Head bowed And hair soaked, My fingers grasp The woolen rope on my hand. Ebb of sin Flow of prayer, My mind in heart The knots move my fingers. Eyes closed And body still, My soul receives The silence nearer my spirit. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have mercy on me, A sinner. Sounds of rain in my ears And cracks of thunder in my soul, Is praying in the rain Another Baptism, but of tears?

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, and invincible hope, Free them from all evil, Give them the grace they need. And save us all, O Virgin Mother of God, For Your are the divine refuge of those who follow you!" - This is the Troparion (a short hymn) for the commemoration of the icon (below) titled "The Theotokos of Vladimir," whose image, tradition tells us, was originally painted by St. Luke the Apostle.

You fill me With Divine Love You surround me With Divine Fire You sustain me With Divine Waters You lead me With Divine Light I am not worthy of this Yet Here you are Never letting go Always reminding me I am in the world, But not of the world. I love you With every ounce of my being. Save me from myself and Sanctify me. An 18th c. icon of Pentecost from a private collection via Wikimedia Commons.

You are the Alpha and the Omega. I trust you are behind me I trust you are ahead of me. It's this middle thing We call life That I don't trust so much - At least half of it anyway. To my right I see the angels and the saints Interceding and protecting Praying and encouraging. To my left I see the demons and the detractors Interrupting and attacking Sneering and antagonizing. This path makes me tired. I hurt all over. And why not? It did the same to You. The Via Dolorosa They called it. So why shouldn't I Keep going... On this way of suffering? On this way of love? You called me on this path After all This very one Or something quite like it. So, I'll suffer the middle Or whatever will make me closer to You! Old Jerusalem, Via Dolorosa (street between 5th and 6th station, looking towards east). Photograph taken between 1898 and 1946 taken either by the American Colony Photo Department or its successor, the Matson Photo Service. Part of the G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

How can this be? Pouring Your love into my heart? Filling my mind with Your knowledge? How can You want me before you in prayer? Such a wretched soul Crying for my sin. Rending my garments In a wilderness of my own making. Hiding and Avoiding. Repenting and Hoping? There I am. Helplessly Loving you with all my heart Desiring to fulfill Your will. Daring to be close to You now Imagining life with You for all eternity. Seeking Your face Warming by Your light. "What is this spine-chilling mystery that is being accomplished in me?" An icon of the Transfiguration. (The last line in the selection above is a quote from Symeon the New Theologian, "Hymn 1," Divine Eros, SVS Press, p. 35).

Ways shallow that Weigh down. Panes clouded that Pain all around. Minds confused and Mines that are fused. Traps that are lain and Slaps that remain. Evil sows and Chaos ensues. Humans pursue and Death reaps... The not too few. What is one to do? Eyes closed and Mind still. Breaths deep and Heart open. Acquire the Spirit Who is and Who was And ever shall be the Heavenly King. Comforter Spirit of Truth Breath of God, and Giver of Life. Holy Spirit stained-glass window (Cathedra Petri). File found at Wikimedia Commons by User: Dnalor 01CC-BY-SA-3.0-AT.

Icons tell more than a story. They explain the faith As brought to us by God Who came in the flesh Himself. They illustrate the love of God Through the lives of those who lived And breathed to their last breath The Holy Spirit among us. Icons point us to our own inner journey And guide us on our exterior one. They open us to God who walked in our shoes And remind us that God has never left our side. We are clear on what icons are And what they are not. We do not worship them. We do not mistake them for God. They do not have magical powers. They are not good luck charms. Genies do not pop out of them I can assure you. But they do attract demons And people who want them destroyed. They attract every heinous response Because they silently speak the truth. Icons are depictions about Divine directions. They are diaries about Divine destinies. Icons are not the faith itself. But they do enliven the faith we live. Pray. Mother of God of the Passion by Andreas Ritzos - Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15608966

Humans have a capacity for understanding, and living, within the infinitude of God now and into eternity. It is a fact and a desire deep within us. It pervades our body, our intellect, our emotion, our relationships, and most importantly, our spirit. For the vast majority of people, however, there is a failure even to recognize its presence, God's inward presence, at any level. For some, there is a dismissal of what is beyond the human intimacies of hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting. For others, life is spent in an admixture of fear and hatred of it. Rather than knowing themselves in an ever concentrating and ever connecting relationship with God in love and prayer, they desire to control their material world, fighting it and dominating it, not realizing that it can never be mastered or even tamed. Yet, the urge toward the infinity of God keeps coming and coming. To get away from this all-filling and sustaining eternal love, people tend to destroy their surroundings so that they can experience a type of false infinitude, which is made up of the re-creation of the world around them. They do this over and over in the kind of dysfunction, which ultimately leads to every sort of human degradation. Thus, there is a need for contemplative prayer because, in it, is found our deepest longing for a reciprocal love with a loving God and an infinite connection with He who sustains us in the ‘here and now’ and prepares us for the eternal ‘there and then.’ Release yourself. Choose eternity with God. Pray. Blue and White Cloudy Sky Photo · Free Stock Photo (pexels.com). Photo by Aleksejs Bergmanis downloaded on 22 March 2023.

God – the eternal light – is both the source and the summit of all existence. This is not only the key to understanding the meaning of all human life, but also the proper focus of it. Think about it like this. God exists. He alone created the universe and all of us. Nothing - no evil, no human plan, no nothing anywhere ever - can overcome God or change His love and/or His will for us. This truth was revealed to St. John the Theologian, and he taught it this way. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:1-5). So, what does this truth look like in terms of living and practicing faith? St. Ignatius, who was the spiritual son of John the Theologian and later became the third bishop of Antioch, lived a life bathed in the light of Christ. His faith was so real, authentic, and complete that he was known as "Theophóros" or God-bearing. In fact, he never relented in faith, even when he was about to be killed for it. In his letter to the Romans, which he wrote while awaiting his execution, Ignatius focuses on how death will allow him "to obtain pure light." "All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. ‘For what shall a man be profited, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?’ Him I seek, who died for us: Him I desire, who rose again for our sake. This is the gain which is laid up for me. Pardon me, brethren: do not hinder me from living, do not wish to keep me in a state of death; and while I desire to belong to God, do not give me over to the world. Allow me to obtain pure light: when I have gone there, I shall indeed be a man of God. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. If anyone has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened" (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans, Ch. 6). While God gave us the gift of life, of a body, and of an earthly home, the fullness of existence is bathing in God's light for eternity. Ignatius knew this – and teaches us today – that the desire for true faith and true life comes from and leads to God who is the pure light. Icon of the martyrdom of St. Ignatius of Antioch (painted before XVII c.). Source: http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Images/ii897&3009.htm

The sun is setting in your eyes I can see it on your face. Your head is bowed And your back low. The brightness of your Illumination Is lost in the darkness of your Consternation. Were you not there When the waters of life poured From your head To your soul? Do you not remember When the eternal light Scorched your past And lit a path? Feet of clay are expected Not of heart Not of spirit Not from you. Arise My spiritual child Arise!

To love and be loved is The greatest gift In Heaven and on Earth. It's like this... Looking at someone Looking at you with Eyes that see your soul Hearing someone Hearing you with Ears that hear your heart Holding someone Holding you with Hands that hold your love. Now imagine this... God created you and me Out of nothing. Out of nothing? Except for love, an eternal love. A love that sees, hears, holds, And knows ...really knows You and me. With immensity And such unbelievable intensity. This is our gift This is our model This is our call. Know God and love God Noetically. Do His will. And love each other with All your mind, all your body, All your heart, and all your soul. Tealight Candle on Human Palms · Free Stock Photo (pexels.com). Photo by Dhivakaran S, downloaded on 31 March 2023.

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 3:21-22). In this passage we clearly hear the will of the Father from Heaven, see the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus, and know that the Son of God Himself is redeeming us body, soul, and spirit outwardly through the sacraments and interiorly through our meditations. Pray about this vocally by using the Kontakion (hymn) of the day: "On this day Thou hast appeared unto the whole world, and Thy light, O Sovereign Lord, is signed on us who sing Thy praise and chant with knowledge: Thou hast now come, Thou hast appeared, O Thou Light unappproachable." Then pray with silence. Listen for the will of the Father in Heaven for you. Desire the healing of the Christ who redeems you. Open to the Most Holy Spirit who sanctifies you. Be ready for your transfiguration.