Daily Meditations Archives - Page 244 of 351

The Third Monday of Great Lent: God Tests us by our Conscience & The Wolves of Anger

03/28/2016

God Tests us by our Conscience The tree of life represents the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of the faithful, as St Paul says: ‘Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you?’ [1 Cor. 6:19] The tree of knowledge of good and evil represents our senses which produce contrasting fruits: pleasure and pain. Each of these is divided again into two: there is pleasure arising from

Feast of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Theotokos

03/25/2016

INTRODUCTION The Feast of the Annunciation of Our Most Holy Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary is celebrated on March 25 each year. The Feast commemorates the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would become incarnate and enter into this world through her womb. BIBLICAL STORY The biblical story of the Feast of the Annunciation is found in the first chapter of the Gospel

The Second Thursday of Great Lent: The Presumptuous Bat & More True than the Truth?

03/24/2016

The Presumptuous Bat The light allows the eye to distinguish, for example, gold from silver, copper from iron and tin. Moreover, it allows us to note the difference between colours and shapes, between the plants and between the animals. But only for those who have sound eyesight. The blind gain no advantage from the rays of the sun: they do not even see the brightness of the light! There are people who do not want

The Second Wednesday of Great Lent: How can we Satisfy our Need to Know? & Knowledge is no Good without Charity

03/23/2016

How can we Satisfy our Need to Know? True knowledge is the light whereby we can infallibly distinguish good from evil. That limitless light illumines the way of righteousness which leads the mind towards the Sun himself. In that light the mind strives with all its energy after divine charity. Our longing for true knowledge is satisfied by spiritual discourse, provided it comes from God through the exercise of charity. The intellect ceases to be

The Second Tuesday of Great Lent: Freedom or Responsibility & When We Speak of Truth and when Truth Speaks for Itself

03/22/2016

Freedom or Responsibility God created human beings to have free will. He honoured them with reasoning and wisdom and placed before their eyes the choice between life and death. If by their free choice they walk the way of life, they can live forever. But if by choosing evil they tread the road to death, they will be punished in eternity. The features of our human nature that we cannot alter deserve neither praise nor

The Second Monday of Great Lent: What Happens in the Crossroads of the Spirit & A Mirror with which to See inside Ourselves

03/21/2016

What Happens in the Crossroads of the Spirit It is the task of the hands to find food for the body’s necessities, and the task of the mouth to give service to the word. This particular organ is ours so that we can emit sounds, and we have another organ to receive them. The two activities are not muddled up, every organ carries out its own specific function without disturbing the one next to it.

The First Friday of Great Lent: Lent—the Tithe of the Year (Maxims 50-55)

03/18/2016

By Father Thomas Hopko, March 13, 2008 50. Be merciful with yourself and with others. Of course, we’re to be merciful to others, but we must be merciful to ourselves too. We cannot judge ourselves more harshly than God does, and the worst sin is despair. So we should be living by the mercy of God all the time—taking responsibility for our life, but not berating ourselves or beating ourselves up. God does not want

The First Thursday of Great: Lent—the Tithe of the Year (Maxims 34-49)

03/17/2016

By Father Thomas Hopko, March 13, 2008 34. Be awake, and be attentive. Be fully present where you are—wakefulness, watchfulness, attentiveness. 35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary. We should speak only when it’s necessary to speak. In fact the Scripture says: “We should speak only when spoken to.” The Fathers say: “We often repent of idle talk but very seldom have to repent of maintaining silence. Sometimes we do, because we

The First Wednesday of Great Lent: Lent—the Tithe of the Year (Maxims 11-33)

03/16/2016

By Father Thomas Hopko, March 13, 2008 11. Go to liturgical services regularly. Go to Church. Stand there. Listen. Pray. Don’t pay attention to the people—oh yes, be attentive to their presence. But be there for the sake of the service itself. 12. Go to Confession and Holy Communion regularly. Participate in the Church’s sacramental life. 13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings. When feelings come upon you, when thoughts come upon you, don’t

The First Tuesday of Great Lent: Lent—the Tithe of the Year (Maxims 1-9)

03/15/2016

By Father Thomas Hopko, March 13, 2008 In Orthodox Church tradition, the season of Great Lent is called, in the liturgical books, the “tithe of the year.” We know that in the Bible the believers were obliged to give ten percent of their possessions, their time, their crop, their money to the Lord, to the temple. And the rule of the tithe wasn’t at all because ninety percent of our possessions are our own and