David Given Schwarm

Married, Father, United

Tag: Prayer

  • Music

    1. Music
    2. I don’t have the answers
    3. Let others know your plan
    4. Pay attention
    5. Be yourself

  • Kontakia of Romanos


    Christ is Risen!
    O the marvel! the forbearance! the immeasurable meekness!
    The Untouched is felt; the Master is held by a servant,
    And He reveals His wounds to one of His inner circle.
    Seeing these wounds, the whole Creation was shaken at the time.
    Thomas, when he was considered worthy of such gifts,
    Lifted up a prayer to the One Who deemed him worthy,
    Saying, “Bear my rashness with patience,
    Have pity on my unworthiness and lighten the burden
    Of my lack of faith, so that I may sing and cry,
    `Thou art our Lord and God.’”

  • Ten of Cups–Satiety


    This seems like very good news, a reconnection with my higher power after a period of struggle–that I can relate to. I like the bit about not taking things for granted.

  • 26. Nature’s Caring Hand

    When Nature is about to withhold a thing
    it is first sure to increase it.
    When about to weaken,
    it is first sure to strengthen.
    When about to debase,
    it is ceratin first to exalt.
    When about to deprive,
    it is first sure to give.
    This is what I call teh cover agreement.
    The soft and the weak
    easily overcome the hard and the strong.

    As a fish out of water is in danger,
    so is a nation in peril
    when its armaments
    are revealed to the people.

  • Glory of the Aposticha of the Feast

    Make glad, O Jerusalem, and all ye who love Sion, keep feast.
    Today the ancient bond of the condemnation of Adam is loosed.
    Paradise is opened to us: the serpent is laid low; for of old he
    deceived the woman in Paradise, but now he seeth a woman become
    the Mother of the Creator. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom
    and knowledge of God! The instrument of sin that brought death
    upon all flesh hath become the first fruits of salvation for the
    whole world through the Theotokos. For God the All-perfect is born
    a babe of her, and by His birth He doth set a seal upon her
    virginity. By His swaddling bands he doth loose the bands of sin,
    and by becoming a child He doth heal Eve’s pangs in travail.
    Wherefore, let all creation sing and dance for joy, for Christ
    hath come to restore it and to save our souls.

  • 33. Standing Still

    Which is the nearer to you,
    your name or your person?
    Which is the more precious,
    your person or your wealth?
    Which is the greater evil,
    to gain or to lose?

    Great devotion requires great sacrifice.
    Great wealth implies great loss.
    One who is content can never be ruined.
    One who stands still will never meet danger.
    These are the ones who endure.

  • St. Seraphim of Sarov, Spiritual Instructions


    The body is a slave, the soul a sovereign, and therefore it is due
    to Divine mercy when the body is worn out by illness: for thereby
    the passions are weakened, and a man comes to himself; indeed,
    bodily illness itself is sometimes caused by the passions.

  • 47. Difficult Recognition

    Easy are my words to hear,
    and also to practice.
    Yet none is able to understand
    nor yet to grasp them.

    What I say springs from the ageless,
    the supreme Tao.
    No knowing Tao, no one can know me.

    Those who listen to me are few.
    What can they hear?

    To the world I am outwardly poor,
    but I carry a jewel in my bosom.

  • Abba Tithoes

    The way of humility is this: self-control, prayer, and thinking
    yourself inferior to all creatures.

  • Abba Pimen


    A man may seem to be silent, but if his heart is condemning
    others, he is babbling ceaselessly. But there may be another who
    talks from morning till night and yet he is truly silent, that is,
    he says nothing that is not profitable.