Image by jplenio from Pixabay
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. ~ 2 Samuel 23:4
My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. ~ Psalm 5:3
…Joy cometh in the morning. ~ Psalm 30:5
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. ~ Psalm 118:24
Icon of The Ascension of our Lord was written by a parish founder, of eternal memory
Christ has Ascended!
From Earth to Heaven, in Glory!
…And on the third day He arose again, according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the Heavens, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father...~ The Creed
Today is the fulfillment of Pascha, and the joyful revelation of our destiny in Christ. On the fortieth day after His glorious Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven to be glorified on the right hand of God ~ Acts 1:9-11; Mark 16:19
… and lifting his hands he blessed them. While blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. ~ Luke 24:51-52
Happy Ascension Day of our Lord… and there’s more jubilation coming! Ten days from now is the Great Feast of Pentecost!
How beautiful is the Mystery of Today. And Everyday.
Bleeding Hearts are surrounded by the comforting starry cosmos of Sweet Woodruff’s white flowers.
Greetings on:
The (movable) Feast of Mid–Pentecost!
The annual feast of the Wonderworking Icon of the Inexhaustible Cup (Chalice)!
The Icon’s Akathist to the Theotokos for help with the struggle of various addictions is here.
Congratulations to my dear friend Irena on her Saint’s Day!
In Christianity, the Bleeding Heart flower represents the suffering that Christ endured for our sins, and the Theotokos’ grief seeing her Son on the Cross.
Tiny white stars of Sweet Woodruff flowers are symbolic of hope and humility. This perennial ground cover spreads its cheer where other herbaceous plants may find it difficult to thrive. It bursts into burgeoning blooms come early spring, then quietly seems to diminish in the summer. Its fragrant fresh flowers (mildly reminiscent of vanilla) and leaves were used for everything from air fresheners to bed-straw stuffing. Its flowers flavoured wine and jellies, and were used for other medicinal purposes. (Of course, one should always check with a doctor before using any medical herb they’re not familiar with.) Last, but not least – marauding deer abhor sweet woodruff in gardens… and that alone makes it extra sweet to me!
That being said, and setting rascally deer aside…. the many blessings in our lives are unavoidably peppered with banes, but it’s the banes that make each new blessing a heartfelt consolation!
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ~ Romans 7:15. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. ~ Romans 7:19-20
Like St. Paul in his epistle to the Romans, we find ourselves in spiritual battles. We want to do what’s right, yet sometimes we do the very things we hate… even when knowing we’re wrong.
Granted, we can look back on the past – but don’t stare. Staring backwards can make one disheartened, overwhelmed and anxious. Everyone has a heartache, and we’re all dealing with struggles of some sort. Focus Forward!
Anxiety about ourselves means lack of faith; anxiety about our neighbour means pain. Feeling the intensity of other’s pain from within is accompanied by prayer and then comes the divine consolation. Therefore, you should pray as much as you can and then leave everything in the hands of God and calm yourself. Does God hurt His creatures less than you? Why worry? God gives a lot of comfort to anyone who is in spiritual pain and suffering for others because otherwise, one could not bear this burden… But from this pain comes true joy. ~ St. Paisios
Let the heavens rejoice; let earthly things be glad; for the Lord hath wrought might with His arm. He hath trampled down death by death; the first-born of the dead hath He become. From the belly of Hades hath He delivered us, and hath granted to the world great mercy. ~ Troparion of the Resurrection (Tone 3)
Sunbeams stream through church window before Evening Vespers.
O Gladsome Light of the Holy Glory, of the Immortal Father. Heavenly Holy, Blessed Jesus Christ. Now that we have come to the setting of the sun, and behold the light of evening, we praise God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For meet it is, at all times, to worship Thee with voices of praise. O Son of God, and Giver of Life, wherefore all the world doth glorify Thee! ~ Earliest known, recorded Christian hymn, still used in Orthodox Church Vespers
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Cor. 4:6
When a sunbeam falls on a transparent substance, the substance itself becomes brilliant, and radiates light from itself. So too Spirit bearing souls, illumined by Him, finally become spiritual themselves, and their grace is sent forth to others… ~ St. Basil the Great
May your day be full of Light!
Happy Mothers’ Day!
Cherry Blossoms fell like tears, and clung to the under-cloth of Holy Friday’s Winding Sheet.
Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life! ~ Paschal Tropar
Happy BRIGHT Monday!
…the wood of the Cross hath now put forth flower ~ Ode 3 Katavasia of the Cross
Now all things have been filled with light, both heaven and earth and those beneath the earth; so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, by which it is established. ~ St. John of Damascus, Paschal Canon
Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and hymn and glorify Thy holy Resurrection, for Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee, we call upon Thy name. O come all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection; for behold through the Cross, joy hath come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection. For having endured crucifixion, He hath destroyed death by death. ~ 5th Century Matins Hymn
TRULY HE IS RISEN!
Thank you God, for the joyful blessings of spring flowers!
Try, then, to remember unceasingly all the blessings that have been given to you by God. ~ St. Mark the Ascetic
It’s been said, somewhere… what if we woke up today, with only the things that we thanked God for yesterday?
May your Lenten Journey be peaceful and fruitful.
Memory Eternal Ekaterina… 25 years now seem but as yesterday.
The Cross, is wood which lifts us up and makes us great… The Cross uprooted us from the depths of evil and elevated us to the summit of virtue. ~ St. John Chrysostom
For the Christian, the cross gradually becomes lighter and more joyful, while for the nonbeliever it becomes heavier and more burdensome. Why is this so? Because where one carries their cross with faith and devotion to God, the other carries it with grumbling and anger. ~ St. Innocent of Alaska (The Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven)
When you pass beside a hospital make the sign of the cross three times: Once for the patients; once for their relatives; and once for yourself, because you aren’t there. ~ St. Paisios the New of Mt. Athos
Angel Wall Mosaic Before Completion – St. Sophia Orthodox Church in Canada, 2012
“Let us go forth on peace” is the last commandment of the Liturgy. What does it mean? It means, surely, that the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy is not an end but a beginning. Those words, “Let us go forth in peace,” are not merely a comforting epilogue. They are a call to serve and bear witness. In effect, those words, “Let us go forth in peace,” mean the Liturgy is over, the liturgy after the Liturgy is about to begin. This, then, is the aim of the Liturgy: that we should return to the world with the doors of our perceptions cleansed. We should return to the world after the Liturgy, seeing Christ in every human person, especially in those who suffer. In the words of Father Alexander Schememann, the Christian is the one who wherever he or she looks, sees Christ everywhere, and rejoices in him. We are to go out, then, from the Liturgy and see Christ everywhere. ~ Bishop Kallistos (Ware) of Diokleia
Ancient pathway Mystras, Greece – 2017
The path of God is a daily cross. ~ St. Isaac the Syrian
Make your one aim in life the doing of the will of Jesus in every circumstance, however important or trifling it may seem. ~ St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
Continue your path with courage, with much courage. Let your heart rejoice in the Lord, and He will grant it all nourishment and all energy that is needed so that it does not seem to collapse. Nothing should seem difficult to you. ~St. Luke of Simferopol
We travel many paths in life. With God’s help we make our way along the right one. Sometimes distracting side trails appear, but if we aim to do God’s Will, we discern that most navigational “shortcuts” may trip us up. Meanwhile, God protects us, and our guardian angel is always present.
Speaking of paths, don’t forget to have a trip blessing before starting a new adventure… It’s the best travel insurance! I particularly remember a certain vacation of hiking with my family in the wilds (of B.C.). As I plodded along, my husband and children cavorted far ahead, chatting and laughing. Pretty soon they rounded a bend in the trail, and vanished from sight and sound.
I thirstily drank in the beauty and wonder of God’s nature amid tall fragrant forest firs and birdsong. Beside the path, leaf mould and damp mosses covered ancient nursing stumps sprouting new life… And I realized it was high time to catch up with my family, so I broke into a jog.
About 100 feet into my run, I “was stopped”.
I simply couldn’t move, and literally stood still. Frozen.
Within two seconds of wondering what was going on(?!?), a sudden great crack resounded, and a giant limb of a tree, fell directly across the path, about 10 feet in front of me! It was massive, and fell exactly where I would have been jogging, had my Guardian Angel not stopped me.
Able to move freely again, I was shaken with amazement and gratitude for a few minutes. Crossing myself, I thanked God and my Guardian Angel profusely. (I also remember waving an additional thumbs-up, air greeting of hello – to my Guardian Angel.)
Raucous ravens shook my reverie and I sighed, “Okay, okay, I get it, I’m going!” Adrenaline fuelled an easy straddle of the downed limb as I tore off to catch up to my family.
Grace and Protection abounded on that path… with God’s help ever before me, and my Guardian Angel always beside me. Amen!
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ~ St. Matthew 10:30
Do not say, “this happened by chance, while this came to be of itself.” In all that exists there is nothing disorderly, nothing indefinite, nothing without purpose, nothing by chance … How many hairs are on your head? God will not forget one of them. Do you see how nothing, even the smallest thing, escapes the gaze of God? ~ St. Basil the Great
January 16/3 (423 -512 AD)
Happy Feast Day!
St. Geneviève’s reliquary at the church of St. Étienne du Mont (St. Stephen the Protomartyr of the Mount) in Paris, France -2006
There’s a special reason St. Simeon the Stylite and St. Geneviève are portrayed together in the Icon on the far wall.
General knowledge of St. Geneviève’s lifelong holiness, care for the poor, and miracles, became so widespread, that news of it reached her Syrian contemporary, St. Simeon the Stylite. He was inspired to send a delegation to Paris with greetings, asking her prayers for his salvation.
Throughout her life and prayerful intercessions to God, St. Geneviève helped protect Paris from an invasion by Attila the Hun, starvation during a Frankish siege, and plagues.
St. Geneviève’s icon usually depicts her with a candle, as sometimes when holding an unlit candle, it would miraculously ignite, and stay lit… even if outside, during wind or rainstorms.
St. Geneviève had a particular devotion to an earlier saint… St. Dionysius the Areopagite. He was baptized by the Holy Apostle Paul, became the first Bishop of Paris, and was later martyred. St. Geneviève often visited the place of his martyrdom to pray, and later motivated the Parisians to have a church built over St. Dionysius’ and his fellow martyrs’ relics.
St. Geneviève and St. Dionysius the Areopagite (St. Denis of Paris), are the patron saints of Paris.
We only need to open our eyes to see the gifts that abound around us. These are the simple joys of life. ~ St. Geneviève
If we open our hearts to give love we are immediately transported into the joy and blessings of love. ~ St. Geneviève
The footsteps of an Angel in your life are Love. ~ St. Geneviève
Congratulations to a dear friend, whose patron saint is St. Geneviève. God grant you many years!
