No matter how hard we may try, it is impossible to avoid prayer in silence altogether. Aside from the natural silences that come with sleep, sickness, satiation, sadness, or a winter snow, we may also encounter the impromptu silences of everyday life while first sitting up in bed, during a long day's drive, staring up at twilight, or fighting tired eyes getting heavy before bed. With all this silence interrupting our noise, perhaps there's more to it than what meets our ears

With the rising of the sun, You stretch my soul and breathe into my lungs. In the still heat of the noonday, You close my eyes and illumine my soul. In the silence of the late afternoon, You steady my feet and shake the sand from my shoes. With the lengthening shadows of the setting sun, You hold me in your arms and remind me of my last breath. My God and My God and My God, Why do you remain with me As sinful as I am? My God and My God and My God, Why do you save me from myse

When in the morning A light breeze awakens my mind, I remember You walked the earth. When in the afternoon A hot gust shutters my senses, I remember You suffered on the cross. When in the evening A cool wind enlivens my heart, I remember You resurrected on the third day. When in the night A silence settles over the cosmos, I remember You ascended into Heaven. All this? For me? For us? And there's more? Unworthy as I am, I ecstatically await With bated breath For the coming of

It is getting late and My head hangs low. It is darker now and My tears begin to flow. It is desperate all round so My hands grasp Because they know. The divine language of love, Played on a rope Made of silence. With humility and love, I implore you. Give me shelter, So I may pray through the nights. "O Mistress, Empress and Lady, Defend all who are in danger and misfortune Or weak from many sins, And who stand before your holy Icon Praying with tears, humility, repentance,

Seeing darkness, I watch the clouds build on the horizon. Assuming rain, I wait for the clouds to whip up the sea and the sand. What really comes? Not clouds, but a cloud. The cloud. "The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God'" (Luke 1:35). Rejoice in the cloud that Overshadows. Rejoice in the cloud that brings Light. Rejoice in the c

I walk along the water’s edge, Aware that I live in liminal spaces. One foot seemingly on solid ground, Relying on what’s familiar. Grasping for something that comforts, Stuck in the here and now. I walk along the water’s edge, Aware that I do not want to live in between. Remembering the familiar waters of Baptism, Relying on what cannot be seen. Reaching out beyond my capacity, Toward the there and then. I walk along the water’s edge, Aware of the rocks piercing my feet. Or

"Your birth, O Christ our God, dawned the light of knowledge upon the earth. For by Your birth those who adored stars were taught by a star to worship You, the Sun of Justice, and to know You, Orient from on High." O Lord, glory to You. - From the Apolytikion (a dismissal hymn) of the Feast of the Nativity - Icon of the Adoration of the Magi (from the Menologion of Basil II, 10th-11th c.)

During this time of isolation, I encourage you to learn more about your inner life with God. If you do so in all earnest, you will taste His spiritual sweetness and find true rest in Him. "16. Therefore, O beloved brethren, since such good things have been offered to us and such wonderful promises have been made to us by the Lord, let us get rid of all obstacles. Let us renounce all love for the world and devote ourselves to that one good by a thorough seeking and yearning so

"I am descending deep into my heart, to see who is dwelling in it besides me and You, O Eternal God. "And I am filled with fear as I find legions of strangers fighting over portions of my heart. I found as many of them in my heart as time contains human and inhuman souls from the Fall of Adam. "And then I understood why my heart has become weary, and cannot receive either You or me into its chambers, but instead shoves us to the outer perimeter – pushing the proprietors out t

The Holy Feast of Theophany is that greatest of days in which we celebrate the presence of the entirety of the Most Holy Trinity. "In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased'" (Mark 1:9-11; cf. Matthew 3:13-17 and Luke 3:21