There are moments in life when you are not able to make a wish, because speech ceases and then you feel the need to express yourself only through prayers and blessings.
Metropolitan Nafpaktos Hierotheos
A Night in the Desert of the Holy Mountain
the altar of the heart {anaphora}
The heart is the tabernacle where the soul encounters the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The greatest potential of every human being is to fulfill our calling to be the royal priesthood, who become the meeting place of the created and uncreated worlds, lifting up the gifts of creation each moment from the later of the heart as the priest does in the anaphora of the Divine Liturgy.
Stephen Muse : Treasure in Earthen Vessels
“Thine own of Thine own, we offer unto Thee, on behalf of all and for all.”
affirmations of goodness
Gratitude is an affirmation of goodness, for in our being grateful we affirm that there are good things in the world, and good people that are part of our lives. Our being grateful does not mean that everything in life is perfect, but it does mean that we look at life as a whole, and receive with gratitude all the goodness that is in our life. In turn, our gratitude becomes the foundation for building up those around us, for in being happy ourselves, we are more likely to bring about happiness in others.
Being happy nurtures those random acts of kindness that everyone loves to experience, and promotes goodness and kindness among even strangers. People love it when other people are good to random people. This happiness becomes like a magnet, and even strangers are drawn to us, and our list of friends proliferates. There is nothing that brings about satisfaction like being grateful for our life, for the lives of those around us, for the things in our lives, and for the love God has for us. Remember, it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy.
Abbot Tryphon : the morning offering
a great gift to man
Prayer is a great gift to man. Whoever cultivates prayer will delight in it and will sense the fragrant blossoms, the sweetness and the honey of Grace. He will be worthy union with God, of becoming one with God, of having theosis in the soul, of becoming god by Grace.
blessed Gerontissa Makrina
this fasting
A clear rule handed down by the Fathers is this: stop eating while still hungry and do not continue until you are satisfied.
Saint John Cassian, Philokalia, Vol. 1 Faber & Faber, 1986, p.74
This fasting is in regard to food. Living in an age in which man much too easily lives for the sake of exterior effects, we can be fooled into thinking that fasting from food should be sufficient for spiritual growth. But in the holy Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ says, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come….all these evil things,… and they defile a man.” (Mark 7:21-23) Here the Savior teaches us that most important is the purification from within of our heart and soul. Fasting of soul is the defeat of egotism, the renunciation sins and the abstention from passions. It is a a humble realization within ourselves emulating the example of Saint John the Baptist, the greatest man born frogwoman and the greatest faster. He says, He [Christ] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30) In order to receive Christ in our hearts… we must work to destroy all that separates us from Him. We have the means close at hand to accomplish this”
- repentance and sincere Confession, which are the hyssop which makes our souls whiter than snow (Psalm 50:7)
- love of God and fellow creatures who are made in the image of God” this is the great commandment of God, making us like Him Who is true Love
- charity, which covers a multitude of sins and changes the vanity of this world into eternal glory
- spiritual hymns and pure prayer, which is the center from which all good deeds draw their power and strength
- and above all, participation at Holy Liturgy and receiving of Holy Communion
When we join these efforts to bodily fasting, then our fast truly becomes a knitting together of ascetically effort in both body and soul. All these things we must accomplish with joy of heart as the Lord teaches us when He says: “but when you fast, anent your head and wash your face that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:17-18)
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“Life Transfigured”
A Journal of Orthodox Nuns, Volume 50 #3
encircling mercy
“when a man becomes humble, at once mercy encircles him, and then his heart is aware of Divine help, because if finds a certain power and assurance moving in itself. And when a man perceives {the coming} of Divine help, and that it is this which aids him, then at once his heart is filled with faith, and he understands from this that prayer is the refuge of help, a source of salvation, a treasury of assurance, a haven that rescues from the tempest, a light to those who are in darkness, a staff of the infirm, a shelter in time of temptations, a medicine at the height of sickness, a shield of deliverance in ware, an arrow sharpened against the face of his enemies and to speak simple, the entire multitude of these good things is found to have its entrance through prayer.”
Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian
concerning prayer {cling to Christ}
“To become children of God and gods by Grace, let us always pray. All good things are given from above by the Father of Lights. If we wish to be children of God, let us entreat and pray continuously to make us worthy of such a grace.
Let our souls cling to God as the prophet David says, “my soul clings to you and my right hand upholds you” Saint Gregory the Theologian says, “remembrance of God brings us rest.” The God Bearing Maximos the Confessor writes, “The mind unified in prayer and Love of God becomes wise, good, merciful, and long-suffering, reflecting all the Divine energies in itself.”
Let us love God with all our strength and our neighbors as ourselves, that we may be worthy to be children of God and gods by Grace. Amen.”
“Spiritual Advice of the Elder Philotheos Zervakos”
Translated by Archimandrite Polycarpos Rameras
let us lift up our hearts
“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
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