it is a liberation

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It would be a mistake to think of the sacrifices of Lent in purely negative terms—in terms of struggle and deprivation. We are to think of Lent as liberation. Lent calls us to sacrifice many of those things which, while they tend to occupy such a central position in our lives, while they seem to us to be so important, are in reality things we can do without. Lent is thus the rediscovery of that which is most essential in our lives. In this rediscovery, we return to God and to the very meaning of life. Thus, having stripped ourselves of all that is petty and futile, having cast off the burdensome baggage of our worldly and often complex lifestyles, we can truly experience Lent as liberation and purification, as the necessary, fruitful, and wonderful journey to the joy of Pascha.

Father Alexander Schmemman

lord and master of my life

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“We must always pray. But Lent is the time of an increase of prayer and also of its deepening. The simplest way is, first, to add the Lenten prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian to our private morning and evening prayers. Then, it is good and profitable to set certain hours of the day for a short prayer: this can be done “internally”—at the office, in the car, everywhere. The important thing here is to remember constantly that we are in Lent, to be spiritually “referred” to its final goal: renewal, penitence, closer contact with God.”

Father Alexander Schmemman

Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power, and idle talk

But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. 

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.

on spiritual reading

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We cannot be in church daily, but it is still possible for us to follow the Church’s progress in Lent by reading those lessons and books which the Church reads in her worship. A chapter of the Book of Genesis, some passages from Proverbs and Isaiah do not take much time, and yet they help us in understanding the spirit of Lent and its various dimensions. It is also good to read a few Psalms—in connection with prayer or separately. Nowhere else can we find such concentration of true repentance, of thirst for communion with God, of desire to permeate the whole of life with religion. Finally, a religious book: Lives of the Saints, History of the Church, Orthodox Spirituality, etc. is a “must” while we are in Lent. It takes us from our daily life to a higher level of interests, it feeds us with ideas and facts which are usually absent from our “practical” and “efficient” world.

Father Alexander Schmemann

it contains with it the eternal life {the jesus prayer}

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I pray that the All-good God will send down upon you the All Holy Spirit, as He did to His divinely sent holy Apostles so that you may be enlightened to walk the arduous path of salvation. “Behold now, what is so good or joyous, as for brethren to dwell together in unity with love” There is nothing more beautiful than for a synodia to be replete with godly love. Then everything is radiant, everything is full of beauty, while God above delights, and the holy angelic spirits rejoice above where love is boundless.

Love one another as I have loved you. By this all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.

John 13:35

O, Love, whoever possesses you has a truly blessed heart, for within love what could one possibly want and not find. Humility, joy, patience, goodness, compassion, forbearance, enlightenment, and so on are all there. But in order to obtain this supremely woundrous love, we must constantly call upon the God of love to give it to us. When the name of God is remembered through the prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me

Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ ἐλέησόν με

It contains within it eternal life and eternal life is the God of Love. Therefore, he who prays this prayer obtains true godly love.

Elder Eprhaim: Counsels from the Holy Mountain

Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ ἐλέησόν με 

spiritual springtime

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When love establishes its throne in the soul, it bestows the most beautiful spiritual springtime. Everything glistens with the breeze of love’s refreshing fragrance, for it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endure’s all things, thinks no evil, does not act wickedly, sees all things simply: love covers everything. For this reason it earned the crowing achievement: Love covers everything.

Elder Ephraim: Counsels from the Holy Mountain

💐 even by flowers 💐

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“Rejoice, heavenly ladder by which God came down”
The Akathist Hymn and Small Compline

If God does not leave a blade of grass, a flower, or a small leaf of a tree without His good providence, will He leave us? O, let every man be convinced with his whole heart that God is true to Himself in His providence for even the least of His creatures. Let him understand that the Creator invisibly dwells in all His creatures. In the words of our Saviour, God clothes the grass of the field, feeds the fowls of the air. In how many ways does not God rejoice us, His creatures, even by flowers? Like a tender mother, in His eternal power and wisdom, He every summer creates for us, out of nothing, these most beautiful plants. Let us enjoy them, not forgetting to glorify the goodness of the Creator, our heavenly Father; let us on our part, too, reply to His love by loving hearts.

Saint John of Kronstadt : My Life Christ

{psalter devotion} hope of the heart

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fragrant blossom

The Psalms are the most beautiful songs of poetry that this world possesses. They are the link between the Old and the New Testament, they unify the promise and fulfillment…. when chanted or sung, the Psalms tie the words of wisdom and feelings directly to our hearts.

The Psalms reflect timelessly the universal hopes and fears, love and hate, joys and sorrows of the human heart, and varying moods of human spirit: awestruck and wonder at Gods mighty acts, marvels of creation,groping complexity, the apparent prosperity of selfish scoundrels – from calm trust and deep certainty to cries of hope and desperation.

Life Transfigured : A Journal of Orthodox Nuns

the saints have much grace

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May the Grace of Christ be with you, within your soul, my child… to enlighten you and increase your love for Him, so that you may be kept near Him and not be swept away by the current of worldliness and fall away from God and lose your immortal soul which is worth more than the entire world.

The amount of Grace that came to you is small, the saints through had much Grace.

Elder Ephraim, Counsels from the Holy Mountain

contemplate His compassion

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May God bless us and in His good, open His sea of compassion to us, so that we may all be found united together in the eternal and blessed life, where there is “neither pain, nor sorrow nor sighing, but life unending” and “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Oh what joy that can not be taken away! What a confident awareness that henceforth the torments of this toilsome life have ended!

What God is as great as our God!

He is a Father overflowing with compassion, Who does not take sins into account, as long as His repentant child says, “I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight.” Then at once the Father embraces and kisses Him and obliterates from His heart every trace of displeasure that the childs proflifacy may have occasioned!

I lose my senses when I contemplate His abyss of paternal compassion toward sinners.

Elder Ephraim : Counsels from the Holy Mountain