World Prayer Corps Prayer Cycle

30 Day World Prayer Cycle

Prayer Broadcasting around the World in 30 days

For each day of the month (30 day cycle), we’ve listed (from left to right) 6-7 Countries in which to pray. By the end of the 30 Days, we will have Prayer Broadcasted over the world.

If you are just starting and let’s say today is the 19th of the Month,  follow down the yellow column until you see the day – 19 and pray for South Africa, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Denmark, Togo and Kosovo.   The next day, the 20th begin with Nicaragua…

March 20: Feast of St. Photini

Today is the Feast of St. Photini. At Jacob’s Well near Sychar in Samaria, Christ stopped to rest while His Disciples went into the town to find provisions to eat.  St. Photini (Svetlana in Slavic languages) came to draw water, and He asked her for water to drink from the well.  Christ revealed to her that he already knew of her unlawful relations with a man who was not her husband, and affirmed against her beliefs that salvation is from the Jews, not the Samaritans.  She learned by listening with an open heart that this was the Messiah for whom the whole world inwardly yearned.  The Samaritan Woman then left her water pot and went into town to confess that she had seen the Christ who can give all spiritual water that is completely fulfilling.

Legend states that St. Photini was baptized with her two sons and five sisters.  In Carthage she preached the Light of the Gospel, for which she is named, where she was arrested and brought to trial in Rome before Nero.  She converted Nero’s daughter Domnina, and then was martyred by being thrown down into a well where she died in this life, but was made alive by Christ in Heaven forever.  She truly tasted the waters of Everlasting Life.  

In Photini's honor, it is a tradition at the skete to hike down to the well which is just beyond the cave close towards the river near our property. 

Each year, after the Holy Mass, we put on our hiking boots and head off to the well.  Carrying the water pot that has been blessed at the Offertory of the Mass.

 Its a beautiful journey as the March flowers are decorating the  decaying leaf scattered land. 

The recent flooding has receded but we wondered if the well would be underwater or even if we'd be able to find it.  

As we passed the Cave we noticed many trees have fallen. 

Some trees were very large

Finally we reach Jacob's well and its in good shape.  The land around it is deep in mud but the well is fine.  

We leave a water pot behind as we intend to do every March 20th, as this is an Annual Hike to Jacob's Well, honoring St. Photini's Feast Day.  As we leave the water pot behind, at the well, we say the 2(b) set of Luminous Mysteries of the Remnant Rosary. 

The Revealing: Jn. 4:4-30; 1Cor. 10:4 “Jesus your Life ...is living in me.”

1. Jesus your life, the far country is living in me.
2.  Jesus your life the outcast is living in me.

3.  Jesus your life asking for that which only you can give is living in me.

4.  Jesus your life creating thirst is living in me.

5.  Jesus your life well of water springing up into everlasting life is living in me. 

6. Jesus your life, letting us know that you know is living in me.

7.  Jesus your life spirit and truth is living in me.

8.  Jesus your life revealing is living in me.

9.  Jesus your life Messiah is living in me.

10. “Jesus your Life is living in me that I may leave

behind the water-pots of my life” (Ex. 16:19-20; Mt. 6:33-34; Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 12:1-2; Rev. 3:20).

Leaving the pot we return to the skete, back through the woods

passing the cave again

"Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did..." John 4:28

Reparation Resistance

We hear about resistance from people against the government, against religion, against all kinds of things. However, there is a different and necessary resistance, ... these words from one of the NHA Reparation Rosary Retreats two years ago: 

The Resistance is strikingly described in Numbers 23:9 “From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.”  The world’s response to the Resistance is found in the words of Haman to King Xerxes: “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate.  Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.” -Esther 3:8.  Hence may we heed the words of Mordecai to Esther: “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:14

The necessity for the Resistance is urgent and evident as we consider the present plight of the world “seated in wickedness” - Jn. 5:9.  May we be pressed with the imperative to take up the Program of Reparation: Repentance, Resolution and Reparation confronting the four evils of our day making 2 Chron. 7:14 our “Oratio Imperata”.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Reparation - The Holy Face

As we continue on with the Novena to the Holy Face, these words from the NHA Reparation Rosary Booklet:

"The Prayer of Reparation seeks to make whole what is fragmented by putting love where there is none, by gazing with reverence upon Him who men disdain, i.e. “The one from whom men hide their faces” -Isa. 53:3. 

Abortion is an outrageous blasphemy against the Holy Face of Jesus because it prevents a child’s face from seeing another human face (Ex.20:13; 1Cor. 8:12; Mk. 9:42; Mt. 25:40). It also is an offense against the Most Holy Name of Jesus because abortion prevents putting a face to a name. Putting a face to a name has great effect. When the soldiers came to the olive grove in search of Jesus, he met them asking: “Who are you looking for?” and they replied “Jesus of Nazareth” and Jesus responded “Iam he”. When Jesus said, “Iam he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. (John 18:3-6). satan and his co-operatives want to keep separated the Most Holy Name of Jesus from His Holy Face. But when Jesus was named satan was disarmed! Note well, the Face of Jesus is intended to change the face of the earth (Lk.1:31: 2:21; Phil.2:9-11).

To be one who makes repairs is to give our Lord what others deny him. Just recently I was told of a television show that featured various people urinating on the Crucifix of our Lord. Upon hearing this I immediately went to the prayer chapel and placed eleven crucifixes on the altar, lit a candle that I intend to keep burning for 40 days and then offered incense in a deep spirit of reparation. Our Lord said “I thirst” (Jn.19:28). This thirst continues unquenched because it is a thirst for souls, faith, hope, love, thanksgiving, petition and adoration. Our Lord’s thirst will continue until the end of time but so will the call to reparation continue among and in his people.

“Let the priest, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar” - Joel 2:17; Ezek. 22:30
The Face of Jesus, the Name of Jesus and now the Heart of Jesus seen in his Name and of his Face: It wasn’t until the seventeenth century that the organ of the Heart with its crown of thorns and flame of love began to appear. The more ancient images of the Sacred Heart was that of the wound itself in the side of our Lord’s body. The open Wound was in itself an invitation to press beyond it, to cross its threshold, to make one’s dwelling in the inner sanctuary of the Sacred Heart but the Heart remained hidden. We must be careful - in taking the Heart of Jesus and enthroning it by itself, we run the risk of taking the Heart without the Wound. One must be wounded to embrace His woundedness to get to His Heart. The Prophet Joel says “wound your hearts” - Joel 2:13. As you make reparations before image of the Sacred Heart keep in mind the wound in His side (John 19:34; 20:20; 1John 5:6,8). Hence the putting of “a” Face to “a” Name leads to the Wound which leads to the Heart.

“My heart says to you, ‘Seek His Face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek! -Ps. 27:8
Finally, reparation is the unceasing effort to bear witness before endless crosses on which our Lord continues to be crucified.
Experiential Reparation makes present in the history of humanity the force of redemption. -Seraphim

Reparation Returning

Christianity is a middle eastern religion, in intimate familial relationship with Judaism.  Reparation is needed for returning.  The sights and sounds of this returning should be mystical, Semitic and ancient, hovering in an incense shrouded air. The climate of this Reparation Returning is one of changelessness (Heb.13:8; Ex. 3:14; 2Cor.1:19-20; Jude 25).  Western rites are sanitized versions of this mysterious drama.  In this Returning, time vanishes and with bare feet* we approach the eerie secrets of an antiquity of which we are repaired. Here we have the impression of being sourced from Christian civiilzation.  This is an interior state externalized in observable rite of reparative prayer.  At this point the Theologian takes over from the anthropologist and the Remnant Reparator from the theologian. 

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise (16) Redeeming (Repairing) the time, because the days are evil. (17) Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.” -Eph. 5:15-17 

“The Rosary is, for me, making the past better so the present and future are better than they would have been.” -Seraphim 

*Ex. 3:5

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. 

Take it from a cow...

Yesterday we had to go into the city to get some supplies. While shopping, I happened to notice many people were oblivious that anyone else was in the store. They were talking in their own little worlds on their cell phones.  Several of them, on speaker phone exposing us all to both sides of the conversation.  One lady was lamenting to her friend on the phone that her granddaughter gets upset if she is in the room when her granddaughter is trying to watch a movie.  She said her granddaughter cries that she has no privacy, even though it's her grandmother's house.  So Grandma moans that she has to stay in her bedroom so her granddaughter can watch a movie in the living room.  I wasn't ease dropping, I was simply in the same aisle as this lady on her speaker phone.

 It wasn't a specific designated holiday shopping day, but people were still in a rush, tense, impatient and generally frustrated.  The employees, I must say, to the contrary of their patrons, were very pleasant, friendly and helpful.  

As we left the store and headed out of the city and back to the country, I couldn't help but notice some very peaceful cows.  Just sitting there.

We are experiencing some unusually nice days this November: warm air, bright sun.  Many of us haven't noticed because we are inside stores using our cell phones, but these cows were taking it in and enjoying it.  Then I noticed something more, so I had Seraphim stop the car so I could get a closer look.  

About a hundred starlings had just completed their synchronized dance routine in the sky and had invaded a nearby clump of trees. 

Though their Dance in Flight is a wonder to see, their completion of the routine meant the contented cows received a dousing of bird droppings in the face. 

Nevertheless, the cows remained contented in rumination.  You can really learn how to meditate from a cow.  Much better than from these groups that want to teach you to empty your thoughts of everything, even Jesus.  "Don't think of anything, totally strip your mind of all thought".  Sorry... I want to think on Jesus! I never want to empty myself of Him.  

Anyway, if you watch a cow, they eat grass, taking it in.  When they are full and content, they sit, regurgitate the cud back up from their first stomach along with other ruminants to the mouth for a second chewing. They chew slowly so they can receive the full benefit and nutrition from what they have taken in.   This is how we should be with our Lectio Divina.  Studying the Word of God, Praying and when we find a place (Holy Corner) to become content,  we can recall (bring back up) what we've received, ponder it and gain full benefit and nutrition from it.  

And if we ruminate contentedly on God's Word and Love... on whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy— if we meditate on these things (Phil.4:8) when the world's droppings fall down on us, our peace remains in tact. 

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” -Phil. 4:6-7

Father Gabriel once shared with me:  "At the Offertory of the Roman Mass it is said: 'Blessed are you Lord of all creation, we not only lift up the bread and wine for transformation, but we lift up the whole realm of nature that it may share in the freedom and the glory of the children of God.'

In that sense we are all a priestly people. When I walk through the fields or pray the Rosary in our garden, I look around me at the splendour of nature and make an offering of it all to the Father in heaven.”  

Holy Cross

Pilgrimage is a vitally important and adhered to practice at St. Simeon Skete.  

In his book "The Road to Emmaus, Pilgrimage as a Way of Life", Jim Forest says "Roads are the circulatory system of the human race and the original information highway. From times long before the written word, roads have linked house to house, town to town, and city to city."

The geographical pilgrimage is the symbolic acting out

of an inner journey.  The inner journey is the interpolation

of the meanings and signs of the outer journey.  One can 

have one without the other. It is better to have both.

                     -Thomas Merton, Mystics and Zen Masters

On this Feast Day of the Most Holy Cross, we took to the road to make pilgrimage to a little area known as Germantown in Louisville, Kentucky.  There we find another one of those "thin places"("thin places", a Celtic Christian term for "those rare locales where the distance between heaven and Earth collapses") that you happen upon that is somewhat forlorn and forgotten except for a few who realize the significance of the place. 

We've been here before and as a child my grandfather and I would take walks to the Grotto.  At that time, it was part of the enclosure of St. Joseph's Infirmary.  Its now hidden off the side of a main highway and encircled by apartment complexes.  At first glance, its hardly noticeable.

As you close in on it, its a bit difficult to figure out what it is...

However as you walk towards it, the enclosure reveals its purpose. 

As we walked inside, immediately you feel drawn to prayer.  

On this Feast of the Holy Cross, we felt called, especially in this place, to say the Stations of the Cross.  We said the opening prayers at the Grotto

At the skete, we begin the stations with the Garden of Gethsemani, so we turned around to face the garden.  (You can see the apartment dwellings all around the area).  

One by one we followed the Way of the Cross, even singing (out loud) the Stabat Mater between each station. 

The hand painted Stations are vividly incredible.  

The rain began to fall as we journeyed through each Station of the Cross. But it was only a mist and it served to enhance the mystical atmosphere. 

Its my belief that there are many places like these, scattered about hidden smack in the middle of life, subdivisions and Pallet Yards.   We must search them out, stop what we are doing and take the time to go closer. 

"...Moses's turning aside from his original path. He felt that the marvel of the Burning Bush warranted making a stop; he was moved with desire to contemplate it and ponder deeply on it.  He accepted without question this sudden, extraordinary, divine event.  And it was because he did not hesitate to change his direction towards the Burning Bush that God was able to call to him. 'And when the Lord saw that..(Moses) turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.'

All this applies just as much to us today as it did to Moses. If during the course of our lives we hurry along without stopping, without even a glance towards the Burning Bush (which nevertheless continues its blazing along the whole of our way, though most of the time our eyes are close to it), we shall miss the opportunity God desires.  If, on the contrary, we do not hesitate to leave aside for a time the flocks of Jethro - our daily cares - the Lord will call to us from the midst of the bush.  He will call to each on of us by a name that is our own. 

Moses answered 'Here am I' without knowing what God would require of him.  Such declaration of being at His disposal is what the Lord awaits from us also.

May we place ourselves before Him, before the Burning Bush, and say: 'Here I am at this moment. Here I am in this very place.  Here am I for Thee, without any reservations whatever.'  " -L. Gillet