Reflection on the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas

On this second Sunday of Great Lent, we celebrate the feast of St. Gregory Palamas and renew the triumph of Orthodoxy. How unbearable the pressure must have been, in the gloomy latter days of the Byzantine Empire, to compromise the faith in the name of expedience or personal comfort. Yet St. Gregory shows us, with his profound teachings on the uncreated Light and hesychasm, that the light of Christ shines most brightly when the darkness seems greatest. As we celebrate St. Gregory’s memory, let us strive, despite our busy lives and hectic schedules, to put his teachings into practice, devoting at least a few minutes a day to the prayer of Jesus and the cultivation of silence.