let us lift up our hearts

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Reflections on the Lord's Prayer

“In order to hear the Lord’s Prayer and participate in it, it is first necessary to rid ourselves of that inner confusion, that fragmentation our attention, that spiritual sloppiness by which we constantly live… we regularly hide from everything that seems too exalted and spiritually meaningful… Indeed so much of our inner strength is directed at stifling this inner voice, which calls us to an encounter with the ultimate.” Father Alexander Schmemmann

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 When we say “Our Father”  … we find the meaning of love; and the answer to love; here lies the experience of intimacy and the joy of this experience; here faith opens into trust; and dependence yields to freedom; intimacy and ultimately unfolds as joy.  This is no longer and idea about God, but already knowledge of God. This is already communion with Him in love, in unity and trust.  This is already the beginning of knowing eternity.  For Christ himself said to the Father: “For this is eternal life, that they would know you.” (Jn 17:3)

Our Father : Father Alexander Schmemmann

a thousand points of light

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a thousand points of lightjpg

“This prayer has been said, and without interruption for two thousand years.   At every moment somewhere on the globe, people are saying those very words which were once uttered by Christ himself.    This is why we have no better path to the heart of Christianity than by this short, and on first observation, simple, prayer. ”  

Father Alexander Schmemman

Such a parallel can be drawn with the Orthodox Liturgy,  because every Sunday, at every moment in every time zone on the globe, the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, this holy and wonderful “work of the people,”  is offered in one voice, the world round.  It is a full twenty four hour cycle of thanksgiving and praise in thousands and thousands of Orthodox Monasteries and Churches.  Each offering the “same” Liturgy in their own tongue and from their own geography.

The Divine Liturgy is Christ in our midst.  It is an encounter with the resurrected Christ.  And, in partaking of the eucharist — the “Bread of Life” — we who are many become one body…  that is the body of Christ and the living Church.

Some call the richness of Orthodox Christian worship ritual, yet intertwined in this sublime Liturgical and spiritual tradition are the threads of living, personal and authentic Christian devotion.

“Blessed is the kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” sets the Liturgy in motion.  This is the timeless, honest, and simple fullness of eucharistic praise – in all languages and ethnicities – offered on behalf of all and for all.

 

simplicity

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simplicity of heart

 

We do not need riches or learning in order to know the Lord, we must simply be obedient and sober, have a humble spirit and love our fellow-men.  The Lord will love a soul that does this, and of His own accord make Himself manifest to her and instruct her in love and humility, and give her all things necessary to find rest in God.

Saint Silouan the Athonite

Christ is joy

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ChristisLife

 

Christ is our Friend, our Brother;  He is whatever is beautiful and good.  He is everything.  In Christ there is no gloom, melancholy or introversion, whereas man suffers from various temptations and situations that make him suffer.  Christ is joy, life, light, the true light, which makes man glad, makes him fly, makes him see all things, see all people suffer for all people and want all people to be with him, close to him.

Saint Silouan

kindling Divine Love

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Kindling Divine Love

 

The more wood you pile on a fire, the more heat you get, and thus it is with God – the more you think on Him, the more you are fired with love and fervour towards Him.  He who loves the Lord is always mindful of Him and remembrance of God begets prayer.

Saint Silouan

intent on God

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heart intent on God

“We eat and drink every day, yet on the morrow our bodies need food and drink again.  In like manner, the recollection of God’s bounties never wearies that soul, but disposes her still more to think on God.”

Saint Silouan

embrace time

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embracing time

 

Christ is everything, including the Lord and owner of our time. He is the Way, the how, the format, the prioritizing of our schedule. C. S. Lewis said we usually regard time as our own. We start our day with the curious assumption that we are the lawful possessors of an upcoming twenty-four hours. With that hazardous assumption, we fill the matrix of our day with slots of tasks or restful moments. We might hope that we are somehow planning our time in a way that pleases God. But, when we begin with the assumption that time is ours, then inconveniences, particularly people who appear before us wanting strength and hope, can become intrusions into our afternoon.

 Albert Rossi

Becoming a Healing Presence

the Way and the Truth and the Life : in time

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cruciform time

 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

(John 14:6)

 

“An Orthodox view of time is cruciform. All events that happened before the Cross, for the Christian, led up to the Cross. All. Subsequently, all events after the Cross are defined by the Cross and look back to the Cross for meaning. So the Cross is the center of time ; it magnifies and gives perspective to time….Time has a depth and profundity for Christians that the philosophers and the secularists can’t grasp, because it is all based in Christ and His saving action for us on the Cross. For Orthodox Christians, time— for example, 2:30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday— is basically a spiritual issue. It’s not about the control of our time but the surrender of it. We begin by saying that time is a gift from God that we are called to accept and use properly. Like all other gifts of health, friendship, and breath, we cherish time as a great gift bestowed on us by a loving God.”

Albert Rossi

Becoming a Healing Presence

kairos . God time

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eternal moments

 

So the meaning of time is found in the risk of love, in relationships, in response and openness to the other. Of course, our basic relationship is with Jesus Christ. We try to use our God-given time to be as aware and connected with Him as we can and then to do what He has put us on the planet to do. Time is a gift to become more of a healing presence.

Rossi, Albert S.

Becoming a Healing Presence