Shards of ice crystals cover my windshield, hindering clear vision. With a bit of effort, they can be scraped off and kept off… by keeping the car engine warm.
God is a fire that warms and kindles the heart and inward parts. Hence, if we feel in our hearts the cold which comes from the devil – for the devil is cold – let us call on the Lord. He will come to warm our hearts with perfect love, not only for Him but also for our neighbour, and the cold of him who hates the good, will flee before the heat of His countenance. ~ St. Seraphim of Sarov
It is of great significance if there is a person who truly prays in a family. Prayer attracts God’s Grace and all the members of the family feel it, even those whose hearts have grown cold. Pray always. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica(Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives)
If you find that there is no love in you, but you want to have it, then do deeds of love, even though you do them without love in the beginning. The Lord will see your desire and striving, and will put love in your heart. ~ St. Ambrose of Optina
Jesus Christ has taken the world of our sins upon Himself.
For this cause He came into the world…
For this New Beginning!
Do not lament Me, O Mother, Seeing Me in the tomb, The Son conceived in the womb without seed, For I shall arise, And be glorified with eternal glory as God. I shall exalt all who magnify thee in faith and in love. ~ Ode 9, Holy Saturday Canon
Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross? Because of God’s great Love, He did something so special for each one of us. It‘s almost too amazing to even try and think about it! When we love someone very much, we help them as much as we can – without thinking how hard it might be for ourselves to do this. Through Adam and Eve, the first created man and woman, sin entered the world, and now we all sin. There are big sins and little sins, but everyone sins, and any sin separates us from God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, willingly took all the sins of everyone ever born, which means, you, me, the whole world, and took all these sins upon Himself; because sin separates us from God. When Jesus died and was buried, all our sins died and were buried too. We also remember this at our Baptism. We are now forgiven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross! Jesus loves us so much! And, even if you were the ONLY person living in the whole world, Jesus still would have done this – just for you! Just for one person, because He knows each one of us and loves us all so much! And, because He is the Son of God- He arose victorious, from the dead! “Trampling down death, by death!” This is why we no longer fear death, for death is a new beginning, a new and Eternal Life with God. ~ The Ark Youth Quarterly – St. Sophia Orthodox Church
…To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth… ~ Jesus Christ (St. John 18:37)
On account of God’s great Love for us, and as any sin (small or great) is a spiritual sickness that separates us from God… our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, willingly took the sins (of everyone in the world who has ever been born) – onto Himself.
When Jesus died and was buried, all our sins and spiritual pain died and were buried too. We’re forgiven, and keenly remember this at our Baptism and through Repentance.
Because He is the Son of God – Christ arose victorious from the dead bearing witness to the truth! “Trampling down death, by death!”
We are forgiven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross! He Loves us so much! Nothing can keep us from the Love of God. Nothing. This is why we no longer fear death.
Death is a new beginning.
Death is Life… a New and Eternal Life with God.
For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. ~ St. Luke 20:38
Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life! ~Paschal Tropar
What is dying? Just what it is to put off a garment. For the body is about the soul as a garment; and after laying this aside for a short time by means of death, we shall resume it again with more splendour. ~ St. John Chrysostom
Congratulations on entering the Nativity Fast! Although we’re in a different “liturgical season” than the Great Lent which precedes Pascha (Easter)… We are nonetheless, on day #3 into the40 day Nativity Lenten period. Advent helps us properly prepare for the upcoming Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ.
The birth and death of Christ are very connected. Sometimes Nativity (Christmas) is even called the Winter Pascha.
Today is also a friend’s funeral… and the Mystery ofPascha is very much on my mind.
The Nativity Icon deliberately connects events… the manger resembles a stone coffin, the swaddling clothes resemble a burial shroud, and the cave itself prefigures Christ’s tomb. Theox and ass portrayed, are from the prophesy of Isaiah.
Jesus came to us in order to die, and this was known by Him even from the very beginning.He took away death, by conquering death, through His Glorious Resurrection!
Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, the first created man and woman, and now we all sin. There are big sins and little sins, but everyone sins, and any sin separates us from God.
Because of God’s great love for each one of us, He did something incredibly special. Jesus Christ the Son of God, willingly took all the sins of everyone ever born, that means you, me, the whole world, and put them all upon Himself.When Jesus died and was buried, all our sins died and were buried too. We also remember this at our baptism, and are now forgiven because of what Jesus did for us on the cross!
He is the Son of God – and arose victorious, from the dead!
This is why we no longer fear death.
Death is a new beginning.
Those who have gone on before us, are alive in Christ… For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him. ~St. Luke 20:38
I’ve been singing and humming the Paschal Tropar a lot today. It helps softens sadness, and bestows hope and joy.
Paschal Tropar – Appalachian melody, English
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. ~ Revelation 21:4
With the saints give rest, O Christ our God to the soul of Thy servant, Nicholas. Memory Eternal.
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!
Duringtimes 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 Greatreminds: 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.
