The Ave Maria Farm

The Term “Backwards” Means Nothing

“But that’s so backwards, right?” There is a widespread assumption in modern society that stepping away from so-called “progress” means becoming “backwards.” This attitude is utterly illogically. The very descriptions are subjective and arbitrary. They imply that fads are positive in nature, and tradition negative. It is as ridiculous as claiming “everything new is good!” Imagine one lemming saying to another, “Run forward! Forward is good!” In a spirit of progressivism, the two lemmings run forward zealously, right off of the face of a cliff. There was nothing positive about their forwardness.

Continue reading “Evaluating our Technology”

Our Homes Are Our Domestic Churches

“Disorder in the sensible will echo with disorder in the spiritual” (Fr. Francis Bethel 199).

Every Christian’s home should become a “little church” — imbued with beauty, order, wholesome rituals, and focus as in the Divine Liturgy. The environment in the home shapes the kind of people we become, whether in worldliness or in kingdom-mindedness. A wholesome atmosphere should make the home a sanctuary to everyone who walks in through the front door.

Continue reading “Family Rituals”

This Spring, the Ave Maria Farm is hosting a Spiritual Retreat & Garden Planting, open up to Orthodox Christians in Texas and abroad. We need volunteers to help us plant our 7,000 square foot community garden. During this week, we will meet for Daily Mass and Rosary services, fellowship and discussion meetings, and days spent with hands working in the earth. Bring your own tents. Public restrooms and common meals are available at the farm. Experience quiet and reflection beneath the big, Texan sky, tucked away between mesquite trees, among sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens, and Bonita the donkey. $100 fee to cover costs of food and utilities. We are located in Iowa Park, TX, two hours north of Dallas. Check out our Ave Maria Farm podcast and Youtube Channel. Spread the news and reach out to learn more!

Fr. Peter Kavanaugh

FatherKavanaugh@gmail.com

www.SaintBenedictOrthodox.com

940-692-3392

Make Homes into Sanctuaries

We must make the home sacred again! The world is starved for holy space. Secular man will find hope not in lectures or social reforms, but only through encountering holiness. This begins in the parish. It then proceeds to the home. Men, women, married or single, young or old, share this mission. We should be willing to sacrifice everything for it — to create homes and sanctuaries for quiet and nourishment.

Continue reading “Make Homes Sacred”

Modernity Blunts Our Soul’s Eye. Poetry Heals It.

By growing up in the modern world we inherit a secular and scientific worldview. We interpret our experiences through a biased lens. Our focus gravitates towards what we can touch and measure, rather than on metaphysical truths behind what we touch and measure. We must strive for poetry and art, because these retrain our focus, and make us more sensitive to spiritual matters.

Continue reading “To Be a Christian One Must Become a Poet”

“We must return to the Faith of our fathers by way of the prayer of our fathers.” ~ John Senior

The Vacuum of our Secular Era

As modern day Americans, it is nearly impossible for us to imagine what a balanced and healthy Christian lifestyle actually looks like. Protestantism has played a primary role in shaping the way we Americans understand religious life. All too often, this has reduced religion to a private matter, with little to no regard for contemplation. In Orthodoxy, indeed, in all traditional Christian societies, religion is fundamentally communal and contemplative. Christian culture, the culture that creates saints, begins and ends in the liturgical prayer life of the Church.

Continue reading “Contemplation: Foundation of Culture”

“They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear” (Psalm 135:15-16).

Modern man is desperately in need of rediscovering reality. The following quotes and comments explore why this is so and how we may achieve this.

Continue reading “Rediscovering Reality”

Unplug from the machine. Tune in to God’s reality.

“If we are to restore an authentic…Christian culture, we will have to think not just about fighting infanticide, sex education and pornography — by all means fight them to death — but for the positive work of the restoration of culture which lies wrecked in the wake of the humanist assault: we will have to think about simpler, larger, elemental things which, losing their original strength, gave access to the enemy in the first place —elemental things which are the foundation and the principle of the superstructures we must rebuild” (John Senior, Restoration of Christian Culture).

It has never been so urgent that we slam on the breaks of our lifestyle. Pull off to the side of the road, plant your feet on the grass, breathe in the air. Why are we rushing? Towards what are we rushing, or, should I say, being pulled. I wonder how many of our lifestyle choices are really directed by God’s heart, let alone my own heart. Indeed, something else seems to be driving us — the social milieu, the entertainment industry, the “machine.” Whatever you call it, we need to stop. For the next few weeks, we will be reexamining the modern norm, challenging shared attitudes, and looking at the wisdom of older generations.

Continue reading “Fight for Culture”

Unplug from the Machine. Tune in to God’s Reality.

What would it look like to life a life centered around sacramental worship, classical values, art, leisure, and a healthy relationship with nature and dirt? Something is sick in our modern lifestyle. The moral and cultural foundations of society are crumbling, but what are the underlying reasons? Where did we go wrong from the start, and how can we get back to balance? There is a lot of talk about the problems in society, but where do we go from here, and how radical does this have to be?

Continue reading “Welcome to the Ave Maria Farm”