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If the best doctors help to heal our physical bodies by knowing the "right" medicine, so even more does the spiritual father, who is enlightened by God, prescribe the much-needed healing for our so ul. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." This is the path to purification, and one does not accomplish it on his own. The Church is our hospital offering the healing medicines of Holy Confession, the Holy Eucharist, and Holy Unction. Without the Church, we are easily mislead into wrong "treatments" prescribing ourselves pain killers when we might need a spiritual heart transplant!!! (Mark 2:17 or Matthew 9:11-13, Luke 5:31)

A Very Popular Activity Using the handout below, consider introducing your young people to many of the items from the altar that they rarely get to see. Start with pictures if you'd like and ask your local priest to invite the kids for a close-up encounter! Can they find those items on the page? He can remove them and bring them to the Solea, or kids can stand at the royal doors and point to objects they'd like to see. Here are a few items to identify and DISCUSS! (If you need more on the meaning of an item, its location in Scripture, or its name in Greek, please e-mail me as I have a great reference book of these things!) The Altar itself as Paradise and the Holy of Holies Tabernacle Antimension cloth to serve Liturgy on Identify the Place of oblation Prothesis Lance - Knife, double-edged spear which the soldier pierced Christ with on the cross Star - placed over the Disk, as star which stood over Bethlehem at birth of Christ Paten or Disk manger for Christ Spoon - as ...

Here is a step by step guide to the Proskomedia (Offering) which is completed during Orthros or Matins before the Divine Liturgy begins. 1. After strengthening himself through a few prayers and venerating the icons, the priest enters the Holy Altar and kisses the Gospel and Altar Table in preparation to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. 2. Next, he puts on his full set of vestments, blessing and kissing each item while reciting a matching Scripture verse. 3. The priest then washes his hands, thus expressing his desire to be more cleansed of his sins, while reciting Psalm 26:6-12. "I will wash my hands among the innocents, and so will I go around Thy Altar, O Lord..." 4. Next, he bows 3x before the Prothesis, or table used for the Proskomedi, and prays "O God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me" (Luke 18:13) 5. The priest then selects one of the prosphora breads to hold in his left hand, while using his right hand for the lance. He touches the lance on the seal,...

Saint Vladimir's Press and Jane G. Meyer were generous enough to send me a copy of their recent book, "The Woman and the Wheat" so that I may share my thoughts on this blog. In some ways, I feel very unqualified to do so, not having a literary background. Therefore, I can only speak as a mother who happens to have studied Theology in order to better teach my own children, if God so wills. "In the “Woman and the Wheat”, Jane G. Meyer introduces to adults and children the phrase from the Divine Liturgy “Thine Own of Thine Own we offer unto Thee.” With poetic rhythm and soothing illustrations, the book preserves the ancient art of baking prosforo as a joy-filled offering to God to be consecrated and received back again in the Holy Eucharist. It captures the cycle of God’s blessings, through hard work and prayer for one’s self and one’s neighbor, encouraging all of us to a fuller experience of the liturgical life." Because the book touches on very important eleme...

Have you ever said to yourself, where are the miracles of today? Or wouldn't it be something if we were able to witness a miracle in today's day and age? What was it like to be in the presence of our Lord during His Transfiguration (which we celebrate today) or at His first miracle at the Wedding in Cana? Without a doubt, that water became wine to all who witnessed His first public miracle, and to all who called themselves followers of Christ. Then it happened. This morning, as we knelt for the consecration of the Holy Gifts. We too witnessed a miracle. In fact, the greatest of all miracles. The same One who was capable of transforming water into wine, displayed His glory again and continues to do so for us in every Divine Liturgy of the Orthodox Church. He accepts the bread and wine from our hands, and offers us Himself in return. How? By miracle. Just as the disciples, we too become eyewitnesses of His majesty (Peter 1:10-19) Therefore, if you believe in the God who transfo...

Whoso Eatheth My Flesh and Drinketh My Blood Hath Eternal Life (quoted from pages 29-35 of Elder Ephraim's text linked below) "So much has been said about this "controversial point" of the Holy Eucharist that the faithful wonder what they should do in the long run. Two questions mainly arise: a) how often and b) after what preparation may and should the faithful receive the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist? The answer has been given by the Church, which has been guided, is guided, and shall be guided by the Holy Spirit "to the whole truth"...(read more here ) "... Fasting means continual temperance. In other words, we should not only fast on the set days of the year when we want to receive Communion and then eat so much for the rest of the year so as to replace in the shortest possible period what we had been deprived of on the days of our preparation for the Holy Communion...." "...It is through this Sacrament that we define our relationsh...

Here's an excellent SHORT book in PDF format by Geronda Ephraim from 1991 - absolutely worth reading over and over again - (I had never seen it before it person ) If you don't have time for it all... scroll to the sections of interest to you personally! Call from the Holy Mountain