29 February 2020

Use Lent for general improvement in
the whole round of Christian duties

Relying, therefore, dearly-beloved, on so great a promise, be heavenly
not only in hope, but also in conduct. And though our minds must at
all times be set on holiness of mind and body, yet now during these 40
days of fasting bestir yourselves to yet more active works of piety, not
only in the distribution of alms, which are very effectual in attesting
reform, but also in forgiving offenses, and in being merciful to those
accused of wrongdoing, that the condition which God has laid down
between Himself and us may not be against us when we pray. For when
we say, in accordance with the Lord's teaching, Forgive us our debts, as
we also forgive our debtors Matthew 6:12, we ought with the whole heart
to carry out what we say. For then only will what we ask in the next clause
come to pass, that we be not led into temptation and freed from all evils :
through our Lord Jesus Christ, Who  with the Father and the Holy Spirit
lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

                                                                                           Saint Leo the Great

28 February 2020

Repent and Believe

As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and
believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our
hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in
your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only
your love, wants only the chance to love you.

                                                                                 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

27 February 2020

True Repentance and Confession

— “The intention to correct his life is also required of the repentant person;
pay attention to this. On your way to confession, tell yourself: after confession
I will try with all my strength to correct my life from all the sins of which I wish
to repent. I will deceive myself no more; I will not lie to God, nor will I insult
again the mystery of repentance.”

— “Finally, a repentant person also must have faith in Christ and hope in His
mercy. Every person who approaches confession must believe that during the
Mystery Christ Himself stands invisibly and receives his confession . . . and that
He, according to His mercy, is always ready to forgive our every sin, if only we
confess them with heartfelt compunction and have the intention to be better
from now on, and to have faith in Him in our hearts.”


                                                                                           Saint John of Kronstadt

24 February 2020

The Ultimate Horror

Jesus' death, the ultimate horror of all history, for your sins. If you can
face that, then there is nothing you cannot face, nothing you have to shut
out or pretend isn't there in all the hideous, twisted evil we can see about
us. There is no misery that goes deeper than the Cross. The Crucified One
is there and deeper down still. Everything that would destroy us Jesus has
faced, and it did not destroy Him nor does it destroy those who are His.

                                                    Dr. Norman Nagel, Selected Sermons, p. 231

20 February 2020

19 February 2020

Revelation 14: 6-7

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal
gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and
tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear
God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come,
and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs
of water.

18 February 2020

On Justification

And we, too, being called by His will to Christ Jesus, are not justified
by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding or godliness,
or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith
through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men;
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

       ― Clement of Rome, The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians

17 February 2020

On Becoming Holy

Every Christian should find for himself the imperative and incentive to
become holy. If you live without struggle and without hope of becoming
holy, then you are Christians only in name and not in essence. But without
holiness, no one shall see the Lord, that is to say they will not attain eternal
blessedness. It is a trustworthy saying that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). But we deceive ourselves if we think that we are
saved while remaining sinners. Christ saves those sinners by giving them the
means to become saints.

                                                                                                St. Philaret of Moscow

16 February 2020

On Love and Humility

"An angel fell from heaven without any other passion except
pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to
Heaven by humility alone, without any other of the virtues."

"Love and humility form a holy pair; what the first builds,
the second binds, thus preventing the building from falling
asunder."

                                                                        Saint John Climacus

15 February 2020

On the Character of Men and the Virtuous Life

"The greatest sickness of the soul, its ruin and perdition, is not to know
God, who created all things for man and gave him the gifts of intellect
and intelligence. Winged through these gifts, man is linked to God,
knowing Him and praising Him."

"God, being full of goodness and ungrudging bounty, not only created
man with free will but also endowed him with the capacity to conform
to God if he so wishes. It is the absence of wickedness in man which
conforms him to God. If, then, man praises the good actions and virtues
of a soul which is holy and enjoys the love of God, and if he condemns
ugly and wicked deeds, how much more so does God, who wishes for
man's salvation."

                                                                                Saint Anthony the Great

14 February 2020

On the Incarnation of the Word

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and
immaterial Word of God comes to our realm, howbeit he was not
far from us before. For no part of Creation is left void of Him: He
has filled all things everywhere, remaining present with His own
Father. But He comes in condescension to show loving-kindness
upon us, and to visit us.

                                                                                          St. Athanasius

13 February 2020

Listening and Doing

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and
humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not

merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

                                                                                                    James 1:21-22

8 February 2020

Epistle to the Corintians

On account of his hospitality and godliness, Lot was saved out of Sodore
when all the country round was punished by means of fire and brimstone,
the Lord thus making it manifest that He does not forsake those that hope
in Him, but gives up such as depart from Him to punishment and torture.
For Lot's wife, who went forth with him, being of a different mind from
himself and not continuing in agreement with him [as to the command
which had been given them], was made an example of, so as to be a pillar
of salt unto this day. This was done that all might know that those who are
of a double mind, and who distrust the power of God, bring down judgment
on themselves and become a sign to all succeeding generations.

                                                                                          Saint Clement of Rome

6 February 2020

Small Collection of Litany Collects

L: O Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.
C: Do not reward us according to our iniquities.
L: O God, merciful Father, You have promised to hear the prayers of all
     who in repentance call out to You. Graciously hear us so that all evils
     which beset us may be of no avail, that we, Your servants, may evermore
     give thanks to You in Your holy Church; through Jesus Christ, Your Son,
     our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God,
     now and forever.
C: Amen.

L: O Lord, enter not into judgment with Your servant.
C: For in Your sight shall no man living be justified.
L: Almighty God, You know we live in the midst of so many dangers that
     in our frailty we can not stand upright. Grant strength and protection
     to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations;
     through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with
     You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

L: Call on Me in the day of trouble.
C: I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me.
L: Spare us, O Lord, and mercifully forgive us our sins. Though by our
     continual transgressions we have merited Your chastisements, be
     gracious to us. Grant that all these punishments which we have
     deserved may not come upon us, but that all things may work to our
     everlasting good; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives
     and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

5 February 2020

Cross the Tree to Heaven

This is the Son of the carpenter, who skillfully made his Cross a bridge
over Sheol—Sheol that swallows up all—and brought over mankind into
the dwelling of life.

And because it was through the tree that mankind had fallen into Sheol, so

upon the tree they passed over into the dwelling of life. Through the tree in
which bitterness was tasted, through it also sweetness was tasted; so that

we might learn of him that among the creatures nothing resists Him.

Glory be to you, who laid your Cross as a bridge over death, that souls
might pass over on it from the dwelling of the dead to the dwelling of life!

                                                   –St. Ephrem the Syrian, Homily on Our Lord,

4 February 2020

The Fear of God

A man obtains the fear of God if he has the remembrance of his unavoidable
death and of the eternal torments that await sinners; If he tests himself every
evening as to how he has spent the day, and every morning as to how he has
spent the night, and if is not sharp in his relations with others.

                                                                  Venerable Abba Dorotheus of Palestine

2 February 2020

Humility

Nothing is more opposed to God than pride, for self-deification is concealed
in it, its own nothingness or sin. Thus more than anything humility is acceptable
to God, which considers itself nothing, and attributes all goodness, honor, and
glory to God alone. Pride does not accept grace, because it is full of itself, while
humility easily accepts grace, because it is free from itself, and from all that is
created. God creates out of nothing. As long as we think that we can offer
something of ourselves, He does not begin His work in us. Humility is the salt
of virtue. As salt gives flavor to food, so humility gives perfection to virtue.
Without salt, food goes bad easily, and without humility, virtue is easily spoiled
by pride, vainglory, impatience - and it perishes. There is a humility which a
man gains by his own struggles: knowing his own insufficiency, accusing himself
for his failings, not allowing himself to judge others. And there is a humility into
which God leads a man through the things that happen to him: allowing him to
experience afflictions, humiliations, and deprivations.

                                              St. Philaret of Moscow, The Glory of the Mother of God

1 February 2020

Unbelief

The Lord does not show Himself to a proud soul. The proud soul, no
matter how many books it reads, will never know God, since by its
pride it does not give place for the grace of the Holy Spirit, while God
is known only by the humble soul.

                                                                                 St. Silouan the Athonite