Philokalia Ministries

There are some things that cannot be learned from books – prayer most of all! However, St. John, as so many of the Saints speaks to us from long experience as one who truly has seen Christ, knows Christ and has conversed with him deeply. Whatever might be lacking in his thought it still stokes the fire of desire within any heart that longs for God.  The desert fathers understood that God looks upon us as his sons and daughters his children, and the simplest word or groan from the heart is sufficient to express our need and love. Above all, we are to have gratitude and a spirit of compunction. With these then we approach the Lord with the intentions of our hearts.  We should not fear our own weakness or the multiplicity of our thoughts that seem to overwhelm us. St. John reminds us that He who “sets the bounds to the sea of the mind will visit us, and during our prayer will say to the waves thus far shall you come and no further.”  Prayer should be the simplest of things, but also what we hold to be most precious. We should come to see it as necessary as breathing but even more essential. The fathers tell us that we are to become prayer - our life is to be a sacrifice of praise. We are to be the very reflection of Christ. The kingdom is now, heaven is now and dwells within us. May our foolish hearts take hold of the gift that the Beloved offers us so freely. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:01:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: p. 234, # 1.5   00:05:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: We were half way thru #1.   00:05:53 Gregory Chura: Which step?   00:06:03 Gregory Chura: Thank you!   00:39:40 Anthony: So how to ignore the rational and irrational mind when praying? Just pray and eventually it happens?  Because my mind gets in the way.     00:40:42 susan: Jesus [rayer   00:45:37 David: Sometimes something tactile like a chotki, rosary or stone ( have one that fits my hand from a retreat center) can help one become grounded. Others a icon or image can help set the mind and still others a candle or breathing technique can quickly return us to a calm state.   00:51:37 Wayne: Doing some active physical activity can settle the mind down before prayer.   01:03:05 Jeff O.: proverbs 24   01:03:22 Jeff O.: verse 16   01:03:24 Nypaver Clan: Verse 16   01:14:56 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:14:59 Jeff O.: Thank you!   01:15:02 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:15:05 David: Thanks Father!   01:15:06 Gregory Chura: Thank you, Father!   01:15:11 Kevin Burke: Thank you Father!  

We picked up this evening with the beginning of hypothesis 18. For weeks now we have been reading about the essential practice of fasting. The cultivation of virtue and the overcoming of the passions is impossible without it. Making use of the body to strengthen the soul is a necessity. But we quickly realize from the stories that this practice can become imbalanced; monks could fall into extremes and be tempted to engage in disciplines in ways that feed the ego – ways that make them feel holy or religious.  Yet the desert was a great teacher. The monks learned in this laboratory the subtle movements not only of the mind and the heart, but the way the demons tempt us to extremes. To fast for three or four days serves only to weaken the body and this can disrupt one’s spiritual practices as well as one make one ill. It can also, fill the heart with pride. In this, the gains made in the life of virtue can be lost in an instant.  Therefore, the fathers begin to understand that fasting must be practiced with restraint, measure, and good wisdom. We must never lose sight of the fact that our fasting is tied to Christ and who he is for us. He is the beloved, the heavenly bridegroom, and our fasting and the hunger it produces must be tied in our minds and our hearts to our desire for Christ, the bread of life. He alone satisfies the deepest longings of the human heart. Therefore fasting is not meant to kill the body, but rather re-order our desires toward their true end. Fasting then is to be done with regularity, extending no more than one day. We begin simply by not eating to the point of satiation. We give the body what is necessary, but no more. In all of this we are taught that the royal path to purity of heart is fasting and that light burdens are also profitable. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:07:34 Una: Could someone tell me what book we're using?   00:08:20 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Could someone tell m..."   https://www.ctosonline.org/patristic/EvCT.html   00:08:44 Una: Thank you!   00:44:43 Anonymous Sinner: What page?   00:47:02 Una: I grew up in Ireland at the time when doctors were doctors and not pill pushers. Our Dr. O'Dolan's best health advice was to always leave the table a little hungry. He was a good Irish Catholic too. I've found following this advice more difficult that doing "heroic" fasts of ten days or so.   01:01:44 Anonymous Sinner: I thought that it was Mother Teresa who said this, about praying for 2 hours when one is busy?   01:07:41 Maureen Cunningham: Moderation in everything even in moderation   01:08:48 Anonymous Sinner: CS Lewis’s chapter on gluttony in the Screwtape Letters comes to mind   01:16:27 Maureen Cunningham: Thank you Blessing   01:16:37 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:16:39 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:16:53 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father  

Explore the intriguing transition from stillness to prayer, highlighting its role not as mere discipline, but as a divine response to God’s love. Delve into the concept of night prayer and how it nurtures spiritual growth. Discover the essence of silence and intentional listening in cultivating deep spiritual truths. Understand the transformative power of prayer, which fosters a profound bond with the divine, offering healing and hope amid life's challenges. Prayer is portrayed as the ultimate treasure in our quest for meaning.

One of the most wonderful things that someone said in the group tonight was: “I am amazed at how simple it all is!”  And they are absolutely right in their observation. All that the fathers tell us - about the struggle for purity of heart and overcoming the passions, seeking stillness and constancy in prayer - comes down to one simple reality.  God is love and that all run but “one receives the prize without effort!” He who humbles himself will be exalted. The moment we turn the mind and the heart to God and - even prior to that - the mere existence of humility in our hearts leads God to lift us up to gaze upon him face-to-face. It is like a child who has no illusions about his self-worth or identity, but simply reaches out for the parent and is lifted up immediately in love! It is this love that the hesychast seeks above all things; the eye of the heart is constantly turned toward and seeking the Belived. What is the one thing necessary that our Lord speaks about in the gospel? Mary sat at his feet being nourished upon his words of love and his presence. This is the better part. We so often complicate our lives and spend years and decades pursuing what the false self tells us that we need or where we will find dignity and the fullness of life. In the end, there is no ladder! There is only love and the urgent longing that makes us strive for it. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:22:52 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 230, #68   00:30:26 Anthony: There is a tension though, between a situation that is wrong which should be made right, and waiting in patience   00:33:32 Anthony: Ok, so like Abraham had a promise that took a long timevtivrealize   00:33:41 Anthony: Long time to realize   00:34:58 Anthony: Thank you   00:37:15 Fr Marty AZ 480-292-3381: be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 1Peter 4:7   00:39:41 Julie’s iPad: It’s hard when you’re accused of something you didn’t do or say not to defend yourself.   00:51:14 Anthony: Ego is the false self. Is Despondency a false remorse?   00:53:58 Nypaver Clan: Without effort?   00:55:09 Kate : I am really blown away by the simplicity of this.  How many times I have complicated the spiritual life!   00:58:02 David: I wasted years reading books and talking to people on discernment which always was a labyrinth of paths. On a retreat a old Jesuit Priest made it easy in 1 minute: Does this lead me closer to God or away from God. Our intellect often gets us lost and like a rocking chair giving us something to do but going nowhere.   00:59:41 Jeff O.: Reacted to "I wasted years readi..." with 🎯   01:02:25 Susanna Joy: There is a proverb in Islam: There are as many ways to God as there are breaths of His creatures.   01:02:34 Anthony: FYI it was college professors and lawyers who, from late scholasticism through "reformation " and spirit of vatican 2 caused us so many problems.    01:03:04 Susanna Joy: It is as simple as the next breath, to turn back to God.   01:12:57 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:13:40 Bob Cihak, AZ: The next book, we’ll be doing is “The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian, revised 2nd Edition” published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery, https://www.bostonmonks.com/product_info.php/products_id/635 .   01:14:24 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:14:25 David: Thank you Father David!   01:14:28 Jeff O.: Thank you!! Good to be with you all.   01:14:50 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!  

The desert was a laboratory. The monks went into its depths precisely to push the limits of what they needed in order to sustain themselves; whether it be food, water or sleep. Therefore, we must not find ourselves put off by the stories that seem so extreme. Quite simply, they were extreme! The desert being a laboratory, compelled the monks not only to evaluate their motives but also the restraint and measure that was necessary in order not to fall into extremes where they would hurt themselves physically or spiritually. Wisdom is hard won. The generations of monks who lived in the desert offer us a profoundly astute understanding of the human person, our needs, our motivations, and what strengthens or harm us in the spiritual life.  They often learned through error. Sometimes their judgment or lack thereof was a source of profound humility. In the coming weeks, we will be presented with the greater wisdom and balance that began to emerge out of this lengthy experience. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:17:27 Jacqulyn: I'm from Oklahoma!   00:18:23 Anthony: Replying to "I'm from Oklahoma!"     Nice. I'm from Virginia   00:20:47 Jacqulyn: Reacted to "Nice. I'm from Virgi..." with 👍   01:16:46 Anthony: His weeping sounds like DaVinci who lamented not using God's gifts more, or like Cyrano de Bergerac who struggled to maintain honor.   01:17:11 Una McManus: What edition of the book are we using?   01:17:28 Una McManus: Can someone write it here? Thanks   01:17:42 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:18:57 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!  

St. John draws us into the experience of stillness and its many fruits. It is a precious gift that comes to us by the grace of God and takes root in a heart prepared through years of asceticism and watchfulness. It is our waiting upon God.  In many ways this sums up the vocation of the hermit/monk. But it also captures the essence of our life and the life of prayer. We are ever waiting upon God to act in our life and we seek to cultivate in our hearts a receptivity to his will and grace. This is the active life, the fulfillment of the vocation for the Hesychast and of all Christians.  The temptations that come are always going to be things that draw one out of that stillness; loneliness, despondency, etc.  Whether monk or Christians in the world we must allow ourselves to remain within the crucible of stillness. When we feel lonely and isolated, when we are agitated, our tendency is to run to others or to things within the world. This crucible purifies the desire of our hearts and our faith.  Are we able to give our will over to God? Can we trust that he will make of our lives that which endures to eternity? So often we are set upon fixing, undoing or changing the circumstances of our life that seem inconsistent with what is good or what will lead to a sense of fulfillment. However, when we long for God and when we turn to his love, we become free from being tossed about by the chaos of life. Our hearts find rest only in the Lord - He who is an eternal rock. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:46 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 229, #57   00:16:25 Ambrose Little, OP: Happy feast day, Fr. Charbel!   00:27:38 Erick Chastain: The rule of St Benedict even says that there is no eating outside of the communal mealtime. So those who follow the rule outside of the monastery can follow this too.   00:32:22 Anthony: Maybe it could be a person who entered this kind of life is not called to it?   00:34:13 Art: My family has been out of the country for 2.5 weeks.  I’ve been trying to give myself a little taste of the solitary life from the little I know. I’m sure my attempt is laughable compared to monks, but I still found it hard!   00:34:14 Callie Eisenbrandt: Can this be related to like normal life? Separating yourself from the world work on your relationship with the Lord - It is difficult to find a "good" community with support - so how is one supposed to mimic this when they are in society   00:43:01 Una: Blessed name day, Fr. Charbel. Any books or sources of his teachings you can recommend?   00:45:11 Cindy Moran: This might seem nuts but I waited until God sent me a mate who loves Jesus more than me   00:45:51 Anthony: "Love is a Radiant Light" is, I believe,  a collection of St Charbel homilies   00:46:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "This might seem nuts..." with 🥰   00:47:15 Callie Eisenbrandt: Connect me Father! lol   00:49:11 Callie Eisenbrandt: haha thank you   00:51:00 Susanna Joy: A cruise / retreat would be good...count me in!   00:52:25 Anthony: In my experience, the torrents of unwelcome thoughts are a military maneuver to draw one's attention to the head and away from a still heart.   00:53:23 susan: for the sake of the 10 good men   God saved the city   00:54:22 Susanna Joy: Ok!   00:54:59 Susanna Joy: Mountains in Maine and prayerful company😊   00:55:08 Leilani Nemeroff: Agree about being trapped on a boat!   01:03:45 Susanna Joy: Crucible   01:12:44 Una: What chapter are we in?   01:13:10 Una: Thanks. I'm new   01:13:32 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new"   P. 230   01:13:44 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new"   #67   01:14:11 Nypaver Clan: Replying to "Thanks. I'm new"   😇   01:18:33 Nypaver Clan: God bless you on your Feast Day, Fr. Charbel!  🙏🏼   01:18:41 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:19:29 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:19:30 Jeff O.: Thank you Father, great to be with you all.   01:19:47 Cindy Moran: Thank you, Father, wonderful session.   01:19:49 Ann’s iPad: God Bless you Father   01:19:56 Leilani Nemeroff: Thank you! Happy name day!   01:20:03 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Book title?  

We picked up once again with the theme of “loving fasting.” The severity of the desert father’s practice of this discipline reveals that love. They discovered not only how essential the body is in the spiritual struggle to overcome attachment and the order of one’s desires towards God, but also that fasting brings a simplicity to one’s life. We begin to realize that we need much less than we imagine. We are often tempted to think that we need to pamper the body so as not to become sick or weak. It is the regular practice of fasting, we must keep in mind, that teaches us to see the intimate connection between eating and Christ. He is the bread of life and also he who gives us living water to drink in abundance. Therefore, we are to eat in a thoughtful and contemplative fashion, and to make an explicit connection between eating and the Eucharist. In fact fasting and the Eucharist shape the way that we eat. We must attend to the body, but we must also allow the body to serve us spiritually. We discipline ourselves not to punish the body as something evil but to allow everything to be directed toward what satisfies the deepest longing of the human heart. We are not promised happiness in this world, but rather the invincible, peace, joy, and love of the kingdom. Fasting is one element that helped the monks learn to hunger for what endures. --- Text of chat during the group:   00:07:29 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 127, # 8   00:43:17 Bob Cihak, AZ: Is the Elder hastening his own death excessively?   00:48:25 Susanna Joy: When I was a girl, we fasted on bread and water on Fridays, but after awhile stopped bc virtue is harder to practice ...making it pointless if no charity is left   00:48:53 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "When I was a girl, w..." with 😩   00:51:15 Susanna Joy: Right! The regular habit is important and the combination with prayer   00:51:57 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Right! The regular h..." with 👍🏼   00:51:59 Maureen Cunningham: Holy Spirit will help   00:52:54 Forrest Cavalier: Is there a #16 that was skipped?   00:53:21 Cameron Jackson: Despondency. I can get how one can transcend Judas like despair. God is so good He can forgive all our sin but despair of life itself is another thing. I’m old, my money is running out, I can’t protect my family from ever present evil, etc. God doesn’t guarantee quality of life. How do you think this through? Life is suffering get used to it?!   00:56:40 Susanna Joy: Emerson   00:56:56 Susanna Joy: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation   00:58:33 David Fraley: I think that was Thoreau.   00:59:15 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "I think that was Tho..." with 👍🏼   01:01:28 Susanna Joy: Reacted to I think that was Tho... with "👍🏼"   01:08:10 Maureen Cunningham: How long did he live   01:14:54 Steve Yu: As a beginner, would one 16 hr fast a week be excessive?   01:15:00 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You , Blessing   01:15:31 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:15:35 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:15:35 Forrest Cavalier: Steve, start by skipping breakfast.   01:15:36 Lorraine Green: Thank you Father!   01:15:43 David Fraley: Thank you, Father.  

We continued our discussion of the fathers’ love for abstinence and fasting. While their feats seem amazing to us as well as how little food they needed to sustain themselves, the importance is what this love of these disciplines show us. They were not embraced simply as forms of discipline or endurance, but rather that which humbled the mind and the body. It is counterintuitive for all of those who live in times of great abundance to imagine that radically limiting both the amount and type of food that we eat could have such great significance for the spiritual life. At one point, the practices are compared to David slaying a lion in the protection of his flock. Fasting allows us to put our trust in God, and so becomes a weapon capable of slaying a far more fierce enemy. Similarly, David rushed out to do battle with Goliath with nothing but a sling and a few stones. Likewise, we rush out in battle, unencumbered by the things of this world caring with us the humble weapons of fasting and constant prayer. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:09:22 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 124, #5   00:12:09 David Fraley: Hello Father!   00:22:14 Maureen Cunningham: What  page   00:22:33 Lilly: Pg 125 #8   00:23:01 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You   00:32:04 Adam Paige: gyrovagues   00:38:26 Bob Cihak, AZ: Waste not, Want not, Skinny not.   00:44:24 Adam Paige: "Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other. Fasting is the soul of prayer, almsgiving is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated." - St. Peter Chrysologus Sermo 43 (Office of Readings for Tuesday of the 3rd week of Lent)   00:47:54 Forrest Cavalier: In Hypothesis 16 there are stories of extreme fasting, some of which must be miraculous, but not without other imitations that are attested. There are several saints who lived multiple years only consuming Eucharist, including St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Joseph of Cupertino.   01:03:59 Rebecca Thérèse: Yes   01:14:53 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:14:57 Maureen Cunningham: Thank You   01:15:33 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father!   01:15:55 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father.   01:15:56 David Fraley: Thank you, Father!   01:16:01 Jennifer Ahearn: 🙏 thank you.   01:16:08 Mark: thank you father  

The fathers often draw us along this mysterious path, the narrow path, that leads to the kingdom. They lead us, as it were, “where angels fear to tread.”  They show us in an unvarnished fashion how the path to Godly love and virtue passes through affliction.  Yet, even that is too simplistic. It is the suffering heart, the heart crushed by prayer and the desire for God, that gives birth to virtue. One cannot have God sorrow and suffering if he does not first cherish the causes of these.  It is here that we must pray for the illumination that comes through faith. For we are told fear of God and the reproof of one’s conscience give birth to this godly sorrow. Abstinence and vigil keep company with a suffering heart and strengthen it to remain upon this path. Gluttony in all of its forms gives rise to the bad blood of the passions, and drives out the influx of the Spirit.  Thus, while we are young, we must learn to delight in what comes from the labor of compunction. If we do not, we will simply provoke confusion and callousness in the heart. We will be frustrated and lose our desire for God. Knowledge of God and the things of God do not reside in the hedonist; and the one who loves his body will not acquire the grace of God.  There is a plethora of ways that we idolize the body and its needs. It is for this reason that we are given multiple stories of elders crushing the demons by their asceticism. They starve the demons by not allowing them to feed upon the disordered and the unholy desires that often dwell within our hearts. If a man spends his life in fasting, then his adversaries, the passions and the demons flee, enfeebled, from his soul. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:37:43 Kate : I think sometimes we can hesitate in the ascetical life due to an exaggerated fear of suffering.  I know I have felt this myself.  But when we begin to engage in ascetical practices there is a sweetness and joy and peace in making our way towards God.  It is not a sensible sweetness, but a deep interior sweetness.   00:38:51 Adam Paige: At church and Catholic home meetings, I'm constantly being offered food.. it's not always clear whether to accept hospitality or decline sometimes large amounts of food   00:44:25 Fr Marty, AZ, 480-292-3381: Besides wine, it sounds like that satiating our longing for God or restlessness to do God's will by overdoing anything: food, lust, entertainment, news, even complaining, can numb our sensitivity to not just the Holy Spirit's guidance, but even our ability to just be at rest with life we've been given and be content during prayer.   00:44:45 Adam Paige: Reacted to "Besides wine, it sou..." with ❤️‍🔥   00:48:56 Forrest Cavalier: καὶ αὐτὸς. ποὺ ἀγαπᾷ τὸ σῶπα του   00:49:06 Forrest Cavalier: Agape love   00:53:21 Forrest Cavalier: It is the greek original of "he who loves his own body"   00:55:36 Anthony: I went to Italy and got some prayer cards from Naples and Calabria.  Some of them do not end prayer in "Amen" but "Cosi sià," which I take to mean "As He (the Lord) wills."   01:02:07 Fr Marty, AZ, 480-292-3381: Just as God wants us well fed in those things that keep us healthy, could it be that the devils have the strategy to starve us spiritually by glutting our appetites, and keep us from feeding on the Word of God or Body of Christ. It seems at times I've been starving on a full stomach. That even in great pleasure, I felt no love or joy..   01:05:52 Jennifer Ahearn: There is a term I just learned ‘simping’, in romantic relationships a male who is over attentive and submissive to a woman’s desire.  Only the blessings and God’s good pleasure to see his children fulfilled really satisfy the soul and strengthen the Sacrament.   01:06:14 Anthony: I'm preparing to move, and trying to follow St Charbel's advice, cutting out of my life books that I bought to be a somebody, a scholar, but really are so much extra weight - other than the one "jar" I should carry or am called to carry in life, for my vocation.   01:08:44 Ambrose Little, OP: Jim Gaffigan   01:08:51 Nypaver Clan: Jim Gaffigan?   01:09:12 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Jim Gaffigan" with 👍🏼   01:14:08 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you 🙂Happy birthday🎂   01:14:14 Anthony: Auguri, Padre!   01:14:23 Adam Paige: Ad multos annos !   01:14:23 Steve Yu: Happy Birthday, Father!   01:14:24 Nypaver Clan: Birthday blessings   01:15:03 Andrew Adams: Thank you, Father! Happy Birthday!   01:15:23 Troy Amaro: Thank You Father. Happy Birthday.  

St. John Climacus once again gives us powerful images to help us understand the meaning of stillness and how it is to be protected. One such image is that of an eyelash that falls into the eye and creates irritation. The enemy of stillness is agitation; we are often driven to distraction by a concern for our physical and emotional well-being. Fear can create within us a kind of hypochondria. We become hypersensitive to our health and well-being. Unchecked, this fear can be become so excessive that it creates a massive neurosis that prevent us from trusting in the providence and promises of God. We no longer feel ourselves being drawn along by love or seeking to remain in that stillness in order that we might know intimacy with the beloved. Rather, we desperately push forward, driving ourselves to the point of exhaustion, seeking a worldly peace and security.  However, in this we deprive ourselves of a childlike sense of wonder at the life and love the God has made possible for us. Therefore, as Christ tells us, we may not experience the kingdom even though it dwells within us because we are focused upon controlling our life and shaping our own identity. Once the simplicity is lost, it can lead to a kind of quiet desperation. Our hearts long for love from others and from God, but in the complexity that we have created and the thick hedge of responsibilities with which we surround ourselves, we lose faith and hope that such freedom can ever be ours again. --- Text of chat during the group: 00:03:18 Bob Cihak, AZ: P. 228, #48   00:26:14 Anthony: Another issue is for one in involuntary solitude, having a desire for companionship goes out to fill the void   00:27:33 Anthony: This is a reason for excessive social media or tv or radio, and God's gifts are dissipated   00:30:57 Bob Cihak, AZ: The stutters are because you're reflecting as we go.   00:36:19 Anthony: Not to analyze the thoughts.  I've been surprised by horrid thoughts, and thereafter been so concerned about them, that concern brings them to mind.   00:47:15 Kate : It’s almost as if we don’t trust the grace of God.  We don’t trust the Providence of God and His Presence within the soul.   00:55:09 Susanna Joy: So true...believing the promise of God's everlasting goodness is key. Elizabeth said to Mary: Blessed is she who believed that the promise made by God would be fulfilled. And it is true for all of us.   00:57:32 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Covid was a curse *and* a blessing, it brought Fr Abernethy to my life...I am so grateful 🙏   00:57:51 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a..." with 🥰   00:57:57 Lilly (Toronto, CA): Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a…" with 🥰   00:58:40 Kevin Burke: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a…" with 👌   01:03:55 Susanna Joy: Yes...wonder!   01:04:13 Greg C: It was a blessing to me as I began to read scripture much more deeply, and understand the Divine Liturgy with so much more love.   01:04:26 Susanna Joy: Reacted to It was a blessing to... with "❤️"   01:04:36 Susanna Joy: Reacted to Covid was a curse *a... with "❤️"   01:04:46 Greg C: Reacted to "Covid was a curse *a..." with ❤️   01:16:49 Susanna Joy: Jesus did say, unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of God.   01:19:21 Susanna Joy: Trust and Wonder.💗   01:19:58 Cindy Moran: Thank you Father!   01:20:08 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you🙂   01:21:08 Cindy Moran: My birthday is July 8...I will be thinking of you!   01:21:18 Sharon: Thank you!