Month: February 2011

Murphy’s law and molebens. Logismoi. How to think about personal intercessory prayer.

We all know about “Murphy’s Law” – “If anything can go wrong, it will”. It has many corollaries, and is sometimes funny in context. But it is not funny when applied to real life – and by this I mean our inner life, in which we gain our salvation.

There is an “occupational hazard” in the pastoral life, which, I believe afflicts all but the truly humble and perfected. It consists of “Murphy’s law type of thinking – “logismoi” – negative thoughts.

I have these thoughts, and they are like mosquitoes – very hard to get rid of – and the best way to deal with them is to ignore them and just keep doing the right thing….

As many have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. An explanation by Saint Gregory Palamas

Water is a means of cleaning, but not for souls. It can remove dirt from those being baptized, but not the grime which comes from sin. For that reason, the Healer of souls, the Father of Spirits (Heb 12:9), Christ, Who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), enters into the water before us to be baptized …