Greetings Glen Mar, I hope you are having a great week! Today is the first day of Spring, and we know that warm weather is coming soon. At least, we can hope so. After all, we do live in Maryland. This week, we are going to talk about humility. Amma (mother) Syncletica said: “Just as treasure is soon spent when…

Greetings Glen Mar, This week, we will talk about the wisdom we can find in the wilderness of Lent, and for that matter, life. While the Desert Mothers and Fathers did not often speak of wisdom directly, they alluded to it often as they sought after and taught on what a virtuous life in God should look like. Abba Anthony…

Greetings, Glen Mar! We continue in the Lenten series on the Desert Mothers and Fathers this week, and we are going to talk about a touchy topic: possessions. Specifically, we will examine when our possessions end up possessing us, or in other biblical words: when they become idols in our lives. What is an idol? To think about biblical idols,…

Greetings Glen Mar, While many of us struggle with being quiet, the Desert Mothers and Fathers believed that silence was a discipline that makes space for God to be present. Abba Poemen once said, “The victory over all the afflictions that befall you is to keep silence.” He also said, “If you keep silent, you will have peace wherever you…

Greetings Glen Mar, While Lent is just beginning, we now enter our second week of the Lectio365 Lenten series, The Desert Mothers and Fathers. This week, we turn to “the Desert as a Place of Spiritual Testing” and how the desert can intensify our hunger for holiness. Consider this saying from the desert monastics: A brother who was obsessed by…