“A small but persistent discipline is a great force;
for a soft drop of water falling persistently,
hollows out hard rock.”
Saint Isaac of Syria
may that small persistence be the rain of contrition and prayer,
grace.thanksgiving.joy – eucharisteo
unrelenting.patient.purposeful – rejoicing.thanksgiving.choosing God
may grace hollow a room in the bedrock of our hearts
making straight the way for the Lord
Blessed Feast of the Raising of Lazarus!
While the Church is one in essence, it is diverse in gifts and function. Unity does not mean uniformity. Each member is unique before God, with gifts and roles granted by Him. Diversity in operation is (1) based on the ascent of the Son and the descent of the Spirit (2) guided by specially gifted people and (3) for the sake of the maturity and stability of the body.
Footnotes on Ephesians 4:7
The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World
“for each person, there is a unique path towards God and those who are spiritual should know this mystery and dispense for their brothers the knowledge of these unique paths.”
The Enlargement of the Heart
Archimandrite Zacharias
“Since Christ is the power and wisdom of God the Father—the brightness of the Father’s glory (Heb 1:3), the substantial and perfect Image of the invisible God—where He is, there is the uncreated and saving grace of God. His Cross restores man to immortality and stirs up desire for the things of heaven.”
The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World
footnotes 1 Corinthians 1:24
“We have the cross of our Lord as our boundary line, and by it we are fenced around and shut off from our former sins.”
“…we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
To follow Christ means to have the capacity to coexist with other people who may be radically difference from you.
Kyriacos C Markides
Inner River : A Pilgrimmage to the
Heart of Chrstian Spirituality
Like everything that is beautiful, the flower gives pleasure by being seen, and we should Glorify the Creator by looking at and enjoying it’s beauty.
Saint Clement of Alexandria
Those planted in the house of the Lord Shall blossom forth in the courts of our God; They shall still be increased in a rich old age, And shall be prospering So as to proclaim, “The Lord my God is upright, And there is no wrongdoing in Him.”
The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World
You are blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth
Psalm 113: 23
“The true vision of God consists in this, that the soul that looks up to God never ceases to desire Him.”
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
The heavens declare the glory of God;
The firmament shows the creation of His hands.
Day to day utters speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
The Orthodox Study Bible: Ancient Christianity Speaks to Today’s World
Psalm 19:1-3
In the beginning God created; that is to say, in the beginning of time.
St. Basil the Great
The world was not conceived by chance and without reason, but for an useful end and for the great advantage of all beings, since it is really the school where reasonable souls exercise themselves, the training ground where they learn to know God; since by the sight of visible and sensible things the mind is led, as by a hand, to the contemplation of invisible things. For, as the Apostle says, the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.
St. Basil the Great
O come ye faithful, let us work the works of God in light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, let us cast away from ourselves every unjust writing against our neighbor and not put a stumbling block as an occasion for his falling on the way.
Friday Vespers
1st Week of Great Lent
gladsomelife.com 