When we put loving effort into making our home a place not only for our family but for Christ Himself, it becomes a little temple, a “home-church.” We have our special place for praying, we cense the icons, we light our oil lamps, we use Holy Water from the church, we anoint ourselves with holy oil, we read the Gospels, we say our daily prayers, we strive to live according to Christ s teaching, and we forgive one another at the close of each and every day. All of this cultivates an atmosphere of preparation for the Holy Spirit to come and abide in our hearts and in our home.

Our precious Mother, our Panagia, shows us the way. We turn to her and find rest. Just as she is our sure refuge, and shelter, and place of retreat, just so is our home an abode of refuge from the world when we sanctify it by doing all we can to invite the presence of the Lord into our midst. The Theotokos helps us greatly in this, because she invites us into her warm embrace, into the home of her own heart!

– Monthly Letter 08/22