And so this is Advent

Today begins the preparatory Season of Advent.

Advent wreath at table in Holy Trinity Kellia, St. Simeon Skete

The Gospel for 1st Sunday of Advent
St. Matthew xxi. 1.

WHEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name 'of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves. 

Jesus tells His disciples to go into the city  AND He tells them to find a tethered colt that no one had ridden.   
Think about that image:  "a tethered colt which no one has ridden..."

Young mule of Denny & JoanE Markwell,  members of St. Simeon Skete

Of course the people are waiting for a dominative, powerful, substantive image - a King, A Ruler who is going to change everything from the outside (the surface).  

But Jesus says "I'm not going to come in on a horse, in triumph but ...as Zechariah 9:9 prophesied... I'm coming in on a donkey to redefine what power is, worth is, strength is, trust is...

This colt/donkey, THIS powerless image is a tethered colt, its been tied up in all of history.  No one's ever wanted to use it, no one's ridden this kind before but Jesus is going to ride it into the city to show the world a different way, a new way, the way of trust, the way of vulnerability, the way of powerlessness.  


When your generosity has been tied up, loosen it and when greed rises up and asks "what are you doing?", say, "The Lord has need of it"  When your humility is tied up, loosen it and when pride questions you, say "The Lord has need of it."  When your forgiveness is tied up, untie it and when mercilessness asks you "why?,  say "The Lord has need of it." 
As Jesus rides into the city in this "different way" the people wonder "Who is this?"  "What is this new way?"  Jesus upsets the system and says: "its prayer". 

Jeremy Lopez, in prayer before his Confirmation.  Nazareth House Apostolate, Athens, Georgia

Of all the battles that God has with human consciousness, the battle to get rid of those things (furniture) that keep us from making our souls a house of prayer must be God's most difficult battle.   Culture wants to rearrange the "furniture" by dominative power - the ability to influence others through coercion, hiring and firing, punishing, threatening, lawsuits, money, position.  This will rearrange the "furniture" and most will respond to it.  But at best, this is all we can do: re-arrange the "furniture".   But Jesus doesn't re-arrange the furniture, He pitches it - throws it out - opting for a House of Prayer!  Anything in your life that is keeping you from prayer needs to be pitched! 
As the Holiday Season approaches many will be re-arranging their living rooms to prepare for Holiday guests or give a new look but only PRAYER can change the living room into a LIVING room.  

Personal milagro of Seraphim, housed where he hangs his prayer beads

Advent Collect

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen. 

Dresses, Dresses and More Dresses

As James and Lucy returned from yet another moving trip to Kabala, two USPS Priority boxes awaited them.

The two boxes were from Granny Pearl's Trunk ,

The follow is the words from the creator of the Facebook Community Page of Granny Pearl's Trunk, 
Wanda Karen Thompson of Athens, GA:


This project is an effort to help the mission of Nazareth House Apostolate in their work in Sierra Leone. I want to spread the word about the amazing work they do while also providing dresses for the little girls in Sierra Leone. I named this project in memory of my precious grandmother, Pearl Phillips Thompson. She was a talented seamstress and a loving Christian woman. Granny Pearl never had much in life in terms of material things but she had a trunk and you never knew what you might find in there! I hope to fill it now with hundreds of dresses to send to the little children in Sierra Leone.

Roo anxiously gets ready to open the boxes

Lucy and Roo begin to sort through the boxes

Dresses and Medication and Tuna Fish were enclosed

This project was a team effort from several in Athens, Georgia.   Currently, James and the family are in the middle of moving to Kabala.   You'll see more on this story in detail on this blog once they are able to unpack and distribute the dresses and medicines.   For now, we wanted Wanda and those who put this together to see that their gifts of love have arrived all the way to Sierra Leone and will be given to needy little girls very soon.   Thank you all!

Lucy holds up a dress

Roo models a blue dress that he has named "BLING CATS" .    

NHA School in Kabala

A photo review of James Mansaray's recent quick trip from Freetown to Kabala to visit the students and teachers: 

James spends some time in the classrooms at the NHA Kabala School

Some of the classes of the NHA School gather to begin the school day. 

Students address the student body

Students read from workbooks given by Wanda Thompson of Athens, GA

Medications supply doing well...

Nazareth House Apostolate received a shipment of o-t-c medicines for our Sierra Leone Mission via US Post on Monday from St. Charles Anglican Church, Huntsville, Alabama. Last week we received a bag full of o-t-c ulcer medications for James, as well as tums and vitamins from Donna A. in Louisville. Liz H. & Tom O. both of Louisville brought a good variety focusing on Diarrhea medication. With what we have already shipped and what we have now packed to take, we are not doing too bad at all on our medication collection. Thanks for what has been collected and also for the donations which enable us to purchase specifically requested over the counter medicine.