Category: Articles

“The Troubled Spirit of Tintern Abbey” is an interesting story from Lord Halifax’s Ghost Book (1936, pp. 201-204), chiefly because it relates to Purgatory and the effectiveness of Masses for […]

Read more

The Odes of Solomon are the oldest surviving hymnal from the early Christian world. They were probably written in ancient Syria, in the Syriac language, between 100 and 200 AD. […]

Read more

One of the teachings of the Catholic faith, which we Maronites share, and which has always seemed to me to be absolutely true is the doctrine of Purgatory. I have […]

Read more

A Calling: Part Two When chapter 6 of Abbot William’s autobiography opens, it is mid-1951, and he has joined the Trappist abbey at Spencer. He writes about the spiritual path […]

Read more

The Massabki brothers, Francis, Abdel Moati and Raphael, were Maronite martyrs, slain in Damascus on 10 July 1860 in part of a dramatic anti-Christian uprising in Syria and Lebanon from […]

Read more

The journal Universitas, issued by the Jesuit-run Fu Jen University in Taiwan, has kindly published my article entitled “The Institution of the Eucharist in the Gospel of John, the Didache […]

Read more

Formulation and Dithering  It is a beautiful, entertaining word: “dithering”; quite one of the modest glories of the English language. You could spend the afternoon in nature, on a grassy […]

Read more

Formulations play an enormous part in our lives. They are necessary: whenever we speak we use formulations: “Good morning”, “I am …”, “Would you like …”, “Can you tell me […]

Read more

Gurdjieff and the Prayer of the Heart Gurdjieff taught that techniques such as fasting, confession and prayer were not only valuable, but essential for any seeker. Gurdjieff gave few indications […]

Read more

What is the greatest novel ever written, you ask? Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein (1954). Without a doubt. Of course, this is just my own opinion. I shall […]

Read more