I was 26 when you died and Today marks 26 years since. It's surreal. Almost unbelievable. Half my life with you and half my life without you? Oh, how I love you. Oh, how I miss you. Oh, how grateful I am To have known you. In all this time, I have never once forgotten... Your love and your friendship Your warmth and your comforting hug. Your smile and your kind words Your decency, your simple wisdom, and Most of all, Your devotion. How could I ever forget Your laps around the yard Walking amidst the trees and the Statues of St. Anthony and the Blessed Mother. In solitude with your mother's rosary beads, Teaching me how to pray, Showing me how to seek refuge in the Mother of God, Enlivening in me a devotion to the Theotokos. Even then, I knew I didn't have to thank you. It was clear I never had to repay you. All I had to do was listen to God, And to be what He made me to be. Because of that love and in that peace I took what you gave me and have tried With all my might and throughout my life To care for others as you cared for me. Even in the many ways I have failed at that task, I have never stopped trying and serving. And praying... And praying. In the end, I guess that was your greatest gift to me During that short time I knew you on this earth. You taught me that God is love. You exuded that love and I love you for it. So, if God should give me another 26 years, I ask you to keep praying for me. And with all love, humility, and respect, I will continue to beg the intercession of the Theotokos, The forgiveness of Her Son, and The sanctification of the Holy Spirit. A mosaic closeup of the icon of the Protection of the Mother of God.

"Without the Holy Spirit: God is far away, Christ stays in the past, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is simply an organization, authority a matter of domination, mission a matter of propaganda, liturgy no more than an evocation, Christian living a slave morality. "But with the Holy Spirit: the cosmos is resurrected and groans with the birth-pangs of the Kingdom, the risen Christ is there, the Gospel is the er of life, the Church shows forth the life of the Trinity, authority is a liberating service, mission is a Pentecost, the liturgy is both memorial and anticipation, human action is deified." The above passage was written by Bishop Ignatius Hazim of Latakia (later Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch) in The Uppsala Report 1968: Official Report of the Fourth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Uppsala July 4-20, 1968, Normal Goodall, ed. (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1969), p. 298. The text has been set as poetry to highlight the ideas. This photo was taken by Fr. Thomas on 13 April 2023.

Loving Giving Taking the load off Hand in hand Step by step... They reject. And along the way... You protect a safe image. Compassion? Care? Euphemisms be damned! Alas! Spiritual Guidance... That's the most dangerous business. These over here need help. Do they want to change? Those over there are getting attacked. Do you have the spiritual courage? Look at them. Listen to them. Show them. Guide them. But most of all Pray with them. And pray... And pray... and pray. This is the life of Christ's crucifying love. And the work of the Spirit overshadowing you... To Feed To Confess To Anoint and To Shepherd... Them that curse you Spit at you Persecute you and Condemn you. This business of helping people is risky. It's difficult and daring too. But it's worth it... spiritual guidance that is. It's worth it for their eternity and... Your eternity, too, Through, with, and in God! Moses at the Burning Bush

A lot of life is lived between 11:59 on December 31 and 12:01 on January 1. An entire year is burned in effigy. Another holds every hope and promise. So many possibilities. Such a little bit of time. But make the most of it, This new year and all the next ones. The new months and The new days too. Seek the Holy Spirit. Live in Its light. Bask in Its warmth. Bathe in Its love. Set the world on fire with your faith. Heal the world with your forgiveness. Lead the world with your mercy. Feed the world with your love. One minute can change anything and everything. Photo by Adonyi Gábor. Red and Orange Fire · Free Stock Photo (pexels.com) downloaded on 31 December 2023.

This prayer to the Holy Spirit was written by St. Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) who saw the Spirit before him. "Come, true light (Jn 1.9). Come, eternal life (1 Jn 5.20). Come, hidden mystery (Eph 3.9). Come, nameless treasure. Come, ineffable reality. Come, incomprehensible face. Come, everlasting exultation. Come, unfading light. Come, trusty expectation of all who are going to be saved. Come, awakening of those who sleep. Come, resurrection of the dead (Jn 11.25). Come, Mighty One who always creates, who re-creates and who transforms all things by his will alone. Come, invisible, and untouchable, and in every way intangible. Come, You Who always remain immutable, and Who at every hour are wholly altered, and are coming to us who lie in hell, You Who are above all the heavens (Eph 4.10). Come, most beloved name repeated again and again, a name entirely forbidden for us to speak or to know the very person You are, the kind or quality. Come, eternal joy. Come, imperishable crown (1 Pet 5.4). "Come, purple of our great God and King. Come, crystalline cincture set with gems. Come, unapproachable sandal. Come, royal, purple robe and truly autocratic right hand! Come, You Whom my miserable soul has desired and desires. Come, the Alone to the alone, because I am alone, as you see! Come, You Who separated me from everyone and made me alone on the Earth. Come, You Who have become desire itself in me and Who made me desire You, the utterly unapproachable one. Come, my breath and my life (Acts 17.25). Come consolation of my dejected soul. Come, my joy, and glory, and endless luxury. "I thank You because You have become one spirit with me (1 Cor 6.17), unmixing, unmoved, immutable God over all things, and because You yourself have become the all in all for me (Rom 3.5; 1 Cor 15:28), utterly inexpressible food, and utterly without expense, is endlessly overflowing the lips of my soul, and gushing out in the fountain of my heart (Prov 5.16), garment flashing forth and burning up the demons, purification through incorruptible and holy tears that wash me out, tears that You give freely to those whom You visit. I thank You because You have become an unfading light and an unsetting sun to me, You Who have nowhere to hide, Who fill the universe with your glory (Acts 7.49; Is 66.1). For You have never been hidden from anyone, but we always hide ourselves from You, not wishing to come to You. For where ? You Who nowhere have a place of rest? Why would You hide? You Who never turn away anyone at all, and You do not turn from anyone of them. And so now Master, dwell in me and inhabit me (Jn 1.14; Eph 3.17), and remain continually, and inseparably in me your slave, until my death, Good One, so that I also may be found both in my departure and after my departure in You (Phil 3.9). Good One, and I shall reign with You (2 Tim 2.12), God over all things (Rom 9.5)! Remain, Master, and let me not be alone, so that when my enemies come, always seeking to devour my soul (1 Pet 5.8), when they find You remaining in me, they shall flee entirely, and shall have no strength against me, when they see You Who are more powerful than everything, seated within the home of my humbled soul (Mk 3.27). Verily Master, When You remembered me, when I was in the world of my ignorance. and You yourself picked me out, and separated me from the world and set me before the face of your glory (Jude 24). "So now also keep me within, always standing upright and immovable in your dwelling within me. So that watching You continually, I the corpse may live; and holding You, I, a poor hired man, will always be rich, even richer than all kings (Lk 15:25; Rom 13.14); and eating and drinking You (Jn 6.54), and every hour being vested with You, I will be reveling in unspeakable holy things. For You are every good, and every glory, and every enjoyment, and to You glory is fitting, You the Holy, Consubstantial, and life-giving Trinity. The Trinity in Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit venerated, and proclaimed, and worshipped, and served by all the faithful now, and always forever and ever. Amen." - St. Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is one of three saints of the Orthodox church to have been given the title of Theologian (the others are St. John the Apostle and St. Gregory Nazianzen). -This text is quoted from Divine Eros: Hymns of St. Symeon the New Theologian, Daniel Griggs, trans. Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2010. This icon was downloaded on 5 June 2023 from the Online Chapel - Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (goarch.org).

Truly, He is Risen! This photo of the fresco of the Resurrection (Anastasis) was sourced on April 16, 2023, from the Church of Chora book, authored by Elias Sarantopoulos. Pictured above is the Chora Church Parekklesion Frescoes, Chora Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (churchofchora.com).

Holiness for humans is based in our love for God and our determination to do everything we can to draw ever closer to Him who loves us and desires our full return to Him. This is precisely what Jesus modeled for us in the Garden of Gethsemane. Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them,” My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:36-39) Despite the perfect holiness that existed in His divine nature and divine will — meaning that, as the Second Person of the All-Holy Trinity, Jesus was the both the architect and the living reality of the plan that He, God, had set forth for the world — Jesus also experienced the agonizing vicissitudes of a human nature and human will. In other words, even though Jesus was God, He was also a man who felt the crippling weight of the divine plan that he chose to follow. Consider how this unfolds in this passage from Matthew. First, Jesus prayed. His human nature and human will still needed to be nourished by His Father in heaven. Second, Jesus asked for the company of His closest friends. Since He was in such a sorrowful state over what awaited Him, He asked for company so as not to be totally alone. Third, Jesus felt the weight of His suffering so deeply that it felt like death. His fear and torment even caused Him to fall on His face. Fourth, Jesus begged His Father to alleviate from Him the suffering that was coming. His words, filled with anxiousness and distress, were a final grasp at the false hope that some other path might be taken. Fifth, and finally, He relented and gave Himself over to the plan of God. When considering this course of events most of us can relate to the need for prayer, to the need for faithful companions in our darkest hours, to the kind of suffering that can form a shroud over our whole life, and to prayers that beg for the alleviation of the weight of sin and pain. But what separates us from Jesus was His absolute and personal obedience to the will of God -- even to the point of death. Remember: this chain of events in the Gospel of Matthew does not arise from Christ as God, but from Jesus as human. This is vitally important because not only do we witness Jesus willingly cross into the tomb of death, but also because it forces us to ask the ultimate question: “Will I follow Him into the grave?” Sadly, it is increasingly difficult to ask this question of ourselves because modern culture is increasingly antagonistic toward belief in God, toward religion, toward Christianity in general, and toward the ancient and true faith. Making matters worse, are the efforts of an increasingly progressive, increasingly modernist wing of Christianity where far too much emphasis is placed on social issues. While these activities, at one level, can inform our understanding of the world around us, they replace holiness-as-union-with-God  with holiness-as-human-action . The fact of the matter is that the atheist or agnostic is just as good at feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. Therefore, the true Orthodox Christian must bring Christ Jesus. That means we must bring to people our holiness — our deepest commitment to following the will of God throughout our lives. Starting with ourselves, our families and friends, our co-workers and then to those strangers who cross our paths, we must show that our very own prayers are transforming our lives. We must show them that we are the transfigured humanity of which Jesus spoke. To do this, our public prayer and our personal prayer must exude long after we have left our Churches, chapels, and icon corners. In other words, before people even view our charity toward others they must encounter a deep sense of worship in us, an attitude of prayer that never subsides and a countenance that transverses the natural and the supernatural. God wants us to become like the angels. The angels only glorify God. This is their prayer, glorification of God and nothing else. The glorification of God is a very subtle matter; it eludes human criteria. We are very material and earth-bound, and for that reason we pray to God in a self-interested manner. We ask Him to order our affairs, to help our businesses do well, to protect our health and to safeguard our children. But we pray in a human way and with self-interest. Doxology is prayer without self-interest. The angels do not pray in order to receive something; they are selfless. God also gave to us the possibility for our prayer to be an unending doxology, an angelic prayer. This is where the great secret lies. When we enter in this prayer, we will glorify God continually, leaving everything to Him…  ( Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios , p.133). When we glorify God continually and when we leave everything to His will — this, of course, is true holiness — but it is also the nature of the agony that Jesus felt in the Garden. An icon of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

As I continually read, watch, and listen to the multitudinous stories of the atrocities committed against Christians around the world these days, I have repeatedly found myself meditating deeply and frequently about Christian identity, persecution, and martyrdom. In the midst of such a reflection, I also find that I am asking God if and what I should do to help those afflicted. While I certainly can’t recount here the entirety of His mildly astonishing answer to me, I can tell you that I was reminded of what St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” In other words: the mystical does enter the mundane. Knowing and believing this is vital to our understanding of a vibrant faith. It is the bridge that God gives to us in order to see the path between a world dripping with evil and sin, and the world of Divinity in the heavenly kingdom. Mystical experiences happen because God loves us. They are a clear sign that He is interceding for us. God does this because He wants to give us every possible chance to escape from our sinful selves and the vicious acts of the evil one. He also does this because He calls each and every one of us to a foretaste of eternal unity with the Most Holy Trinity in the heavenly kingdom. Thus, one of the lessons to be learned is this: instead of always looking at what is wrong in the world, take the time to remember that God is working in the midst of it. For example, it is a miracle that there are Orthodox everywhere who are willing to sacrifice life and limb to bring the message of God into a godless world. Remember, too, all the miracles that have happened in the past, both as an acknowledgment that God has been working in the world since the beginning of time and as a way of finding a path that is modeled after the saints who bathed in the mystical light. Let us pray for one another that we may live our lives by the light of this kind of faith.

As persons and as a Church we have been challenged during these last two years to reach deep within ourselves to truly know, understand, and live the reality that God is a Most Holy Trinity, that God chose to become incarnate so that we would know Him in the most intimate ways possible, and that the Church is both the temple of God and the natural home of man. The beauty of these last two years is that it has given each person, each parish, and each diocese another avenue for rediscovering the faith that is within, the faith that is practiced, and the faith that grows by exemplifying it evermore in the world. There is also a type of sobering austerity to a period like this and it comes in the form of an acute complexity that has not been overcome in 2,000 years. You see, the theological realities of Christianity mean that one cannot come to its conclusions by reason alone. Simply put, the gift of faith is always necessary to having faith. Furthermore, while it is easy to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for wanting to do more ‘for the faith’, we can never allow ourselves to get so wrapped up in human-centered programs about faith that we forget from whom and for whom faith exists. Again, it is God who gives us faith and God who teaches us how to be faithful. To understand this distinction a little more, let’s look at and meditate on one of the many and varied passages in Sacred Scripture where Jesus reveals what faith is and how to act on it. St. Luke provides an excellent example: Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents’ (Luke 15:1-10). The point of this parable is to demonstrate that God is faithful to us even when we have gone astray. Thus, through the most holy example of Jesus, we are being taught what it means to have faith as well as what it means to live by faith. So as this year slowly comes to a close, please ask yourself these questions: do I better understand what faith is? Do I understand that God has been faithful to me? What response, in faith, will I give to God? Do I meditate on Sacred Scripture and participate in Sacred Tradition so that I may live this faith? Do I model my faith after Jesus? How about Mary and the saints? Am I too interested in many ‘programs’ of faith instead of actually being faithful?

Are you lost? Do you doubt? Do not despair. God has a plan for you! Today, we celebrate the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul who demonstrate for each of us that whatever difficulty we are facing or no matter how ardently we deny the work of Christ in us, God will show us mercy, lead us to the path for which we were meant, and give us a measure of peace in and with Him. Think about it like this. Peter denied Jesus (John 18:15-27). Yet it was he who was able to proclaim, "You are Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Mt 16:16-18). Paul persecuted Christians (Acts 8:3). Yet it was him who was able to say, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:19-20). Christ made these men new. He showed them the path of repentance, which is filled with love and mercy. "When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’ A second time he said to him, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Tend my sheep.’ He said to him the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me?’ Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, ‘Do you love me?’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17). That is the point, isn't it? We are all called, in one way or another, to feed Christ's sheep. No matter what baggage we carry in life, no matter how many times we have fallen, we must seek Christ's forgiveness and ask for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Then, we keep moving forward in humility, just as St. Paul did. "Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe" (1 Cor 15:8-11). By remembering Ss. Peter and Paul, we are also being reminded that without Christ we can do nothing. We are His, and He is ours. Let us cherish this very personal, very loving, extraordinarily sacrificial God who is eternal, incarnate, resurrected, ascended, ever present, filling all things, and the giver of earthly and heavenly life. An example of an icon of Ss. Peter and Paul, courtesy of Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (goarch.org).

O Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Light That shines for all eternity. You trampled down death... by death. O Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Living Water That brought all things into being. You bestowed life upon those in the tombs. O Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Bright Resurrection That causes rejoicing throughout the ages. You destroyed the power of hell. "O great and holiest Passover, Christ! O Wisdom, Word and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly partake of Thee in the unending Day of Thy Kingdom." - A troparion (a hymn) from Pascha (The Resurrection of Christ)

Open your eyes wide to the coming of the Lord! This message is given to us repeatedly as the Church approaches The Feast of the Meeting of the Lord, also known as the Presentation in the Temple. In the Gospel according to St. Luke 2:22-40, we are told that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the Temple on the 40th day after His birth in order to uphold the custom and to offer prayers and supplications in thanksgiving to God. Prior to this moment in this Gospel, there are only two occasions when people see Jesus. The first is when the shepherds receive instruction to go to Bethlehem when He is born. The second is on the eighth day for Jesus' Circumcision. On the third occasion, Jesus is presented to the world, shown to His people, and confirmed by the prophets. The Prophet Simeon was there. Earlier in life, he had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the Christ who would bring redemption and salvation to the world. So he spent many faithful years in prayer until one day, when the Holy Spirit told him to go to the Temple, he saw Jesus. The Prophetess Anna was there too. After spending 84 years fasting and praying, she saw Jesus in the Temple and spent the rest of her life preaching about Christ's redemption. Thus, the feast of the Meeting of the Lord calls all of us to "come," "see," "behold,", "believe,", "know," "tell," "partake," "ponder," "meditate," and "contemplate". This is what the prophets Simeon and Anna had done long before the Incarnation and what Jesus invited Zacchaeus to do later on. This rich tax collector (who climbs a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus) is visited by Jesus who says, "Today salvation has come to this house...for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:9-10). In other words, Jesus is seeking you. Look for Him! Let Him into your heart and your home. Do not be satisfied with remaining in the crowd and with the crowd. Climb the heights and search the depths. Whatever it takes, go out of your way to be with Christ and to remain with Him all of your life, even if it means removing yourself from the worldliness all around you. From the Menologion of Basil II, c. 10th-11th century.