Rating: 2|Votes: 3
How much it must grieve a father or a mother to see his or her child suffering without reason. To undergo pain and confusion — for what? Where is God in our plight — we may often ask ourselves. Where is God in all this pain and confusion?
Archbishop Tikhon of South Sakhalin and the Kurils, Nun Hilariona (Funtova)
I saw in her, first and foremost, a person who strove for salvation, for solitude, for a monastic life, for a different life. And for this reason I suggested that she become a nun. Actually, according to the apt expression of one of the podvizhniki of our time, “monasticism is not a reward, but a way of repentance.”
Fr. Milan Medakovic
Rating: 4,3|Votes: 3
The Church gives us the cross at this point, the halfway point, of the fast to inspire us. The cross is given to show us the direction in which we are headed; that we are headed to the crucifixion of our Lord and His Holy Resurrection. This should be where we are headed with our own lives; the crucifixion of our self-will that allows us to perform God’s will, which allows our lives to be resurrected to the life that God intended for us.
Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
Right now, as we approach and kiss the Cross, let us say with the wise thief, "Lord, remember me in Thy kingdom!" We may not have another minute. So let us use this minute which the Lord gives us: "Thy Cross, O Lord, we venerate and Thy Holy Resurrection we glorify."
Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid
See that Christ does not compel a man to die on a cross against his own will. Instead He said, Whosoever desireth. The Lord is saying: "I compel no one. I invite him to something good, not to something bad to which he must be forced. Whoever does not want these things is not worthy of them."