The name of Jesus, prayer of the heart, is called a vessel of myrrh by the Holy Fathers. ⠀⠀
You open it, you turn it upside down and the myrrh flows out, the place is filled with fragrance. … for each one of us is a temple of God, and when we pray we become celebrants of a great mystery.⠀⠀
This is why one of the Fathers of the Church says, very beautifully “ take a censer and cense, because Christ is in your heart from which rises the cry, “Lord Jesus Christ” and elsewhere he says, ⠀
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“when we hear the swing of the censer, let us remember that we are a temple and let us feel in our minds that we are censing Christ., Who is in each of us, and thus let us venerate this tabernacle of the Holy Spirit”⠀
“You must run after the Prayer (the “Prayer” is the Jesus Prayer). To have the Prayer you must continually pray inside. Run after the Prayer, do not be talking rather only be praying.”
blessed Geronitssa Makrina
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“When saying the Jesus Prayer keep your mind empty; with the Jesus Prayer your mind will be clean and full of light. You will see your every fault. With the Jesus Prayer you will always say it is my fault NOT someone else’s fault.”
That censer of ours, it is probably twenty some years old. It has a well worn oft used sweet smelling incense patina on the inside and a “let my prayer arise as incense” luster on the outside. Recently – in the past year – it has become unhinged. Not pictured is the candle wax dripped scribbled names in the margin and some crayon markings from the kids Jordanville prayer book which also has pages falling out. So many times I have come so close to purchasing a shiny new brass or nickel censer and crisped white no writing on the pages brand new unbroken spine prayer book but then I always put them down.
Unlike the pages falling out of the prayer book, no page of prayer falls out of the book of God’s heart. The censer : a visual reminder that prayer is oft born of the unhinged censer of a broken and contrite heart… it is such a prayer that arises as incense, a prayer that God knows before even it is spoken and one that God will not despise.
God wants us to be humble and meek because there is a devil, who never sleeps waiting to swallow us. Stay humble with the sweet name of Jesus, Jesus’ name will soften your heart. All the day long you will want to say only Jesus’ name. If your mouth is filled with Jesus’ name you will not be able to hurt anyone with your words. All things that you do will be soft. If you touch another sister it will be as soft as a sponge. The name of Jesus will soften you to the point of tears in all things.
If you are never angry, always forgiving instantly and constantly blaming yourself knowing that you CAN NEVER BE RIGHT you will have heaven on earth and in your heart.
The compassion of God is like the ocean, like the heavens. God does not say, “why did you sin?” but instead, “why didn’t you get up?” He forgives us for everything: it is enough that we repent as soon as we understand we have made a mistake. Are we not human? We fall. However, we must get up. Christ loves us so much!”
O Word supreme in love, who with the Father and the Spirit hast created all things visible and invisible in Thy wisdom past speech, grant that we may spend the season of the joyful Fast in profound peace.
Matins: Tuesday in Cheesefare Week
This past week of Meatfare and this present week of Cheesefare offers Orthodox Christians a wonderful occasion to clean our pantries of leftover meat, dairy and eggs as we ease into the strictness of the Fast – when, through the effort of Lent, we also clean the pantry of our hearts. During the forty day fast we forgo heavy and clogging meals, seeking instead our nourishment from lighter and more cleansing plant-based sustenance. All of this fasting fare is, of course, fortified with the Lenten services and soul-restorative calories found as the faithful graze within the beautiful spiritual pastures Lent.
Throughout these past weeks, our Mother the Church, has shepherded, taught and nudged the faithful closer and closer to the bounds of the Great Lent. It is through these weeks of preparation that the aspiration of this Great Fast has been made clear once again – that it is not the rigidity of dietary restrictions (to which we are certainly called to adhere), but rather the grace of an inner change of heart.
Genuine fasting has as an essential ingredient the relationships of family and community. Isn’t it pleasant when brothers dwell in unity… we are not saved alone. A wise retired priest told me once that being in family and community can be likened to a satchel of sharp jagged rocks. Through the jostling of life we rub each other, sometimes the wrong way, with our sharp edges. Friction happens – but through time and forgiveness, those rocky edges become smooth and mellowed. Forgiveness Vespers seeks to erode those jagged edges of relationship.
And so it is, that this Sunday, the Orthodox Christian Lenten journey is ushered in with love and forgiveness.
How appropriate that the first flavor of this awesome labor of fasting is found in a feast… the blessed taste of forgiveness – that given and received – during the Vespers of Forgiveness this very weekend. These past weeks of the humility of the Publican, the faithful perseverance of the woman at the well, the coming to his senses of the Prodigal – a return to the Father – these intend to soften hearts.
Great Lent is a walk of joy, an annual journey of the faithful body of Christ.
Does it really come as any great surprise that the faithful rejoice in this Fast with gladness? For truly, to savor even a crumb off of Lenten tables laden with fasting, reminds us that we are blessed, we are blessed, we are so very richly blessed!
When a person has God in his soul he is careful not to speak ill of anyone, not to sadden anyone. This is the Grace of God. It stays with you, it protects you so you don’t sadden your brother, so you don’t embitter him, treat him badly, or speak unkindly to him. The Grace of God does all this. It sweetens the soul, making it delicate as air, filling it with kindness, good manners, and good behavior.
“Just as we regularly eat in order to maintain the body so the soul should constantly be filled with prayer. The one who prays feels divine blessedness and has the help of God. If we had something previous and we lost it we would turn over the whole world to find it. This is how we must pursue the name of God.”
Do not chide anyone for any trespass, but think of yourself as accountable in all things and guilty of his fall. Do not refuse to do any lowly chore with humility and in no wise decline from doing it.
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