Holy Trinity Orthodox Church

2 days into the Fast it would be good to hear from one of the Saints of the Church about Fasting! This is an exerpt from the book Spiritual Counsels by St. John of Kronstadt:

Fasting is a good teacher: 1) it makes everybody who fasts understand that a man needs very little food and drink, and that in general we are greedy and eat a great deal more tha is necessary. 2) Fasting clearly discloses all the sins and defects, all the weaknesses and diseases, of our soul, just as when one begins to clean out muddy stagnant water the reptiles and dirt that lurk in it are revealed. 3) It shows us the necessity of turning to God with the whole heart, and of seeking His mercy, help and saving grace. 4) Fasting shows us all the craftiness, cunning and malice of the bodiless spirits, whom we have hitherto unwittingly served, and who now malignantly persecute us for having ceased to follow them.

A Prayer at the Beginning of the Holy Forty-day Fast read by the priest to his parishioners during the First Week of Great Lent

 O God, Hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far away at sea or in the air, Who foretold these holy days of fasting in the Law, the Prophets and the Evangelists: Grant all of us to proceed in purity along the course of the Fast, to keep the Faith undivided and to preserve Your commandments all the days of our lives. Command an angel of peace to preserve our comings-in and goings-out for all good works, being obedient together and serving together for a perfect communion of Your Most-pure Mysteries. Accept, O Master, the bending of the knees and the fasting of Your servants, granting to them spiritual blessings, and to all of us, in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom You are blessed, together with Your Most-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Sorry I haven't written in a while!

What a glorious day today! Liturgy, fellowship, pizza/ice cream, and Forgiveness Vespers.

I'll never figure out the physics of why after doing lots and lots of prostrations, it's harder walking down steps than going up them.

It's Valentine's Day! But, this day has taken on a different light for me ever since 1997. This is the day that my father fell asleep in the Lord. My father was an Orthodox priest and one of my joys is that I have many places to call "home." Death is difficult. No one should ever deny it. Christ Himself wept at when Lazarus was in the tomb. I think one of the difficulties surrounding death for human beings is that we are met with so many different emotions. One of the emotions is sadness, one is, if we believe in Christ, joy in the Resurrection.

Personally, one of my sadnesses is that my father never saw his grandchildren. But, my joy greatly outweighs the sadness, when I realize that my father was faithful to the Church and has passed it along to those grandchildren he never met. I have two boys, my brother has two boys. So now there are 4 children of God that continue to be nurtured and cared for by Christ and His Church. My dad wasn't perfect, but he gave my brother and I, and now his grandchildren something that IS perfect. Thanks dad and happy Valentine's day!

Today is the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee. (10 weeks till Pascha!) A number of things happen today: we've opened up the Lenten Triodion (the book that contains all the hymnography for the Pre-Lenten time, Great Lent and Holy Week), we sing the hymn "Open to me the doors of repentance..." at Matins and we have a Fast-free week.

As Fr. Thomas Hopko mentioned in one of his podcasts last year about the Publican and the Pharisee, one of our lessons to learn today is not to worship the Law, but to worship the Law-giver.

Tomorrow, it's off to Chicago for the Annual Clergy Convocation of the Diocese of the Midwest. I always look forward to this trip to be able to be with my brother clergy in the Diocese and "talk shop."