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Waiting for my eyes to adapt to the darkness

I have changed my routine lately. I no longer read the news. There were a few blogs I read regularly, a couple of political YouTube channels I frequented, a podcast or two I’d listen to on walks. No more. I just can’t bear current events. I’m looking for distraction, and oh, what’s this? A movie […]



  • Miscellaneous and Meta

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Light in the darkness

OM AIDS Hope, in collaboration with Stanza Bopape Clinic, arranges an event on World AIDS Day 2014 to bring light to the pandemic.




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Hope shining through the darkness

“I love to be around the children. Through education, I want to see them have a good future and have the ability to support others,” said Mercy Mutale.




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God’s light shines in the darkness of the sex trade – in Czech Republic

As OM Czech Republic team members reach out to sex workers by visiting a brothel regularly, they are able to establish friendships and talk about God and His care for the women there, and offer them Christmas gifts, which touch hearts.




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The Darkness Comes Again.

This morning I awoke feeling ok really, but as the hours have passed I've felt a bout of depression beginning again. I have no anti-depressants and can't get any until tomorrow, so there is no relief.

It is hard to describe how it feels, it's like all the hope is going, there is no hope only futility. I try to cling onto hope as when it is gone there is nothing and that's when the crying begins. You can't stop the tears and when people say "why are you crying?" There is no answer so I hide from people. It distresses or angers people when they can't help you and they can't understand what is wrong with you.

I've had my letter telling me I have to go for my "The computer says no" medical, which will not take into account my mental illness. There is nothing they can do to help me when I am like this so I don't get sectioned you see. If they could quantify and attempt to relieve my symptoms they could treat me in hospital, but as they can't I am by many not considered to have such a high degree of need, ironically if I committed suicide today I'd qualify for help tomorrow is the way it is for women like me.

 I have been expecting to have to go for this medical ever since Labour announced the proposed changes to disability benefits, and that income support (the benefit I receive) was to be phased out). It took them longer than they expected and the government has changed to a more heartless Tory Lib Dem coalition, but we are all receiving the pink form and the letters now. There are many of us who don't know what we will do when we are declared fit to work despite our illness not having changed at all and despite not having worked for many years, some of us have never worked in our lives. I have been doing voluntary work and studying for three years now in preparation for this moment, I even tried applying for jobs, jumping before I was pushed so to speak. The futility of it drove me mad, you rarely receive any form of reply there are so many people applying for these jobs. I've got no work history for the past ten years, I do 2 days a week in a bookshop at a local abbey which I have done for three years and now know my boss very well, so at least I can get a reference. Many people I know have no one to ask for a reference, you need two references to apply for a job stacking shelves in Iceland these days. Of all the people being forced to take mandatory work experience I wonder how many of them will actually be given a contact when they leave so they can ask for a reference, probably not many. I know people sent on these placements, they are told from the outset there is no job for them, probably because the job center sends so many people who work for free. They are treated like dogsbodys and are not trained in anything as far as I can see.

So all of us thousands of people who's medical condition has not changed are now expected to apply for the same jobs as the able bodied people who have been recently made unemployed. There are not enough jobs for them even in this current economic climate it seems, yet they are adding thousands more people to this pool everyday.

They have picked the worst possible time to have decided to do this, other countries increase welfare spending in times of economic crisis, not our government though. They let the richest people in the country evade tax while the poorest lose what little they ever had, and people who never suffered poverty before are feeling it's cruel bite now too.

You can see how it is hard to cling to hope when I see all this happening on a daily basis, but I must as without hope there is nothing. We are hearing they starting to realise and even admit welfare reforms are not working and are flawed, too late for the people who are already declared fit for work by the flawed system, and those being declared fit every day until they actually halt the reforms and review what they have done. I can only hope that by some miracle I will find employment, and where I live it will truly be a miracle as unemployment is incredibly high all the time anyway. Or maybe my endeavors to make money on line will finally start to pay off, I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about what I'm doing now, but it happens slowly there's now way to speed it up and there is so little time left.




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Light to Those in Darkness

In this week's podcast, Frederica shares, "Akathist to Jesus: Light to Those in Darkness," written by Fr. Lawrence Farley.




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Light and Darkness

How does Scripture treat the themes of light, darkness and shadow? Is light always "good" and dark always "evil"? What began as a friendly debate with emerging church leader Leonard Sweet results in an instructive study by Frederica on this topic.




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The World Does Not Need More Darkness

The last thing the world needs is more darkness. We don't need more "dark Christians." Fr Joseph serves up Convention "leftovers" at St. Joseph/Houston.




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Episode 100 – Dealing with Our Inner Darkness

Inner darkness. We all have it whether we admit or not. How do overcome it? How do we find our way to Christ the Light and master our inner darkness? Join Michael as he addresses these questions in-depth and shows we can find our way to the Light no matter what darkness we are in.




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Light Shines Out of Darkness

Join Michael as he discusses the complementary nature of light and darkness, how both are under God’s control, and how we can understand this to maintain hope during tough times, grow in faith, and shine the Light of Christ to others.




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AI and Antichrist: We Enter an Age of Spiritual Darkness




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The People who Sat in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light

Fr. John examines how the advent season prepares us for the Nativity of Christ.




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Episode 6: Breaking Bad and Dealing with Darkness

Steven and Christian discuss being exposed to darkness through art and whether or not there is merit in pressing through things that are difficult to watch. They deal with themes of light and dark, weaker brothers and stronger brothers, and why neither of them could make it past (or in Christian’s case through) the first episode of the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad. As always, the guys end with a top 5 list.




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From the Darkness of Pride to the Light of Holiness

Let us get over our pride and become living epiphanies of the salvation of the One Who was baptized by St. John the Forerunner in the Jordan.




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The Light Shining in the Darkness

The man in our gospel reading whose sight the Lord restored had been blind from birth, having known only darkness throughout his life. He symbolizes us all, for until the light of the Savior’s resurrection, humanity had wandered in spiritual blindness and captivity.




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Overcoming the Darkness Evident in a Society Accustomed to School Shootings

In light of what such atrocities reveal about the human condition, it is obviously not enough to affirm religious beliefs, to perform certain acts of outward piety, or merely to identify ourselves as Orthodox Christians. Indeed, it is entirely possible to do all those things while remaining blind, embracing the darkness, and becoming all too comfortable with the forces of death and destruction.




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It Is Only Because of the Light that We Can See the Darkness

We remain in a period of preparation to behold Christ at His appearing. The One born at Christmas and baptized at Theophany is brought by the Theotokos and St. Joseph the Betrothed to the Temple in Jerusalem as a 40-day old Infant in fulfillment of the Old Testament law, which we will celebrate later this week at the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the old man St. Simeon proclaims that this Child is the salvation “of all peoples, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel.” The aged prophetess St. Anna also speaks openly of Him as the Savior. At the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, we celebrate the appearance of the Lord Who fulfills the ancient promises to Abraham and extends them to all with faith in Him. By His appearance, He has enlightened the whole creation. Christ is “the true light which gives light to everyone coming into the world.” (Jn. 1:9)




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Light in our Darkness: Fourteenth Sunday of Luke, Commemoration of the Prophet Zephaniah

This Sunday, the fourteenth of Luke, we also commemorate the prophet Zephaniah, whose tiny book in the OT speaks eloquently both of the dark state of God’s people, and his aim to bring them into the light (Zephaniah 1:14-17; 3:9-20). Those themes help us to think more concretely, and as a community, concerning the gospel and epistle for today (Ephesians 5:8-19; Luke 18:35-43), where spiritual blindness and sight is also addressed.




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Coming Out of the Darkness

Fr. Ted explains that the purpose of our existence is to transfigure ourselves into being more like Christ.




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Mistaking Darkness for Light

We must choose Christ over the secular world.




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Darkness and Light

Fr. Theodore Paraskevopoulos invites us to step out of the darkness and into the light of God in the Church.




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Dispelling the Darkness

Fr. Apostolos Hill reflects on the verses of the Gospel of Matthew about the eye as the light of the body and how we might dispel the darkness around us with the Light of Christ.




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Light for the Darkness (Mt 3:13-17)

On the great feast of Theophany, God shines the light of the Truth, in the person of Christ, to the whole world. Fr Tom reminds us that we also are individually given the gift of this light through our renewal, by virtue of our baptism.




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The Light which Overcomes Darkness (Eph 4:7-13)

The feast of Theophany heralds the light which overcomes all darkness. Fr. Thomas reminds us that this darkness, which is present in many places in our life, is destroyed by the truth and life of Christ himself.




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The Darkness Fights Against the Light

As soon as our Lord is born in Bethlehem, the Scriptures record that the evil one is working through Herod to destroy him. Fr Thomas reminds us that the darkness will always fight against the Light, but we can choose our path wisely.




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Darkness & Light

On the Sunday of the Blind Man, Fr. Tom discusses what it means to walk in darkness and in the light, and how we must have the truth born in us by being made a new creation in Christ.




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Facing the Darkness, Receiving the Light

Fr. Gregory speaks with children and adults about Palm Sunday and the preparation of our hearts to receive the risen Christ.




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The Light of Christ in the Darkness

Fr. Emmanuel gives the Holy Saturday homily.




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From Darkness to Life

Fr. Emmanuel gives the sermon on the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Great and Holy Saturday.




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Lighten our Darkness




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Men Loved Darkness




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Rolling Back the Darkness

In light of the tragic and senseless attack at a concert in Manchester, Fr. Gregory Hallam offers this commentary. Fr. Gregory is priest at St. Aidan's Antiochian Orthodox Church in Manchester, UK.




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From Darkness to Light: The Life of St Moses the Black

Priest and iconographer Fr. Jerome Sanderson speaks at the Second Annual St. Herman House - FOCUS Cleveland fundraiser, held on Monday, November 10, at St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church in North Royalton, Ohio.




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The People Sitting in Darkness

Fr. Pat discusses the quotation of the prophecy of Isaiah in Matthew 4.




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The Authority of Darkness

In this homily from the Sunday of the Man Born Blind, Fr. Pat considers with us light and darkness, both in this story and in our lives.




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Confusion of Light and Darkness




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Defeating Darkness

Do we overcome the darkness by fighting against it? Or is there an easier way?




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A Place of Darkness

The Lord shines into the place of greatest darkness.




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Pascha: The Light in the Darkness




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Light and Darkness in the time of a Pandemic




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Darkness, Dryness, Confusion and Pentecost




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Darkness, Dryness, Confusion and Pentecost




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Light in the Darkness




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Snap One Cameras See in Darkness

The “Editor’s Choice” and more new products and solutions as described by manufacturers.




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"Madness & Mayhem: Deadly Darkness in the Dry Tortugas" by Angela Grey & Paige Peterson is Available Now at All Major Online Retailers

The authors of the Echoes in the North Country Series and "Dancing Without Music", a YA coming-of-age novel about mental illness, have released their latest mystery set in the Dry Tortugas, off Key West.




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Outcast. Volume 1, A darkness surrounds him / Robert Kirkman, creator, writer ; Paul Azaceta, artist ; Elizabeth Breitweiser, colorist ; Rus Wooton, letterer.

Kyle Barnes has been plagued by demonic possession all his life and now he needs answers. Unfortunately, what he uncovers along the way could bring about the end of life on Earth as we know it.




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In Darkness screening

Film Education invite you to a FREE schools screening of In Darkness at the Covent Garden Odeon




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Giant 'God of Darkness' Asteroid May Not Escape Earth Unscathed




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Light shines in the darkness

An orthodox Jewish girl shares her testimony of coming to faith in Jesus at her baptism.




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A light in the darkness

Solar powered electricity provides a unique way to connect with the local community.