On September 17th, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church honours the three sisters Faith (Вяра), Hope (Надежда) and Love (Любов) – daughters of Sophia. Sophia means wisdom, the wisdom of God; and it is quite beautifully symbolic as it is precisely wisdom that gives birth to the greatest three spiritual virtues.
In my native land Bulgaria it is customary to celebrate what’s known as our name days. Name days are those associated with the Eastern Orthodox saints; so on September 17th all people whose names are faith, hope, love and Sophia celebrate their name day. As my name Lubomira (Любомира) means love (любов), each year on this day is my personal name day; and this I treasure deeply because love truly is the greatest gift and meaning of all, and it is one not just to dream of but to seek to embody through our every day as humanity.
Today, with our beautiful wild roses from our garden, let us explore the three sisters and spiritual virtues born of wisdom – faith, hope and love.
Faith
May we have faith, pure, simple and childlike faith; a faith of purity and innocence like that born of a childlike heart, free from doubts and hesitations, as this is what becomes our open palms, open hearts and open minds; as this is what becomes us to live life as a prayer. Only such faith gives our hands grace and our spirit generosity, and opens our heart for an opportunity for a deepening. Only such faith reveals us, and guides us. Only such faith nurtures love within the church of skin, within the home of our heart. Only such faith becomes our guiding lantern in places where human eyes cannot see, and helps us discern true from false. Only such faith relaxes our body in surrender and in trust, and opens us and reveals us to share the joy that will inspire others also, and leave little sparkles along their own ways in life.
Faith is powerful and it is that which builds the strength of our spiritual core. When a person has strong faith this makes them unshakeable and undestructible at the core of their essence and being. Faith goes beyond the boundaries of the known, beyond the rationalizations and human made structures and buildings, beyond the theologies and attempts to intellectualize God – because God is an inner experience. Faith knows that as human beings with our limited understanding and conditioned human minds we’ll never know it all, and the humility of this deserves to be treasured. Faith is that which allows us to take off our prescription glasses, and when we lose our sight a bit more as we get older, it is still okay – because faith is an inner thing, a power that arises from within us, and lights the candles through which we see only through the clarity of our heart’s eyes. When a person has strong faith, they have oxygen, they have life, they have knowledge and strong spiritual core that guides them through their choices, for they walk with God and aspire to be better people.
Hope
May we have hope, because hope is the through line of the narrative. Hope is the hands that hold the plow for we must plow with hope; hope is the hands that move for we must move and touch and work with hope – because hope is what will bear the fruits of our lands. Hope is the hands that scatter seeds, with hope we sow; hope is the hands that make the bread, with hope we give and nourish and feed. Hope is our hands when we hold another’s hand; hope is our hearts to remain open and love and speak love and embody love. Hope is our eyes, our loving eyes, our beautiful eyes, able to see what is there and acknowledge what’s missing, while still showing us the beauty that is, the love that is still here.
Hope is that which whispers us into take a step, and then another, and then another. Hope is that which gently whispers what if … Hope is us when we scatter the seeds into our flower pot, nourish the soil and tend to it, water it and allow the sun’s warmth to touch it in the way it needs to. And no matter whether roses bloom or not, hope is that which does what it does free of expectations; it does it because it’s the right thing to do and then allows nature its freedom. Faith guides hope, as its bigger sister, and tells us all we need to do is just keep walking, one foot after another, with kindness and patience of rhythm.
“And so, these three remain: faith, hope and love; and love is the greatest.”
Love
May we have love, because love is everything. Love is the hand that holds faith, the hand that holds hope and the hands that holds us all as humanity. Love is the meaning of it all, the purpose of all, the reason for all; it is the answer to all questions even those we don’t know how to ask yet. Love is our essence, and yet it is not like air, not a cloud nor a dream – love is like bread; it needs to made and remade each morning, each day, made anew. Love is to be embodied through our every day words, hands and seemingly ordinary gestures along the circling staircases of our life. Love is a cooked meal, love is a hand holding another’s hand, love is a smile, love is a word of encouragement and support, love is a listening ear.
Love has many shapes and forms, and various speeds and movements. Love unfolds through joy, patience, generosity, discernment, tenderness, gentleness, compassion, kindness, inspired creativity, respect, and faith is love and hope is love, because love seeks to breathe in everything. Love is that which expands us to be kinder, more generous, more tender; love softens our skins, and opens our minds and our hearts to marry within ourselves something beyond the boundaries of us. Love is that which fosters unity, because fostering unity begins in a very human way – it begins with hands; it begins with us reaching our hands across the lines that separate us and saying, “Hi my name is … I believe this but I’d love to hear what you believe”. And then we sit, listen and learn. We sit, listen and learn. Because love seeks the togetherness path, because love knows it is everything. Then, now, always.
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