Quote of the Day: St. John of Kronstadt

Leave all human injustices to the Lord, for God is the Judge; but as to yourself, be diligent in loving everyone with a pure heart.

"Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa..."

Dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to forgive me for any and every way in which I have sinned against you! You are all in my unworthy prayers as we prepare for the Lord's Pascha.

Despite the logistical issues involved in my getting to church here I'm going to be doing my best to continue to do my job well, get to the assorted Clean Week services, get my masters classwork done, and arrange an out-of-state trip to see an ailing family member, so my apologies in advance if that means this blog suffers as a result :-). (There's only so much that can be done in a day!)

I hope this finds you well as we begin the Fast! God help us all!

The Salvation of Nineveh

It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord...but the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left?

Pictured is the Monastery of St. Hormisdas near ancient Nineveh (now Mosul) in northern Iraq, formerly a center of monasticism in the Church of the East and now under the Chaldean Catholic Church.

Quote of the Day: St. Basil the Great

Not the power to remember, but its very opposite, the power to forget, is a necessary condition for our existence.

Quote of the Day: St. Isaac of Nineveh

There is no sin which cannot be pardoned except that one which lacks repentance, and there is no gift which is not augmented save that which remains without acknowledgement. For the portion of the fool is small in his eyes.

Quote of the Day: St. Ephraim of Syria

"If you, O man, do not forgive everyone who has sinned against you, then do not trouble yourself with fasting. If you do not forgive the debt of your brother...then you fast in vain. God will not accept you. Fasting will not help you, until you become accomplished in love and in the hope of faith. Whoever fasts and becomes angry, and harbors enmity in his heart, such a one hates God and salvation is far from him."