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
Parish icons lit during an Evening Vigil.
Christ is Risen!
Greetings on Thomas Sunday!
Nothing elevates the soul, nothing gives it wings as a liturgical hymn does. A holy hymn gives birth to piety of soul, creates a good conscience, and is accepted by God in the treasuries of the heavens. ~ St. John Chrysostom
Bis orat qui cantat. (Means) He who chants prays twice. ~ Ancient Proverb
Psalmody – bringing about choral singing, a bond, as it were, toward unity, and joining people into a harmonious union of one choir – produces also the greatest of blessings: love. ~ St. Basil the Great
When you worship God with hymns, you should be worshipping Him with your entire being: your voice should sing; your heart should also sing; and your life should also sing. Everything should sing! ~ Blessed Augustine
Music is unique among the liturgical arts in that it’s something we have to do every time we come to church. Iconography, architecture, church furnishings, liturgical books, all these are things an artist can produce once and be done with. But music is never finished. As soon as you sing a note it vanishes forever. As soon as the service is over, whatever beauty you achieved during it has to be produced all over again in the next service. ~ Rowan Benedict Sheehan
Truly He is Risen!
Fragrant Wild Sweet Pea and Lavender
Take delight in all things that surround us. All things teach us and lead us to God. All things around us are droplets of the love of God – both things animate and inanimate, the plants and the animals, the birds and the mountains, the sea and the sunset and the starry sky. They are little loves through which we attain to the great Love that is Christ. Flowers, for example, have their own grace; they teach us with their fragrance and with their magnificence. They speak to us of the love of God. They scatter their fragrance and their beauty on sinners and on the righteous. ~ St. Porphyrios
