Will you be there? The question came from a friend as I was leaving the Good Friday service and then, from someone else today, this Holy Saturday, through Facebook. Yes. I will be there. I cannot tell you how good it is to be asked this question. For me, spending a lot of time on the edges of social gatherings, church meetings, any kind of event that requires me to “be” there…
Good Friday always finds me lacking, or running, or desperate to “catch up.” So, in an effort to dial things back a notch and at the same time, dig in to the quiet moments of a crazy life, I’ll just offer this today. I offer it because poetry has the ability to reach those deep places in me no matter what the circumstances of my life. And I want to connect with…
O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother, for Thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen. -St. Ephrem The Syrian Every morning during the week I drop…
O Lord who, in thy mercies and bounties, healest the disorders of our souls and bodies, do Thou, the same Master, sanctify this Oil, that it may be effectual for those who shall be anointed therewith, unto healing, and unto relief from every passion, every malady of the flesh and of the spirit, and every ill; and that therein may be glorified Thy most Holy Name, of the Father, and of the…
In a few hours I will take up my usual place at church, there along the back wall in the corner. I will stand and listen and pray and think about the sounds of the traffic outside, about the laundry list of things I’ve left undone this weekend, about the trip I’m taking on Thursday out of the country. I will watch the candle light dance. I will inhale the deep scent…