in all of our days let us be glad
for the days wherein Thou hast humbled us
For the years wherein we have seen evil
And look upon Thy servants
and upon Thy works
and do guide their sons
Service of Vespers : Wednesday of Holy Week
Christ the Divine and Heavenly Bread
Gives food to all the world
Come then O lovers of Christ
and in our mouths of clay
but with pure hearts
let us receive in faith the Passover
that is sacrificed and offered in our midst
Service of Compline : Wednesday of Holy Week
Pascha means passover or passage…
Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of Pascha. He performed the ultimate passage : from death into life, from this “old world” into the new world and new time of the Kingdom. And He opened the possibility of this passage to us. Living in “this world,” we can already be “not of this world”.
Here and now, we can be free from slavery to death and sin, and partakers of the world to come. But for this we must perform our own passage. We must condemn the old Adam in us. We must put on Christ in the baptismal death and have our true life hidden in God with Christ in the “world to come”.
Thus Easter is not an annual commemoration – solemn and beautiful – of a past event. It is this Event itself, shown and given to us, as always efficient, always revealing our world, our time, our life as being at their End and announcing the Beginning of the new life.
The first three days of Holy Week challenges us with this ultimate meaning of Pascha and to prepare us to understand and accept it.
Behold the Bridegroom comes in the middle of the night;
and blessed is the servant whom He shall find watching,
but unworthy is he whom He shall find in slothfulness.
Beware then, O my soul, and be not overcome by sleep,
lest thou be given over to death and shut out from the Kingdom.
But return to soberness and cry aloud :
Holy Holy Holy art Thou, O God
Through the prayers of the Theotokos have mercy upon us.
The service of Matins
Holy and Great Monday
In case you haven’t noticed, we like pudding!
Only three ingredients, it is a raw, vegan and lenten pudding plus a good protein pick me up. This is a go to lenten snack in our house and the girls love it. Amazing as it sounds, there is no added sugar, but you will not miss it. I promise! The riper the banana the sweeter the flavor – so let your bananas sit on the counter till the peel is really yellow. No mushy bananas for this recipe though, save those for banana bread!
You don’t need to use almond butter. It will taste just as good with peanut butter, but with so many peanut allergies these days, I have adapted most of our recipes to use other nuts. You might even want to try to substitute tahini (sesame) butter. Different, but yummy!
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Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons almond butter (raw or toasted)
Place all ingredients in bowl and mash together. If you have a large crowd of kids, this doubles triples and quadruples nicely!
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“Palm Sunday is ‘the end of an entire process of preparation, as revealed in the Bible. It was the end of all that God did for us, and thus this short hour of Christ’s earthly triumph acquires an eternal meaning.
It introduces the reality of the Kingdom into our time, into all hours, and makes this Kingdom the meaning of time and it’s ultimate goal. The Kingdom was revealed in this world and from that hour. It’s presence judges and transforms history…
On Palm Sunday, this reality is our own involvement in and our responsibility to the Kingdom of God… And He does not need any “symbols” for He did not die on the Cross that we may eternally “symbolize” His life…If we are not ready to stand by the solemn oath which we renew every year on Palm Sunday, if we do not mean to make the Kingdom of God the measure of our whole life – then meaningless is our commemoration and vain are the branches we take home from Church.’ “
Father Alexander Schmemman
“We understand that it is because He wept, because He loved His friend Lazarus that Jesus had the power of calling him back to life. The power of resurrection is not a divine “power in itself”, but the power of love – or rather love as power.
God is Love and Love is Life.
Love creates Life.
It is Love that weeps at the grave and it is Love that restores life.
This is the meaning of the divine tears of Jesus. In them love is at work again – recreating, redeeming, restoring the life of man: Lazarus! Come forth!”
“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
This super yummy Lenten Spring Asparagus pairs well as a side dish with any lenten meal. If you want, you can substitute it as your salad, because it can be served warm or cold.
A crunchy veggie dish like this is also great for those nights when you have everything tapas style…. little bowls of lots of leftovers or dips and sauces and breads.
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Ingredients
1 pound fresh asparagus
1 teaspoon lemon zest (organic lemon – wash it before you zest)
6 kalamata olives pitted and sliced (you can use any variety)
If you are not fasting, drizzle with extra virgin cold or expeller pressed olive oil
Wash your asparagus and cut the bottom inch and a half off. Leave the stalks long. Heat a large non-stick skillet and place asparagus in it. You should hear a sizzling sound. Let it cook for about five minutes. You can move it around, but I like to leave it in one place so the part of the asparagus on the pan gets a little caramelized. It should have a bright green color when you take it off, and also still have a crispiness to it. (Cooking note: Some people like to boil their asparagus, but I prefer not too simply because vitamins and minerals will leach into the water – you get less nutrition that way.)
Place on serving dish. Salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle zest and olives on top of the asparagus.
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Enjoy.
Whole foods…. they are good for you! Asparagus is an anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory food. It is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber. “Fermented olives” have probiotics and healthy bacteria and health protective nutrients. The real surprise though is the lemon peel. Lemon peel is a source of lemonene, which is a phytochemical found to prevent and even treat cancer in animals. Lemonene is supportive of our livers (which are amazing) and a strong inducer of liver detoxification enzymes that neutralize carcinogens. Lenten or not, this is a very healthy side dish.
“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
gladsomelife.com 