Book Study Tonight!

Join us tonight for our Lenten Book Study. Akathist at 6:30pm, in-person Book study at 7pm. To join by ZOOM, send an email to Fr. Andrew and he will send you the link.

The book is Fr. Armatas’s Toolkit for Spiritual Growth: A Practical Guide to Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.

Last week we read:

“…what I pray in my home is largely influenced by the Liturgy, but we should note that the Liturgy of Sunday is not the only communal prayer time of the Church. In a sense, Sunday’s Divine Liturgy is the culmination of the entire rhythm of liturgical prayer, which involves hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal prayers and divine services. If we do not experience this communal prayer, our personal prayer is lifeless and disconnected. Communal prayer has a unity – we not only agree on the prayer but we say the prayer together. These liturgical prayers are the common expression of the people of God. They are not simply an individualistic interpretation of feelings. As such, these prayers said together influence and find their way, literally, into what we say during our private time of prayer.

…when applied to prayer, a gathering is an assembly of the people of God in a common purpose. Think of a symphony, where many instruments come together. Corporate prayer is not just a group of individuals praying individually. It is human persons praying in communion (in agreement) with one another, as the Divine Liturgy states: ‘Let us love one another, that with one mind we may confess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Trinity, in one essence and undivided.'”

Today we will be learning HOW to pray at home – what the Church teaches about sacred spaces and prayer rules.

Image: antiochian.org