Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
Silence is the true ASMR
9 - 0
WWJD?
He'd pray.
8 - 0
A young man from Bosnia used to come to me here. He lived in the world and prayed the Jesus Prayer. This young man had a friend who was married and had children and a job. This friend was not particularly pious at the time, but he was a good man. One day, the young man mentioned the Jesus Prayer to his friend. “Why don’t you try praying the Jesus Prayer,” he said. “I can teach you how.” So he taught him and gave him a prayer rope. In a very short time, his friend received the gift of Grace, and both he and his family were transformed. The first young man had been practicing the Jesus Prayer for so long, yet he did not receive the gift of Grace. After a while, the other young man came to see me and said, “Father, it is as though I have been enlightened by a special kind of joy and a peace I can not describe. In my heart, I constantly hear the words, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I know what I was like before, the kind of thoughts that I had, but now there is nothing like that in my mind anymore. I used to have lustful thoughts for the opposite sex; I used to get angry for the slightest reason, but now—I cannot explain how—I just can not get angry. I do not know what has happened to me. No bad thoughts come to me now, even if I want them to.... The only feeling that is left in me now is joy—an ineffable joy has taken over my entire being.” I told him that he had been given the gift of Grace and that he would have it for as long as he could keep his thoughts away from the cares of this world. If he were to do that [i.e., return his thought to the cares of the world], I told him, he would stop hearing the words of the Jesus Prayer in his heart, and then the joy and peace would gradually disappear from his heart. He would again become laden with the cumbersome thoughts generated by the prince of this world. I told him that if he wished to keep the gift of Grace he had been given, he was to pray to God ceaselessly in order to block the thoughts that come from the realm of the demons and thus preserve the joy and peace that he was feeling.
One should pray as Fr. John of Kronstadt did: he read the prayers with attentiveness and when he felt his heart warming to a certain word, his soul would be filled with joy and peace and he would continue to pray with feeling. We should say the words of the prayers, knowing that the Lord sees us and that He is listening to us. When something “moves” in the heart while we are at prayer, we should hold on to it and try to preserve that feeling.
OUR THOUGHTS DETERMINE OUR LIVES THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF ELDER THADDEUS OF VITOVNICA
Compiled by the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood
Translated by Ana Smiljanic
10 - 0
My son Gunther has some paralysis on his left side. So I make big knots also.
11 - 0
I'm trying to replenish my Etsy store. To be honest, my prayer ropes get snatched up as quickly as I can make them, and I get special requests. Which is a good thing, Glory to God.
(My bishop won't agree to that legion of nuns that I requested to assist me. That's a joke, in case there was any doubt.)
Everyone needs to ask their spiritual father or confessor or priest what their prayer rule should be, and we can go from there. Some people want a particular liturgical color, others only want black. Some people want olive wood beads, and others want glass or metal ones. Some want no beads at all, and I can make larger knots instead. I've found that God usually gives me the creativity needed to get the requests completed, which is quite different from imagination.
You can reach me at:
despairknot33@gmail.com
I can order special beads if possible. The Advent season gets busy, as does Pascha. Please try to give me some notice ahead of time, especially if it's for a baptismal or chrysmation gift.
6 - 0
On my way to the post office.
I wanted to say thank you to @OrthodoxReview and to @francis_boulle and to everyone else who sent donations to me through PayPal.
I got my bills caught up and Iris' tuition.
Help my ex-wife who had her roof cave in above Iris' bedroom due to heavy rain.
More than that, I was able to cover Ambrose' rent, electricity bill, and two months of his health insurance, as well as some of his co-pays.
Much love in Christ to you all
Please keep Ambrose in your prayers. He will need surgery after all.
20 - 7
"Prayer is infinite creation, far superior to any form of art or science. Through prayer we enter into communion with Him that was before all worlds. Or to put it another way, the life of the Self-existing God flows into us through the channel of prayer. Prayer is an act of supreme wisdom, of all-surpassing beauty and virtue. Prayer is delight for the spirit. But the circumstances around this creative work are complex."
— Saint Sophrony Sakharov;
On Prayer
“For a person to become a Christian he must have a poetic soul. He must become a poet. Christ does not want insensitive souls in His company. A Christian, albeit only when he loves, is a poet and lives amid poetry. Poetic hearts embrace love and feel it deeply.” — Saint Porphyrios of Kavsoklyvia 'Wounded by Love'