Reflections

Personal reflections, meditations, and ongoing series tied to the liturgical calendar

Lenten Reflections | Liturgical Life | Reflections | Scripture

Lenten Reflection – Day 8 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 23, 2026February 23, 2026

*Day 8 of the Great Lent – Draw Near to God* (James 4:7–5:6)
Yesterday was Garbo Sunday. The leper came to Christ with nothing but his disease and his honesty, and Christ healed him with a touch. Today James tells us what happens next.
Healing is not the end. It is the beginning. The person who has been found by God’s mercy must now learn to live differently. And the first thing James says is: draw near.
_”Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”_

The second week of the Great Lent begins here – with an invitation and a warning. Come closer. But come honestly.
Three practices for today:
* Say “if the Lord wills” – and mean it.
* Do the good we know to do.
* Give something away.

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Lenten Reflection – Day 7 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 22, 2026February 24, 2026

Garbo Sunday – The Sunday of the Leper: St. Luke 5:12-16; 4:40-41 “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Luke 5:12) We have arrived at the second Sunday of the Great Lent. For six days we have been walking into the fast. We entered the wilderness with Christ and faced temptation. We…

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Lenten Reflection – Day 6 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 21, 2026February 24, 2026

Day 6 of the Great Lent — Romans 12:10–21
Love of the Stranger
“Paul says to associate with the humble. Let yourself be pulled toward the lowly, the overlooked, the unimpressive. This is the opposite of social climbing. It is social descending — choosing the company of those who cannot advance your career, improve your reputation, or increase your influence.”
It is choosing the company Christ chose: fishermen, tax collectors, lepers, sinners, the poor.
Three practices for today:
— Feed an enemy
— Seek out the overlooked
— Trust God with the outcome

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Liturgical Life | Reflections | Series: Faces of the Fast

From Eden to the Upper Room: Walking Through Scripture from Great Lent to Pentecost
ByJobin February 21, 2026February 24, 2026

From Eden to the Upper Room.
Great Lent is here — and this year I’m walking through it with the men and women of Scripture whose lives feel, the more I sit with them, less like ancient stories and more like mirrors.
A new series begins this week on the blog. Faces of the Fast — running all the way from Great Lent to Holy Pentecost. Adam. Hannah. David. The Prodigal. Mary Magdalene. Peter on the lakeshore. The Upper Room.
Forty days of fasting. Fifty days of Pascha. One continuous journey toward the Light.

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Lenten Reflection – Day 5 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 20, 2026February 24, 2026

Day 5 of the Great Lent – James 3:13–4:5 – The War Within
For four days we have been moving deeper into the fast. Now James takes us past behaviour, past obedience, past the outward disciplines – into the hidden interior where our choices are born.
Two wisdoms at war. One is pure, peaceable, full of mercy. The other wears spiritual clothing while serving the self.
Three practices for today:
– Name the war. What desire is really driving your conflict?
– Purify the asking. Let the Spirit search your motives before you pray.
– Choose gentleness in one difficult relationship.
New reflection on the blog

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Lenten Reflection – Day 4 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 19, 2026February 24, 2026

Day 4 of the Great Lent — St. Matthew 7:13–27
“Christ is not interested in what we believe about the narrow road. He wants to know whether we are walking on it.”
Three images. Three tests. One storm that spares nothing.
The narrow gate asks: Will you be made small?
The tree asks: What fruit are you bearing?
The house asks: What is your foundation?
New Lenten reflection on the blog

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Lenten Reflection – Day 3 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 18, 2026February 18, 2026

St. John Chrysostom says the altar God most desires is not the one in the sanctuary — it is the poor person walking past it.
On Day 3 of the Great Lent, the Apostle James strips religion down to two things: mercy toward the suffering, and inner purity. Everything else is decoration.
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”
Read the full reflection on Seeking Theosis.

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Lenten Reflection – Day 2 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 17, 2026February 24, 2026

📖 Great Lent — Day 2
Ephesians 4:32–5:21
If Day 1 was about combat, Day 2 is about communion.
If the wilderness strips away what is false, today’s reading tells us what is to be built in its place.
Three practices for today: Forgive. Give thanks. Sing a psalm.
Full reflection at Seeking Theosis.

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Lenten Reflection – Day 1 of the Great Lent
ByJobin February 16, 2026February 24, 2026

Temptation of Christ in the Wilderness – St. Matthew 4:1–11 “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” v.1 As we step across the threshold of the Great Lent, the Church places before us the account of our Lord’s forty days of fasting and His threefold…

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Shubkono: The Door We Must Pass Through
ByJobin February 16, 2026February 24, 2026

On the Service of Reconciliation and why forgiveness is the first step of the Great Lent Every year, on the first Monday of the Great Lent, the Indian Orthodox Church does something remarkable. Before a single day of fasting has been completed, before the long weeks of prayer and abstinence have even begun, the Church…

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