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 of mankind. How many churches there are in the world dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God! How many healing springs where people are cured of their ailments have sprung up in places where the Most Holy Theotokos appeared and blessed those springs to heal both the sick and the healthy! She is constantly, by our side, and all too often we forget her. ~ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica
One should not seek among others the truth that can be easily gotten from the Church. For in her, as in a rich treasury, the apostles have placed all that pertains to truth, so that everyone can drink this beverage of life. She is the door of life. ~ St. Irenaeus of Lyons (130 – 202 AD) Against Heresies, III.4
When you doubt in the truth of any person or any event described in Holy Scripture, then remember that ‘all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,’ as the Apostle says, and is therefore true, and does not contain any imaginary persons, fables, and tales, although it includes parables which everyone can see are not true narratives but are written in figurative language. The whole of the Word of God is single, entire, indivisible truth; and if you admit that any narrative, sentence, or word is untrue, then you sin against the truth of the whole of Holy Scripture and its primordial Truth, which is God Himself. ‘I am the truth,” said the Lord; ‘Thy word is truth,’ said Jesus Christ to God the Father. Thus, consider the whole of the Holy Scripture as truth; everything that is said in it has either taken place or takes place. ~ St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
The Old Bridge was constructed on top of long tree trunk. Point No Point, BC Canada
The only way to attain an important goal – is by doing.
When recovering from an injury, the physiotherapist suggested taking a local gym membership, and continue daily strengthening exercises on my own. I did, and initially all gung-ho, it was shocking to soon discover the grueling exercises in themselves weren’t the arduous part … The hardest part for me, was actually getting to the gym. Going to the gym became a battle. Every. Single. Time. Bizarrely, once at the gym, all was fine. But, to do it- I just had to go.
I’ve heard from parents, that the hardest part of going to church with babies, youth, or teens, is just getting there. Once they’re there, all is fine. But, to do it- they just had to come.
Time is shorter than we think, and we can’t afford to put off essential intentions by waiting for perfect conditions to start. Tomorrow never comes. There is only today.
To reach a goal, the name of the bridge we cross over is- StartDoing.
True, one may know man’s final goal: communion with God. And one may describe the path to it: faith, and walking in the commandments, with the aid of divine grace. One need only say in addition: here is the path- start walking!~St. Theophan the Recluse
Rear view of family housing in Bari, Italy – 2017. This is near St. Nicholas the Wonderworker Basilica, which houses his myrrh-streaming relics. They were moved in the 11th century from his original shrine in Myra, Turkey, to Bari, Italy- for protection, when Myra came under Saracen rule.
Happy Feast Dayand Family Day to my family, near and far… Related by blood or Spirit. May God grant all your petitions according to your salvation!
Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ~ Exodus 20:12
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell in unity! ~Psalm 133:1
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and forsake not your mother’s teaching. ~ Proverbs 6:20
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers. ~ Proverbs 17:6
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. ~ Proverbs 22:6
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her… ~ Proverbs 31:28
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ~ Isaiah 66:13
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. ~ St. Matthew 12:50.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named… ~Ephesians 3:14-15
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ~ Colossians 3:20
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers… ~ 1 Timothy 5:1
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. ~ 1 Timothy 5:8
Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation… ~ 1 Peter 2:2
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ~ 1 Peter 4:8
Born in 451, St. Brigid (pronounced Bree-jyah in Gaelic) was the daughter of Dubtach, a pagan king. Brocca, her mother, was a Christian Pictish slave, baptized by St. Patrick himself.
Even as a child, Brigid noticed poverty and destitution. She responded by giving away her own and her family’s considerable possessions to people in need. This generosity did not meet with her father’s approval, who complained to a friend that his daughter was bankrupting the household. His friend answered, “Let her be… She has more virtue before God, than either you or I.”
She established a monastic community with several other young women, located under a large oak tree. It became known as the Church of the Oak (in Gaelic Cill-Dara)… sometimes she is called Brigid of Kildare.
The community grew in numbers, reputation and achievement. Brigid was the abbess, and continued her care for the poor, selling whatever she had to give them what they needed. People who lived in the area flocked to the monastery to receive medical help, food, and to pray with the nuns. They would often see the abbess out in the fields, tending to the community’s cattle. Brigid and the sisters cared for the local children and established schools for them. Others heard of these efforts, and before long, the abbess travelled Ireland to start schools, to oversee the building of hospitals, and encourage people in their faith… by her own steadfast, cheerful example.
Under Brigid’s direction, the monastery itself became an art school, where metal work and manuscript illumination (decoration of manuscript pages with coloured figures and designs) were taught. The products of this school included a Gospel book, famously beautiful for its harmony of colors and intricate designs. To some it almost seemed that this Book of Kildare must have been the work of angels… with humans merely copying the figures shown to them by the angels. Unfortunately, this book and many other Christian relics throughout the land were lost during King Henry VIII’s destruction and pillaging of holy sites.
When St. Brigid died in 525 AD, the nuns kept a fire burning in an enclosure at her Kildare convent. This fire burned for centuries, tended by the Sisters and did not burn out until 1220 AD. It was re-lit and burned for another 400 years.
St. Brigid’s association with fire and the closeness of her feast day to the Feast of the Meeting of our Lord in the Temple (also known as Candlemas), a day celebrating Christ as the Light Unto the Nations, links the two Feasts.
St. Brigid is also affectionately known as Bride, Bridey, or the Mary of the Gael. She is patroness of dairy maids, infants, midwives, blacksmiths, poets, nuns, and students.
Along with Saints Patrick and Columba (Columcille), she is also the patroness of Ireland. St. Brigid is usually depicted in icons as a nun with a Cross woven from rushes and with fire (a candle, lamp, or bowl of fire).
It is said the origin of the St. Brigid’s cross came when she was called to the bedside of a dying pagan chieftain. While sitting with the dying man, St. Brigid picked up some rushes from the floor and began to weave them into a cross. The sick man asked her what she was doing, and St. Brigid told him of Jesus Christ. Before he died, the chieftain become a Christian.
How to make a St. Brigid Cross, woven from rushes.
As Christians, we are called to help provide for the poor and needy (not just during spells of cold weather).
May we acquire the gift to see Christ in every person, as St. Brigid did.
Photo circa 2002, St. Sophia old chapel, on the Great Feast of Pentecost
When thoughts are choking me like so many thorns, I enter the church, the hospital of souls. The beauty of the icons delight my vision like a verdant meadow, and without my noticing, it stirs my soul to praise God.
Since the 4th century, All Saints’ Day is celebrated the first Sunday after the Great Feast of Pentecost. Today we commemorate all saints from everywhere and from every time. We honour the known and unknown… Whether they be men, women or children… these shining clouds of witnesses have lived to the fruition of Holiness.
All the Saints are like fragrant flowers in God’s Heavenly Garden.
Kontakion (a little hymn) of All Saints: The universe offers to Thee, O Lord, as the Planter of Creation, the God-bearing martyrs as the first-fruits of nature. By their prayers, O Most Merciful One, through the Mother of God keep Thy Church, Thy estate, in deep peace.
Let us…
Grow where planted.
Beware the weeds.
Welcome the rain.
Embrace the sun.
Joyfully bloom.
Share the Harvest.
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith… Hebrews 12:1-2
He will send rain at the right time for your land. He will bless everything you do… Deuteronomy 28:12
When we establish ourselves in God’s love, wisdom and salvation, it is through the Church that we acquire a rock-solid foundation.
St. John Chrysostom (4th century) reminds us: The Church is an enclosure, if you are within, the wolf cannot enter, but if you stray outside the wild beasts will get you… Do not wander from the Church; there is nothing more impregnable than the Church. She is your hope and your salvation. She is higher than the heavens, firmer than rock, wider than the world; she never grows old, but is forever renewing her youth.
The Church is holy. It is not of this world, but is in this world for its salvation. It is not divided by time or space. The Church is Alive with those who live right now with God, from all the ages – Past and Present… The Angels, Saints, and the Righteous.
Enfolded within the Church, we are what we were created to be, by growing – in Communion with God.
Beautiful Rock and Stone Scriptures
There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. ~ 1 Samuel 2:2
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. ~ Psalm 40:2
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? ~Matthew 21:42
…like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. ~ Luke 6:48
