Christ is Risen!

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν,

θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήσας,

καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμασι,

ζωὴν χαρισάμενος!

My beloved brethren, let us rejoice!  Our Hope, Our Salvation, Our Savior, JESUS CHRIST is risen from the dead!  TRULY HE IS RISEN!

Golgotha

"By now the morning light had begun to trickle into the city, as if to suggest that God had finally noticed the sufferings of man.  Shops opened their doors, and flocks of cows and sheep, the bells around their necks tinkling, crossed the streets.  Unlike Japan, here no one gave Otsu a strange look as he passed by with the old woman on his back.

How many people, how much agony had he taken on his shoulders and brought to the River Ganges?  Otsu wiped away the seat with a soiled cloth and tried to steady his breathing.  Having only a fleeting connection with these people, Otsu could have no idea what their past lives had been like.  All he knew about them was that each was an outcast in this land, a member of an abounded cast of humanity.

He could tell how high the sun had climbed from the intensity of the light that struck his neck and back.

O Lord, Otsu offered up a prayer.  You carried the cross upon your back and climbed the hill to Golgotha.  I now imitate that act.  A single thread of smoke already was rising from the funeral pyres at the Manikarnika Ghat.  You carried the sorrows of all men on your back and climbed the hill to Golgotha.  I now imitate that act."

-Shusaku Endo, Deep River

Spoken of Him

"…even if [Rodrigues] was betraying [his fellow priests], he was not betraying his Lord. He loved him now in a different way from before. Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. “Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent. Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of Him."

-Shusaku Endo, Silence

Rushed To Your Aid

"You may think that your voice did not reach the saints, our Panagia or Christ. On the contrary, even before you cried out, they rushed to your aid."

-St. Elder Joseph the Hesychast

Blissfully

“The smell of death was thick in the city of Varanasi. And in Tokyo as well. And yet the birds blissfully sang their songs.”

-Shusaku Endo, Deep River

Cover Him

Frange esuriénti panem tuum, et egénos vagósque induc in domum tuam: cum víderis nudum, óperi eum, et carnem tuam ne despéxeris.

Deal thy bread to the hungry, and bring the needy and the harborless into thy house; when thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not thine own flesh.

I was praying None today in my Monastic Diurnal and these words really stood out to me.  How beautiful is the concept of love that we are called to have for humanity.  What a standard the Lord gives us.  When I see the poverty of others, I am to care for them as if I was in their situation.  Christ is present in all especially in the suffering.  Let us not despise "thine own flesh."

Divine Services

“The Divine Services in their composition contain all the fullness of the dogmatic teaching of the Church and set forth the path to salvation. They present invaluable spiritual wealth. The more fully and precisely they are fulfilled, the more benefit the participants receive from them. Those who perform them carelessly and who shorten them by their laziness rob their flock, depriving them of their very daily bread, stealing from them a most valuable treasure. The shortening of the services which comes about through lack of strength must be done wisely and performed circumspectly in order not to touch that which should not be tampered with.”

-St. John of San Francisco


A great reminder as we head into the glory of the Lenten journey towards Pascha.