#Reflection #Salvation #Discerning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUMwMGEf5Ek

The 10 Commandments
7th Commandment

Exodus 20:14
Thou shalt not commit adultery.

#Reflection #Dont_Conform

The Weight of Loneliness

https://youtu.be/uVgHHXFXc5k

#Reflection #Salvation #Discerning

The 10 Commandments
8th Commandment


Exodus 20:15
Thou shalt not steal.

#Reflection #Family #Salvation

☦️🕯️Abstinence is for everyone, not just for monks. Husbands and wives for whom marriage means only the satisfaction of bodily passions will not be justified. They will answer before God for not having been abstinent. Of course, as the Apostle says, they are not to abstain from each other for a long time, lest the devil deceive them, but they should abstain according to mutual consent (cf. I Cor. 7:1-6). Married people should abstain from corporeal relations during fasts and on great Feast days.🕯️☦️

♰ Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica ♰

Source

#Reflection #Salvation #Discerning

The 10 Commandments
9th Commandment

Exodus 20:16
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

How often, affected by beauty, have I fed my mind, my imagination and my heart with voluptuous sensations, and unnaturally satisfied the lusts of the flesh in fantasy! How often has my tongue uttered shameful, vulgar and blasphemous things about the desires of the flesh! How often have I yearned for power and been gluttonous, satiating myself on delicacies, on tasty, varied and diverse foods and wines; because of intemperance and lack of self-control how often have I been filled past the point of satiety, lacked sobriety and been drunken, intemperate in food and drink, and broken the Holy Fasts! How often, through selfishness, pride or false modesty, have I refused help and attention to those in need, been uncharitable, miserly, unsympathetic, mercenary and grasped at attention! How often have I entered the House of God without fear and trembling, stood there in prayer, frivolous and absent-minded, and left it in the same spirit and disposition! And in prayer at home I have been just as cold and indifferent, praying little, lazily, and indolently, inattentively and impiously, and even completely omitting the appointed prayers! And in general, how slothful I have been, weakened by indolence and inaction; how many hours of each day have I spent in sleep, how often have I enjoyed voluptuous thoughts in bed and defiled my flesh! How many hours have I spent in empty and futile pastimes and pleasures, in frivolous talk and speech, jokes and laughter, games and fun, and how much time have I wasted conclusively in chatter, and gossip, in criticizing others and reproaching them; how many hours have I spent in time-wasting and emptiness! What shall I answer to the Lord God for every hour and every minute of lost time? In truth, I have wasted my entire life in laziness. How many times have I lost heart and despaired of my salvation and of God’s mercy or through stupid habit, insensitivity, ignorance, insolence, carelessness, and hardness sinned deliberately, willingly, in my right mind, in full awareness, in all goodwill, in both thought and intention, and in deed, and in this fashion trampled the Blood of God’s covenant and crucified anew within myself the Son of God and cursed Him! O how terrible the punishment that I have drawn upon myself! How is it that my eyes are not streaming with constant tears? …If only my tears flowed from the cradle to the grave, at every hour and every minute of my tortured life! Who will now cool my head with water and fill the well of my tears and help me weep over my soul that I have cast into perdition? My God, my God! Why hast Thou forsaken me? Be it unto me according to Thy will, O Lord! If Thou wouldst grant me light, be Thou blessed; if Thou wouldst grant me darkness, be Thou equally blessed. If Thou wouldst destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy righteous judgment; and if Thou wouldst not destroy me together with my lawlessness, glory to Thy boundless mercy!

+ Saint Basil the Great

#Reflection #Salvation #Discerning

The 10 Commandments
10th Commandment

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

#Reflection #Salvation #Discerning

"Whoever learns to love will be happy. Only do not think that love is an inborn talent. One can learn love, and we must."

+ St Gabriel (Urgebadze)

#Discerning

Proverbs 12:10-11
A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

#Reflection #Discerning #Salvation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMALtTMQyHk

Receive me, O Christ, the Lover of all men, as You received the prostitute, the thief, the tax-collector and the prodigal. Take away the heavy burden of my sins, for You take away the sins of the world; You heal the infirmities of men, You call to Yourself and give rest to those who labour and are heavy-laden.

Gm go to Divine Liturgy

#Salvation

Psalms 1:1-2
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Modern world makes you think and feel like you are going to live forever. Everything is about to get pleasure and comfort. And this is one of the most dangerous traps ever. When we die we can’t change anything. That is why we should spend every moment of our life for spiritual strengthening and listening to God.

“The time of our life continually goes by. We cannot return the time that has passed. The past and the future are not ours—only what now have is ours. We do not know our end. Thus, always, at every hour, we should be ready to depart if we want to die blessedly. As [a Christian] wants to be at his death, so should he strive to be at every time of his life; for he knows not in the morning whether he will live till evening, or in the evening whether he will live till the morning.”
St. Tikhon of Zadonsk

#Salvation #Discerning

Psalms 1:3-4
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.