*A National Examen

You’ve got to read this reflection by Abbot Joseph and for maximum effect, I’m directing you to Word Incarnate.

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*Abbot Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

Abbot Joseph: I call this blog “Word Incarnate” not only in honor of my Lord, but as an acknowledgement that words have the ability to “take flesh” in people’s lives, to make a difference, to help lead them, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to the whole truth. I pray [...]

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*Church and World

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]
I’ve begun reading In the World, of the Church, an anthology of some of the writings of the late Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov.  His voice was both prophetic and ecumenical, but most of all profoundly Christian.  I would like to reproduce here some passages from his article “A [...]

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*Abbot Joseph’s Marvelous Reflections

 Listed below are links to Abbot Joseph Homick’s marvelous reflections posted on his weblog, Word Incarnate.
They are listed in order of descending date posted (read from the bottom up for ascending date order), however you can also access them in alphabetical order by clicking here. They are also accessible by date posted via the monthly [...]

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*On Seeing and Being Seen

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below

We’ve arrived at the first Sunday of Lent, and therefore the Epistle reading from Hebrews (11:24 - 12:2) has for us a message that is, unsurprisingly, concerned with repentance and faith: “let us lay aside every encumbrance and sin that clings so closely, and [...]

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*Scripture and Tradition Fit Together by Divine Design

It All Fits
by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below

The revelation of God, and the teachings of the Church which are derived from it, cannot be adopted a la carte.  Everything fits together according to divine design, and you can’t add or subtract anything without somehow distorting the whole.  If some [...]

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*He Will Come Again in Glory to Judge…

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below

Lent is just a little over a week away, so the Church is getting serious about us getting serious about Lent.  That’s one reason we have the Gospel of the Last Judgment today (Mt. 25:31-46).  We have to be reminded and exhorted to realize that the choices [...]

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*On Metanoia and Coming Home

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]
As we take another step closer to Lent, the Church takes us deeper into the mystery of repentance.  With the Gospel of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32), we have a fairly complete picture of this mystery.  For it is not only about the recognition [...]

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*From Selfishness to Sacrifice (Part 2)

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]

The Gospel passage I’ve chosen for the sacrificial level of spiritual life is the following: “Greater love has no man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends.”  I could have also chosen Jesus’ call to turn the other cheek and [...]

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*From Selfishness to Sacrifice (Part 1)

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]
[This is an article I wrote a few years ago, but I thought it worth recycling since it deals with themes that are ever-present in our spiritual lives and that are also ever-challenging, because we are ever-failing to get it right! So here's another [...]

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*Prepare the Way, Again

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]

After six weeks of Advent preparations in which we did our best to “prepare the way of the Lord,” we have finally celebrated the great feast of the Nativity in the flesh of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Suddenly we are again called [...]

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*The Light of Christ our Savior

The Light has Come!
by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate or continue below.]

Christ is born! Let us “rejoice exceedingly with great joy” as did the Magi when they saw the star over the place where the Child lay. For we have already received—those of us who were here at the vigil Liturgy—the message [...]

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*The Old Rugged Cross

by Abbot Joseph
[You can read this at Word Incarnate here or continue below.]
You might wish to question why I’m writing about the old rugged Cross just before Christmas. I might wish to question it myself. But something struck me (don’t worry, I’m OK) during my Advent retreat while I was walking up the mountain and [...]

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*An Interview with Satan

by Abbot Joseph
[I know I said I wasn’t going to deal with politics anymore—and this is only partly about politics, anyway—but I had this once in a lifetime (thank God!) opportunity. The devil himself agreed to grant me an interview. I had to insist that he appear in a form I would find tolerable, for [...]

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*Post-Election Reflection # 2 by Abbot Joseph

Post-Election Flotsam and Jetsam
by Abbot Joseph
There are a couple of loose ends I’d like to tie up here, before I begin totally to ignore politics once again. Oddly enough, though, in recent years religion and politics have been more inextricably entwined than they have been for quite some time.
The first concerns the happy passage of California’s [...]

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