“If you want to know God, read the Holy Bible. If you want to know your neighbor, read the Fathers of the Church. If you want to know yourself, read Dostoevsky.”
- Fr. Iakovos of Simona Petra Monastery
“Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
- Mathew 19:14 and Luke 18:17
An Icon of St. Peter and St. Paul
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If i give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Therefore make Love your aim.”
-1 Corinthians 13
“Sin lies in yielding to evil thoughts, not in having them. We are never free from these thoughts, for such is our nature, obscured by sin; even the saints had evil thoughts. Our voluntary yielding to evil thoughts or our struggle against them - herein lies our defeat or our victory.”
- Fr. Alexander Elchaninov
Icon of the Publican and the Pharisee
“He who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” - Mathew 23:12
This past Sunday marked our entrance into the Triodion period where we physically, spiritually, and mentally begin to prepare ourselves for the journey ahead. We must have always in our mind the stance of the Publican before the LORD as our hymns boldly proclaim;
“Understanding, O my soul, the difference between the Publican and the Pharisee, hate the proud words of the one, and eagerly imitate the contrite prayer of the other, crying aloud: God be merciful to me a sinner and have pity on me.”
“Monks (it has been observed) are like the great and silent forests of the earth. In silence and stillness the trees grow, unremarkable and unobserved in their forest wilderness, silently but effectively purifying the air of the whole world, removing, in their unmoving, unimpressive activity, the poisons and carbons that would otherwise destroy the world of cities and nations. It is for others to be the primary movers and dramatic doers. Monks, like trees, will do the world far less good by removing themselves from the purifying task of prayer and monastic observance. The world in its folly sees no usefulness in its rain forests - or in its monastics. But destroy either of these - and the world is ever ready to destroy both - and the world will strangle itself and die, poisoned by its own toxins.”
- Hieromonk James Deschene, Christminster, quoted in Orthodox Canada
+ FOOD FOR THOUGHT +
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out,
‘God! How could you do this to me?’
Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him!
‘How did you know I was here?’ asked the weary man of his rescuers.
‘We saw your smoke signal,’ they replied.
—————-
The Moral of This Story: It’s easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn’t lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground… it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.
