The Feast of Theophany of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
Categories: anxiety, self-esteem, reading, parish-life, feast-days, life
Date: 06 January 2010 10:16:35
Troparion - Tone 1:
When You, O Lord were baptized in the Jordan
The worship of the Trinity was made manifest
For the voice of the Father bore witness to You
And called You His beloved Son.
And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,
Confirmed the truthfulness of His word.
O Christ, our God, You have revealed Yourself
And have enlightened the world, glory to You!
Kontakion - Tone 4:
Today You have shown forth to the world, O Lord,
and the light of Your countenance has been marked on us.
Knowing You, we sing Your praises.
You have come and revealed Yourself,
O unapproachable Light.
A blessed Feast to all; while January 6 is celebrated as the arrival of the Wise Men in "Western" churches, the Orthodox celebrate Christ's baptism on this day. I have gained new insights into this Feast, and our relation to the "world" in general, through the rather interesting book I am reading -- Living In God's Creation: Orthodox Perspectives on Ecology. I hope to share some of my thoughts in the coming weeks.
I have returned to work and it is going better than I expected, for which thanks and praise be to God. I am seeing a psychologist weekly which is helping, as is a book she recommended: Change Your Thinking by Sarah Edelmen. The book is based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which I find very helpful for my anxiety issues.
I returned to my parish on New Year's Day [having gone to bed at 23:30 the night before after spending the evening watching some episodes of Season 3 of The Tudors] and again Sunday, which, while a struggle, was worth it as all went well and I felt a great sense of peace. I told a few people of my hospitalisation and they took it without missing a beat and the conversation continued: which is what I needed. Thanks be to God.
Hope to be here more often in the coming days and weeks. I am finding being on a computer and writing and reading e-mails or blogs mentally draining, but it is getting better bit by bit so, as I wrote, I hope to be around here more.