Something He Made

 

 A meditation on time, crafted by a man named Colin Miller. Recommended by iconographer Jonathan Pageau.

The Jesus Prayer

We are approaching the first Sunday in the Lenten Triodion, when we remember the story of the Publican and the Pharisee. The Jesus Prayer is a central part of the account. Here is a video interview of (Church of England) Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward on practicing the presence of Christ, through devotional use of the Prayer.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon us.

Reading:
Simon Barrington-Ward, The Jesus Prayer
Frederica Mathewes-Green, The Jesus Prayer
Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Jesus Prayer

Prayer ropes:
Legacy icons

Lenten Reading, 2020

The earth once more approaches the part of its path around the sun where the church turns her attention toward Lent, her heart toward the Cross, and her hope toward Pascha/Easter.

Reading:

Bible
Weekdays: Genes5is, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah
Weekends: Psalms, Mark, Hebrews
Holy Week (following Great Lent): Exodus, Ezekiel, Job

From my bookshelf

Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, The Road Back to Christ
Fr John Behr, The Cross Stands While the World Turns
Donna Farley, Seasons of Grace
Fr Lawrence Farley, A Daily Calendar of Saints
Fr Thomas Hopko, The Lenten Spring
Johanna Manley, The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox
Fr Vassilios Pappavassiliou, Meditations for Great Lent
Fr Alexander Schmemann, Great Lent: Journey to Pascha
The Lenten Triodion

Book Club
Jim Forest, The Ladder of the Beatitudes

Podcasts
Cynthia Damaskos will be taking a sabbatical from My Beautiful Lent this year. Recordings from previous years are available through her podcast, The Holistic Christian Life (on her web site, and also on ITunes).

Sense of time

From Time and Despondency: Regaining the Present in Faith and Life, by Nicole Roccas:

However, the liturgical and doxological frameworks of the Church lend experiential structure and meaning to the present—the Church fills real time with the substance of salvation. Special prayers and services mark the different times of day, days of the week, and periods of the year. There are seasons of fasting and feasting, kneeling and standing. There are saints’ days and feasts to commemorate the critical events of Christ’s life. Every day, every moment is accounted for in the Church, and not just on an abstract level but physically and concretely through the fasts, feasts, and seasons, all of which seek to manifest Christ in and through time. 

The Church calls not just our minds but our whole being and all our wandering loose ends back into existence, back into presence. In this way, the timekeeping of the Church reaches beyond that of the clock, which provides little more than an abstract framework to partition time into quantities. Every juncture of sacred time links us to the Incarnation, the reaching of eternity into this world, and in doing so, unites us not only to Christ but to the realization of our very selves as icons of Him.

(Kindle, location 1071)

Lenten reading, watching

My Lenten reading:

The Bible and the Holy Fathers for the Orthodox selections for this period, which include the traditional Lenten texts from the books of:

Genesis, Isaiah, and Proverbs on week days, and 

Hebrews and Mark on weekends,

Followed by commentary from the early church Fathers.

When You Pray, by Joseph Letendre.

Viewing:

I have subscribed to the video series My Beautiful Lent, coordinated by Cynthia Damaskos, an Orthodox holistic health coach. She is offering new videos for this Lenten season, along with access to those from last year. Videos remain accessible until a week after the Feast (Pascha or Nativity).

I recommend it, along with her Christmas series, My Beautiful Advent. Both series provide a new spiritual interview on Sunday, and a health-related interview on Wednesday. The web site also offers meal plans for those observing the fasts, and physical workout videos for those who wish to use them.  

Grandma's wall mottos

When thou hast given thanks for every blessing sent,
What time dost there remain for murmer or lament?

*******
Only one life, 'twill soon be past.
Only what's done for Christ will last.

Doxology

Thank you to whoever posted this.

Lift your glad voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man cannot die;
Vain were the terrors that gathered around Him,
And short the dominion of death and the grave;
He burst from the fetters of darkness that bound Him,
Resplendent in glory to live and to save!
Loud was the chorus of angels on high,
The Savior hath risen, and man shall not die.

Glory to God, in full anthems of joy;
The being He gave us death cannot destroy:
Sad were the life we must part with tomorrow,
If tears were our birthright, and death were our end;
But Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow,
And bade us, immortal, to Heaven ascend:
Lift then your voices in triumph on high,
For Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die.
---Henry Ware

(Listen to, as a funeral song, on Youtube.)