Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.

Lords_Prayer_Religious

A favourite scene by an all-time favourite film-maker of spiritual quest: The Sacrifice (Offret) by A.Tarkovsky 1986 – PRAYER: The Lord’s Prayer. The scene poignantly illustrates the power of faith and self-sacrifice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4z8Y-NpW1c

The Sacrifice, Tarkovsky’s swan song, tells in esoteric terms of Christian iconography, masterly mise-en-scène, and astounding use of sound composition, of a literary critic, once an actor (Josephson), who promises to give up everything ‘that connects him with the world’ in a bid to save it from the impending nuclear holocaust he hears announced on television.

A Cage

depression5

I feel like a bird trapped in a small birdcage,

A birdcage hidden at the bottom of a dark basement.

And all I want to do is break out of the blackness,

And fly into the Sonlight which waits outside.

I can feel it, the Light –

It’s all around the basement.

The Light is greater than the basement.

All I want to do is get into that Light,

And loose myself in it.

But it is an impossible task – I can’t get out.

And the thick, murky black air closes in…

 *

I feel like I’m in a room with invisible walls.

But it’s so black in the room,

That I can’t see through the walls.

And I am the centre of the room.

Where I go, the room goes – I can’t get out.

I wish someone would chain the room still,

So I could get out into the Light outside.

… 

Oh Jesus, You are the Light of the world.

Please shatter this darkened prison I live in,

And take me into Your light.

Let it consume me, encompass me, surround me.

Let me become one with You, You in me, me in You.

 *

http://cornerstonethefoundation.blogspot.gr/p/depression-poems.html

…

The Robin

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Matthew 6:26  “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

*

The robin hopped out of the hedgerow

To say “hello”.

He displayed his blood red breast

Head tilted and inquisitive.

He looked with meekness at

The giant that stood before him.

This little bird was bold in his quest for food.

Unafraid, he made his holy dance in the snow.

The prints of his path traced a pattern of expectant joy.

This little creature paused to look at me,

Utter reliant on what God supplies.

Were you there at Calvary, Robin?

Did you stop to gaze on Him who made you?

God knows.

This little icon of apostolic zeal brings warmth

To those who on Christmas day smile at his cheery coat.

Would that we too too could be such a disciple,

Living on God’s Providence.

*

To the Glory of God

*

robins

“Love the One, so that even wild beasts will love you.”

Elder Amphilochios

*

By Father Jonathan Hemmings

*

To my little friend who so encouraged me on the Theotokos Nativity Forefeast!

Numb, Joyless, Desolate

 

theotokos2

 

Mother of God,

Here I stand now praying

Before this ikon of your radiant brightness,

Not praying to be saved from a battlefield;

Not giving thanks nor seeking forgiveness for the sins of my soul,

Nor for all the souls.

Numb, joyless and desolate on earth;

But for her alone, whom I wholly give you.

*

Hymn on the morning of our Lady’s Nativity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqsMBX9Kxm4

Banquet for Worms

hell2

valley of death

II.

Who put me in this bed of worms? Who buried me in the dust, to become a neighbor of snakes and a banquet for worms?

Who pushed me off the high mountain, to become a companion of bloodthirsty and godless men?

My sin and Your justice, O Lord. My sin stretches from the creation of the world, and it is swifter than Your justice.

I count my sins throughout my entire life, throughout the life of my father and all the way back to the beginning of the world, and I say: Truly, the name of the Lord’s justice is mercy.

I bear the wounds of my fathers on myself-wounds that I myself was preparing while I was still in my fathers—and now they have all appeared on my soul, like a spotted hide on a giraffe, like a cloak of vicious scorpions that sting me.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, open the floodgate of the heavenly river of Your grace, and cleanse me of leprous evil, so that without this leprosy I may dare to proclaim Your name before the other lepers without them ridiculing me.

At least raise me up by a head above the rotten stench of this bed of worms, to inhale the incense of heaven and return to life.

At least raise me up as high as a palm tree so I can laugh at the serpents chasing my heels.

O Lord, if there has been even one good deed in the course of my earthly journey, for the sake of that one deed deliver me from the companionship of bloodthirsty and godless men.

O Lord, my hope in despair.

O Lord, my strength in weakness.

O Lord, my light in darkness.

Place just one finger on my forehead and I shall be raised. Or, if I am too unclean for Your finger, let a single ray of light from Your kingdom shine upon me and raise me-raise me, from this bed of worms, O my beloved Lord.

prayersbythelake

The Pearl

pearl3

O Lord, Almighty, aid me! Grains of sand

Their way inside me ceaselessly find

Afflictions provoke my widow heart

Harass me, vex me, pester and grind.

*

May your beautiful veil over

My soul drape, Thy Love wrap.

Forgive, hapless soul,

Pardon, evade the trap.

*

O, may resentment and anguish desert,

O, may my wounds be moulded to pearls.

Thy Grace, Redeemer, my soul of thorn

Heal, pray, aid me, suffer Thy nails.

*

Like Your Glory Resplendent on Cross,

Assist me, Redeemer, to die with Thee.

O, bless, sweet Jesus, restrain, impede

Prevent me an oyster barren to be!

*

THE PEARL: SEVEN HYMNS ON THE FAITH

By St. Ephraim of Syria — Translated by J.B. Morris

http://www.voskrese.info/spl/pearl.html

” …Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son,
Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him.
The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly,
As they did His hands;
And because He suffered He reigned,
As by they sufferings thy beauty increased … “

(c) University of Exeter, Fine Art Collection; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

Mud and Wax

This week, my Lord, mud I became,

Broken and fractured, cracked mud.

All my bones, Out of joint,

Mud I became, cracked mud.

*

Too fierce the heat,

Too scorching inferno.

The sun beat down

Beat down on me.

*

Oh, through fire I went

And I dried

Withered away

And I cracked.

Mud Cracks

Oh, would Your Grace softly wrap me,

When I walk through fire and tears

Oh, would my heart not crack but soften

Melt at Your fire like wax.

melted-candles

Might Your blaze thaw me and melt me,

Mould me like wax under the seal

Engrave me, Heavenly Jeweller, Engrave Your signet

Seal Thy Icon upon my heart.

god's seal

Bless me, my Master, Your struggling servant,

Render me Holy, Bridegroom Divine.

‘Holy to LORD’, Redeemer Celestial

My Prince of Peace, UnBounded Love.

A Thorn on the Road

tree of life

Prayers by the Lake (I) 

By St. Nikolai Velimirovic

Who is that staring at me through all the stars in heaven and all the creatures on earth?

Cover your eyes, stars and creatures; do not look upon my nakedness. Shame torments me enough through my own eyes.

What is there for you to see? A tree of life that has been reduced to a thorn on the road, that pricks both itself and others.

….

heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSH7UolJsuU