Golden Petals Glow at Dawn
…God created the sun and the eye. Man is free to receive the sun’s light or not. The same is true here. God sends the light of knowledge like rays to all, but He gave us faith like an eye. The one who wants to receive knowledge through faith, keeps it by his works, and so God gives him more willingness, knowledge, and power. ~ St. Peter the Damascene
The blazing light of dawn reflects a living, luminescent beauty in nature… radiating the Gladsome Light of God’s Holy Glory!
Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to paradise, our ascension into the kingdom of heaven, our return to the adoption of sons, our liberty to call God our Father, our being made partakers of the grace of Christ, our being called children of light, our sharing in eternal glory, and, in a word, our being brought into a state of all “fullness of blessing,” both in this world and in the world to come, of all the good gifts that are in store for us, by promise hereof, through faith, beholding the reflection of their grace as though they were already present, we await the full enjoyment. ~ St. Basil the Great
Memory Eternal Nikita!
Image by RÜŞTÜ BOZKUŞ from Pixabay
Love all creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand within it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.~ Starets Zosima (Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov)
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. ~ Psalm 121:1-2
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
Sunrise Over Lavender Fields
Image by Mouse23 from Pixabay
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun… ~ Ecclesiastes 11:7
Sunrise From Space Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay
We should refer all our problems, whatever they are, to God, just as we say in the Divine Liturgy that ‘we commend our whole life unto Christ our God’. We leave everything to You, Lord. Whatever You will. Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ~ St. Porphyrios
Kaua’i Sunrise 2016
Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: ~ Ecclesiastes 11:7
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:6
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. ~ Proverbs 4:18
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: ~ Numbers 6:25
Sunrise on Hawaiian Beach – 2014
Grant unto me, my Lord, that with peace in mind I may face all that this new day is to bring. Grant unto me grace to surrender myself completely to Thy holy will. Instruct and prepare me in all things for every hour of this day. Whatsoever tidings I may receive during the day, do Thou teach me to accept them calmly, in the firm conviction that all eventualities fulfill Thy holy will. ~ Excerpt from Morning Prayer of the Optina Elders
…the greatest prayer you can make for someone is to be able to say to the Lord truthfully, “I love this person. Thy will be done in his or her life…” ~ Gerontissa Gavrielia
When a bad or gloomy thought, fear of temptation threatens to afflict you, don’t fight it to try to get rid of it. Open your arms to Christ’s love and He will embrace you, then it will vanish by itself. ~ St. Porphyrios
Photo shared by Irena
Late tonight, and into the early morning hours of tomorrow (Friday, November 19), will be the longest partial lunar eclipse in almost 600 years! Wow!
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. ~ Psalm 148:3
-and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. ~ St. Matthew 28:20
In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. ~ Psalm 72:7
What Wondrous Love in His Promise!
Local Glorious Sunrise with quote – Shared by Sophie
Greetings on today’s feast of St. Anna, the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ!
Congratulations to my dear friend Anna on your Name’s Day! May God grant you many years.
Akathist Hymn to Sts. Joachim and Anna
The words ‘hallowed be Your name’ could well be understood in the sense that God is hallowed by our perfection. In other words, when we say ‘hallowed be Your name’ to Him what we are really saying is ‘Father, make us such as to deserve knowledge and understanding of how holy You are, or at least let Your holiness shine forth in the spiritual lives we lead. And this surely happens as men ‘see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven ‘ (St. Matthew 6:16). ~ St. John Cassian
‘May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (St. Matthew 6:10). No greater prayer can be offered than that the things of earth should be put on a level with the things of heaven… What else is this if not a declaration that men should be like angels, that just as the will of God is fulfilled by the angels in heaven so all men on earth should do, not their will, but His. The only man capable of offering up this prayer sincerely will be the one who believes that God arranges everything – the seeming good and the seeming bad – for our benefit, that the salvation and the well-being of His own people is more of a care and a concern to Him than to ourselves. ~ St. John Cassian
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one… Temptation is a test that is either sent to us from God or comes from the devil but is allowed by God. Every temptation is for us a kind of test of fortitude; sometimes we pass the test and sometimes we do not. In asking God, “…lead us not into temptation,” we are as it were saying to Him, “Do not send us trials beyond our strength; send us such trials as we can cope with, so that the trials and sorrows that Thou dost send, not crush us, not kill the faith within us…” …Therefore, when we ask God to …”deliver us from the evil one,” we ask He help us to always find the strength to refrain from what could enable the evil one to influence our life. If we learn this, neither the devil or any evil forces … can have any influence on us.” ~ Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)
