In which I Pursue Personal Transformation or Sanctification | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

On the amazing Baptism in the Holy Spirit–and its limits!

Anita Mathias — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 21:25:37 +0000

John the Baptist’s preaching caused a revival, of sorts. “The whole Judaean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.” (Mark 1:5) This explosion of popularity did not throw him off course. He did not try to maintain his momentum or his platform. He stayed focused on the Message-giver, and his message […]

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Failing Better: A New Year’s Resolution, of sorts

Anita Mathias — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 20:58:18 +0000

Christ Church, Oxford University Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. Samuel Beckett So it’s a New Year…2017. I love this hopeful period of looking back on the past year, and considering how to revise my life in the new year. I love its promise, a sheet of new fallen […]

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Changing the Soil of My Heart, Little by Little

Anita Mathias — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 08:54:32 +0000

I read the Gospels, I hear them preached, and tap, tap, tap, go my jubilant feet. The Gospels tell me lovely things I wanted to believe but feared were not true; that fellow Christians often suggested were not true, by their deeds, if not their words; and that our world definitely believes are not true. […]

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The Secret of Accessing God’s Power in our Daily Lives

Anita Mathias — Fri, 30 May 2014 11:53:14 +0000

The phoenix, which rose out of the ashes of his old body, is a symbol of Christ in traditional iconography. It could also be a symbol of the power of prayer. Numerous times in my life, when I have been stuck, prayer–-intense, deep, desperate prayer–-has changed my circumstances. Has reversed the plot. It is, in […]

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The Power to Change Comes from Christ in Us, Our Hope of Glory

Anita Mathias — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:25:27 +0000

A mosaic in Ravenna, made of millions of broken tessarae of glass and enamel The principle runs through all life from top to bottom. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day: […]

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Where Good Stories are to be Found

Anita Mathias — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 22:21:09 +0000

Image Credit My tender-hearted children hated sad stories. Neither would let me read Oscar Wilde’s exquisite short stories to them, or even Hans Christian Andersen’s because they were too sad. When I recommended a book or movie, they wanted to know if it was sad, and especially if it had a sad ending. But […]

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How Circling Prayer can Convert a Vicious Circle to a Virtuous Circle

Anita Mathias — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 11:57:10 +0000

Have you ever experienced a vicious circle? You know: Feel sad. Eat chocolate or sugary treats. Feel hyper or aggressive. It wears off. Feel sad. And grumpy and defeated about the weight gain. Eat chocolate to help you feel better. And then… Or: Get stressed and tired. Let things lie where they fall. House gets […]

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In which Change can come like Magic and Miracles, or through Grace-and-Sweat

Anita Mathias — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 12:00:34 +0000

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Comfort Eating, Emotional Eating, Compulsive Eating: Goodbye to All That

Anita Mathias — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 17:26:23 +0000

Continued from In which I seek healing, and the healer says, Rise, take up your pallet, and walk. So for ten days now, I have not had sugar or white flour (deciding to cut just these two things from my diet for starters) and have not eaten when I have not been hungry. And I […]

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Five years have past! When a retrospective glance consoles

Anita Mathias — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:55:32 +0000

Tintern Abbey Five years have past; five summers, with the length Of five long […]

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