Order of prayers.

Resurrection, Compunction, Martyrs

Rhythm of prayer.

Monday of the Myrhhbearers

Sometimes the order in which we pray also teaches us important things. Our services and prayer books are comprehensive and teach us every way we should approach God in prayer. They are full of dogmatic truths and compunctionate sayings and prayers to the martyrs,  especially in the weekday Matins services.

I was struck about even the order in which our prayers are said in Matins when I was singing (I am using the term loosely) the praises for Monday of the week of the Myrhhbearers. The first sticheron was about the resurrection,  the next was a compunctionate one,  and the next was an ode to the martyrs.

How sensible this is! Without the Resurrection we are nothing; our life is because of the Resurrection. Thinking of the Resurrection should also make us think of how we do not live according to the resurrection. Of course we should feel compunctionate about this.

I love how easily and naturally we mix thoughts and prayers of praise and dogmatic theology with compunction. We never get ahead of ourselves; we always remember what we are like even when we are not looking at a mirror[i]. 

Of course the ones who lived the resurrection to the fullest are those who died for it: the martyrs, and so we pray to the martyrs following the compunctionate sticheron.

If one prays the services of the church,  a rhythm is felt,  as natural and easy as breathing. In so doing,  our character is changed,  and we naturally think like God. Of course,  this is the process of salvation; we acquire the Mind of Christ[ii]. Every time I pray the services,  especially if I am alone in the quiet, I feel this mind and the excitement that in learning to pray,  I am acquiring it.

Save your pennies and buy the service books and pray with them. Our typicon and order of the services is complicated and daunting,  but so is sin. Praying them becomes second nature,  as they teach us to live in accordance with God's nature.

Of the resurrection: Every breath, all creation, glorifieth Thee, Lord, in that Thou didst  abolish death by Thy cross,  that Thou mightiest show the peoples  Thy resurrection from the dead, in that that Thou alone lovest mankind.

Of compunction:  Mindful of the unseemly sins I have committed, I flee to Thy compassions, imitating the publican, the harlot who wept, and the prodigal son; wherefore, I fall down before Thee O Merciful One, and say: before Thou condemnest me,  O God have pity and mercy upon me!

Martyricon: Ye suffered for Christ even unto death, O passion-bearers and martyrs. And though your souls are in the heavens, in the hand of God, your relics are venerated throughout the whole world. The priests and the people all bow down; and we cry out, be rejoicing: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Praises,  Monday of the Myrhhbearers,  3rd Monday of Pascha,  Tone  2

PS. Did you notice the number of allusions to Scripture in these 3 hymns? I count at least 10. I would love to see them in the comments.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2103     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/ pascha-monday-03_2013-05-20+order-of-prayers+resurrection-compunction-martyrs_matins-praises.html

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/ pascha-monday-03_2013-05-20+order-of-prayers+resurrection-compunction-martyrs_matins-praises.doc

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Today in Philadelphia, the jury, after 10 days of deliberation, delivered several guilt verdicts in the trial of the  abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. He will face the death penalty in some of these convictions.

Most people do not know who this man is, since he is the real face of abortion in this country. The mainstream media and too many politicians are totally enslaved to the sins of this age, and since abortion is an important pillar of these sins, they strive to protect it as often as they can, even by censoring news about obscene acts of evil. This is why there is very little information available on mainstream sources about Kermit Gosnell. His trial reads like the script of a horror movie.

Am I happy today? NO.

I do not want to see Kermit Gosnell be punished in eternity, or even in this world. I want him to see the gravity of his sin, repent and gain peace in his soul.

The man decapitated babies and joked about it; he kept trophies. He showed a callous disregard for human life, whether it was the late term babies he illegally aborted, or the mostly poor minority women he worked on (one cannot say "served", since his abortuary was infested with cat feces and urine, and sometimes rotting fetal remains,  with dirty instruments and tables). His medicine was shoddy and illegal; if he were a veterinarian he would have been disciplined and possibly jailed long ago, but because he worked in the industry deemed sacred by our sexualized culture of death, he worked with impunity (the state of Pennsylvania, enslaved to this culture in its politics, did not investigate claims against the Dr for many years, or ignored them, and in general left abortion facilities alone to do what they did in secrecy), and would have continued if he had not been suspected of running illegal drugs out of his facility.

Many reading this will not believe it; they will disregard it as the ranting of some right winger. That is funny, since I am not right wing, or even a Republican. I describe my politics as "It is always about morality". I am a Christian pastor, and must try to warn my people and anybody else that God causes to cross my path that the culture of the religion of "sexualism" (as a friend, Subdeacon Peter has written about[1]), and the culture of death, and self-indulgence and meaningless that pervades our society will kill the soul.

Kermit Gosnell is a ghoul, but a ghoul with a human soul that needs healing. I am not happy that he is going to be punished in this world, although I consider this a necessary evil. I pray that he will be free in the next. He has a long way to go, since he has been immersed in evil for over 40 years. I am very sad that many that call themselves Christian will rejoice about this day. This is a day of sorrow, not joy.

We should pray for Kermit Gosnell, and any politician that supports, subsidizes and advertises for the culture of death and religion of "sexualism" which our society is addicted to, starting with our president,. Barack Obama.  We should include those who profit from this culture, such as the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards. All we need say is "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy" for each person. We should not desire that they be punished in this life or in the next. Perhaps, if we pray, God will spare us some of the inevitable results of this culture, which is and will continue to be massive human suffering (particularly of women and children, they are always the ones to suffer the most).

God help us.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2013     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2013-05-13+kermit-gosnell-verdict.html

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2013-05-13+kermit-gosnell-verdict.doc

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Martyr Zosima the Wilderness-Dweller

Commemorated Sep 19 (Oct 2 on Civil Calendar)

Let's learn something today from the slave of God Zosimas the wilderness dweller. We live in difficult times. Almost nobody tells the truth anymore, and our society is becoming infested with legally enforced and subsidized immorality and depravity. Many who identify as Christian are no different than those in the world and their love for Christ is cold. I suppose the conditions are no worse and not better than those in which Zosimas live. He chose to reject all the depravity and become holy. That is the ultimate solution for all of us.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2012     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

 http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-10-02+martyr-zosima-the-wilderness-dweller+september-19.html

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-10-02+martyr-zosima-the-wilderness-dweller+september-19.doc

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The world, that is life enslaved by the affections of the flesh.

St Basil the Great.

The word "world" is used in multiple senses in Scripture. It is important to recognize the different uses, and the most important discernment to have is to understand what is sinful and leads away from God – this is perhaps the most important understanding of the word "world". We can leave the nuances of syntax to the philologists and theologians, but all Christians must recognize that which is of the world and is therefore to be avoided.

St Basil the Great, in his discourse on the Holy Spirit, incidentally gives a wonderful definition of the most important understanding of the word world. Let's look at it, with text pertinent to "the world" highlighted in bold italics.

——

Establishment of the natural communion of the Spirit from His being, equally with the Father and the Son, unapproachable in thought.¹¹⁶⁷

53.  Moreover the surpassing excellence of the nature of the Spirit is to be learned not only from His having the same title as the Father and the Son, and sharing in their operations, but also from His being, like the Father and the Son, unapproachable in thought. 

For what our Lord says of the Father as being above and beyond human conception, and what He says of the Son, this same language He uses also of the Holy Ghost.  “O righteous Father,” He says, “the world hath not known Thee,”¹¹⁶⁸ meaning here by the world not the complex whole compounded of heaven and earth, but this life of ours subject to death,¹¹⁶⁹ and exposed to innumerable vicissitudes.

And when discoursing of Himself He says, “Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more, but ye see me;”¹¹⁷⁰ again in this passage, applying the word world to those who being bound down by this material and carnal life, and beholding¹¹⁷¹ the truth by material sight alone,¹¹⁷² were ordained, through their unbelief in the resurrection, to see our Lord no more with the eyes of the heart. 

And He said the same concerning the Spirit.  “The Spirit of truth,” He says, “whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:  but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you.”¹¹⁷³  For the carnal man, who has never trained his mind to contemplation,¹¹⁷⁴ but rather keeps it buried deep in lust of the flesh,¹¹⁷⁵ as in mud, is powerless to look up to the spiritual light of the truth. 

And so the world, that is life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam. 

But the Lord, who by His teaching bore witness to purity of life, gives to His disciples the power of now both beholding and contemplating the Spirit.  For “now,” He says, “Ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you,”¹¹⁷⁶ wherefore “the world cannot receive Him, because it seeth Him not,…but ye know Him; for he dwelleth with you.”¹¹⁷⁷  And so says Isaiah;—“He that spread forth the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and Spirit to them that trample on it”¹¹⁷⁸; for they that trample down earthly things and rise above them are borne witness to as worthy of the gift of the Holy Ghost.  What then ought to be thought of Him whom the world cannot receive, and Whom saints alone can contemplate through pureness of heart?  What kind of honours can be deemed adequate to Him?

(St Basil the Great, "On the Holy Spirit", Ch XXII, #53, http://www.ccel.org/print/schaff/npnf208/vii.xxiii) 

From the Saint, we see that:

·         The "World" is "this life of ours subject to death,¹¹⁶⁹ and exposed to innumerable vicissitudes."

·         Those in the world are those "who (are) being bound down by this material and carnal life, and (are) beholding¹¹⁷¹ the truth by material sight alone."

·         The 'World:  "that is life enslaved by the affections of the flesh, can no more receive the grace of the Spirit than a weak eye the light of a sunbeam."

It now remains for us to be in the world but not of it, or else we will have no comprehension of Who God is, and will inevitably fall along the broad path to Hell.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2012     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-06-05_the-world-defined-by-st-basil-the-great-as-life-enslaved-by-the-affections-of-the-flesh.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-06-05_the-world-defined-by-st-basil-the-great-as-life-enslaved-by-the-affections-of-the-flesh.html

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A day in the life, praying for the healing of life.

Twelve hour vigil in front of Planned Parenthood in McKinney TX

Abortion  Euphemisms

Anger

Do not reason with the unreasonable.

Mar 6, 2012

On Tuesday, Mar 6,  for 12 hours, I prayed with many other Orthodox Christians in front of the McKinney Planned Parenthood in the “Orthodox Day” in the “40 Days for life, McKinney TX” prayer vigil.

Above is their original sign – currently “Express” is blanked out, because somebody must have realized that they should not advertise their business model so honestly.

The purpose of vigil in front of these houses of another currently legal, government promoted and funded “peculiar institution[1]”, is, for me, the healing of all people touched by abortion, directly and indirectly – the mother, father, other children, other family members, abortion workers. I know others pray for the especially for the murdered innocents, but for me, their suffering is over.

With God being our helper, there were always at least two Orthodox Christians present at all hours, as we promised, and usually 3-8.  Many other people came as well. Most people held signs; many Roman Catholics prayed the rosary. I prayed all the canonical Lenten hours at various times, with a litany at the end of each, with a “Prayer for the sanctity of life”[2], and the Orthodox “Pro-Life” Psalter[3]. Many others prayed the Psalter, or the “Akathist for a Woman who has had an Abortion”, the Paraclesis to the Theotokos, or the Jesus prayer.

Twelve hours is a long time. As in most things in life, this time was large amounts of “space” punctuated with brief, important moments. Some of the moments were very intense, and at the time. I thought I wanted to save them somehow, but I am not too inspired right now, so it may not translate. Here goes.

I learned a lot during this vigil. I have been in front of Abortion clinics before – actual “surgical” clinics, when I was praying at the very same moment that pre-born lives and those who knew them were being dismembered, body and soul. This clinic only refers people for abortions, in addition to all the other services it offers as a fig leaf for their over three hundred million dollar a year abortion “services” business. Therefore, it was not as emotionally intense, because people were not dying in front of us on this day, but this clinic is still important to Planned Parenthood, because the profitable and busy Sherman TX clinic closed last year, when the director, Ramona Trevino, with the help, support and prayer of people during a “40 days for life” vigil outside that clinic left the clinic. Ramona sometimes speaks about the reality of the Planned Parenthood business. It is not what your average TV talking head or “Pro choice” politician says!

We live in a land of Euphemisms. Very little in the “Pro-choice” camp tells the actual truth. We do not have “Abortion Clinics” – we have “Women’s Services”, or perhaps “Surgical Centers”.  They are actually “Shredding centers”, because they literally, in some procedures, shred a living child[4], and also shred the lives of those responsible for the death of that child. A Christian who is not benighted by politically correct “speak” knows this, and knows that the sin of abortion has a ripple effect that almost nobody wants to talk about it, but this elephant in the living room of peoples lives will never leave until it is cast out by repentance and healing, and when that happens, the scripture is truly fulfilled, they are free indeed![5]

This is the reason I pray in front of abortion facilities. They tell a big lie, and people believe the lie with their minds, but the soul knows. I am a pastor, and much more so than a doctor, I am sworn to heal.

We have a lot of work to do. A recent exchange with a Protestant pastor has shown me that people actually believe, somehow, that the bible supports a “woman’s right to choose”.  I am convinced that the mind control of the media and our modern, hedonistic and lax society cannot be broken, except by prayer. The position that a woman has a right to choose to kill a child is not reasonable, but neither is it reasonable to naively believe that there are not significant numbers of women, who because of a multitude of environmental and spiritual factors actually feel that they have no choice in significant events and lifestyle choices in their life. Reason is not the reason people support abortion, so trying to reason with them is of limited utility. God only can deliver all of us from our unreasonable opinions.

I also will continue to speak about abortion (providing my sins do not cut me off from God giving me wisdom and courage), as a pastor, until I am put in prison. If I lived in Sweden, I would be there already. I am very aware that repentance is a process, and takes a lot of time. When the prodigal son “came to himself” it was after along period of sin and suffering. I am always aware that there may be somebody I am talking too who has a secret – maybe their secret is still even a secret from them – and I want that person to know that I offer them healing and understanding. If the reader has this secret, there are people who are safe, and will be honest with you, and will help you heal. You will need to make that call to begin the process. May God help you to do this!

I know all this stuff intuitively, and also from pastoral experience, and being a reasonably smart fellow, know that those who have been involved in abortion or who have never experienced it indirectly or directly, but have swallowed  the lie broadcast on our TV sets every day have significant anger towards those who are pro life. They believe a mythology about pro-life people – they are “anti-choice”, misogynistic, do not care about women, will do nothing to help the mother who keeps her baby, etc. All these ridiculous, unfounded opinions one can easily glean from reading “Salon”,  or a Newspaper, watching the nightly news, or even by reading supposedly Christian email forums and Facebook pages.

I know this stuff. No matter, I was amazed at the anger directed to us by drivers. It is always more intense when you experience something directly. We did not have any significant incidents, and the police never came as has happened in some cities, but nonetheless, they illustrated that there is a lot of pain, anger and misinformation out there in the big cruel world. Here are some of the moments in time, over a long day, that gave me an education.

Planned Parenthood opens at noon on Tuesday. The only traffic in the little strip mall between 7 and 9 as for a “DONUT” place. It was a little bit surreal, and sweetly sad seeing so many parents with excited little children walking into the shop, experiencing a little piece of the beauty of life, when a few doors down there was a place that nobody walks into or out of excited and full of joy.

Around 8, a woman leaving the parking lot drove quickly to a position just adjacent to us, but still in the forbidden (for us) territory of the parking lot, and, without leaving her car, took two pictures of me while I was standing facing a stand, saying one of the Lenten hours. I stopped and attempted to make eye contact, and waved – I think this is important – and since she was looking at me through her camera, I am pretty sure she saw me. There was no acknowledgment, and she drove off, without ever looking at me directly. Pretty weird. I guess I am on Facebook somewhere. That is “Seraphim”, like an angel, with a “ph”, not an “f”.

There was a bit of Keystone Cops comedy in the morning. The wind blew my diptychs all over the parking lot (these are names of parishioners and others I pray for and commemorate), and I ran into the parking lot, a kind of “no man’s land” buffer zone (and a place, where we would be considered trespassers if we stood to pray there), to grab the papers. It took a little while, and I was acutely aware that a Planned Parenthood worker was watching me from the window. I wanted to be friendly and wave to her, but I was afraid my gesture would be taking as provocative, so I kept my head down and scurried around. I was pleasantly surprised to never see the Police arrive.

One cannot absolutely discern this rude person’s motives or emotional state, but the other occurrences with drivers were less ambiguous. One cannot, of course, know motives, but it is easy to discern anger. The tone of voice, twisting of the face, obscenity – they are unmistakable. There are some people out there that are REALLY ANGRY when they see people praying quietly outside abortion clinics.

One woman saw us from a nearby intersection, and “flipped the bird” for an extended period, as she was stopped at a light and then as she turned away from us and headed down the road. This was the first experience. I cannot say that I understand why she is so angry. She may believe the PC lies, or be post abortive, or whatever. I get angry about stuff too, but I feel no need to give a one fingered salute to strangers on the highway.

The incidents increased in intensity. With one notable exception, every negative encounter with a driver was obscene. The F word was  most popular, but the most amazing epithet was when a person screamed (in such a way that I felt chills) “you should have been abortions”.  Wow. 

The most intense interaction was from a man who did not swear and never raised his voice. He went out of his way to drive to close proximity to us (about where the camera lady was), and started talking to me. I do not know where he came from.

He started with the old “log in your own eye/ beam in someone else’s eye” bit. His tone was angry and pedantic, and he repeated himself several times, along these lines: ”I just want you people to know that before you start telling other people what to do, you had better make sure that there is nothing wrong in your life, and you are perfect”. The jist of it was that “you people” are judgmental Pharisees who try to force people to have do things against their will, according to your warped opinions.

After he went on a bit, and I became afraid that something very unpleasant was going to happen, because a few people were walking over to hear him, I agreed with him – “you are right, a person also must look to himself and his faults”, “But sir, I am not trying to tell anyone what to do today. I am only sitting here praying”. He did not like that simple answer, and started repeating himself, and I said: “Sir, right now the only person telling anybody what to do is you”. He repeated his accusation that we were hypocrites telling other people what to do, then drove off.

What was his motivation? What did he believe about us, and about me, since I was dressed as a priest? I felt like I had been assaulted by a hot dry wind. I don’t care about the things he said. He did not hurt me with his words, but my soul hurt because of his anger, and because I know that anger hurts his soul. I was very sad. I have learned that there is no reasonable response to the unreasonable., therefore, according to lessons I have learned much too late in life, I “prayed some ropes” for him, saying “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on ‘that guy’” I regretted that I did not know his name.

I did the same thing for the women who screamed that we should have been abortions.

The vast majority of interactions with motorists were positive – probably over 90%. Most honked and gave us a thumbs up, but not a few rolled down their windows to shout “God bless you”.

Our next day for Orthodox Christians to gather as a group for prayer is March 17, Saturday, form 7AM – 3 PM.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2012     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-03-06-40-days-for-life-orthodox-day-planned-parenthood-mckinney.html

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-03-06-40-days-for-life-orthodox-day-planned-parenthood-mckinney.doc

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-03-06-40-days-for-life-orthodox-day-planned-parenthood-mckinney.pdf

New Journal entries, homilies, etc. are on our BLOG: http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

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Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL of the article. This content belongs to the author. We would love to hear from you with comments! (seraphim@orthodox.net)

I love to come up with little aphorisms, and collect others I hear and read. My little sayings come out of two main sources: my overall life experience as a flawed human striving for perfection, and as a pastor, trying to guide flawed humans to perfection.

Perfection

I will never tire of reminding myself first and everyone who will listen to me or is at least standing in the church that the purpose of our life is perfection. We just recently had a wonderful selection from the Apostle Paul that says this:

(The purpose of the church is for…) “The perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”

I spoke about this in the between services homily on last Saturday, which was the Eve of the Sunday after Theophany, when it is absolutely appropriate to talk about the process of and importance of perfection, since baptism makes this process possible (The purpose of the church, and of baptism. (mp3 format)[1])

Basically everything I say pastorally is in order to pursue perfection, which the scripture understands as absolute completeness, without anything lacking, and holiness, without anything added.

It’s your thoughts, stupid![2]

Our major problem in life is how we think about things. When we think wrong, we do stuff that is wrong, whether the wrong remains privately within ourselves, in our thoughts, or is expressed in our actions and attitudes. Wrong thinking ALWAYS (ALWAYS, ALWAYS!) leads to disturbances within us, and destroys our inner peace. We think wrongly, but hide it maybe 99% of the time, but the thoughts, attitudes and bad priorities have their effects on us.  I think all soul destroying unhappiness is because of our wrong desires, which we either suppress with effort (and therefore turn the unhappiness into joy (over time! It is a process!), or give into outright (delaying and increasing unhappiness), or tepidly resist, causing us to be in a state where we are “neither fish nor fowl” – perhaps not appearing to do wrong, but inside a battle rages and tires us.

Salvation: When our outsides match our insides.

Here is another definition of salvation: When our outsides match our insides. This is the state of perfection, when we do not need to fake anybody (or ourselves) out – we love the Lord’s commandments, and the prophesy is fulfilled in us: “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

When our outsides match our insides, there is no internal war within us, but instead, great peace, and holiness.

We must understand a little bit about evil to understand the aphorism. It is never possible, even for a very evil person, for their outsides to match their insides. They may never consciously have a Godly thought or action, but they remain a creature made in God’s image, and the voice of God will always be calling to them, leaving them without peace.  The only way for our inner disposition and our outer life and deeds to match is for us to hear and obey the voice of God calling us to holiness.

We have an epidemic of depression, anxiety, addiction, other mental illnesses[3], sexual promiscuity and perversity, and many other soul destroying and strength sapping practices, and all of these things are a way in which the outward man is not matching who the inward man should be. The mortal part of human life (our life here and now, on the earth) is a battle to have our outsides match our insides. The battle is long and bloody, but it is the only way to perfect peace. As we fight this long war with many skirmishes, we will have many moments when our insides tell us one thing, but our outside does not reflect this. If this is because of our inner battle to “do good and avoid evil”[4], this skirmish strengthens us, even if it appears to us to sap our strength. Here are some real world examples, gleaned from my experience as a confessor, and a flawed human.

Making our insides match our outsides – real world examples.

Somebody cuts us off in traffic. Inside, we have the thought to curse then, and perhaps we even “hear” the words, or to flash our lights, give them the finger, etc, BUT WE DO NOT DO IT! A great victory has been won, and over time, the insides WILL match our outsides – we will not have that flash of profane anger.

We see a sexually suggestive picture or provocatively dressed person, and we want to look more, and have a feeling that “just does not feel right” inside us, but, with effort, and maybe even with a delay, we look away, and utter the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me”. We did not come through the skirmish completely unscathed, but we have won the victory nonetheless. In time, we will be like the old man who could converse with the prostitute without any lust, (while his disciple, who was not as far along in the road to perfection, quite appropriately covered his head in his cowl, to avoid looking at her). Someday I will tell you that story – it is one of my absolute favorite ones from the monastic fathers (I do not know where it is, if one of the readers of this essay does know, please contact me).

We DO NOT LIKE somebody in our office, school, gym, family, etc. There may be good reasons for this, but whenever we see this person, there is a darkening in our soul, and we feel the cold fingers of anger, or disgust, or any of dozens of judgmental thoughts and feelings. We want to avoid even seeing them, much less speaking to them (especially if unpleasantness usually develops), but we master ourselves and say “Good morning”, or “I am about to get a cup of coffee, would you like one”, or something else that we do not feel inside (but we know we should).  This is not in ANY WAY hypocrisy! We are ordered to be kind to one another. It is bad if we are not kind “inside”, but we doubly sin if we show this unkindness outside too.

Another way to fight with these inside feelings is to do one thing every day, and not do another, ever. The thing we must do even if we do not feel good about this person “inside”, is to pray for them EVERY DAY, even if it is through gritted teeth. Keep it simple, and short. God knows what they need, and He does not need to be reminded of their faults. Write their name down, and every day, say “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on (name)”. Ignore the thoughts that arise up within you. We are trying to be like the second son, here – the one who initially did not want to do the will of his father, but eventually did so[5]. We are like this son if our thoughts are bad, but our actions are good. What did God say about this son? He was the one who did the will of his Father, and over time, we will hear this too.

The thing we MUST NOT do is slander this person, or gossip about them. If you do this, discipline yourself by praying for them even more – instead of one little Jesus prayer, say 10 or a full prayer rope for them. You try this, and see if your feelings about a person do not moderate and you gain some peace regarding them.

Here is another example that I will speak about obliquely, since I do not know who will read this essay. If a person has a problem with impurity, especially with themselves alone, but perhaps because of fornication of any kind, and they feel bad about it, it is a bad thing to just sit there and feel terrible about what you did, again. Our reaction to sin can be more debilitating than the sin itself. Every time you fall into sin, PUSH against it. We have an excellent little book called “The Prayers for Purity”[6]. It is long, and not too easy, but then, getting rid of habitual sin, when our insides want to follow God’s perfect law, and our outside often do something else, is NOT EASY either. Note to self: order more of these books.

The Scripture tells us that “All men are liars[7]”, and this is in large part because we hide within ourselves thoughts, desires, attitudes and priorities which are not in keeping with who we say we are and the person we present to the world. May God help us to be “truth tellers”, that is, to have our insides match our outsides. Amen.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2012     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-01-25+happiness-is-when-our-outsides-match-our-insides+thoughts-and-perfection.html

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2012-01-25+happiness-is-when-our-outsides-match-our-insides+thoughts-and-perfection.doc

New Journal entries, homilies, etc. are on our BLOG: http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

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Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL of the article. This content belongs to the author. We would love to hear from you with comments! (seraphim@orthodox.net)

Answers to prayer

We have a Public prayer list, (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dzgvjb6_16f2pcdrhn ) which we use in our regular Monday Moleben, and also in special petitions in all Divine Liturgies we serve (on Sunday of course, and also each Thursday, at a minimum).

We receive requests, in our electronic age, via email, Facebook, Phone Texts, and even by the occasional personal *in person* request.

Some people we know personally, but many times we have never met them or they live far away. Many are Orthodox Christians, and these we also commemorate in the Proskimidie of the Divine Liturgy, and many are not. It does not matter: if someone asked, we pray.

This list is also used by some of our parishioners, and the pastor in daily commemorations, It is important to pray for others, because those who love will want the best for those they love, and those with faith will turn to God for all things, and therefore pray. We MUST do this if we are to overcome the selfishness that is deeply embedded within us.

Many times a person is on our prayer list for a long time and I have no idea how to contact them or find out how they are doing. Other times, I am able to “check in” and know something of how their life is turning out. This is always a great consolation – to see the object of our prayer doing well.

Here are some recent “answers” to prayer.

A man has found a job and place to live after being out of work for a long time. He thanks us for our prayers.

A person with cancer is out of the hospital after a long stay, undergoing chemo, and in good spirits.

A person with very serious cancer has had the unction service served for her, and is very sick. Treatments are being given, and there is hope that this very aggressive cancer will respond to it, but in the even that this person reposes, we are playing a small role in preparing them for a peaceful repose. It is reported that this person is facing the disease with courage and great faith.

A child with a serious medical problem has received treatment, and should be going home soon.

I suppose we all want to see some great miracle, but in waiting for this, we miss the great miracles that occur all around us. It is a great privilege to be a part of God’s economy, and care for His little ones, even as He cares for us little ones.

Priest Seraphim Holland 2011     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

This article is at:

http://www.orthodox.net/journal/2011-11-26-answers-to-prayer.doc

New Journal entries, homilies, etc. are on our BLOG: http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Journal Archive: http://www.orthodox.net/journal

Blog posts & local parish news are posted to our email list. Go to here: http://groups.google.com/group/saint-nicholas-orthodox-church to join.

Redeeming the Time BLOG: http://www.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL of the article. This content belongs to the author. We would love to hear from you with comments! (seraphim@orthodox.net)