Father Michael’s Blog
Confession: the Healing Sacrament
How appropriate that the Maxim we focus on this week from Fr. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living is “Go to Confession and Communion Regularly.” It’s appropriate coming at the end of Lent and the middle of Holy Week as many of us have recently been to Confession. I’ve probably heard as many Confessions […]
The Distracted Life
Following my homily on distraction this past Sunday, I heard much interest in the topic, and in the article I referenced. We take a break from our exploration of Fr. Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living in order to look into this important topic, which affects us all. Feel free to read it for yourself, […]
Go to Liturgical Services Regularly
In this week’s maxim from Fr. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living, we focus on the value when we “Go to Liturgical Services Regularly.” One of the most dangerous assumptions that modern life holds for us modern Christians is the false idea that Church is for Sunday morning. The unintended result of the imprisonment […]
Do Acts of Mercy in Secret
We continue our ongoing reflections on Father Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living. Today’s Maxim is “.” We will hear Father Tom’s own words reflecting on both the high importance of acts of mercy (also referred to as “Almsgiving”) in the Christian life, as well as the reason for the secrecy. I encourage […]
Spend Some Time in Silence Each Day
Today’s topic is a tough one for many of us. As Fr. Richard Andrews, one of my seminary classmates, points out in his sermon from this past Sunday that practicing silence is at one and the same time the hardest thing for many of us, but also the most crucial. It IS the path toward […]
Eat Good Foods in Moderation
Maxims number 7 and 8 of Father Thomas Hopko’ 55 Maxims of the Christian Life are “Eat good foods in moderation” and “Keep the Church’s fasting rules.” Fortunately, the fasting discipline of Great Lent shows this that while eating healthy foods at all times is good, fasting has benefits for us, both physical and spiritual. […]
Make Some Prostrations When You Pray
I promise that when I began to use Fr. Thomas’ Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living that I did not time this week’s topic to coincide with the first week of Lent. But for those of us who have been to services during this week prostrations have been prominent, if for no other reason than the muscle […]
Have a Short Prayer that you Constantly Repeat
In Maxim #5 of Fr. Hopko’s 55 Maxims of the Christian Life, he exhorts us to “ when your mind is not occupied with other things.” The standard way this is practiced in Eastern Orthodoxy is through the praying of what is called “The Jesus Prayer.” This week’s article, written by Father Peter Orfanakos of St. […]
Say the Lord’s Prayer Several Times Each Day
In this, the fourth of our ongoing series focusing on one of Fr. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living each week, we look at his suggestion to Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day. This week’s reflection comes from Fr. Tom himself, who expounds on the deep meaning of this essential prayer in […]
Have a Keepable Rule of Prayer, Done by Discipline
In the third of our reflections on the Fr. Thomas Hopko’s 55 Maxims for Christian Living, we focus on how to “Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline.” A “prayer rule” is simply one’s standard, daily prayer routine, just like a workout routine at the gym or the preparations you make when having […]
Pray As You Can, Not As You Think You Must
In our series of posts focusing on Fr. Thomas Hopko’s “55 Maxims for Christian Living,” we focus this week on Maxim #2: Pray as you can, not as you think you must. We all know we should pray, but do we know why? Today’s reflection, from Seminarian Jeremiah in his blog at orthodoxroad.com, gives us […]
Be Always with Christ and Trust God in Everything
Like many of you, I find myself with not enough time to do the things I need to. With this in mind, I’ll be taking a break from writing my weekly blog for a season, but instead will provide some of the best writings I find on living our lives as Christians in these […]
