I have been blessed to see many of God’s greatest wonders on earth. Still, this is unlike anything else.
My friend, I run to you with my gifts like a child after Christmas morning, and I long to rejoice in yours too.
Be to me as a parent, so I can run out through the doors of this elementary school with my project in hand, showing you everything I’ve learned today.
Like the explorers you see in the movies, I’m eager to share with you every discovery as I come up for air from this spiritual expedition.
I’ve traversed a mysterious, divine, inexhaustible landscape more beautiful than anything the eye has ever seen. I’ve run from serpents so long that they snake around entire mountains, and from great shadowy beasts that lurk beneath the canopy. Those trolls—how they force you to pay a toll in courage every time you cross the bridge of faith from the lands of this life to the next.
I’ve battled armies of the most wretched-looking warriors and been taken prisoner by their king, dragged into the dungeons of his kingdom and tortured until I nearly forgot my very name. Therein was I saved by a knight, white-clad in shining garments, who appeared and disappeared as quickly as lightning. And in that flash, I was saved.
How poor I’ve become, paying those tolls, giving up my every possession just to keep crossing. I’m a beggar in rags, exchanging clothing for breadcrumbs, and I would give my last breath if it were all I had.
O those forests of unshakeable truth, grounded deeply in the richest soils of Wisdom. The moss hangs from the trees like long beards, numbering the age of their wisdom.
O how peaceful it is to make my abode in those branches, where the angels of the sky flock to sing with me like birds of prey.
Mountaintops of contemplation reach up to the Mind Himself, snowcapped in a white so pure that the reflection of the Sun is blinding. How the many paths lead to a lookout far above the clouds, where I pay a token of praise for a glimpse through the eyes of the One Who Sees.
Canyons of self-reflection descend into depths that seem to fall away forever. O how peacefully painful it is to dive into my abyss, placing all of my trust in the chutes of faith. How I long to explore all of this with you.
My soul trembles in fear at the sheer awesomeness of what lies before her, entirely entranced by the mysteries of our great God.
O how I am nothing, and I wish I could be less, so that I could open my hardened little heart to receive more from my King.
The glorious gates of the Orthodox Church—how you’ve welcomed me into the knowledge of God: a great golden structure that shines ineffably through its perfect architecture, perched upon an island in the still waters of existence, half-covered by the morning fog of sin draped across this fleeting material world. The Kingdom of all kingdoms, with private mansions for all to stay, and a feast hall with so many seats to fill.
How many of you will come?
Perhaps not even I, because I have no fitting garments.
O this Church, how it fills a space more vast and wide than the cosmos itself. How mysteriously She contains the Uncontainable. How wonderfully You communicate those spiritual mysteries through the wonders of this universe, whose expanse forever escapes our chasing it.
You’ve made me an astronaut, a man on the moon, far above the world’s confusion, floating weightlessly among the Stars who poke holes through the blanket of darkness and let Your Light shine through. Equipped with the Oxygen of the Spirit—the Breath of Life in my once-suffocating soul—I harness the power of prayer to boost me out of this world’s orbit, and I drift in peace in my temporary rocketship, knowing that Your Love far outweighs the gravity of this life.
I pray that all of my brothers and sisters would take refuge with me in this Ship, caught in the gravity of that Magnificent blackhole, the Light that is covered in darkness, drawing us forever near to Him, guiding us through the field of space mines hauling towards us, so that being sucked up, we can be spit out, after He makes the universe anew.