Food for Thought – Page 42

Pearls of Wisdom

…unless you have suffered affliction – virtue has not been tested. ~ St. Mark the Ascetic

Virtue is nothing without the trial of temptation, for there is no conflict without an enemy, no victory without strife. ~ St. Leo the Great

…For the Holy Spirit, sweet and gracious, draws the soul to love the Lord, and in the sweetness of the Holy Spirit the soul loses her fear of suffering. ~ St. Silouan the Athonite

For one to be ill is a divine visitation. Illness is the greatest gift from God, and when the only thing that man can give back to God is pain. ~ Anonymous old monk

It is absurd to be grateful to doctors who give us bitter and unpleasant medicines to cure our bodies, and yet be ungrateful to God for what appears to us to be harsh, not grasping that all we encounter is for our benefit and in accordance with His providence. For knowledge of God and faith in Him is the salvation and perfection of the soul. ~ St. Anthony the Great

I have consciousness of my sinfulness, but I live with hope. It is bad to despair, because someone who despairs becomes embittered and loses willingness and strength. Someone who has hope, on the contrary, advances forward. ~ St. Porphyrios

Prayer should be our first response, not the last hope. ~ Archpriest Andrei Tkachev

We are like broken glass that reflects in small fragments until the power if God makes us whole again. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Glory be to God for everything! Dry your tears. Your Guardian Angel will carry those little tears away to the Throne of God. ~ St. Barsanuphius

Good Deeds are Never Lost

Japanese Anemone flower, a lovely and vigorous perennial that blooms late summer until first frost, providing a welcome splash of garden colour.

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. ~ Proverbs 16:24

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. ~ St. Basil the Great

Out and about on errands recently, we pulled into a shopping mall and parked outside a coffee shop. To save time, I nabbed the groceries while my husband picked up wine for dinner. When I returned to the car, my husband related how a street person gently approached him asking for spare change. He actually found several dollars worth of coin, handed it to the street person and asked him to accept it in memory of his deceased brother. The man nodded, took the coin, walked around the corner of the building – and returned several seconds later. A forgotten purse sat on an empty bistro table outside the cafe. He picked up the purse, took it into the coffee shop, handed it over to the barista, then quickly exited and continued on his way. May God help that honest man and reward his good deeds!

Excerpts from Everyman a late-15th-century English morality play. Called by Death, Everyman can persuade none of his friends – Beauty, Kindred, Worldly Goods – to go with him, except Good Deeds.

Good Deeds: …Everyman, I will bide with thee, I will not forsake thee indeed; Thou shalt find me a good friend at need.

Everyman: I see my time is nigh spent away. Take example, all ye that do hear or see, How they that I loved best do forsake me, Except my Good-Deeds that bideth truly.

Good-Deeds: All earthly things are but vanity: Beauty, Strength, and Discretion, do man forsake, Foolish friends and kinsmen, that fair spake, All fleeth save Good-Deeds, and that am I.

Everyman: Heaven have mercy upon me, and stand by me!

Good-Deeds: Fear not, I will speak for thee. Short our end, and minish our pain; Let us go and never come again.

It’s not an abundance of words that supplicate God, but a pure soul which manifests good deeds. ~ St John Chrysostom

Multiplier of Wheat

The Multiplier of Wheat Icon of the Mother of God

(Also translated as She Who Ripens the Grain)

We are grateful to have this special icon in our home. My husband is a baker, and we delight in harvesting herbs and vegetables from our kitchen garden.

The Most Holy Theotokos intercedes for harvests, seasonable weather, and lifting of droughts. She is the Benefactress of farmers, gardeners, and others who work the soil for their daily bread.

The Mother of God is a helper for people in their labours for the acquiring of their daily bread… Hail, Full of Grace, the Lord is with You! Grant unto us unworthy ones the dew of Your grace and the showing forth of Your mercy! ~ St. Ambrose of Optina

Salutations to you forever, Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for to you do I turn again… You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; … the living altar of the Bread of Life (Jesus)… ~ St. Methodius

The Teacher of children became Himself a Child among children, that He might instruct the unwise. The Bread of heaven came down to earth to feed the hungry. ~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem

Give us this day, our daily bread. ~ St. Matthew 6:11

For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. ~ 1 Corinthians 10:17

Our Lord says: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. ~ John 6:51

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. ~ St. John 12:24

The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection for mankind. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

O Most Holy Theotokos, nourish and pray for us, that we may worthily become God’s wheat!

Hallowed be Your Name

Local Glorious Sunrise with quote – Shared by Sophie

Greetings on today’s feast of St. Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ!

Congratulations to my dear friend Anna on your Name’s Day! May God grant you many years.

Akathist Hymn to Sts. Joachim and Anna

The words ‘hallowed be Your name’ could well be understood in the sense that God is hallowed by our perfection. In other words, when we say ‘hallowed be Your name’ to Him what we are really saying is ‘Father, make us such as to deserve knowledge and understanding of how holy You are, or at least let Your holiness shine forth in the spiritual lives we lead. And this surely happens as men ‘see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven ‘ (St. Matthew 6:16). ~ St. John Cassian

‘May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (St. Matthew 6:10). No greater prayer can be offered than that the things of earth should be put on a level with the things of heaven… What else is this if not a declaration that men should be like angels, that just as the will of God is fulfilled by the angels in heaven so all men on earth should do, not their will, but His. The only man capable of offering up this prayer sincerely will be the one who believes that God arranges everything – the seeming good and the seeming bad – for our benefit, that the salvation and the well-being of His own people is more of a care and a concern to Him than to ourselves. ~ St. John Cassian

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one… Temptation is a test that is either sent to us from God or comes from the devil but is allowed by God. Every temptation is for us a kind of test of fortitude; sometimes we pass the test and sometimes we do not. In asking God, “…lead us not into temptation,” we are as it were saying to Him, “Do not send us trials beyond our strength; send us such trials as we can cope with, so that the trials and sorrows that Thou dost send, not crush us, not kill the faith within us…” …Therefore, when we ask God to …”deliver us from the evil one,” we ask He help us to always find the strength to refrain from what could enable the evil one to influence our life. If we learn this, neither the devil or any evil forces … can have any influence on us.” ~ Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)

Nativity of the Theotokos

Icon of St. Anna holding the Most Holy Theotokos – Benaki Museum, Greece, 2017

Greetings on this beautiful Feast Day! (September 21 /8)

In their barren affliction the holy parents [Sts. Joachim and Anna] of the Mother of God cried aloud unto the Lord; and they… received from heaven a gift worthy of God… Today the inhabited earth rejoiceth with thee, O holy Anna. For thou hast borne as blossom the Mother of its Redeemer, even her who brought forth the Rod of our strength from the root of Jesse, and who bore Christ as flower… Husbandman of our Thoughts and gardener of our souls, Thou hast made the barren earth fertile. Thou hast turned the ground that once was parched into fruitful land, rich in corn and bearing fruit. From Holy Anna Thou hast made to blossom… the Theotokos. ~ Matins Excerpts on the Birth of our Most Holy Lady the Theotokos

7th century sermon on the Nativity of the Virgin Mary ~by St. Andrew, Archbishop of Crete

The root is the household of the Jews, the rod is Mary, the Flower of Mary is Christ. She is rightly called a rod, for she is of the royal lineage, of the house and family of David. Her Flower is Christ, Who destroyed the stench of worldly pollution and poured out the fragrance of eternal life. As He Himself said, ‘I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys.’ ~ St Ambrose of Milan (4th century)

I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the Holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God? ~ St. Cyril of Alexandria (375 -444 AD)

She is the flower of the field from whom blossomed the precious lily of the valley.~ St Augustine (354-430 AD )

Here are some traditions on ways to celebrate today! Besides wearing blue in honour of the Theotokos, many hike and go birdwatching after Liturgy and lunch, to count how many birds and species they can see today. (It is said St. Anna saw a mother bird tending her fledglings in a garden nest, which saddened but inspired St. Anna to pray yet again faithfully for the blessing of a child.) If hiking, and you are allowed to, flowers and wild grasses are picked and placed in the family icon corner.

Some families have recently adapted baking a Birthday Cake or another kind of sweet, and sing the Tropar of the Nativity of the Theotokos before enjoying the treat. Others share they make blueberry pancakes after Liturgy or bake a blueberry pie for dessert for after dinner!

Thy nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, hath proclaimed Joy to all the world;
for from thee hath shone forth Christ our God, the Sun of Righteousness,
Who, having annulled the curse, hath given His blessing, and having abolished death, hath granted us life everlasting. ~ Troparion Tone 4

O Most Holy Theotokos, pray to God for us!

Beautiful Orthodox Hymn to the Virgin Mary by St. Nektarios of Aegina Greece (with English translation)

Abbreviated version in Greek

Full version in Slavonic

Flowers Speak

Through a tree we were made debtors to God; so through a tree we have our debt canceled. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

If you put something fragrant on to burning coals, you motivate those who approach to come back again and to stay near, but if you instead put something with an unpleasant, oppressive smell, you repel them and drive them away. It is the same with the mind. If your attention is occupied with what is holy, you make yourself worthy of being visited by God, since this is the sweet savour which God catches scent of. On the other hand, if you nurture evil, foul and earthly thoughts within you, you remove yourself from God’s supervision and unfortunately make yourself worthy of His aversion. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

They Dance for Joy

Detail of Mosaic Panel of Creation – St. Sophia Orthodox Church – Canada

…angels… are always being filled full of light, becoming ever more radiant and making blessed use of their natural ability to change. They dance for joy around the First Light, look continuously towards Him and are enlightened directly by Him, as they tirelessly sing the praises of the Fount of Light and, being ministers of light, transmit illuminating grace to those lower beings who are being enlightened. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

Christ, the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2), is without beginning and pre-eternal. He is both immutable and unchangeable, as with Him there is no variableness, nor shadow of turning (James 1:17). He is without end, never-setting, beaming out the true and heavenly light of day without evening, in which the spirits of the righteousness live with the good angels. When this present age reaches its end, the righteous shall also have their bodies with them, as heirs of the light and sons of the true day. That day continues forever without evening, and neither has, nor ever did have, a morning, since it has no beginning. ~ St. Gregory Palamas

On occasion, I’ve orchestrated group observation with my youth choir to demonstrate how we, as created beings, are unable to fully comprehend the concept of Eternity or Pre-eternal.

After first discussing general definitions of the two words, we’d continue with the next part of the exercise. For just a few minutes, (it’s too difficult to try longer) we silently contemplate the concept of what Eternal means. How God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are Pre-Eternal (beyond time and space)… and have always “been” even before anything else existed. No beginning, no end. ✠

The attempts to try and wrap our mortal minds around the notion of eternal and pre-eternal is humbling and revealing.

Spontaneous laughter and amazement conclude these experiments. Exclamations from the youth range from “Wow, that’s impossible!” to “My brain exploded!”

God is simultaneously everywhere. (Yet another wondrous point to ponder!) He is the beginning, the continuation, the Life and Light of everything that exists. In His great and loving goodness, the Way to salvation is revealed through His Only-Begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ… the Sun of Righteousness, the Dawn and Dayspring from on high.

And so, like the angels, let our souls rejoice and dance with joy; radiantly infused with the Pre-eternal Divine Light, and Peace… which surpasses understanding.

✠ Excellent Post Script from Anastasia, who shares: “A priest once said in my high school religion class: “Eternity is not a “line”. It is a “point”, and we are standing in it.” As he said that, he drew a line and then a dot on the board. I’ve remembered it these 50+ years it impressed me so.

Through Attention

Beautiful Sunflower Church Bouquet with Lemons and Chestnuts, by Evguenia

It is impossible for anyone who stands in God’s holy Church collecting his thoughts, lifting his mind to God, occupying his understanding with the sacred singing from the beginning until the end, and waiting patiently, not to undergo a divine change, in accordance with his attention to God and His teachings. Through this attention a certain warmth is born in the heart which chases away evil like flies, creates a spiritual peace and comfort in the soul and bestows sanctification on the body, according to him who said, ‘My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned’ (Psalm 39:3)… ~ St. Gregory Palamas

The church has been planted as a paradise in this world. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons

A Christian should inscribe the Symbol of Faith upon the tablets of the heart... Your accumulated offences do not surpass the multitude of God’s mercies: our wounds do not surpass the great Physician’s skill. ~ St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315 – 386 AD)

Fogbow

Local Fogbow over Ocean

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. ~Isaiah 44:22

– Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”~ James 4:14-15

Sunlight shining through and mixing with the tiny water droplets of thin fog, can create the beautiful phenomenon known as a fogbow, or a white rainbow.

Like the fogbow, sometimes a situation in life may seem opaque. Yet wonder and beauty can exist within the shrouded mist; for God loves us, and knows what’s best.

Let us patiently peer through the haze with hope… faithfully waiting for His Will to be revealed. In God’s Time, the fog will lift – and Sonshine will blaze brightly, clearly illuminating the Right Direction!

Happy Ecclesiastical New Year!

Photo of the Altar, in St. Sophia’s original Mission House Church. Services began there in September of 1991 and continued for 10 years, until the parish could purchase a building and move location of worship. Reminiscent of St. Paul’s dear friends and helpers in Christ, Sts. Priscilla and Aquila who had a church in their house… our priest and his matushka’s home was used as a church, and the dining room was set aside as a permanent Altar area, and kept completely separate as such, for a decade.

The entire Liturgical Church Year is a treasury of spiritual wisdom and blessings.

In this busy month of September, there are two Great Feasts, the Nativity of the Theotokos (Sept. 21/8) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept. 27/14).

There are also other holy days during this month, such as the Beginning of the Church Liturgical New Year on September 14/1.

The first day of the Church’s Liturgical New Year is called the Beginning of the Indiction. It occurs in September for both Scriptural and historical reasons.

The Scriptural reason is that God, through Moses, ordained the Old Testament Church to celebrate the New Year at the time of the harvest in the seventh month, that is, September – actually the seventh month according to ancient Hebrew reckoning.

Tradition says the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September. The Holy Scriptures (Leviticus 23:24-25 and Numbers 29:1-2) confirm the people of Israel celebrating the feast of the Blowing of Trumpets on this day, with the offering of hymns and thanksgiving.

The historical reason is the Roman-Byzantine Emperors and the Eastern Patriarchs of the New Testament Church also decreed the New Year should be in September. According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1/14 to announce His mission to mankind (St. Luke 4:16-22). He was given the book of the Prophet Isaiah to read. He opened it and proclaimed, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me; because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…” (Isaiah 61:1-2 )

The Church continues to keep the spiritual significance of the Liturgical New Year, with prayers asking God to grant temperate weather, seasonable rains, and abundance of the fruits of the earth. We are reminded that time is a precious gift.

Let us re-examine our priorities and offer unto the Lord, a New Year… in which we put Him first!