Fasting is a practical exercise to tame our unruly minds and bodies, to subdue those things that divert us from peace, love, generosity, and God.

The father has no word of reproach, no expression of grievance or hurt, no warning about future behavior, no conditional acceptance. Instead the Father pulls him up, embraces him, loves him as He always has.

The celebration of various events from the Gospel or from the rich tapestry of the Church’s Tradition helps us to understand and live out various realities of our life in the Spirit.

During a service, a priest not only censes the icons of the Savior, the mother of God, and the saints. He also censes the icon-people, the image of God in the people who are present.

Prayer by reason of its nature is the converse and union of man with God.

Lent turns our eyes, ears, and hearts to “the one thing needful” – the life of the Spirit, the life by which our whole being exists and which survives our fragile flesh. 

After Pascha, Theophany is the next greatest feast of the year. The Gospels don’t provide detailed accounts of the events of Jesus’ baptism, as Matthew and Luke do about the birth of the Lord.