Warm your hands at the fire of the Divine Love of God

It is hard to love God and sing His praise each day when everything around us regards such behaviour as madness or fanaticism.  It is hard to love our neighbour when he remains unknown and when bridging the gap is considered faintly dangerous.  How then to warm our hearts in this cold age?  In the Church.  There, at the Divine Liturgy of the Church and in her other services, a fire is blazing, the fire of the divine love of God which burns in His heart for all His children.  It is around that hidden brazier that we must huddle, and warm our hands.  Only then can our touch not be chilly when we reach out to others.  It will still be as cold as ever when we leave the Liturgy and live another six days in this frigid and dying world.  That is all the more reason to return to the fire as often as we can.

excerpt from The Cold Age, oca.org, by Fr. Lawerence of Saint Herman of Alaska in Langley, BC.

photo: picjumbo