☦️ Orthodox Reflection
Continued from previous post..
The text offers gratitude to God for all things, large and small - the beauty of our natural world, our relationships with others, simply being alive. How often do we move through our days with this expansive sense of mindfulness and gratitude? The calls to offer sacrifices of praise in our Liturgy ground us in this joyful practice.
Through and beyond the Liturgy, we also see that spiritual sacrifices are integral to our relationship with others, and we can look to the Trinity as a model of sacrificial, unceasing, and joyful love. Bishop Kallistos Ware writes, “Made after the image of God the Trinity, human beings are called to reproduce on earth the mystery of mutual love that the Trinity lives in heaven.” Like the Trinity, we do not exist for ourselves but for one another. Just as God is three persons in one essence, dwelling together in eternal and selfless love, all human beings are to be committed to living sacrificially for each other.
Attribution:
St. Mary Orthodox Christian Church
8 Inman Street, Cambridge, MA 02139