On Spiritual Growth during a Pandemic
It is difficult to grow spiritually even when life is good. Yet, trials are meant to refine our souls. Thus, during this pandemic we want to do everything we can to make this a fruitful time, a time of reflection and time of spiritual growth. Here below are some ideas about how we can make strides in the spiritual life. As your parish priest, I am wear many hats: liturgist, counselor, spiritual father, spiritual coach, retreat leader, teacher, etc. I pray each of us embraces this time of challenge with a heart open to God and His will for us!
Prayer filled reading of Scripture
As Orthodox, we are called to read the Scriptures daily (St. John Chrysostom). We always begin with prayer before reading God’s word. This can be as simple as doing our Cross and saying, “Bless, O Lord, this reading of Your word.” Never have we had such incredible resources at our fingertips as we do right now. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has a daily reading app which is free and brings God’s word to our smart phone. This only takes about 7 minutes a day to read. As we strive to read and apply the Scriptures to ourselves, let us complete our reading with a prayer, “Glory to You, our God, glory to You.”
Reading the Orthodox Study Bible in a Year
Someone once asked me, “How long does it take to read the Bible?” I responded, “It takes 30 minutes.” The look on their face was wonder filled. And I continued, “Every day for a year.” “Just 30 minutes a day?” he asked. “Yes, just 30 minutes a day and you can read God’s personal letter to each of us from cover to cover.”
To this end, and because I truly love reading God’s word, I put together a pamphlet that maps out the reading of the Orthodox Study Bible in a year. My hope is to send everyone a paper copy soon. The basic idea is we read 2 to 3 chapters of the Old Testament, a little of the Psalms, a little of the Proverbs, and a chapter or half chapter of the New Testament each day. Of course, you may catch yourself loving it so much that you want to read the footnotes. (I highly recommend this too!) You can create your own reading schedule as well. Try it, you will love it!
Attending our Bible Study via GoTo Meeting
The Bible study begins this coming Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 7 PM via GoTo Meeting. The link for this was sent on email recently. Please join us! The Bible Study focuses on passages that come from reading the Orthodox Study Bible in a year. Each week I will send out the readings for the coming week on Wednesday with which chapters to focus on. Additionally, I will send some notes to peek your interest and curiosity! This is a fun way to survey the entire Bible and find the most interesting parallels between the Old and New Testaments.
Attendance of Divine Liturgy and other services
Whether you attend the Divine Liturgy in person with your mask or attend at home through Facebook Live, it is vital to our spiritual well-being and growth to participate in the Divine Liturgy and other services. This is most challenging when we are not allowed to have books in the pews and a variety of translations at home. Thankfully, we three universal resources to partake of during this pandemic.
The first is online through agesinitiatives.com. This interactive website has all the services listed by date in either Greek and/or English. It also includes the music to the hymns in Byzantine and western notation. The Divine Liturgy translation is the official text of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese.
The second is the Divine Liturgy Hymnal. My hope is to send every adult member of Holy Trinity a copy of this book which includes the music in Greek and English which has the official translation of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for the Divine Liturgy. As we become more familiar with this book, you will see the blessing in following along at church or in the home. In addition to the book itself, we have added some of the favorite things from other books into the back pages: The Nicene Creed in Greek phonetics, the Our Father in Greek phonetics, and all the prayers before receiving Holy Communion in Greek and English. We even placed notations in the text to indicate which page to turn to and turn back to as the Liturgy continues.
The third is a booklet in Greek and English compiled by me from the official translation of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for the following services which are frequently included at the end of the Divine Liturgy: The Trisagion prayers, the Memorial prayers, the Saturday of Souls Memorial prayers, the Blessing of the Five Loaves (Artoklasia), and the Prayers of Thanksgiving after receiving Holy Communion.
I will be sending the second and third resource to the homes of all the members of Holy Trinity during the month of October. Feel free to place your name in the front cover and bring it to church with you the next time you attend or simply use it from home via Facebook Live. God bless your efforts to grow in Christ during this pandemic.
Love to all,
Fr. Jon
