Divine Liturgy

St John Climacus on Insensibility, Sleep, Prayer, and Vigil: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 18-20
Ladder of Divine Ascent

St John Climacus on Insensibility, Sleep, Prayer, and Vigil: Ladder of Divine Ascent, Steps 18-20

07/10/2026 Bruce Strom 0

Father John Mack teaches us: “The labor of prayer is a labor with the thoughts. Our minds are far too lazy and undisciplined. Instead of directing our thoughts and controlling them, we allow them to run free, here and there, wherever they wish to go. So, during prayer, we find ourselves thinking about all kinds of other things.”
We are called to prayer during Divine Liturgy. Do we complain that the service is over an hour? Do we watch our watch rather than our soul? Are we attentive in prayer, are we attentive during Divine Liturgy, paying attention to our prayers, not letting our mind wander, trying not to let our mind wander? We are bidden by Jesus in his Agony of the Garden of Gethsemane to stay awake and pray. […]

Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Judaism: Which Is True
christianity

Protestantism, Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Judaism: Which Is True?

01/30/2026 Bruce Strom 1

We agree with CS Lewis when, in his Preface to Mere Christianity, he states that “the reader should be warned that I offer no help to anyone who is hesitating between two Christian denominations. You will not learn from me whether you ought to become an Anglican, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or a Roman Catholic.” CS Lewis compares his Mere Christianity to a central hall opening up to many rooms, representative of the various denominations, saying that this hall is a place to wait while you try the different doors.
CS Lewis continues: “There is no mystery of my own position. I am a very ordinary layman of the Church of England, not especially high, nor especially low, nor especially anything else.” […]

Catholic Middle Ages and Beyond

Dark Night of the Soul, by St John of the Cross, and Mystical Theology of Pseudo-Dionysus

07/06/2022 Bruce Strom 0

What is the Dark Night of the Soul? Many are misled into thinking that the dark night of the soul is a dark place, but St John of the Cross views the dark night of the soul not from his mortal perspective, but from perspective of the eternal, the unknowing, where light we cannot perceive is so luminous that we see it as darkness, this Mystical Theology he draws from the poetry of Dionysius. […]