The Greek word for patience is hypomoni, which means “endurance.”… But patience also means endurance. The greatest form of patience, and its greatest test, is patience in the face of suffering— the ability to endure wrongs and afflictions patiently. It is rooted in humility, for the humble man does not consider himself worthy of more than he receives… That is why the humble man is patient with people.
Vassilios Papavassiliou
Reflections on the Triodion
There are many who say, “Who will show us good things?” O Lord, the light of Your face was stamped upon us. You put gladness in my heart; From their season of wheat, wine, and oil they were multiplied. I will both sleep and rest in peace, For You alone, O Lord, cause me to dwell in hope.
When you behold light, remember who gives it to you; When you see heaven and earth and sea and all they contain, be in awe and give praise to their Creator. When you put on your clothes, remember whose gift they are and give thanks to Him who takes care of your needs. In a word, remember and praise God in all your actions, and then you will be praying incessantly and your soul will be filled with gladness.
The Way of a Pilgrim
the true and full meaning of the Greek word for chastity, sophrosini, is “wholeness” or “wholemindedness.” Chastity is therefore a state of being in which the soul and body work together as one.
Vassilios Papavassiliou
Reflections on the Triodion
This lenten curry squash soup is born out of several squashes from our CSA box that have just been sitting on the kitchen counter. You really can use any winter squash variety. We used a sugar pumpkin, butternut and acorn squash – so this is more of a triple squash soup.
A note about the curry paste. We used to buy our curry paste from the local Thai market (oriental grocery stores have awesome spices). Sadly, our local Thai market closed. So for now I am using the Taste of Thai brand. It is not as spicy and flavorful as the brand in the Thai Grocery, but is still good.
The base of this soup is the vegetable.mineral.broth. That is why there is no salt in the final recipe. If you are not fasting, chicken stock will work nicely here too.
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Ingredients:
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375F. Cut squashes in half and spoon out seeds. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and place in oven. Bake for one hour or until tender. Remove from oven and spoon out squash meat into separate bowl.
Sautee onion over medium heat. Add 2 cups of vegetable broth and cooked squash. Add spices and coconut milk. Using an immersion blender, mix the soup until it is entirely pureed. Check the consistency, add more broth if it is too thick.
Garnish with cilantro, avocado or parsley.
Enjoy.
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Alternatively, you can make this a sage and thyme based soup. Omit the coconut milk, use an extra cup of vegetable broth and add to the sautéing onions one tablespoon of fresh sage and thyme.
There are so many variations to this soup, play with the ingredients and find what you like best.
Lord and Master of my life, give me not a spirit of sloth, idle curiosity, love of power, and useless chatter. Rather grant to me, Your servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience , and love. Yes, Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to condemn my brother; for You are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.
“Like candles, so our souls must stand upright before God.
The narrow way, my brothers, leads to the Kingdom of God. Only in restraint of mind, heart and will can the candles of virtue be lit, the flames of which rise up before God. We must, under the image of burning candles, understand the Christian virtues.”
18 January
No matter how many different varieties of hummus there are on the market, your own will taste better than all of them. People always ask for this hummus recipe, so it’s written down here for all. This is a basic recipe, and you can make it your own by adding roasted red peppers, ground olives, roasted eggplant or caramelized onions. This is a garlicky recipe. You can reduce the amount of garlic to your taste.
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Ingredients
2 cups cooked chickpeas. Preferred are chickpeas that have been soaked over night and cooked, but canned are fine too. Put some of the cooking water aside, in case you need to thin out your hummus.
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini (this is a sesame paste )
salt to taste
Optional : extra virgin olive oil
Preparation
Add chickpeas, peeled garlic, salt, tahini, lemon juice to food processor or very heavy duty blender. Turn on for about 1 minute. Scrape down sides if necessary. Check consistency of the hummus. You can add some of the water that you used to cook the chickpeas to get to desired texture. If you do not have any of that water, use tap water.
Taste for saltiness. Our experience is that the hummus requires a fair amount of salt.
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Enjoy with whole wheat pita or naan bread. Hummus is also great dip for veggies, like carrots and red peppers.
When I was younger and in college, I spent a fair amount of time in the home of my Jordanian Palestinian very good friend. Her mom made (and still does) the best hummus. She would drizzle a very good amount of olive oil atop of the hummus and scoop it up in fresh pita. This a fond memory for me, and despite how great this hummus tastes… hers tastes fantastically better.
And of course that could have everything to do with their great company and friendship.
“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.”
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