As Orthodox Christians, there is no greater gift that we can give to our children than the experience of the Faith and of Christ. Regular participation in the Divine Services, whether we think that they are paying attention or not, is an absolute necessity! I cringe when I think of the world that our children are growing up into, which seems to become more backwards as the weeks go by!

If we are clairvoyant enough to see that we all have sinned, then we also need to see and understand that anytime we turn our back to God, we participate in something that is “pure evil”.  

“…when we are obedient to the Lord in the little things, the results will be greater than we can handle. But this is not the modern “prosperity theology,” where we are deluded into thinking that we are owed earthly riches from God.  We must focus on the blessings we need, not what we may want.”

“When the enemy destroys the spiritual order in the soul, this is our mental Jerusalem, and then the spiritual cross is thrown down from the Golgotha of the heart and is covered over with the garbage of the affections and lusts. Lustful self-pleasure then rises like a tower over all our inner peace…”

-St. Theophan the Recluse

Forgiveness is the very essence of what love is, but as we have already mentioned, it is not an easy thing to do.  We find often that it is easy to “forget” an offense, but forgiveness is another story!