HOLY SILENCE

"By Your Nativity, O Most Pure Virgin, Joachim and Anna are freed from barrenness; Adam and Eve, from the corruption of death. And we, your people, freed from the guilt of sin, celebrate and sing to you: The barren woman gives birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life!" - Kontakion (a hymn) from the Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos taken from “Nativity of the Theotokos.” Orthodox Wiki, https://orthodoxwiki.org/Nativity_of_the_Theotokos. #Theotokos #Virgin #Adama

When people meet you, do they see a profession; a social status; a nationality; an income bracket; an age; an education? Or, do they encounter God? While it may not seem fair to be evaluated by what we look like, how we sound, where we're going, or who we hang out with, the truth is that our countenance says so much more about who we really are than what we think we portray. That is why it is important to look deep inside to understand who or what is in us that gets reflected

"Sometimes one is permitted to feel in a palpable way an invisible power which acts amidst the visible powers and phenomena, but which is strikingly different from them and originates from the divine world. Relevant to this point are all the miracles and wonders by the help of which many conversions impossible to enumerate have taken place. The Savior said that unbelievers will not come to believe if they do not see signs (John 20:24-31). Most of these signs were shown after

"Sometimes the Lord wishes to send somebody from the other world: either in reality or in dreams, in their own appearance or under some other guise. In such a way the Mother of God has appeared many times, either alone, with the Pre-eternal Child, or accompanied by the saints - one, two, or many. The Great Martyr Katherine (November 24), for example, was converted by the appearance in her sleep of the Mother of God with the Pre-eternal Child, who betrothed her to Himself as H

"Before the dawn, Mary and the women came and found the stone rolled away from the tomb. They heard the angelic voice: "Why do you seek among the dead as a man the One who is everlasting light? Behold the clothes in the grave! Go and proclaim to the world: The Lord is risen! He has slain death, as He is the Son of God, saving the race of men." - A Paschal Hypakoe (a troparion chanted on a great feast) #PaschalLamb #Angels #Mary

Please pray for us most-loving Mother; and intercede for us, though we are unworthy of your care. We implore you to help us give our total "yes" - body, mind, and spirit, just as you did - to the ever-living, Triune God who creates, redeems, and sanctifies. Let us ever remember to honor you in our prayers: "O Theotokos and Virgin, rejoice, O Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women and blessed is the Fruit of your womb, for you have borne the Sav

The Savior was offered a cave in which He was born. This is scandalous, of course, because the child Christ, His Mother Mary, and His adoptive father Joseph should never have been dishonored by lying in a dirty, forgotten place. This is also glorious because it makes a point about the necessity of humility. But this story is about something far more important than emotional responses to aesthetical facts. To put it simply, our surroundings mean little in the context of unders

"Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! Angels with shepherds glorify Him! The wise men journey with a star! Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!" - A kontakion from the Feast of the Nativity. #JesusChrist #Mary #MotherofGod #Theotokos #Magi

St. Ambrose, good shepherd of Milan and doctor of the Church, please pray for us so we have the courage to defend the Most Holy Trinity, the divinity of Christ, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God. Help us to shun secular attitudes, reject false doctrines, and accept our sufferings in the name of the one, true God. Teach us how to become more intimate with the Lord through prayer and the sacraments. Amen. #StAmbrose #Trinity #Jesu

"The Virgin's gift to us of 'the Word of God' was different from that of the prophets, and the relationship that was formed and endured between her and the Word of God was unique. The prophets were vessels who bore the divine word for a time, but then it left them and they became once again strangers to the word of life. But the Virgin was bound to the Word of God as His mother, just as He was bound to her as her Son, and she is eternally the mother of the Son of God in so fa