This text is a trap! A trap to catch men in Christ's net! Or, if you wish, an outstretched hand as an invitation to write to us. Come with your joys and sorrows to us! Tell us your stories! We don't know how God works, how and who will benefit. Nothing is in vain. Perhaps an orphan of today will take you, grandfather, or you, young man, as an example, and thus will triumph! Will conquer sin!
I am a woman with gray hair and quite a lot of experience behind me, which is why I allow myself. Yes, I allow myself to say: I love! I love the men who come to church! Those who melt for the love of Christ! Those whose eyes soften, whose voices are lost, and who try, with all their might, to steady it manfully, so that no one sees their weakness. I love when I see grandfathers with their grandchildren in their arms, telling them stories from the moon and stars! I love the monks who, out of a sincere and unwavering love, have chosen to make themselves children of the Mother of God! So many times I had the opportunity to simply get lost, to get lost listening to how tenderly they sing to the Lord in the choir stand... And no, it's not about vocal qualities, but about what they convey.
I remember once being with my husband at a monastery, somewhere deep in the mountains. The only community there was the serving priest (who was also the abbot) and a helpless, half-blind old man. We had the joy of participating in a Liturgy. I confess to you that never, but absolutely never before then, had I heard a falser voice, but... so tender! Can I manage to explain? I don't think so... Because I don't believe there are words that can convey that love! He sang so poorly, but the way he stood in the choir stand and the tone with which he uttered the words, you had the feeling that Christ Himself was before him... and he wasn't singing to Him, but narrating to Him! He was telling Him stories!
I love this man! I love the love that is part of his being! If we managed to lock Christ in the prison of our heart for life, He, as a Good One, would flood all the windows of our soul, and light would gush from our eyes, from our head, from our brain…
My dear men, fathers, grandfathers, or young men, a woman, a mother, and soon to be a grandmother, begs you: seek Christ and condemn Him to life imprisonment in your hearts!
Jenica Gavrilă
Photography by The Ascetic Experience