If our thoughts are kind, peaceful, and quiet, turned only to the good, then we also influence ourselves and radiate peace all around us – in our family, the whole country, everywhere. This is true not only here on earth, but in the cosmos as well. When we labour in the fields of the Lord, we create harmony. Divine harmony, peace, and quiet spread everywhere.
Category: Reflections
New Every Morning
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ~ Lamentations 3:22-23
With Thanksgiving
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.~Psalm 100
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.~Philippians 4:6
When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator. ~St. Basil the Great
Absolute Gratitude
Only by putting aside our ego, self-importance and conceit; can we be truly thankful and praise God wholeheartedly.
Magnify Him
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. ~ Psalm 69:30
Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
God is your creator, deliverer, supreme benefactor, and good provider, He created you just as He gives you every good thing, since without His goodness you could not live even for a minute. You do not see your Benefactor with these eyes, but you see the benefits He has given you. You see the sun, the moon, and His stars which illumine you. You see the fire that warms you and cooks your food. You see the food which satisfies you, you see the clothing by which your naked body is covered. You see all other countless blessings which He gave you for your needs and comfort. Seeing, then, and receiving these benefits, remember your unseen Benefactor everywhere and always with love, and thank Him for all His benefits with a pure heart. ~ St. Tikhon of Zadonsk
Having Beheld
Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Thy cross, O Christ, and Thy holy Resurrection we hymn and glorify. For Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee. We call on Thy name. O come, all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection. For behold, through the cross joy hath come into all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection: for having endured crucifixion, he hath destroyed death by death.
~ Having Beheld the Resurrection of Christ is sung in Tone 6 after the Gospel Reading of Sunday Matins
Righteous Rain
Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it. ~ Isaiah 45:8
Exaltation
Dry Spells
Sometimes we are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul. ~ St. Maximus the Confessor
We know God is with us, but sometimes there may be struggles to feel His Presence and Love, or even pray. Yet, there is a consolation!
During times of spiritual dryness, faithful perseverance in prayer is the sweetest of all our prayers to God. By clinging tenaciously to Christ’s love with prayer, regardless of circumstances, we are blessed.
4th Century St. Macarius the Great reminds: One must force himself to prayer when he has not spiritual prayer, and God, beholding him thus striving, and compelling himself by force, in spite of an unwilling heart, gives him the true prayer of the Spirit.
The Holy Apostle Paul writes the rewards of perseverance in prayer: And we also have joy with our troubles because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces experience, and experience produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. God gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. ~ Romans 5:3-5
Archpriest Nikolai Guryanov encourages: Do not grieve, do not be sad: Again will come a time to be glad; patiently wait, patiently endure, to those who wait will come their reward!
Everything that has a beginning has an end… Except for God, Who is beginningless.
This is just for now!
Our Daily Bread
My husband bakes two tartine loaves per week. Pulled from a searing oven, they crackle, hiss, and fill the entire house with the song of bread. A single whiff of its aroma can make one weak in the knees.
Be that as it may, tartine bread is a luxury and not a necessity. One can thrive without treats. In fact one can live longer (and have it seem much, much longer) without treats.
Moving along to some small thoughts regarding our Real Daily Bread, and how we can’t Live without It –
Initially, the Lord’s Prayer seems simple and straightforward. However, the more one ponders, the more profound and spiritually sumptuous it becomes.
The first two words alone, Our Father are warm, loving, powerful and mind-boggling. Calling the Creator our Father? One can only reflect in amazement!
Then, further along, and as trustingly as a child, we are taught to entreat God to give us this day our daily bread… our spiritual and physical sustenance needed according to our salvation.
Although God knows exactly what we need, we are shown throughout this prayer the importance of reaching out, regardless. This draws us closer to our Heavenly Father. By casting cares and anxiety aside, and by praying, we bring He Who Is… our Daily Bread… into ourselves, under the roof of our soul… Especially when receiving the Sacrament and Gift of Holy Communion.
God loves us.
God provides for us – today, tomorrow and always.
He is our Blessed, Heavenly Bread and our Cup of Life.
He is our Benediction.