Open Reflections

για Ελληνικά πατήστε εδώ

Be optimistic!

At the dawn of every morning our possibilities for creativity, programming, work, recreation, reflection, study and prayer are renewed.

The alteration between day and night, light and darkness, summer and winter, spring and autumn is the pattern of our every experience: toil but also rest, joy but also sadness, health but also sickness, loneliness but also company, kindness but also evildoing.

We run to catch up with our projects for the day, the week, the month, the year…and then we start up from the beginning.

Some consider this cyclic repetition of seasons and activities lacking in meaning. Nothing is further from the truth!

All serve a purpose! All are included in God’s plan who “so much He loved the world that He sent us His only Son to save the world, not to condemn it” (John 3, 16).

God’s Incarnation and His coming among us show us the value that the creation holds in God’s eyes, and esp. we, the human beings, created in His image!

Christ’s presence in the world—-in the land of Palestine two thousand years ago, and nowadays in His faithful, i.e. in us, has sanctified the universe and time within it!

Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His Resurrection are the inexhaustible source of our sanctification and salvation.

And to this purpose time is on our side: God’s plans unfold in time and He is long-suffering, that is patient.

He gives us the necessary time to get to know ourselves, to develop, to freely act, to make mistakes and miss our targets, to repent, to get to know Him and to love Him.

We wish you all a holy 2019!

The Vassilópita

The photo above: a vassilópita with the two-headed eagle, looking eastward and westward, a symbol of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium).

The custom of a bread, cake or pie with a coin or another symbolic object kneaded in it was popular in Ancient Greece and Rome.

However, as the celebration of the First of the New Year, in a largely pagan world, was licentious and bereft of propriety, the Church initially forbade her faithful to take part in the celebrations.

In the 4th century when the 1st of January was set as the memorial day of Saint Basel of Cappadocia (329-378) the First Day of the Year took on a distinct Christian character.

Saint Basil was baptized in 358 and ordained priest in 364. he was totally devoted to the service of the Church. He was a great theologian and pastor. He led an ascetic life. He founded model orphanages and hospitals as well as “schools’ for the technical education of those without qualifications.

Our well-known “Vassilópita”, (i.e. the pie of Basil), gets its name from him; he used to help the poor and the prisoners by giving them money hidden in cakes.

His charity was always discreet and efficient.

 

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