Tag: flowers

Happiness Is a Pure Heart

A bouquet of flowers, from a dear friend.

Christ is Risen!

Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God. Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts: “I will visit them, and will walk in them, and I will be a God to them, and they will be my people.” (II Cor. 6:16) What can be lacking to them? Nothing, nothing at all! For they have the greatest good in their hearts: God Himself! ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

The Church has always open arms for us. Hurry in them rather, all we, whose consciences are burdened. Hurry – and the Church will lift the weight of our burdens, give us confidence towards God, and fill our hearts with happiness and bliss. ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

A Christian must be courteous to all. His words and deeds should breathe with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which abides in his soul, so that in this way he might glorify the name of God. He who regulates all of his speech also regulates all of his actions. He who keeps watch over the words he is about say also keeps watch over the deeds he intends to do, and he never goes out of the bounds good and benevolent conduct. The graceful speech of a Christian is characterized by delicateness and politeness. This fact, born of love, produces peace and joy. On the other hand, boorishness gives birth to hatred, enmity, affliction, competitiveness, disorder and wars. ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

Love should never be sacrificed for the sake of some dogmatic difference. ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

Do not think that you have a right to complain when your prayers are not answered. God fulfills your desires in a manner that you do not know. ~ St. Nektarios of Aegina

Truly He is Risen!

My Onion Skin Dye for Pascha Eggs

Tip! Save your onion skins during Great Lent!

This natural dye yields a rich vibrant brick-red colour, and has become a special family tradition to do during Holy Week.

You’ll Need:

– 2 dozen white eggs (save the cartons for later storage)
– 1 package of cheesecloth
– 24 to 36 (small size) elastic bands (extras may be needed in case of breakage)
– 10 to 12 cups of dry yellow onion skins
– one bunch of parsley (and if available, pansies or small edible flower heads, and clover leaves, small 2 inch frond-ends of ferns etc.)
– 1/2 cup white vinegar

In a very large pot, boil the onion skins in 2 – 4 litres of water, for 30 – 40 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Strain out the skins and discard them. Add the vinegar to the strained dye and stir well.

(While waiting for the skins to boil, take the cheesecloth and cut 24- 6 X 6 inch squares.)

Using the first dozen eggs, place a sprig of something floral, etc. pressing it ‘pretty-side’ flat down upon the egg. Wrap cheesecloth square tightly around egg, keeping the sprig taut against egg.This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is eggtails.jpeg

Pull cheesecloth tighter, leaving a small “pony-tail”. Tie ponytail tightly with elastic band. Set aside on a platter to prevent “rolling-off-the-table-tragedies”! When one dozen eggs are completed thusly, lower them gently into the dye and simmer for 20 minutes over heat, so only a bubble breaks the surface occasionally. This prevents the eggs from becoming tough.  

While waiting for the first dozen to boil, work on preparing the next dozen with cheesecloth and flowers. When the first dozen have simmered 20 minutes, remove from dye with slotted spoon and immerse for about 3 minutes in a large bowl of cold water.

Add the second dozen prepared eggs gently into the hot dye, and simmer them for 20 minutes. Remove the first batch of cooled eggs from the water and carefully remove the cheesecloth and sprig of parsley or flower, and admire your creations!

Keep them on a platter so to avoid casualties.
Buff them lightly with a “polish” of small amount of olive oil on a paper towel, and place eggs back directly into their cartons for storage and REFRIGERATE!.
Repeat procedure with the remaining dozen eggs.

It’s easy to save dry onion skins for the next year each time you cook.

Place them into a large plastic produce bag.

Store the skins in a cool, dry place!

Rejoice Always

Man seeks joy and happiness in heaven. He seeks what is eternal far from everyone and everything. He seeks to find joy in God. God is a mystery. He is silence. He is infinite. He is everything. Everyone possesses this inclination of the soul for heaven. All people seek something heavenly. All beings turn toward Him, albeit unconsciously. Turn your mind towards Him continually. Learn to love prayer, familiar converse with the Lord… Become worthy of Christ’s love… Turn on the switch of prayer so that divine love may flood your soul. Christ will appear in the depths of your being. There, in the deepest and most inward part, is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is within you (St. Luke 17:21). ~St. Porphyrios “Wounded by Love”

Sweeter than Honey

Wild Bee Busy in Spring Heath

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. ~ Psalm 19: 7-10

Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. ~ Psalm 16:4

…the fly only knows where the unclean things are, while the honeybee knows where the beautiful iris or hyacinth is. As I have come to understand, some people resemble the honeybee and some resemble the fly. Those who resemble the fly seek to find evil in every circumstance and are preoccupied with it; they see no good anywhere. But those who resemble the honeybee only see the good in everything they see. The stupid person thinks stupidly and takes everything in the wrong way, whereas the person who has good thoughts, no matter what he sees, no matter what you tell him, maintains a positive and good thought. ~ St. Paisios of Mt. Athos

Flowers Fade

They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. ~ Job 14:2

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever. ~ Isaiah 40:8

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. ~ Psalm 103:15-19

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.  ~ St. John 1:1-4

And Most of All

Keep thine heart with the utmost care; for out of these are the issues of life. ~ Proverbs 4:23

… A Christian renews within himself the grace-filled springs which were opened to him through Holy Baptism, and which were later so many times obstructed by carelessness and falls, and so many times cleansed by repentance… Let us continue fasting and not give liberty to our feelings, not cease fervent prayers and tears, and not forget works of love; let us seek to hear the word of God and most of all, seek to converse with the Lord, Who is within us. Through this conversation we shall uphold the fear of God and zeal to please Him within ourselves, for in this lies the source of our spiritual life. ~ St. Theophan the Recluse

Bending the Knees of Our Heart

To fast in the soul means keeping silent more and praying more frequently by oneself saying “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” At first this prayer will be only in our minds, then, because of the mind’s prayerful effort, suddenly, we know not how, this prayer passes into our hearts. It is possible that at this moment we may even weep and in this way we are baptized anew in the unseen font of our tears. There are all kinds of tears: tears of exaltation, tears of joy, tears of sadness, but the most precious are tears of compunction and repentance. ~ Metropolitan Vitaly (Archbishop of Montreal and Canada)

Forgive Me

Floral wedding confetti on church entrance floor mosaic – St. Sophia, Canada

Today is Forgiveness Sunday. Tomorrow Great Lent begins.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. ~ St. Matthew 5:7

A pebble tossed into a pond radiates countless ripples.

Forgiveness does this too. It releases waves of empathy and compassion, affecting everyone it touches, including ourselves.

Mercy is a powerful gift, restoring peace of mind, and helping us to move forward, sloughing off anger or resentment. Giving or receiving forgiveness bestows healing to our spiritual and physical health.

Great Lent begins tomorrow. Today, on Forgiveness Sunday, we greet each other by asking mutual forgiveness. (Whether in person if possible, or by a phone call or email) What a delightfully liberating way to start the Fast… with clean slates; in the spirit of mercy and Christian love. 

Forgive me. God Forgives!

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ~St. Matthew 6:14 – 15

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. ~ Ephesians 4:32

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ~ Colossians 3:13

Sincere repentance is a gift of God such that, although we may not have committed any severe fall into sin or evil deed, we still see ourselves in our true light, see how weak we are, how much we sin in the mind, in our feelings, and especially in our imagination. Looking honestly at ourselves, we have nothing left to say except “Lord God have mercy on me, help me, and forgive, forgive, forgive me!” Then forgiveness will come into our souls like Pascha, and we are as it were born anew. And if the Lord should forgive, who will condemn us? ~ Metropolitan Vitaly, Paschal Encyclical, 2001

Sometimes we do not see any outlet, any escape from our sins, and they torment us: on account of them, the heart is oppressed with sorrow and weary. But Jesus looks upon us, and streams of tears flow from our eyes, and with the tears all the tissue of evil in our soul vanishes. We weep with joy that such mercy has suddenly and unexpectedly been sent to us. ~ St. John of Kronstadt

It’s the Little Things

Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude. ~ St. John Chrysostom

Why not learn to enjoy the little things – there are so many of them. ~ St. John Chrysostom

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