Author: Jobin

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 25 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 25 of the Great Lent: Matthew 19:16-26 – “What Do I Still Lack?”
    The rich young ruler had kept every commandment since his youth. He did not steal, lie, cheat, or dishonour his parents. By any external measure, he was a good man.
    And he knew something was missing. “What do I still lack?”
    Jesus told him: sell everything and follow Me.
    He went away sorrowful. He could not let go.
    St. Ephrem: the command was not about money. It was about the heart’s deepest attachment. The “ruling love” that sits on the throne of the heart and will not yield.
    Twenty-five days of fasting. What is the one thing you have been protecting?
    For our journey today
    – Name the one thing
    – Bring it to the Cross
    – Do not go away sorrowful

    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    The Promise and the Long Wait: Abraham and Sarah

    ByJobin

    *Faces of the Fast series* – _The Promise and the Long Wait: Abraham & Sarah_

    🕯️ God took Abraham outside in the dark. “Look up”, He said. “Count the stars if you can.”

    Abraham was old. Childless. Twenty-five years into a promise that had not yet been fulfilled. He looked up at the sky and chose to believe.

    Not because the evidence supported it. Because he had chosen to orient himself toward the One who had spoken rather than toward everything that contradicted it.

    The fourth reflection in Faces of the Fast is now on the blog. We move into Movement II of the series today.

    On Abraham and Sarah. On the long wait. On the laughter that was not the last word. On what it means to stand under the stars and say: I believe.

    It is a reflection for anyone who has been carrying something for a long time and has not yet seen it fulfilled. For anyone in the middle weeks of Lent when the freshness has worn off and the destination still feels distant.

    The One who made the promise is the same One who pointed Abraham to the stars.

    _Walking from Eden to the Upper Room. One biblical face at a time._ 🕯️

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 24 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 24 of the Great Lent. Mid-Lent. For God So Loved the World: St. John 7:14-15; 3:13-21

    Twenty-four days. Half the fast is behind us. Half lies ahead. The midpoint is a strange place. And in the middle, the question that matters most is: why am I here?
    Today the Church gives us the answer. Not in a command. In a sentence.

    “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

    That is why. That is why the fast exists. That is why the Cross is ahead. The fast does not save us. The Cross saves us. The fast prepares us to see the Cross. To understand what we are looking at when we arrive at Great Friday.

    For our journey today:
    – Read John 3:16 as though you have never read it before
    – Let the fast point forward
    – Come into the light
    – Venerate the Cross

    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 23 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 23 of the Great Lent. Come to Me and Rest. Matthew 11:28–30.
    Twenty-three days of fasting. Some of us are exhausted. The fast has become a grind. The prayers have become a duty. The joy of the first week feels impossibly far away.
    Christ says: Come to Me. All you who are exhausted. I will give you rest.
    Not rest for your schedule. Rest for your souls. The deepest rest there is. The rest that comes when you stop trying to be God and let God be God.
    St. Isaac the Syrian: the greatest obstacle to this rest is not laziness but pride. The proud person cannot rest because resting would mean admitting he is not in control.
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 22 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 22 of the Great Lent – Mark 12:35-44 “Two Small Coins”

    Jesus sat opposite the treasury and watched. Not what people gave. How they gave.

    The rich gave large amounts from their abundance. The widow dropped in two tiny coins. Her whole livelihood. Everything she had.

    Jesus said: she gave more than all of them combined.

    St. Ephrem the Syrian: the rich gave and went home to full tables. The widow gave and went home to nothing. The rich gave an amount. The widow gave herself.

    Twenty-two days of fasting. What has your giving cost you?
    Actions for today:
    – Give something that costs us
    – Examine the robe
    – Let the gift be invisible
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Grace at the End of the World: Noah and the God Who Does Not Give Up

    ByJobin

    🕯️ There is a verse in Genesis 6 that stops me every time I read it.
    “The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

    God grieves.

    Not the cold anger of a judge. The grief of someone who loves what they have made and is watching it destroy itself.

    St. John Chrysostom says this language tells us something true about who God is. He is not a detached cosmic administrator watching events unfold from a safe distance. He is genuinely invested in the creatures He has made. When they damage themselves and one another, something in the heart of God responds to that.

    And right in the middle of that grief. One man. Who had not stopped walking with God.

    New Lenten reflection is live on the blog. On Noah. On the God who grieves and the God who finds. On the rainbow that is covenant not comfort.

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 21 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 21 of the Great Lent – Knanayto Sunday – Matthew 15:21–31 – “Great Is Your Faith”

    She was met with silence. Then apparent rejection. Then an insult. She kept asking.

    Her prayer went from a full sentence to a half sentence to a single brilliant argument. The prayers in this series keep getting shorter. And they keep getting more powerful.

    St. Ephrem the Syrian: Christ’s apparent rejection was not cruelty. It was the testing of a faith that needed to be shown. The diamond is tested by pressure. The gold by fire. Faith is the refusal to let go of God even when God seems to be pushing you away.

    She held on. And Christ said the word He says to almost no one: great is your faith.
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 20 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 20 of the Great Lent – Mark 8:1-10 – Bring What You Have

    Seven loaves for four thousand people. The ratio is absurd. Each person would get a crumb.
    But Jesus does not ask whether it is enough. He asks what they have. And He works with that.
    Moses had a staff. David had five stones. The widow had a handful of flour. Seven loaves is not enough. Bring them anyway.
    Twenty days of fasting. The spiritual pantry feels bare. But Christ does not need your abundance. He needs your willingness to hand over the little you have.
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 19 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 19 of the Great Lent – Luke 18:9-17 – Seven Words
    “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
    The tax collector did not compare himself to anyone. He did not list his achievements. He did not file a spiritual performance review. He beat his breast and spoke seven words.
    And those seven words had more power than the Pharisee’s entire prayer. Because they were honest. Because they were empty of self. Because they left room for God.
    Today: pray the seven words. Stay there. Do not rush past them. In those seven words is everything you need to say to God.
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

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    Lenten Reflection – Day 18 of the Great Lent

    ByJobin

    Day 18 of the Great Lent – The Child in the Centre – Mark 9:330-42
    The disciples argued about who was greatest. Christ picked up a child.
    “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives Him who sent Me.”
    The invisible, overlooked, unimportant person is the meeting point between you and God. Christ hides Himself in the small.
    The person who is new to fasting and struggling. The child who does not understand the service. The believer whose faith is fragile. Are we giving them cups of water? Or placing stumbling blocks?
    Full reflection at Seeking Theosis