Shoonoyo Fast

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    Day 15: Arise, O Lord, Into Thy Rest

    ByJobin

    🌿 SHOONOYO / DORMITION FAST 2026 | DAY 15 🌿

    Arise, O Lord, Into Thy Rest

    “Arise, O Lord, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength.”
    Psalm 132:8

    The fast is over. Today we celebrate the Dormition of the Blessed Theotokos.

    For fifteen days, we have journeyed through Scripture and the Syriac Fathers, discovering the images that point to Mary and, through her, always to Christ. Today we return to the Ark.

    The Lord arises into His rest, and the Ark goes with Him because of the One it carried. The Dormition therefore speaks not only of Mary, but also of our Christian hope: Christ has risen, death has been defeated, and we too are called to share in His resurrection.

    The journey that began outside Eden ends with a beautiful image: the Cherub lays down his sword, for the Fruit of Life has come to us.

    Thank you for walking these fifteen days with me. May the prayers of the Blessed Theotokos be a fortress for us all.

    🔗 Read Day 15:

    Shunoyo Perunnal Ashamsakal! 🙏

  • Day 14: The Vine, and the Cluster of Grapes

    ByJobin

    🍇 DAY 14 | THE VINE, AND THE CLUSTER OF GRAPES

    “As the new wine is found in the cluster… Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it.”
    Isaiah 65:8

    We have almost reached the end of the Shoonoyo Fast.

    For fourteen days we have followed the images through which our Fathers saw the mystery of the Mother of God: earth, garden, ark, ship, bush, rock, tent, staff, tree, palace, chariot and gate. Today, the final figure before the feast brings us somewhere very familiar: to a vine, a cluster of grapes, and finally to the chalice.

    The Syriac Fathers call Mary the Virgin Vine, from whom came the Cluster whose wine is the “Medicine of Life.” St Ephrem’s tradition sees in this image something profoundly Eucharistic. The Cluster is Christ. He takes His humanity from the Vine, is pressed for the life of the world, and the Wine of Life is given to us.

    There is also something deeply comforting here. One ancient hymn imagines Adam and Eve, still grieving over what was lost in Eden, tasting this Wine and finding comfort in their grief.

    Fourteen days ago, we began with Eve outside the garden. Today, the Fathers place a cup in her hands.

    And tomorrow, the Church places the same mystery into ours.

    Day 14: The Vine, and the Cluster of Grapes

    🍇 Read the full reflection on Seeking Theosis:

  • Day 13: The Gate That Stayed Shut

    ByJobin

    🚪 **Seeking Theosis | Day 13 of the Shoonoyo Fast**

    **THE GATE THAT STAYED SHUT**

    Ezekiel was shown a mysterious gate in the east that would remain closed:

    **“Because the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.”**
    *Ezekiel 44:2*

    The Syriac Fathers saw in this closed gate an image of the Blessed Virgin, the Ever-Virgin through whom the Lord entered our world.

    But the image carries a beautiful message for us too.

    We all have places in our lives that seem closed: grief that has not moved, relationships that cannot easily be repaired, prayers that seem unanswered, and wounds we do not know how to open.

    Yet Christ is not defeated by what is closed.

    He entered through the closed gate. He rose from the sealed tomb. He appeared among disciples behind locked doors.

    And when He stood among those frightened disciples, His first words were:

    **“Peace be unto you.”**

    As we approach the end of the Shoonoyo Fast, Day 13 invites us to bring even our closed places before Christ.

    We may not know how to open them.

    **But He knows how to enter them.**

    📖 Read **Day 13: The Gate That Stayed Shut** on Seeking Theosis:

  • Day 12: The Chariot That Would Have Been Envious

    ByJobin

    🔥 Seeking Theosis | Day 12 of the Shoonoyo Fast

    The Chariot That Would Have Been Envious

    Ezekiel was far from Jerusalem when the heavens opened. In exile beside the river Chebar, he saw the extraordinary vision of the heavenly chariot: living creatures, wheels within wheels, fire and a throne above them.

    The vision was so overwhelming that Ezekiel fell on his face.

    Yet the Syriac Fathers make an astonishing comparison:

    “The chariot conveyed the likeness of His glory, whereas she carried the reality of His majesty!”

    The One whom the cherubim carried with trembling was carried upon the knees of the Virgin. The glory Ezekiel could scarcely describe became a Child whom human hands could hold.

    And there is another beautiful message hidden in Ezekiel’s vision. The throne has wheels. God goes where His people go.

    Even in exile. Even far from home. Even where we never expected to find Him.

    📖 Read Day 12: The Chariot That Would Have Been Envious on Seeking Theosis.

  • Day 11: The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace

    ByJobin

    Day 11 of the Shoonoyo Fast

    The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace

    What makes a palace a palace?

    Not its size, beauty or wealth. A palace matters because the king lives there.

    St Ephrem calls the Blessed Virgin a royal palace for precisely this reason:

    “She is a royal palace, because of You, O Royal Son.”

    Yet in a beautiful Syriac dialogue with the Magi, Mary looks at the poverty of her home and wonders how they could possibly have come there looking for a king. There is no royal treasure, no splendour, nothing regal to see.

    The Magi know what she cannot yet see.

    The house may be poor. The King is not.

    Perhaps that is something we need to hear on Day 11 of the fast. We can look at our own spiritual lives and see only what is unfinished, distracted and ordinary.

    But God has never needed grandeur before He comes to dwell.

    The King chooses the address. His presence makes the palace.

    📖 Read Day 11: The Palace, and the Girl Who Said She Had No Palace on Seeking Theosis.

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    Day 10: The Tree That Was Not There the Day Before

    ByJobin

    🐏 The Tree That Was Not There the Day Before
    Isaac looked at the wood he was carrying and asked the question Abraham must have dreaded:

    “Where is the lamb?”

    Abraham answered, “God will provide.”

    St Ephrem saw something remarkable in what happened next. The ram caught in the thicket was not merely Abraham’s escape from an impossible moment. It was a sign pointing ahead to another mountain, another piece of wood, and another Son.

    The Syriac Fathers then make an extraordinary connection:

    “Mary and the tree are one; the lamb was hung up in its branches, as our Lord was on Golgotha.”

    At Moriah, the son was spared and the lamb died in his place.

    At Golgotha, there was no substitute.

    The Lamb saved Isaac.
    The Lamb of God saved creation.

    📖 Read Day 10: The Tree That Was Not There the Day Before on Seeking Theosis.

  • Day 9: The Dead Stick That Flowered in the Dark

    ByJobin

    🌿 DAY 9: THE DEAD STICK THAT FLOWERED IN THE DARK

    Twelve dry staffs were placed before the Lord.

    No roots. No soil. No water. No sunlight.

    By every ordinary expectation, nothing should have happened.

    Yet when Moses entered the tent the following morning, Aaron’s rod had produced buds, blossoms and almonds.

    The Syriac Fathers saw in this a beautiful image of the Blessed Virgin Mary:

    “Amid all the dry staffs it alone grew moist.”

    Another hymn says that although the staff was “unwatered and unplanted,” it sprouted in order to bear the wondrous Fruit.

    Mary is the staff.

    Christ is the Fruit.

    But there is another part of the story that speaks especially powerfully during the Shoonoyo Fast.

    The miracle happened at night, away from every human eye. Nobody watched the first bud appear. Nobody saw the blossom open. While Israel slept outside, God was quietly bringing life from dry wood.

    Perhaps nine days into the fast, some of us feel dry too. Prayer may seem repetitive. The discipline may feel ordinary. We may wonder whether anything is actually changing.

    The staff tells us not to confuse hiddenness with absence.

    God may be working where we cannot yet see Him.

    Stay in the tent. Morning comes, and sometimes only then do we discover that God had been at work all night.

    📖 Read the full Day 9 reflection, The Dead Stick That Flowered in the Dark, on Seeking Theosis.

  • Day 8: The Tent That God Moved Into

    ByJobin

    ⛺ DAY 8: THE TENT THAT GOD MOVED INTO

    At the end of Exodus, something extraordinary happens.

    Israel has not reached the Promised Land. They are still in the wilderness. Yet God does not wait for them to arrive before making His dwelling among them.

    The cloud descends.

    The glory fills the Tabernacle.

    And centuries later, the mystery becomes greater still.

    Our Church sings of the Blessed Theotokos:

    **“Bless’d are you, tabernacle.”**

    One of the Syriac homilies puts the mystery beautifully:

    *”He entered and dwelt in Mary’s womb, He for whom the heaven is too small!”*

    The God whom heaven cannot contain became small enough to be carried, fed and held.

    And another remarkable line tells us why:

    **“In her He has grown small, to make us great.”**

    There is something here for us on the eighth day of the Shoonoyo Fast.

    Perhaps we expected to be further along by now, more prayerful, less distracted, more patient. But God dwelt with Israel while they were still travelling.

    He did not wait for the finished version of them.

    And He does not wait for the finished version of us.

    **He pitched His tent in the wilderness.
    He has not waited for us to arrive.
    He travels with us.**

    📖 Read the full Day 8 reflection,

  • Day 7: The Rock in the Wilderness

    ByJobin

    💧 Day 7 – The Rock That Gave Water

    The people at Rephidim were not behaving like saints.

    They were thirsty. Frightened. Angry with Moses. They even accused God of bringing them into the wilderness to die.

    And God gave them water anyway.

    That simple detail lies at the heart of today’s reflection.

    The Syriac Fathers looked at the rock struck by Moses and discovered layers of meaning within it. They saw a figure of the Virgin, from whom the “Drink of Heaven” came forth. St Paul tells us even more plainly:

    “That Rock was Christ.”
    1 Corinthians 10:4

    And Sebastian Brock points to another beautiful Syriac connection: the water flowing from the rock also recalls the waters of Baptism, waters from which the Christian drinks and receives new life.

    The rock was struck, and water flowed.

    Christ was pierced, and blood and water came forth.

    Seven days into the Shoonoyo Fast, perhaps fasting has begun to uncover something beneath our ordinary appetites:

    What are we really thirsty for?

    And if the fast has not gone as we hoped, the answer of Rephidim is not despair.

    It is an invitation:

    Come and drink.

    📖 Read the full Day 7 reflection, The Rock That Gave Water, on Seeking Theosis.

  • Day 6: The Bush That Burned But Was Not Burnt Up

    ByJobin

    The Bush That Burned and Was Not ConsumedThe Burning Bush.The Virgin Mary.The Mount of Transfiguration.Three moments. One mystery.The God who appeared to Moses in the flame is the same Lord who dwelt in the Virgin’s womb and revealed His glory upon Mount Tabor.The Syriac Fathers saw in the Burning Bush a beautiful image of the Mother of God: The bush remained a bush. The Fire remained Fire.Neither was diminished.This is also our calling. God does not come to erase who we are. He comes to fill us with His own life.As we continue the Dormition Fast, may the light of Christ illumine our hearts and prepare us to behold His glory. Read the full reflection on Seeking Theosis.”The divine Fire does not consume those who love Him. It illumines them.”