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HOLY SILENCE
Reflections on a Journey into God
A Contemplative Community Dedicated to Prayer and
Healing Pastoral Encounter
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St. Gregory Palamas: Please Pray!
Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for teaching me about essence, energies, uncreated light, and the Jesus Prayer. I am especially grateful for your wise and holy counsel because it gave me a pathway to explain the divinely ins

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 14, 20251 min read


St. Frances Xavier Cabrini: Please Pray!
Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for loving, guiding, and inspiring my grandmother, Concetta. A photograph of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini.

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 13, 20251 min read


Holy Spirit Mondays: Giver of Life
Each week I send a short email to help you deepen your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you have a question or a prayer request, please reach out here . Read : "It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." (John 6:63). Ponder: In John 6:56, Jesus declared that "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." Some of the disciples, like many people today, either did not understa

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 10, 20251 min read


Life, Suffering and Angels that Speak (Homily)
Today, we are reminded that life can be beautiful and glorious because God created it. But there is a lot of suffering in it too ... emotionally, intellectually, physically, relationally, and spiritually. To help us through the suffering, God sends us people who can help us find patience and gracious love in the difficulty. He also sends us angels and saints who speak to us and show us the way to God who reminds us ... 'I am speaking to you in prayer, I am leading you in Spir

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 9, 20251 min read


St. Nektarios: Please Pray!
Intercede for me and pray for my spiritual sons and daughters so that we may have a stable foundation of deep prayer and a ministry of healing the afflicted. Please keep me close so that I may have strength to walk with everyone who comes for confession and spiritual guidance. Thank you for your example of humility in the face of great difficulty. An icon depicting St. Nektarios of Pentapolis.

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 9, 20251 min read


Why Do We Pray?
We talk a lot about praying, but why do we do it? Prayer Brings Us Close to the Holy Spirit "Virtues are formed by prayer. Prayer preserves temperance, suppresses anger, restrains pride and envy, draws down the Holy Spirit into the soul and raises man to heaven" (St Ephraim the Syrian, in Moore, Orthodox Prayer , p. 22). Prayer Keeps Us Steady "Hold on to the staff of prayer and you will not fall. And even a fall will not be fatal, since prayer is a devout, persistent coercin

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 8, 20252 min read


Holy Spirit Mondays: God Within
Each week I send a short email to help you deepen your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you have a question or a prayer request, please reach out here . Read : "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, present in all places and filling all things, treasury of goodness and giver of life: come; abide in us, cleanse us of every stain, and save our souls, O Good one." Ponder: These words of the best-known Holy Spirit prayer are recited so much that they are often forgotten

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 3, 20251 min read


Following the Rules is Not Enough (Homily)
Today, we are reminded that it is not enough to follow all the prudential rules of the church (e.g. fasting). Rather, it is vital to train the entirety of the human person - body, mind, soul, and spirit - to focus entirely on God who creates, redeems, and sanctifies. Thus, it is incumbent upon each of us to follow the eternal Logos, Christ, the Word made flesh, who leads us to salvation. And to listen, to obey, and to be forever changed by the Holy Spirit who leads us into sa

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Nov 2, 20251 min read


Life and Death at the Water's Edge
I live at the end of the road Literally. I live at the far end of an island Where the land gives way to water And that water stretches far and wide. First through a gulf Then to a sea Onward into an ocean. Every day I watch that water Lap at the sand, Break onto the rocks, and Rush over my feet I think a lot about where those waters come from And where they're going. They make me think of my own origins, My comings, my goings, and my destiny too. In that ebb and flow I hear a

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Oct 29, 20251 min read


Holy Spirit Mondays: Fire and Forgiveness
Each week I send a short email to help you deepen your relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you have a question or a prayer request, please reach out here . Read : "O radiant children of the Church, receive the fiery dew of the Spirit, the cleansing of sins which brings deliverance; for now from Sion has the law gone forth: the grace of the Spirit in tongues of fire" ( Canon to the Divine, Worshipful & All-Holy Spirit, the Paraclete , St. Maximos the Greek, Ode 5, Irmos). Po

Fr. Thomas Colyandro
Oct 27, 20252 min read

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