Praise the Lord ! Praise the Lord , O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have being. (Psalm  146:1-2)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ clearly teaches us the importance of forgiveness.  "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."   (Matt. 6:14-15)

My soul, my soul, Arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near, and you will be confounded, awake then and be watchful that Christ our God may spare you, Who is everywhere, and fills all things.

He is my Helper and Protector, and has become my salvation. This is my God and I will glorify Him My father's God and I will exalt Him. For gloriously has He been glorified.  (Exodus 15:2, 1;  Psalm 117:14)  Refrain:    Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.

The Prophet heard of Thy coming, O Lord, and was afraid that Thou wast to be born of a Virgin and appear to men, and he said, "I have heard the report of Thee and am afraid."   Glory to Thy power, O Lord.  (Habbakuk 3:2) Refrain:   Have mercy on me,   O God, have mercy on me

I cried with my whole heart to the merciful God, and He heard me from the lowest hell and raised my life out of corruption. Refrain: Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me.

“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Mat 6:6)

Today we celebrate the feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.  This is an historical feast commemorating the restoration of icons to their rightful liturgical use in the year 843. AD. 

The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is one of the great masterpieces of Orthodox piety and liturgical creativity.   It is one of the most beautiful and most meaningful liturgical services in the Orthodox Christian Church. (Father Thomas Hopko)      “Let my prayer arise in Thy sight as incense, and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.   Hear me, O Lord.”

Blessed are they whom Thou has chosen and taken, O Lord.    Their memory is from generation to generation.  Their souls shall dwell with the blessed.

St. Gregory defended a method of prayer for the Hesychast monks that allowed them to participate in God's love and to experience God through His divine energies.  This method of prayer involved repentance for sins, and purifying oneself through prayer, worship, meditation and concentration; and is so intense that it can be accomplished only with supervision.  What St. Gregory Palamas emphasized was that God can be known and is a Living God Who reveals Himself in action.  This revelation is granted through the grace of the Holy Spirit. 

O taste and see that the Lord is good.  Alleluia, Alleluia,  Alleluia. 

With the Saints give rest, O Christ, to the soul of Thy servant,, where sickness and sorrow are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.  Whither we mortals all shall go,  making our funeral dirge the hymn;  Alleluia.   Memory Eternal.

To those who need a sign, the Church offers one:  The CROSS!   The Cross stands in the midst of the church in the middle of the Lenten season not merely to remind men of Christ's redemption and to keep before them the goal of their efforts, but also to be venerated as that reality by which man must live to be saved.   "He who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me."  (Matthew 10:38)

Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal mystery!  The Son of God becvomes the Son of the Virtgin as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.  Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos:  Rejoice, O full of Grace, the Lord is with you.   (Troparion)

O Almighty Lord...Who hast brought us to these all-holy days for the purification of soul and body, for the controlling of carnal passions....and the hope of the resurrection...enable us to fight the good fight, to accomplish the course of the Fast, to preserve inviolate the Faith...to be accounted victors over sin... and uncondemned, to attain unto and to adore Thy Holy Resurrection.

Beholding the sea of life surging with the storm of tempations, and taking refuge in Thy calm haven I cry unto Thee:  Raise up my life from corruption, O greatly Merciful One.    Lord have mercy.

St. John Climacus is the author of the book, The Ladder of Divine Ascent.  This book contains thirty homilies on virtue.  Each homily deals with one virtue and they raise a man up as though by means of steps unto the height of Heaven.  The abbot of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai (6th century) stands as a  witness to the violent effort needed for entrance into God's Kingdom.  The spiritual struggle of the Christian life is a real one.  This book is held in such high esteem that it is universally read in its entirety in monasteries during the Great Lent.