To bless another person means to speak well of him or to wish or to pray that he might receive something good.
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With respect to God, however, to bless means to praise and glorify Him.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
the silent descent of God
This is the silent descent of God, His descent from the heavens into our hearts.
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Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.”
Luke 2:8-14
be at rest and know that He is God
“The same, true Son of God, Who was timelessly born before the Morning-star, now undergoes a second birth in time. What is the Morning-star?
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It is the light that heralds the dawn.
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Before the appearance of the stars, before the creation of the world, before the beginning of time itself, the Son was begotten timelessly, eternally, everlastingly from the womb of God the Father.”
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Just days before the Nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all things are in hushed preparation for the mystery of the Incarnation. Are we?
holy ones
You 
The word saints means holy ones and reminds us not only of the saints but also of God’s holy angels. Like the angels the saints reveal the divinity of God
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The power, holiness and love of God are manifested in the splendor of the saints. Every Saint in his or her own way, reveals Christ. Every saint increases and augments the glory of Christ
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It is not possible to understand the glory of Christ apart from the glory of His saints
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when a person repents
When a person repents, he becomes aware of God’s love.
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lamps of our heart
If we wish to stay on the path that leads us to God’s presence, let us, like good pilgrims, prepare wisely.
The psalmist gave his whole soul, his whole heart, his whole being to God; he endured countless dangers, suffered many deprivations, for the sake of the only truly worthy cause: to enter into immediate relation with God; to commune with God Himself and to be filled with Him.
How I would like to see this kind of love, this kind of faith, in our own pilgrimage to God.
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the Psalms and the Life of Faith
give yourself up
What God seeks from me is something entirely spiritual. The sacrifice that He wants is a sacrifice of the heart. The Lord loves mercy and truth, and mercy us not do much an expression of love as it is an act of sacrifice, since it calls of me to sacrifice, not something I think I need to give up for God, but to surrender my very self; to make of my self an offering.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
Psalms and the Life of Faith
Thine own of Thine own
God asks the pilgrim for his love and his trust, but especially for his own self, and then He will give him His grace and glory.
But God does not give back less than He asks for, and so the grace and glory that He gives are God’s own self.
However we shouldn’t expect to receive anything from Him until we’ve journeyed to Him like the pilgrim, in a movement of the soul toward union with the Beloved.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
Psalms and the Life of Faith
the place of hope
When we enter the place of hope and trust, we see that God is near, and acknowledge Him as our Lord.
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yesterday gone
That which we ask of You, O Lord, is that our years be bound up together with You, that we live for You. Our days pass. We see that we all fall down and die. We ask nothing than to reach the land that spreads out before us.
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Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra
gladsomelife.com 