A Prayer for Repentance

A Prayer for Repentance
by The Saint Abba Shenouda the Archimandrite

O God, forgive me, I am a sinner, for I cannot raise my eyes up to You because I am ashamed of my many sins. O God, forgive my sins and have mercy on me in Your kingdom. My Lord, I supplicate Thee and ask Thee for my wretched soul and body. Lord, grant me to do Your will and let Your mercy guide me. My Lord and God, forgive my sins and hide my iniquities, save me from Your wrath and anger. What shall I say when I come between Your hand and what will justify me when You judge me? Lord Christ, direct and shield me from the snares of the devil. Place Your peace and Your Holy Name on me, O Lord Who dwells in Heaven, so Your mercy might come and shield me. Do not deliver me in the hands of the enemy. I have cast all my worries on You, Christ, Son of God, do not leave me. If I lean towards evil, do not forsake me and do not let me walk according to my evil desires. Do not delay rebuking me until the day of judgement. Do not destroy me according to my sins. Cover the shame of my nakedness before Your fearful throne. Purify me, so I will not be defiled when I come before Your hands. O God, Lover of mankind, fortify my soul with Your Honorable Blood. Lord, subdue the desire to sin in me with Your fear. Awaken me from the slumber of negligence that springs out of the evil sin. Keep me from going astray and the slip of my lips. Let Your pure angel expel the blasphemies of sin. Prepare me so Your Holy Spirit might find me a temple for Him. Grant O Lord, my soul and spirit, to praise You all the days of my life. Answer me O Lord according to Your great mercy and accept my prayer and supplication in Your hands. Save me from sinning against You and grant me the way to do Your Will. Do not take away Your blessings from me and do not keep me away from Your help. Keep me a holy temple for You. Purify my heart, tongue and all my senses. Take away from me the stony heart and grant me a contrite one to worship You. Do not refuse me, for You have called me. Have mercy on me, You Who have the authority to grant mercy. Make me worthy to bless You all the time until my last breath. Confirm Your holy words in my heart and soul. Save me from all the snares of the evil one. Direct my life to the way it pleases You. Have mercy on me and listen to my cry. Answer my supplication and accept my prayer. Accept my prayer and do not keep away Your mercy from me. Let my prayer reach Your presence. Listen to my voice and let my cries reach You. Let my prayer be upright before You as the aroma of sweet incense in Your Hands. Do not judge Your servant for no one is faultless before You. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the Glory, forever. Amen.

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From "Paradise of the Spirit" by Bishop Yoannis of Gharbia

Admiration for Creation

"I want to awake in you a deep admiration for creation, until you in every place, contemplating plants and flowers, are overcome by a living remembrance of the Creator. One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made." 

+ St Basil the Great

"Even now more animals than you might expect are ready to adore man if they are given a reasonable opportunity: for man was made to be the priest and even, in one sense, the Christ, of the animals - the mediator through whom they apprehend so much of the Divine splendor as their irrational nature allows"

+ C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Jean Vanier on Forgiveness

Forgiveness

by Jean Vanier (This post has been adapted with minor revisions from his book, "Becoming Human")


The Greek word for forgiveness is asphesis, which means to liberate, to release from bondage; it means the remission of debt, guilt, and punishment. It is used when the prison door is opened and the prisoner can go free. We humans are called to become free, to free others, to nurture life, to look for the worth and the beauty in each and every one of us, and to make of our world a beautiful garden where each person and each society can create a harvest of flowers and fruits, and so prepare the seeds of peace for tomorrow.

Silence

"If you love the truth, you should love silence. This will make you shine in the Lord as the sun, and will save you from the deception of ignorance. Silence will unify you with God Himself."

+ St. Isaac the Syrian

Union with God

"Union with God is not a subsidiary issue in faith or doctrine. It is the basis of all faith and doctrine. It is the ultimate aim of God for sending His only Son to the world to become man."

+ Fr Matta El-Meskeen

On Forgiveness Sunday

On Forgiveness Sunday
by Fr Alexander Schmemann
http://www.schmemann.org/byhim/forgivenesssunday.html

In the Orthodox Church, the last Sunday before Great Lent – the day on which, at Vespers, Lent is liturgically announced and inaugurated – is called Forgiveness Sunday. On the morning of that Sunday, at the Divine Liturgy, we hear the words of Christ:

"If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses..." (Mark 6:14-15)

On Orthodox Service and Missiology

"Orthodox faith, theology and worship should colour and shape Orthodox diaconia." + Fr Roberto Ubertino

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The Poor - Our Masters
By Fr. Roberto Ubertino
http://oca.org/resource-handbook/commservice/the-poor-our-masters

How to Reprove the Haughty

How to Reprove the Haughty
Reblogged from FrDn Joseph's blog:
http://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/how-to-reprove-the-haughty/

Fr Aidan Kimel's Meditations on T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets

As we all prepare for the Great Lent, you might want to take a look at Fr Aidan Kimel's beautiful set of meditations on T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets.

Professor Richard Schneider has said in his classes that "Poetry is Theology par-excellence" and Fr Aidan beautifully explores the poetry of the Four Quartets in light of an Orthodox Hermeneutic...the hermeneutic lens of Pascha. What better way to begin our Lenten journey than with the song of pascha in our heart? How wonderful it is to be reminded of the rhythm, meter and movements of the Great Lent being spoken and lived as the poem of Love Incarnate.

Forgive me a sinner.

You can read the first post at http://afkimel.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/meditating-the-four-quartets/

Beauty Will Save the World

Beauty Will Save the World
by Nancy Forest-Flier From Jacob's Well, Fall 1997 / Winter 1998

Dostoevsky wrote, “Beauty will save the world.” I used to think of this as a romantic idea, that we will be saved by the beautiful things around us, that the world will be saved if it can be made more attractive. The idea seemed romantic, something expressed by such sentiments as “there’s beauty in everything, if only we would stop and smell the flowers.” This suggests there is a gulf between the world and ourselves. We have to put on the right eyeglasses to see it properly. Today I realized that what Dostoevsky meant is that beauty must be our principle of life -— that beauty is not a perception, an influence, to be found outside us; it is the principle which must characterize the way we do everything. Everything we do must be done in beauty, with grace. The phrase “the beautiful gesture” kept coming back to me. Everything we do, even digging a ditch or scrubbing the floor, must be done in beauty. This does not mean that we are trying to make a beautiful ditch or a beautiful floor. It doesn’t mean that we are trying to become beautiful ditch diggers or floor scrubbers. It doesn’t even mean that we are trying to make a sort of ballet out of our ditch digging or floor scrubbing. It has to do with the way in which we execute the task, the way we live every minute as we do what we do; it has to do with being attentive to the activity at hand, acting without being concerned with how we look as we act. It is an innocent acting, not concerned with appearances or results or rewards; it is not concerned with being treated fairly, with getting even, with showing off, with making an impression, with getting the damn work out of the way, with wallowing in self-pity over one’s misfortune. I would think it is not even concerned with acting out of certainty that this is God’s will. I think it is simply making the beautiful gesture.

But why? Because this is the radical application of being at the center, where God is.