“Cursed is the ground in your labors. In toil you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.”

The seed of the Gospel has been scattered in every direction, and it shall land on every heart. But it is up to us to till the ground and prepare to receive it. We must drag away the heavy rocks, and break the hardened shell of a well-trodden path. And then we shall spend our days tending to weeds and thorns, lest they spring up and take what we have from us.

With Lent almost upon us, Fr. Patrick sets out with this meditation to prepare us all for the hard work of tilling and toil ahead.

Fairness. Equality. Justice. We call out for these things ceaselessly. We constantly seek after and await the prize we have decided is our due reward.

But what happens when the scales are really balanced? When every person is given an equal share of the perfect, loving, overwhelming, generosity of God are we really satisfied? When our brother is restored to a new inheritance, having already squandered what he had, are we glad he is home?

Today Fr. Patrick prepares to enter the Lenten season with a meditation on one of the greatest dangers in the Christian life, one so poisonous it can cause us to attempt to judge God himself.…

To whom is salvation promised? In whom do the Saints find joy and rest? What does a faithful community look like?

“I thank God upon my every remembrance of you.”

These are the words which begin St. Paul’s address to the Church at Phillipi. And they are followed by all manner of confident and joyful proclamations from the Great Apostle concerning both their conduct, and their trajectory.

Today Fr. Patrick discusses salvation, and direction. And the proper context for trusting in God’s promises.

~ Whence an arrow is pointed, there it shall fly.

The Lord will surely come, and will not tarry. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will manifest himself to all nations.

Why must so much be hidden from us? Truth is often so shrouded in mystery, and buried beneath symbols and types, that we can hardly see it at all.

Fr. Patrick takes on the device of parable itself today, and sheds some light on darkness as a vessel for the truth.

The Day of Candlemas. When at long-awaited last the Ancient of Days returns to his Temple in Jerusalem. He who came down to Moses in a Pillar of Wind and Flame again meets face to face with the keeper of the sacred doors.…

As Salvation himself is cradled and presented, the First Age looks upon him with peace. At long last his time has run its course; and the darkened eyes of the Old Man find rest in the Light of the New.

“If God is good, why is there evil?” “If God is all-knowing, how has an enemy snuck something by him?” These questions have plagued Christians since the very beginning, and can be not only disheartening, but destructive to our faith if we are not careful. Today Fr. Patrick presents the answer the Lord himself gives in the Scriptures; along with some hope-filled refreshment for the long road of life.