give Him your heart

Leave a comment May 4, 2015 nourishinggrace

a fresh, hopeful breeze

Our Lord is the sole comfort of both angels and men, of every soul that yearns for Him. He alone is eternal. We can seek comfort from our fellow men here in this life, but all this is very limited, for created beings are limited in time and space and cannot dispense eternity. God alone takes care of every need of our souls.

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives:

the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4

a light to our path

Leave a comment May 2, 2015 nourishinggrace

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:9

There, now you understand what repentance is all about. Repentance is a complete turning of one’s heart toward Absolute Goodness , and not only of the heart but also of the mind, the feelings, the body, and one’s whole being. Repentance is the unbreakable union of love with our Father and Creator. Therefore we must always be in prayer and at all times ask the Mother of God to give us the strength to love Him as she herself does, along with the saints and the angels. Then we will be blessed both in this life and in eternity as well. For God is love, peace, and joy, which fills every being that seeks Him from the heart.

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives: the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

freedom

Leave a comment April 28, 2015 nourishinggrace

The Lord commands us to love our enemies, not for their sake, but for our own good. For as long as we wallow in the remembrance of an insult we have suffered from a friend, a neighbor, or a relative, we will have neither peace nor rest. We must become free from such thoughts. This means that we must forgive from the heart. Everything must be forgiven. The peace we feel afterwards brings a sense of well-being, joy, and comfort not only to us but to all who surround us. Everyone will feel the impact of our thoughts if our thoughts are kind and peaceful. And the opposite is true, as well.

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives:

the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

________________________________________________________

Embrace the counter-intuitive… ask yourself what is normal?

When one sees the violence and hatred going on in the world, even now just outside of our Nation’s Capitol in Baltimore, it’s clear that we have lost touch with what is normal. Where are the voices of healing?

Normal is not what everyone does, or even what the majority of people are doing.

Normal is the Truth, the Way and the Life.

infinite Love

Leave a comment April 24, 2015 nourishinggrace

Faith is the beginning of love.

Evagrios of Pontus

All that is best, that attracts our spiritual gaze and the inclinations of our heart in man, is from God, from His Son, and from His Spirit…

God is nearer to us than any man at every time. He is nearer to me than my raiment, nearer than the air or light, nearer than my wife, father, mother, daughter, son, or friend. I live in Him, soul and body. I breathe in Him, think in Him, feel, consider, intend, speak, undertake, work in Him. “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.”

St John of Kronstadt

bright friday

Leave a comment April 17, 2015 nourishinggrace

I know you to be a radiant and holy temple of the Master of all, O Maiden, and a Spring whence sprang forth Christ, the Water of immortality, wherefrom we are given to drink.

Third ode of the Canon to the Mother of God

Bright Week Friday

“The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection for mankind. How many churches there are in the world that are dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God! How many healing springs where people are cured of their ailments have sprung up in places where the Most Holy Theotokos appeared and blessed those springs to heal both the sick and the healthy! She is constantly, by our side, and all too often we forget her.”

+ Elder Thaddeus

prepare the way

Leave a comment April 4, 2015 nourishinggrace

“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!

mystery of silence

Leave a comment March 26, 2015 nourishinggrace

Words are instruments of this world,

but silence is a mystery of the age to come.

Saint Isaac of Syria

living water

Leave a comment March 23, 2015 nourishinggrace

“There is a kind of love that is similar to a brook after a rainfall, which quickly ceases after the rain stops. But then there is a love similar to a spring, which erupts through the earth and never ceases. The first love is human love, and the second love is Divine Love.”

Saint Isaac of Syria

patience and peace

Leave a comment March 20, 2015 nourishinggrace

All of them say that the perfection of the Christian life is in extreme humility. This means that patient long-suffering is what we most need in this life. We must bear everything patiently and forgive all. If we have good thoughts and desires, these thoughts will give us peace and joy even in this life, and even more so in eternity.