Although truth is a heavenly thing and all should love it, in a faithfulness and corrupt era, if there’s anything that people hate, turn away from, and even persecute…it’s the truth.  Just as someone whose sight is damaged by the sun finds the sun burdensome and wishes to live in a dark place, evil and corrupt people want to live in sin and ignorance, which is the terrible darkness of the soul. 

-Bishop Augustinos of Florina

That child-like joy and innocence that we experienced during the Feast of Christmas…the tears of happiness that we saw in the eyes of those in the nursing home when we sang on Christmas Morning…that special feeling that somehow makes Christmas Day stand out from all of the rest:  Take it all, bottle it up like Holy Water, and sprinkle it throughout the next 365 days.  All of that joy, all of those smiles, and the glorious reality that is the coming of Christ cannot cease in our hearts once the Christmas Tree has been taken down.

All of this movement is evidence to the fact that our Worship of God is not something that is passive…we don’t come to be an audience waiting to be entertained, informed, or amused.  We rather come to be active participants in a Divine Dance!

In an Orthodox Funeral for a departed loved one, there is a very pointed and direct verse that is said by the priest, that always sticks with me, even after I move on to the next few verses:

Let us go forth and gaze into the graves, for man is naked bones, food for the worms, and stench. Only thenwill we learn of what are true riches, and comeliness, beauty, and strength!

Why does that verse hit so hard those who hear it?  Because it is a pure does of truth that so many in the world, especially living in our material driven society, do not want to admit: The desire to gain money, power, and wealth, those things which the world holds so dear, are meaningless to the existence of mankind.  

“Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air.  If you ignore them, there is no problem.  But if you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land!”