"Save our Childhood!" or How Our Workaholism Affects Our Children
"My
mother has a difficult job, and although she likes it overall, she works late,
and after a day's work she doesn't even have the strength for a simple
conversation with me," a six-year-old girl told me one time. She then
added in a sad voice: "I would be happy if my mother stayed at home,
waited for her husband, cooked delicious meals and spent more time with me.
Instead my parents are so passionate about work that they do not care about
anything else, not even me ... "
People
say that our day and age has two faults: irresponsibility and workaholism. The
first one can not be persuaded, the second does not have a brake pedal. And
it's hard not to agree with this. Workaholics always work and find a way to do
it everywhere: on vacation, on the road, during dinner, and even while raising
children( or so they think). Workaholics piously believe that by devoting 20
hours a day to work they can fill a spiritual void. They want to earn as much
money as possible and sometimes are not able to do something other than work or
switch off. Everything around them is work, work, work...
Young
mothers today hurry to get out of maternity leave in order to avoid everyday
chores which includes daily cleaning, changing diapers or cooking food. Society
seems to believe that "staying" with a child does not help a woman
develop in any way, that there is nothing to talk about with her, except except
for maybe child nutrition. But how wrong are those who say so! Educating a
young human being is the most productive and creative time of all: it is an
encounter with a new personality who begins to absorb everything the world has
to offer, it is the time of daily discoveries. And the role of the housewife
and beloved mother is a unique time in a person's life that may never come
again, because children grow up very quickly.
Yes, the
Lord did leave a commandment to Adam and all men that “by the sweat of your
face you shall eat bread”(Genesis 3:19), but we don't hear the same about
women, instead we hear a commandment about childbirth, about children...
Workaholism,
like laziness, are two opposing extremes that come from one place - sin. In part
this is the legacy of the Soviet past, when being overly passionate at work was
welcomed. But I ask you today, dear mothers and fathers, do not become
infected!
Just
Imagine what will happen when you stop your work, disappear from the face of
the earth, someone else will come to replace you - the earth will still be
spinning ... But what will remain after you? A pile of insensitive metal, a
stack of colored waste paper or just a total void?
On the
other hand you could have children with happy memories who recall a wonderful
childhood,adolescence, youth...
PS: The little girl that was quoted in the
beginning of this article already turned eighteen. Seriously lacking parental
love as a child, she continues on in life, but is forced to do so with great difficulty
... She wishes that when she has her own family and children, she will
certainly become a caring mother who will not only see and know how her
children are growing up , but also be an integral part of their world and make
sure it is full of love.
June 26, 2018
By Olga Aleksandrova
Chapter V. Apostle Peter: The Healings in the Streets
“Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and
make your bed” (Acts 9:34).
“Then
fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the
apostles” (Acts 2:43).
The apostles received their ability to perform miracles and
signs from the Lord Himself during the time of Christ’s preaching in Judea. When the Twelve Apostles were chosen, the Lord sent them to preach and spread the Holy Gospel. Before they went with their own mission, He said to them: “Heal the sick, cleanse
the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely
give” (Matthew 10:8). That grace accompanied the apostles during
the whole time of Christ's saving ministry on earth. After the descent of the
Holy Spirit, as John the Theologian, the favorite disciple of Christ said, the
apostles got the “grace for grace” (John
1:16).
So, according to Apostle Luke, many people came to
Jerusalem from the nearest cities, bringing the sick people and the people possesed by dark spirits. Many of them were brought into the streets right
on their beds so that “at least the
shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them” (Acts 5:15). All
those people were got healing from their diseases. Once, when Apostles Peter and John were heading to the
Temple, they met a beggar who sat by the gates of the Temple. Peter called the
Holy Name of Jesus Christ and healed the man, so he “leaping up, stood and
walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God”
(Acts 3:8).
Apostle Peter, while he was visiting his brothers and
sisters in Christ in different areas, came to Lydda, where he healed Aeneas, who could not stand
up from his bed for 8 years.
Tabitha, one of the Christ’s followers who helped
people in need and gave alms, got sick and died in the city of Joppa,
which is located not far from Lydda. When other disciples knew that Peter was
in Lydda at that time, they asked him to come. Peter came to Joppa and was brought
to the chamber where the dead girl was lying. There he saw many people crying
above her body. He ordered them all to leave the place and “knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha,
arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up” (Acts
9:40). After that the whole city learnt about that miracle and many people turned
to the Lord through it.
 |
| Apostle Peter heals the sick man with his shadow |
The Book of Acts does not describe all the journeys
and miracles performed by Apostle Peter. However, we know from the ancient stories that he
visited many different cities and countries, where he preached, established Christian
communities and brought people to life. Particularly, there are such well-known
facts as the resurrection of the dead man in Ankira of Galatia as well as the
establishment of the God’s Church there and the ordination of a bishop. We
learn about this from the works of St. Simeon the Metaphrast, an Orthodox saint
who lived in the 10th century. By the order of the emperor, St. Simeon translated several hundreds of life stories and made a compilation
of them.
We should point out that the holy apostles and all the
other saints after them performed miracles not just by their own will, but
calling the Name of God – they asked the Lord to perform the miracle in their
prayers. Seeing their strong and pure faith, the Lord performed miracles through
his loyal disciples. Even our Lord Jesus Christ often performed miracles by the
faith of other people. On the other hand, sometimes He did not – just because there
was no faith in them: “Now He could do no
mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and
healed them. And He marveled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:5-6).
It is important that we remember about this. We can ask God
for something only with our living faith and love towards him, for the Lord
performs miracles not just to reveal His power to the world and amaze people
with it. God’s miracles are always addressed to our hearts and our souls in
order to awake people from their sinful sleep, to turn them to the path of life
and take them off the path of death. This is why the greatest miracles of God are the miracle of repentance, the miracle of conversion and the miracle of love
towards God and your close ones. “Though
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not
love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2).
What St.
John Chrysostom says in his works:
"They did not perform all their miracles with the same
ease. But this was profitable for them: for truly God took thought not only for
the salvation of others, but for their own. He that liealed so many by his very
shadow, how is it that he now has to do so much first? There are cases also in
which the faith of the applicants cooperated. This is the first dead person
that he raises. Observe how he, as it were, awakes her out of sleep: first she
opened her eyes: then upon seeing (Peter) she sat up: then from his hand she
received strength. And it teas known throughout all Joppa and many believed in
the Lord. Mark the gain, mark the fruit, that it was not for display. For where
tears are — or rather, where miracles are, there tears ought not to be; not where
such a mystery is celebrating. Hear, I beseech you: although somewhat of the
like kind does not take place now, yet in the case of our dead likewise, a
great mystery is celebrating. Say, if as you sit together, the Emperor were to
send and invite some one of us to the palace, would it be right, I ask, to weep
and mourn? Angels are present, commissioned from heaven and come from thence,
sent from the King Himself to call their fellow servant, and say, dost thou
weep r Knowest thou not what a mystery it is that is taking place, liow awful,
how dread and worthy indeed of hymns and lauds?"
Reflections
in the Holy Church tradition:
Let us praise as champions of all the world, those leaders, Peter and Paul: the disciples
of Christ, and founders of the Church, true foundations, pillars and trumpets
of inspiration, sounding forth the teachings and sufferings of Christ! They
indeed went out into all the earth as husbandmen spreading the seed of the faith,
planting for all mankind divine understanding, revealing the Word of the
Trinity. O Peter, rock and foundation, and Paul, the chosen vessel: you were
Christ's yoke of oxen, drawing all to the knowledge of God: the Gentiles, men
of the cities and islands. You brought the Hebrews back again to Christ, and
now you both intercede that our souls may be saved. (The sticheron on the
Litya, Tone 2)
To be
continued…
Parable of the Day: Why Did You Abandon Me?
There was
a man who saw in a dream that he was walking down a sandy shore and the Lord
was walking by his side. Stories of his life appeared on the sky, and he
noticed two trails on sand after each story: one was his own and the other was
the Lord's.
When the
last story of his life was over, he looked back on the footsteps on sand. He
noticed that there was only one trail of steps in some places along the way. He
also noticed that those were the hardest and the unhappiest times in his life.
The man
was very upset:
“Lord,
didn't You promise me that if I followed your way, You wouldn't abandon me?
However, I've noticed that there was only one trail of steps on sand during the
hardest times of my life. Why did You abandon me when I needed you the most?”
The Lord
responded:
“My dear
dear child. I love you and I will never abandon you. It is true that there was
only one trail of steps on the road of your life in the most difficult times. It
was because I carried you in my lap.”
Prepared
by The Catalog of Good Deeds
Is it Possible to Be Pro-life and Pro-choice?
Question: Is it possible for someone to be pro-life and pro-choice?
We should
define our terms here. By "pro-life," we mean that we oppose the
shedding of innocent blood, at any stage of development, including unborn
children. If someone is "pro-choice" they mean that they believe it
should be up to the mother to decide whether or not she will have an abortion,
for any reason. If someone says that they are pro-life and pro-choice, this can
only mean that they personally oppose abortion, but they think that others
should be free to decide the matter for themselves, because they don't want to
"impose their morality" on anyone else.
Is this a
morally defensible position? To answer this question, we first have to ask why
a Christian would oppose abortion? We oppose abortion not because we don't like
it. We oppose abortion because we believe that it is the murder of an innocent
life -- the only exception being the very rare circumstances in which it is
necessary to save the life of the mother, and in such cases it almost always
would mean the death of both mother and child to do nothing.
The
Scriptures are abundantly clear that God takes the shedding of innocent blood
very seriously. We are told that God destroyed the kingdom of Judah because they
engaged in child sacrifice:
"And
he [Manasseh] made his son pass through the fire [a form of child sacrifice],
and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and
wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to
anger" (2 Kings 21:6).
"3
Surely at the commandment of the Lord this [the destruction of Judah by the
Babylonians] came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins
of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also because of the
innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent
blood, which the Lord would not pardon" (2 Kings 24:3-4).
The
belief that abortion is murder is not a recently adopted Christian position. In
the Didache, which is the oldest Christian document outside of the New
Testament, it says unambiguously:
"Thou
shalt not murder a child by abortion nor kill them when born" (Didache
2:2).
Canon 91
of the Sixth Ecumenical Council says:
"As
for women who furnish drugs for the purpose of procuring abortion, and those
who take fetus-killing poisons, they are made subject to the penalty prescribed
for murderers."
Likewise,
St. Basil says in his second canon:
"A
woman that aborts deliberately is liable to trial as a murderess."
So an
Orthodox Christian that actually believes what the Church teaches can only
oppose abortion on the grounds that it is the wrongful taking of an innocent
human life.
So can a
person really be opposed to rape, but not want to "impose their
morality" on others? No.
Could a
person oppose lynching, but not want to "impose their morality" on
others? No.
Can a
person oppose abortion, but not want to "impose their morality" on
others? No.
And as a
matter of fact every law reflects someone's morality. There is no reason why
Christians should not use their power to vote to influence the laws to protect
innocent life.
By Fr. John Whiteford
Source: http://fatherjohn.blogspot.com/2017/03/stump-priest-pro-life-and-pro-choice.html
15 Quotes of Guidance from St. Theophan the Recluse
1. If we compare our nature to copper, then copper in
conjunction with silver is still the same nature but one that is now
embellished in the Holy Baptism.
2. The Lord is on the Cross. Stand in front of Him in
your thoughts and ponder, how would the Lord meet you once He comes down from
the Cross? Keep thinking about this for some time, and your conscience will
clearly tell you the truth.
3. The heart is like a sponge that has absorbed various liquids. Squeeze it and the
liquid will come out. The pressures upon the heart are the life experiences and
circumstances of this world, which can produce either good or evil depending on
which part of the heart pressure is placed upon. Pay attention. Such thoughts
can lead to a good level of self realization.
4. Learn about the teachings of the Orthodox Christian
Church and hold onto them in your heart - and you will see the way to the
Kingdom of Heaven.
5. Knowing what is contained in the Holy Mysteries of
the church, be a communicant of the mysteries as often as possible, with faith
and with the Holy Tradition of the church. Then the Divine power of God, will
not weaken and direct to the the Kingdom of Heaven.
6. Make sure you live within the framework of the
church because then you will live in a spiritual atmosphere and you will be
fenced off from temptation, and your strength will never weaken in your path to
salvation, and no temptation will be able to leave you at difficult crossroads.
7. Be obedient to the leadership of the spiritual
fathers - and you will avoid the temptations and mistakes on the way to the
Kingdom of Heaven, but instead you will quickly and without troubles come to
the gates of Paradise
8. Nothing good is acquired for free. Instead it is
acquired later through tears and toil.
9. During the prayer, the enemy always will try to
bring into your mind things that may seem extremely important, and then removes
these thoughts and leads you further astray. It is vital to instill in your
hearts a strong conviction and decisiveness in order to be able to choose God
as opposed to anything else, at least during prayer.
10. Comprehension or the ability to see certain
spiritual things can happen during prayer. But the prayer that is simply read
will not give you this. You can only get this from a brief, personal prayer,
where you continuously keep God within yourself.
11. When you finished your prayer, don't not think
that it is all over. Act as if you are attending the liturgy. Always have a
sober mind and keep your thoughts chaste.
12. Pleasure is evidence of the wrong path, while
sorrow is evidence of the right path. Whenever you think about this, rejoice,
as crusaders of truth!
13. A person who has repented will first only see his
sins, but once the inner self begins to settle, a person can start seeing
passions that surround the soul. Someone who has said before: O Lord have mercy
on me a sinner, will now add the following: God, cleanse me a sinner or heal my
soul.
14. God arranges for us to meet certain people so that
we could pass on the good given to us by God and enriched each other souls. The
devil will try to do everything to make sure these meeting become useless and
even harmful. Keep this in mind!
15. It also happens that even though a person does not
do bad things, but the state of the heart is in bad shape. God rejects such
people because of their poor inner self. Check with yourself. Are you one of
those?
Prepared by The Catalog of Good Deeds
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