own journey to the kingdom, whether we are married or not. . . . What is striking first of all about the examples chosen is their diversity. They are spread in time across nearly four thousand years, from the Old Testament era up to our own day. In space Continue reading