Reflections

Palm Sunday – The Donkey, Not the Chariot: Mark 11:1–7

The King of the universe had every option. Gold chariots. War horses. The full display of imperial power.

He chose a borrowed donkey that had never been ridden.
From the Bo’utho of Mor Jacob: “He loathed ornate chariots of the nobility, and instead chose a colt in His humility.”

St. Ephrem: the colt is humanity itself. Bound. Tied. Waiting. And Christ sends His disciples: untie it. Bring it. I will ride upon it.

The bound thing becomes the King’s vehicle. The thing no one valued becomes the instrument of salvation.

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 41 of the Great Lent – Lazarus Saturday: John 11:14-46

Martha heard theology. “Your brother will rise again.” She knew the doctrine. Someday. At the end. When everything is made right.

Christ corrected her. Not by adding information. By changing the tense.

“I AM the resurrection and the life.”

St. Cyril of Alexandria: the resurrection is not an act Christ performs. It is who Christ is. Where He is, death cannot remain. The tomb that contains His presence cannot contain death.

Martha’s confession at the grave: “Yes, Lord. I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

Before the miracle. In the grief. At the tomb. That is the faith the raising stood on.

For our journey today:
– Roll away your stone
– Hear your name
– Unwrap the graveclothes

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 40 of the Great Lent – The 40th Friday:Matthew 4:1–11

Forty days. Moses fasted forty days on Sinai and came down with the Law. Elijah fasted forty days to Horeb and heard the still small voice. Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness and defeated the devil with the Word of God.

The Sedro prayer: “This is the fast through which the Lord of all defeated the boastful adversary who defeated the first Adam through food.”

Adam fell because he ate. Christ stands because He fasts. The first Adam lost the battle through food. The second Adam wins it through the Word.

The forty days are complete. Holy Week begins. “Make us worthy to fight in this battle, at the least as the workers of the eleventh hour.”

The fortieth day does not end with a victory lap. It ends with a plea for mercy. The sins are great. The mercy is greater. And the blood is precious.

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 39 of the Great Lent – 2 Corinthians 6:1–10: Now Is the Accepted Time

Paul slams the word “now” into the sentence like a fist on a table. NOW is the accepted time. NOW is the day of salvation.

The fast has a deadline. Passion Week is approaching. The window that thirty-nine days of discipline have opened will not stay open forever.

St. John Chrysostom: do not wait for a more convenient season. There is no more convenient season. The inconvenience of the fast is the convenience of the grace.

Eleven days before Pascha. The clay is as soft as it will be. Receive what God is offering. Now.

For our journey today:
– Receive the grace now
– Hold the paradox
– Name what you possess

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

*Day 38 of the Great Lent – Galatians 5:13–26* : Works versus Fruit
The flesh produces works. A work is something we manufacture. We go to a factory. We apply energy. We follow a process. We produce an output. The output is a product of our effort.

The Spirit produces fruit. A fruit is something that grows. We do not manufacture an apple. We plant a tree. Water it. And we wait. The tree produces the fruit. Not because we forced it. Because the life in the tree produced it.

After thirty-eight days of fasting, praying, confessing, and running: was the output works or fruit? Did we manufacture holiness by effort? Or did the Spirit grow something in us while we were tending?

Look for the fruit. It is quieter than you expected. And more beautiful.

For our journey today:
– Look for the fruit
– Name the joy
– Tend the tree, stop manufacturing the fruit.

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 37 of the Great Lent – Romans 8:12-27: The Spirit Who Prays When You Cannot
“We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Thirty-seven days of prayer. And Paul says: you do not know how to pray. Not properly. The words are insufficient. The understanding is incomplete.

But the Spirit knows. And the Spirit has been praying in you since before you opened your mouth. Every morning you thought you were dragging yourself to prayer by willpower, it was the Spirit. Every confession that broke through pride, it was the Spirit. Every “Abba” that escaped your lips in the dark was the Spirit crying through you.

You were never alone. Not for a single day of this fast.

For our journey today:
– Stop and listen
– Say “Abba”
– Groan with creation

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 36 of the Great Lent – Luke 19:1-10: Presence, Not Command

The rich young ruler (Day 25) was given a command: sell everything. He could not. He walked away sorrowful.

Zacchaeus was given no command at all. Jesus said: I am coming to your house. That is it. And in the presence of Christ at his table, Zacchaeus gave half of everything to the poor and offered fourfold restitution.

St. Ephrem: when Christ sits at a sinner’s table, the table becomes an altar.

Sometimes the presence does what the command cannot. Today: invite Him to your table. And let the proximity change you.

For our journey today:
– Come down from the tree
– Let the presence do the work
– Give back

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Day 35 of the Great Lent – John 9:1-41 – Samiyo Sunday – One Thing I Know

The Pharisees pressed him. Interrogated him. Demanded answers. Insisted Jesus was a sinner.

The man said: “Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

No theology. No credentials. No counter-argument. Just autobiography. I was there. Now I am here. And the distance between the two is Christ.

Thirty-five days. Can you say, honestly, in any area of your life: I was blind, now I see?

Full reflection at Seeking Theosis

Stretch Out Your Hand: St. Luke 6:1-12 “Then He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.” (6:10) A kind note to the readers, this blog pertains to the Saturday before the 6th Sunday of the Great Lent. Yesterday Christ came…