Dream Small

You ask, “Shouldn’t I be doing something?” Of course that is necessary. Do whatever falls to your hands, in your circle and in your situation—and believe that this is and will be your true work; nothing more from you is required. It is a great error to think that you must undertake important and great labors, whether for heaven, or, as the progressives think, in order to make one’s contribution to humanity. That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord’s commandments. Just exactly what is to be done? Nothing in particular, just that which presents itself to each one according to the circumstances of his life, and which is demanded by the individual events with which each of us meets. That is all. God arranges the lot of each person, and the entire course of life of each one is also His all-good industry, as is each moment and each meeting.

— St. Theophan the Recluse from The Spiritual Life and How to Be Attuned to It

My oldest son graduated today from one of the finest institutions of learning I have ever known. It lives in the shadows of other better known institutions and is lesser known because of its small size and relatively short existence. Other institutions pride themselves on their acceptance rate for graduating seniors, their rejection rate of lessor mortals desiring admission, and their overall ability to graduate products of an educational system that are worthy of fame and fortune. My son’s institution (and now his alma mater), St. Herman of Alaska Christian School in Boston, MA does not graduate products but persons, persons made in the image and likeness of God. And the goal of their program is not mere intellectual excellence; they teach their students above all to love God and keep His commandments.

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Saving the World Through Institutions

Orange leaves fall in October on an old country road in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Saturday, October 15/28, 2023
Mother of God Who Ripens the Grain

Finally most of us are in the thick of the regular fall schedule. Since we are also in the season of electing or re-electing officials in November, it is a time to think about social change. I listened to this commentary about the lack of conservatives in the political activist space and whether or not this poses a problem. The article came down on a very interesting and subtle point: that the way to change the world is not so much by directly agitating the powers that be for social change, but by building enduring institutions which promote healthy and God honoring values. In this time of great social upheaval, I would like to express my gratitude for at least two enduring institutions that have meant the world to me and my family.

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Harvest is Here!

Screen_Shot_2015_10_25_at_6.21.00_PM__48020.1445822824Every year at this time, when most children are deciding what costume to wear for a feast that toys with evil, our family gathers for the more serious fun of a Harvest Festival. It is a fitting tribute to our God the creator as we the sub-creators bring the intelligent fruit of our labours together. The students of Saint Herman of Alaska Christian School for over 2 decades of its existence have every year gathered for this festival at the end of October closed to the 28th, the feast day of the Mother of God, “She Who Ripens the Grain”.

Festivities begin with several recitations from the different classes. Poems are declaimed, stories are portrayed, and all people remember to thank the God who gives us life. Headmaster Father Patrick Tishel spoke of how the Mother of God ripened the figurative grain of the Lord Jesus in her womb. Similarly, we offer back to the Lord of life the fruits of our minds and hands. Continue reading

For the Beauty of the Earth

aerial

News of the Kingdom of God first sounded not in the muggy, dusty capital cities, but on the shores of an azure lake among green groves and hills, reminding us that the beauty of the earth is a reflection of the eternal beauty of heaven.

— Fr. Alexander Men

I can still remember the strong impressions from my first time apple picking with our local Orthodox Christian School. I was a recent transplant from the Midwest, a good ole’ boy adrift in the complicated, concrete urban jungle of Boston. My idea of fun was sitting on the front porch and watching the grass grow. The city overwhelmed me, and I pined away for the countryside where a blade of grass stood a chance to survive.

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The Weapon of Discernment

For my yearly Back-to-School post, I would like to republish an article I wrote when I was just a young teacher. It is the first day today for my alma mater, St. Herman of Alaska Christian School, for whom I wrote this article almost 20 years ago. Good strength to all in your September return to learning. God bless your studies in this new school year!

Sunflowers, Autumn 1997

The Weapon of Discernment
by Aaron Friar
Instructor, Grades 3-8

mirrorbbc-758689Many parents have felt the wonder of the moment when their child was old enough to utter his first word. Perhaps, equal to excitement is the moment when he begins to read. He sounds out everything in his path All goes well until he decides to exercise his phonics skills on a supermarket tabloid. Words “scandal” and the easier monosyllable “sex” send his impressionable mind reeling as he asks parents a barrage of troubling questions.

In our age of free access to information, it is more important than ever to learn discernment of words. It is not enough for us to set our children free to roam aimlessly in the abyss of choices provided by almost every media imaginable; we must also give them the tools which will enable them to make wise choices. They do not just need to know how to read but what to read. And our greater task as Christian parents and teachers is to enable our children to discern the words they read and hear by the measuring stick of Christ. The world around them is more than what meets the eye or impresses the mind, and we must give them the mastery of words which is necessary to see a bigger and more truthful picture. Continue reading

Pickin’ and Hummin’ in the Harvest

IMG_2259Our family had the great fortune already this fall of attending two celebrations of the harvest with many more to come. The first was a long-standing tradition we have had of going with St. Herman Christian School to our favorite fruit farm in Northborough, MA. The second was a new tradition that we intend to repeat with my parents who now live in the area: the yearly harvest of the largest producer of cranberries in the world, right here in New England! Continue reading

Redeeming Harvest Time

Redeeming the times for the days are evil…

Such a redemption is the basis for our whole church life with its organization of time around the liturgical cycles of feasts and fasts, of saints and holy events, of celebrations and commemorations of deliverance by the hand of almighty God. While these liturgical cycles are more than adequate to feed and order the spiritual life, it is important similarly to feed the soul with an equally rich and diverse sustenance of cultural and seasonal celebrations. Continue reading