More Orthodox feasting!

Tonight I'll head to St. Raphael Mission for Great Vespers for the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.

I like August and September--it's chock full of feast days, from August 6th (the Transfiguration, i.e. when Jesus went up on the mountain and the disciples saw Him with Elijah and Moses), through August 15th (the Dormition of the Virgin Mary--that's the Assumption for you RCs), through September 1st (church New Year), to September 8th (Nativity of the Virgin Mary), to September 14th (the Elevation--or Finding--of the Holy Cross, which occurred when the Emperor Constantine's mother Helena fostered a search in Jerusalem somewhere around 325 A.D.).

Given that we Orthodox spend a huge amount of time each year fasting, so many feast days is quite powerful, emotionally and spiritually. How much fasting? Almost all Wednesdays and Fridays, as well as mid-November to Christmas, 50+ days before Pascha (Easter), up to two weeks before the feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29th, and 15 days before the Dormition of the Virgin Mary (mentioned above).

Anyway, this particular feast--the Nativity of the Virgin Mary--is especially dear to me.

It was on this feast day in 1993 that I became part of the Orthodox Christian faith. Almost a "spiritual birthday", if you will.

Needless to say I try to spend some of the day in church, thanking God for His blessings to me, and guiding me to a place where, as the Russian seekers told St. Vladimir in the 10th century, I "know not whether I am in heaven or on earth!"

God bless you on the feast!