I am like my son with his ADD when it comes to God. So much gets in the way and my path is not clear at times; I often stand there, with both of my hands on my head, too. The world offers us noise and chaos…that is what the lord of this world does to distract us from the path we need to take. We all have a certain amount, or tendency towards ADD when it comes to our relationship with God. How many of us are exhausted at Liturgy some days and can barely hide a yawn, but after Liturgy rush off to hike in the local hills? How many things do we place between ourselves and an honest relationship with Our Lord?

Today, for those of us who observe the Western Calendar, is Holy Thursday. It is hard to believe Pascha, or Easter, is upon us and our Forty Days of preparation and renewal are coming to a close. Tonight, in our tradition, our priest washes the feet of many of our parishioners. It is done as a symbol, not just as the recreation of the biblical story… In our tradition, this simple, humbling act is symbolic of the servant’s nature present within our priests, but it is also supposed to remind us that nothing is too humbling or difficult for us to do, when serving our neighbor.

In the spirit of friendship, I reach out to my fellow artists on the issue of exploitation in art. There are certain works of art being created to shock or disturb us. These works cause us to wonder what the artist is trying to tell us as opposed to what the piece is trying to affirm or capture. The pieces vie for our attention as if they were advertisements. As we scramble about our fast paced lives, we assign values to them and measure their worth according to how they can help us gain a profit. It is this approach that opens the door to exploitation in art.

We are now at day 27 of Lent. By now we are half way trough, which means that it could be useful to make a stop and think about the journey we have traveled so far. Lets say it’s similar of those stops that a bus driver (or maybe ourselves) does when he is taking a long trip. From time to time he parks at a gas station to check if breaks are okay, if there is enough gas and the tires have the necessary air to go on. It is better to take precautions than latter be left stranded on the middle of the road, or maybe worst: Not being able to get to the destination.

I have to admit I was humbled when I saw Cardinal Bergoglio’s name and picture flashed on the television screen. My prejudices betrayed me. I saw an older, serious looking man, who I vaguely remembered from the last conclave. He wasn’t the pope I wanted. I immediately searched Google, saying to myself, please don’t let him be a curia hack, someone concerned more about rules and ritualism and preserving the status quo than in communicating the radical message of the Gospel.

I agree with my friend that an extremely small minority would even, at least at this time, entertain electing Raymond Cardinal Burke to the Throne of Peter. In fact, the idea might very well make some of them sick to their stomachs. However, there are some good reasons why, in the end, Burke will be elected Supreme Pontiff.

There are certain great things that we wish would last forever: holidays, the extra time of the game when our team is so close to winning, pizza, Sunday nights, a date with your loved one. Yes, they are pretty ordinary things, but we wish that time doesn’t set its course and we could just freeze that moment. Something similar happened to Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration...he feels prone to stay there. He doesn’t want to leave, at all.

As humans endowed with free will, intellect, and the burning desire for transcendence, we should stop making Christian music. Here’s 5 of 100 reasons why...

Young people are human. If we understood this reality we wouldn’t have crappy youth ministry programs, worse catechesis, politicians on Twitter, the wild success of Ke$ha, and a bored and banal culture. But we do suffer these tortures, for we are convinced that being young and able to navigate Facebook transforms the human person into a locus around which the universe turns, the deciding, haloed blueprint for the construction of culture, religion, and politics.

The Moscow artist Natalia Tsarkova settled down in Rome a couple of steps from the Vatican. This nice woman is not just another compatriot of ours who has chosen the Eternal City for her residence; she has received the honorary title of the official portrait artist of Pope Benedict XVI.

To the masses he was known as Bob Marley – the man who brought them reggae and Rastafarianism. His was the voice of classics like “No Woman No Cry” recorded live at the London Lyceum Ballroom in 1975. However, what most people don’t know, and many try to cover up, is the fact that Bob Marley converted to Christianity in 1980. In fact on 4 November 1980 he was baptised and became a member of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. When he was buried under Orthodox rites on 21st May 1981 it was with his Bible and his Gibson guitar!

Some say that the Ecumenical Struggle (‘Movement’) has reached an impasse. Much consensus has been made on many issues, but without an ecclesiastical organ with enough authority to bring everyone together to assent to these consensi, division will continue. More Christians may be taking into consideration the possibility of a universal form of governance and unity, as witnessed by the scholarly reception of Bl. John Paul II’s invitation to reflect on the ministry of the Papacy in Ut Unum Sint. In this short reflection, I would like to add to this by offering a few considerations that I believe should be taken into account when we discuss the reform of the Papacy.

Years ago I was at a panel discussion featuring several Catholic authors when someone asked the question: “As artists, do you struggle with orthodoxy?” The panelists leaned forward in their seats, looked at one another, and began nervously laughing. When they regained their composure, the answers were not memorable. That’s not to say the writers were not thoughtful or up to the task—they were all at least a generation older than me, very well published and well respected—and it was kind of a punk question to ask—but my heart was burning for at least one of the panelists to say no.

In every generation, and perhaps more frequently, there is a belief set forth within various corners of Christianity that we are living in “the last days.” ... First, we must acknowledge that there are “problems” in the world around us, but that these are not justifications for extremism and an abandonment of the love of Christ for the world. ... Secondly, and in response to the first dilemma of the modern Orthodox Christian, we must not let our acknowledgement of “problems” in this world (or in the Church) lead to a disgust for the world (or the Church). “Negative” spirituality is no spirituality at all.

If all revealed truths are to be believed with the same divine faith and all constitutive elements of the Church maintained with the same loyalty, they nevertheless do not all claim or possess the same status. There are truths which belong to the order of the end, such as the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, the incarnation of the word, the redemption, divine love and grace towards sinful mankind, eternal life in the perfection of the kingdom of God, and others. But there are other truths which belong to the order of the means of salvation, such as the truth that there are seven sacraments, the hierarchical structure of the Church, the apostolic succession, etc.

This essay explains why, as an Orthodox Christian, I reconciled myself with the Holy Father. We need to get past the polemics and actually engage in a dialogue like Christians should: speaking the truth in love Eph. 4:15)) The reality is that the fatherhood of Papa is within the Church and conciliarity is the same as a father’s authority is within the family. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium beautifully elucidated this relationship. Moreover, we should admit that “the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West” but that the differences involve the exercise of that office and its foundation, “a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.”

This essay explains why, as an Orthodox Christian, I reconciled myself with the Holy Father. We need to get past the polemics and actually engage in a dialogue like Christians should: speaking the truth in love Eph. 4:15)) The reality is that the fatherhood of Papa is within the Church and conciliarity is the same as a father’s authority is within the family. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium beautifully elucidated this relationship. Moreover, we should admit that “the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West” but that the differences involve the exercise of that office and its foundation, “a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.”

This essay explains why, as an Orthodox Christian, I reconciled myself with the Holy Father. We need to get past the polemics and actually engage in a dialogue like Christians should: speaking the truth in love Eph. 4:15)) The reality is that the fatherhood of Papa is within the Church and conciliarity is the same as a father’s authority is within the family. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium beautifully elucidated this relationship. Moreover, we should admit that “the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West” but that the differences involve the exercise of that office and its foundation, “a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.”

This essay explains why, as an Orthodox Christian, I reconciled myself with the Holy Father. We need to get past the polemics and actually engage in a dialogue like Christians should: speaking the truth in love Eph. 4:15)) The reality is that the fatherhood of Papa is within the Church and conciliarity is the same as a father’s authority is within the family. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium beautifully elucidated this relationship. Moreover, we should admit that “the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West” but that the differences involve the exercise of that office and its foundation, “a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.”

This essay explains why, as an Orthodox Christian, I reconciled myself with the Holy Father. We need to get past the polemics and actually engage in a dialogue like Christians should: speaking the truth in love Eph. 4:15)) The reality is that the fatherhood of Papa is within the Church and conciliarity is the same as a father’s authority is within the family. The Vatican II document Lumen Gentium beautifully elucidated this relationship. Moreover, we should admit that “the fact of primacy at the universal level is accepted by both East and West” but that the differences involve the exercise of that office and its foundation, “a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.”