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.

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives:

the Life and Teachings of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

our thoughts and our lives

Leave a comment March 18, 2015 nourishinggrace

Our thoughts determine our whole life. If our thoughts are destructive, we will have no peace, if they are quiet meek and simple, our life will be the same, and we will have peace within us. It will radiate from us and influence all beings around us – rational being, animals and even plants.

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

as we forgive

Leave a comment March 17, 2015 nourishinggrace

“Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind, then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we are drawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

Why does the Lord command us to love our enemies and to pray for them? Not for their sake, but for ours! For as long as we bear grudges, as long as we dwell on how someone offended us, we will have no peace.

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

acquire the Holy Spirit and thousands around you will be saved

Leave a comment March 15, 2015 nourishinggrace

Our starting point is always wrong. Instead of beginning with ourselves, we always want to change others first and ourselves last. If everyone were to begin first with themselves , then there would be peace all around!

Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica

Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives

“…starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change”

Michael Jackson Man in the Mirror

lenten pantry

Leave a comment February 28, 2015 nourishinggrace

“it is important to know that the Church considers

the psalms to be an essential spiritual food

for the Lenten season”

Father Alexander Schmemann

Great Lent: A School of Repentance Its Meaning for Orthodox Christians

“…no soul can exist without God, without His Son,

without His Spirit. God is my being, my breath,

my light, my strength, my drink, my food.

He carries me as a mother

carries her infant in her arms.

More than this. Carrying me, my soul and body,

He dwells in me, and is united to me.”