Off-topic altogether

Winston Churchill said that anyone who's 20 and isn't a liberal has no heart...and anyone who's 40 and isn't a conservative has no brain. Check out this article from the Village Voice (caution: some inappropriate language).

Forgiveness Vespers

At the beginning of our Lenten struggle is the service of Forgiveness Vespers. Two things, in particular, strike me about this service:

1. While the Prokeimenon is sung, the priest changes from gold vestments to the purple, showing that the Lenten fast has arrived.

2. At the conclusion of the service, the priest and each member of the parish begs and grants forgiveness to every other member.

I have also come to love the prayer of our father among the saints, Ephrem of Syria:

O Lord and Master of my life,
Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk;
But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.
Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge
my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.

A blessed Lententide to you all!

Reading the Psalms at the funeral home

My son has introduced me to the Orthodox custom of reading the Psalter near the body of the departed. So far we've gotten through about a third of it; I hope to go today to complete the task.

What a wonderful tradition this is! It accomplishes great things in the mind, the heart, and the emotions:

1. The Psalter goes through the whole range of human emotion, giving words to feelings too difficult and deep to understand.
2. The Psalter helps the mind to see death in its proper context, the whole history of salvation: God's creation and preservation, our stumbling and fall, and God's provision of salvation in Christ.
3. The Psalter helps to orient the heart toward the Holy Trinity, and to connect the deepest of sorrow with the richest of comfort.

More on prayer for the departed

Young man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. Remember, too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, "Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee to-day." For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected that no one mourns for them or even knows whether they have lived or not! And behold, from the other end of the earth perhaps, your prayer for their rest will rise up to God though you knew them not nor they you. How touching it must be to a soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that, for him too, there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left on earth to love him too! And God will look on you both more graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much will He have pity Who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you! And He will forgive him for your sake.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov"

On prayer for the departed

When we pray for the dead, we develop in ourselves a sense of the unreality of the present world--for a part of it which was dear to us is gone--and of the reality of that other world, whose actual existence is confirmed by our love for the dead.

Alexander Elchaninov, Diary of a Russian Priest, p. 71

Charles R. Hogg, Sr. 23 January 1924- 1 March 2008

I just received word that my father fell asleep in Christ. I had seen him this past week--he was in a coma--and I came back to Michigan the night before last.

Among the spirits of the righteous perfected in faith, give rest, O Savior, to the soul of Your servant. Bestow upon it the blessed life which is from You, O loving Lord.

Within Your peace, O Lord, where all Your Saints repose, give rest also to the soul of Your servant, for You alone are Immortal.

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

O Savior, You are our God who descended into Hades and delivered from suffering those who were bound there. Grant rest also to the soul of Your servant.

Now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.

Most pure and spotless Virgin, who ineffably gave birth to God, intercede with Him for the salvation of the soul of your servant.

+ + +

May his memory be eternal!

When wondering, "Where did God go?"--consider:

Our lack of compassion, hardness of heart, and mercilessness towards others form an impenetrable curtain between ourselves and God. It is as if we had covered a plant with a black hood, and then complained because it died from lack of sunlight. Fr. Alexander Elchaninov, "The Diary of a Russian Priest," p. 58