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March 7, 2015Saturday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Mi 7:14-15, 18-20 Shepherd your people with your staff,the flock of your inheritance,That dwells apart in a woodland,in the midst of Carmel.Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,as in the days of old;As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,show us wonderful signs. Who is there like you, the God who removes guiltand pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;Who does not persist in anger forever,but delights rather in clemency,And will again have compassion on us,treading underfoot our guilt?You will cast into...

March 6, 2015Friday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,for he was the child of his old age;and he had made him a long tunic.When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,they hated him so much that they would not even greet him. One day, when his brothers had goneto pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.Get ready; I will send you to them.” So Joseph went...

March 5, 2015Thursday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Jer 17:5-10 Thus says the LORD:Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings,who seeks his strength in flesh,whose heart turns away from the LORD.He is like a barren bush in the desertthat enjoys no change of season,But stands in a lava waste,a salt and empty earth.Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,whose hope is the LORD.He is like a tree planted beside the watersthat stretches out its roots to the stream:It fears not the heat when it comes,its leaves stay green;In the year of...

March 4, 2015Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Jer 18:18-20 The people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem said,“Come, let us contrive a plot against Jeremiah.It will not mean the loss of instruction from the priests,nor of counsel from the wise, nor of messages from the prophets.And so, let us destroy him by his own tongue;let us carefully note his every word.” Heed me, O LORD,and listen to what my adversaries say.Must good be repaid with evilthat they should dig a pit to take my life?Remember that I stood before youto speak in their...

March 3, 2015Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Is 1:10, 16-20 Hear the word of the LORD,princes of Sodom!Listen to the instruction of our God,people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves clean!Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;cease doing evil; learn to do good.Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right,says the LORD:Though your sins be like scarlet,they may become white as snow;Though they be crimson red,they may become white as wool.If you are willing, and obey,you shall eat the good things of the...

March 2, 2015Monday of the Second Week in Lent    Reading 1 Dn 9:4b-10 “Lord, great and awesome God,you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love youand observe your commandments!We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.We have not obeyed your servants the prophets,who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes,our fathers, and all the people of the land.Justice, O Lord, is on your side;we are shamefaced even to this day:we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem,and all Israel, near and far,in all...

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is the first Sunday of Great Lent. The dominant theme of this Sunday since 843 has been that of the victory of the icons. In that year the iconoclastic heresy, which had raged on and off since 726, was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent. Ever since, this Sunday has been commemorated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." - See more at: http://lent.goarch.org/sunday_of_orthodoxy/learn/#sthash.gdvBOiyY.dpuf

March 1, 2015Second Sunday of Lent    Reading 1 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 God put Abraham to the test.He called to him, “Abraham!”“Here I am!” he replied.Then God said:“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.But the...

February 28, 2015Saturday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Dt 26:16-19 Moses spoke to the people, saying:“This day the LORD, your God,commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.Be careful, then,to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:he is to be your God and you are to walk in his waysand observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,and to hearken to his voice.And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;and provided...

How’s this for an unusual marketing gimmick: Red Robin is hoping to lure Catholics who are abstaining from meat during Lent by presenting its latest seafood menu — even inviting Pope Francis to lunch.And other fast food restaurants are jumping on the Lent wagon as well.Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc., based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, extended an invitation to the pope on Wednesday as it introduced its new “Wild Pacific” crab cake burger.The company released a statement “joyfully” extending an invitation to the pope to eat at Red Robin during the Lenten season.“If His Holiness accepts and visits any U.S. location between February 18 and...

February 27, 2015Friday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Ez 18:21-28 Thus says the Lord GOD:If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil waythat he may...

“A Tale of Two Trees” (Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17; 3:1-24) This is “A Tale of Two Trees.” Oh, there were a whole bunch of other trees besides, lots of them, but this story will focus on just two. Our story begins back in the garden, the garden of Eden, that is. There the Lord God had formed the man from the dust of the earth, and he gave the man the authority and the responsibility to take care of it. The Lord was very generous toward the man, withholding nothing, providing him with everything he needed, in abundance. There were lots...

February 26, 2015Thursday of the First Week in Lent    Reading 1 Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25 Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,had recourse to the LORD.She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said:“God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,for I am taking my life in my hand.As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathersthat you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.Now help me, who am...

Scenes from the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified Gifts on the First Wednesday of Great Lent at the Optina Monastery. (Church Slavonic)

February 25, 2015Wednesday of the First Week in Lent    Reading 1 Jon 3:1-10 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,according to the LORD’s bidding.Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;it took three days to go through it.Jonah began his journey through the city,and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”when the people of Nineveh believed God;they proclaimed a fastand all of them,...

Reasons for inner discord The greatest paradox of our life is that while we all instinctively strive for happiness, most of the time we are unhappy and dissatisfied even when no danger threatens us. Philosophy is helpless in satisfactorily clarifying the reason for this paradox. The Christian faith, however, explains that the reason for our dissatisfaction and dark feelings lies within ourselves. It results from our sinfulness — not only from our personal sins but also from our very nature that is marred by the primordial sin. Sinful corruption is the main source of our grief and suffering. Sin is...

February 24, 2015Tuesday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Is 55:10-11 Thus says the LORD:Just as from the heavensthe rain and snow come downAnd do not return theretill they have watered the earth,making it fertile and fruitful,Giving seed to the one who sowsand bread to the one who eats,So shall my word bethat goes forth from my mouth;It shall not return to me void,but shall do my will,achieving the end for which I sent it. Responsorial Psalm PS 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19 R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the just.Glorify the LORD with me,let...

Today is the first day of Lent for Orthodox Christians. During Clean Week there are many special services of which one of the most important is The Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete, also known as The Great Canon of Repentance. It is a penitential hymn, the longest ever composed, that is chanted in monasteries on Clean Monday. Because of its great length it is usually broken up in parishes and chanted over the first four days of Lent as part of Great Compline. The linked video is from one of those services. This particular rendition is entirely in...

A Homily delivered to the community at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary on Forgiveness Sunday of 1983As once more we are about to enter the Great Lent, I would like to remind us – myself first of all, and all of you my fathers, brothers, and sisters – of the verse that we just sang, one of the stichera, and that verse says: "Let us begin Lent, the Fast, with joy." Only yesterday we were commemorating Adam crying, lamenting at the gates of Paradise, and now every second line of the Triodion and the liturgical books of Great Lent will speak...

On Sunday, Pope Francis spoke about the Christian season of lent, the period of prayer and penance leading up to Holy Week and Easter. “Lent,” said the Pope, “is a time of combat” and “a time of spiritual battle against the spirit of evil.”