When you see Herod and Pilate making friends with each other in order to destroy Jesus, you may discern in this the concurrence of the demons of unchastity and self-esteem, who combine together to put to death the Logos of virtue and spiritual knowledge. For the demon of self-esteem, making a pretence of spiritual knowledge, refers to the demon of unchasitity, and the demon of unchastity, putting on a hypocritical show of purity refers back to the demon of self-esteem. Thus it is said, "When Herod had arrayed Jesus in a gorgeous robe, he sent him again to Pilate." (Maximos the Confessor)

Herod is the personification of sensuality and self-indulgence, Pilate of power projected and imposed.

It is said by some that Christianity is a blending of Jerusalem and Athens, while the Church is a combination of Babylon and Rome.

I struggle with self-esteem. I am not self-confident. I depend too much on the reassurance of others.

But might my self-doubt be a gift as much as stumbling block? While Babylon and Rome may occasionally titillate, mostly they repel me. Jerusalem and Athens are always calling.

The desert fathers reflect the austerity of their physical environment, they cultivated the disciplines of physical, intellectual, and spiritual aridity.

Today is the feast day of Hildegaard of Bingen, a spiritual mother of the lush Rhine valley. In her Song of Mary, Hildegaard teaches,

You glowing, most green, verdant sprout, In the movement of the spirit, in the midst of wise and holy seekers, you bud forth into light. Your time to blossom had come.

Balsam scented, in you the beautiful flower blossomed. It is the beautiful flower that lends its scent to those herbs, all that had shrivelled and wilted. It brings them lush greenness once more.

God created both arid and verdent. In each God may be found. We need not reject one or the other, if we engage both as expressions of God.