The fasting season is a period of spiritual illumination and of adorning the soul with the sanctifying presence of God. ~ Patriarch Daniel of Romania
Fasting supports the prayer of a believer who considers his connection with God as the centre, the Light, and the nourishment of his soul. ~ Patriarch Daniel of Romania
Today is also one of the feast days for the ancient, Miraculous Kursk Root Icon: Theotokos of the Sign(Orans). It’s a Holy Consolationwhich many of us have been blessed to venerate in person.
May we try to emulate our Most Holy Theotokos by always saying “yes” to God, for in doing so… we shall thrive and shine – reflecting the True and Illuminating Light of Christ!
May your Lenten Journey be Peaceful and Fruitful!
6th century Akathist (Hymn) to the Theotokos chanted in English
On the new style calendar, today is also St. Patrick of Ireland. (The equivalent Julian calendar date for March 17th is 13 days later – on March 30th)
Here are some fascinating historical documents about St. Patrick, written by the 7th century monk Muirchú from the Royal Irish Academy.
Icons of St. Patrick often show him holding a three-leafed shamrock growing on a single stem, he used this to illustrate the Holy Trinity – our One God in Three Persons.
St. Patrick wrote many hymns. Here is an excerpt from a beautiful, longer hymn, the Lorica (Breastplate) of St. Patrick.“I bind unto myself today, the Strong Name of the Trinity! By Invocation of the same, the Three in One, and One in Three!” ~ St. Patrick
Abbreviated Lorica Hymn of St. Patrick’s Prayer, recorded and sung below, by our Youth Choir in 2019.
As today is Forgiveness Sunday, I’ll conclude with sincerely asking your forgiveness… For any offense I may have given to any of my readers/subscribers, at any time.
God Forgives!
May our Lenten Journey ahead, be Peaceful and Fruitful!
Another (very short) recording of St. Patrick’s Prayer sung outside, by my GG’s a few years ago.The precious robin chirping at the end… was totally unrehearsed!
…whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! ~ Psalm 8:8-9
When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you… the hard trials that come will not hurt you. ~ Isaiah 43:2
The soul cannot get enough of beholding the beauty of nature. Oh, if man would only lift his mind above this earthly realm to the Heavenly Jerusalem, to the inconceivable beauty of Paradise where the finite, earthly mind ceases to operate… There every saved soul will live in an ocean of love, sweetness, joy, amazement, and wonder! ~ Elder Ephraim, Arizona Monastery
…O Christ the true Light, who enlightens and sanctifies every person who comes into the world: Let the Light of Your countenance shine on us, that in it we may behold the Uncreated Light. ~ Excerpt from Prayer of the Hours; 1st Hour
Foamy Lace – A Beach Microcosm – the Small within the Great!
The Holy Spirit binds together the separated spirits of each one of us. ~ St. Cyril of Alexandria
In her voyage across the ocean of this world, the Church is like a great ship being pounded by the waves of life’s different stresses. Our duty is not to abandon ship but to keep her on her course. ~ St. Boniface
…put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ~ Colossians 3:14
Sometimes the stars sing me to sleep with their silentness. ~ Shared by Ellie
Where ocean meets shore, foamy constellations ebb – eclipsing star shells.
Briny bubbles burst like salty supernovae in the waxing tide.
To Merge, to Become – Triadic Axials of Harmonic Oneness.
When two people get married, it’s as if they’re saying: Together we will go forward, hand in hand, through good times and bad… But in the depths of the night, we continue to believe in the sun and the light.~ Elder Aimilianos of Mt. Athos
May God God grant Seraphim and Helena many years, as they embark upon the dance of life together… wherever they are!
Love all creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand within it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. ~ Staretz Zosima; The Brothers Karamazov – by Fyodor Dostoevsky
…See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ~ St. Matthew 6:28-29
All created things are marked with the seal of the Trinity... The contemplation of nature has two correlative aspects. First, it means appreciating the “thusness” or “thisness” of particular things, persons and moments. We are to see each stone, each leaf, each blade of grass, each frog, each human face, for what it truly is, in all the distinctness and intensity of its specific being. As the prophet Zechariah warns us, we are not to “despise the day of small things” (4:10). “True mysticism”, says Olivier Clément, “is to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary.” ~ Metropolitan Kallistos Ware; The Orthodox Way
Even during a simple walk, it’s a mystery how easily the Great can be seen in the Small. Whether it be stoic flowers bursting through cement cracks, or a cheery family of four snowdrops, popping up like unexpected company – on a grassy boulevard.
God’s beautiful gift of nature is all around us.
All we have to do is to see what we’re looking at.
We have within us deeply rooted weaknesses, passions, and defects. This can not all be cut out with one sharp motion, but patience, persistence, care and attention. The path leading to perfection is long. Pray to God so that he will strengthen you. Patiently accept your falls and, having stood up, immediately run to God, not remaining in that place where you have fallen. Don’t let anything deprive you of hope. ~ St Nektarios of Aegina
…You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. ~ James 4:2-3
All of us sin constantly. We slip and fall… The Holy Fathers and the Saints always tell us, “It is important to get up immediately after a fall and to keep on walking toward God. Even if we fall a hundred times a day, it does not matter; we must get up and go on walking toward God without looking back.” What has happened has happened – it is in the past. Just keep going all the while asking for help from God. ~ Elder Thaddeus Vitovnica
We know God is with us, but sometimes there may be struggles to feel His Presence and Love, or even to pray. During times of spiritual dryness, it is the faithful perseverance in prayerwhich isthe sweetest of all our prayers to God.
We slip.
We fall.
We rise.
We persevere.
We never give up.
We focus forward.
We don’t look back.
Our life is blessed… God’s gift…. We have a treasure in us – our souls…. ~ Elder Nikolay Guryanov
After reading St. Caedmon’s Hymn from theseLatin, Moore/Leningrad Northumbrian Dialects/Bodleian West Saxon sources and translations – this poem achingly called to me, asking to be adapted further.
I translated it into a more contemporary old English and put my adaptation to the ancient melody of the 13th century Byzantine Hymn: Defte Lai.
Below is my version of St. Caedmon’s Creation Hymn, rusticly sung and recorded, accompanied by my faux-lyre (ukulele) using the chords: Fm; Cm; and B♭m.
Come magnify Him, Creator of the firmament, Author of each and all, And glorify His purpose; Love, Invincible. Come and honour Him, Protector of Fair Paradise, Holy, Mighty, Immortal, Architect, Omnipotent; Father of Glory. Blessed, Timeless, Lord, Thou hast established Thy wonders, Before middle earth* was formed, Or adorned with Thought of Mind; Lord, God Almighty! For the sons of men; Thou formed the Roof of Heaven!
* Middle earth (not just a Tolkien invention)- it means the world, the middle enclosure – which exists between heaven and hell. From Middle English middel-erde, and Old English middangeard.
I’m grateful for the heavenly hymn St. Caedmon has bequeathed to us, and his role in the early English Orthodox church… From his beginnings as a humble shepherd – to his subsequent life as a meek monk in a great, historic, monastery.
When the song of the lips becomes the song of the soul, we’re able to – bit by bit, acquire a small, uplifting, repertoire of prayerful Psalmody from the heart – by singing anytimepraises to the Glory of God!
