Even though I was too stupid to realize it. December 7, 2022 After a long while away due to the Thanksgiving holiday and some terrible cold germs that had invaded the monastery, I could return to help the nuns today. But first things first. I arrived in time for third-hour prayers and Divine Liturgy. I had lots on my mind and heart as I took my usual place in the chapel. With many petitions going through my head, I prayed the psalms and sang along with the choir of nuns as best I could. The Epistle was from 1 Timothy about not exalting others too hastily lest we partake of another’s sins si ..read more

as I recite Psalm 120 The Myrrhbearing Lay Sisters have arranged a Psalter group among ourselves for the duration of the Nativity Fast. I am enjoying this so much that I may continue even after Christmas! The Psalms are so dynamic and speak to a person's heart so specifically sometimes. They provide answers for questions on one's mind before they are even asked aloud. This happened to me today as I read this… I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue? He wi ..read more

Hello, my dear sisters! We are beginning the second month of becoming accustomed to our new vocations as Myrrhbearing Lay Sisters. I did something wonderful this morning that I have never done before, and it so profoundly affected me that I wanted to share it with you. So far, we have all been trying our best to pray our collective prayer rule each morning and evening, indivicually, yet together as a group. I believe it’s probably going well for most of us since it’s not too very long or difficult. I have noticed that I've developed my own particular rule of prayer for myself up to this point ..read more

Upon Rising: Praying the 5th Psalm of David Members of The Myrrhbearing Lay Sisterhood of St. John the Beloved at Holy Annunciation Monastery aspire to keep Christ foremost in our minds throughout our daily tasks, just as the nuns do. However, we require quite a bit of accommodation since we do not live in a monastery but rather in a family. In our hearts, we would love to pray the hours as they do, but we need a simplified version to pray at home so that our primary vocations as wives, mothers, and businesswomen will not suffer since we know that to forsake our work would never be pleasing t ..read more

August 10, 2022 My Dear Sisters, I wanted to begin to talk about how we can each grow in our participation in prayer. We heard Mother speak a bit about how important is the practice of Lectio Divina in monastic life, and she would like for us to implement it in our own prayer lives as Myrrhbearing Lay Sisters as well. What is Lectio Divina? It is a practice of reading scripture or other divinely inspired texts or prayers with full attention and digesting it slowly and as completely as possible, integrating it within our deepest selves so that we can not only understand it but live it. You may ..read more

Now that we're preparing to enter into the season of the Procession of the Holy Cross, we, like our ancestors before us, will begin to pray for a healthy fall and winter. To make sure this is possible, we will stack the odds in our favor by stocking up on things for our family medicine cabinet. Every household will surely have certain things that they specifically prefer to keep on hand to suit their own particular needs, but here is a list of some of the things we like to have on hand in our home. For the house: *band-aids, all sizes, preferably waterproof *isopropyl alcohol ​ *antibiotic oin ..read more

Reading:  1 Kings 18:16-45 When my children were young, Elijah’s showdown against the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel was one of my family's all-time favorite scripture stories. As our children got older, we were sure to emphasize that Elijah was only able to announce these events as he heard them come from Almighty God.  He didn't call the shots; he was merely the messenger and saw to it that God's message was delivered....just following orders. What an act of faith it must have been for him to call the fire from the sky like that! Each year as we read this story and discussed the ..read more

From a Mom's Perspective John 9:2-4 Rabbi,” his disciples asked him, “why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents’ sins?” “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins,” Jesus answered. “This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” We might also ask, “Why was my friend born deaf?” Or “why did my neighbor become sick with cancer?” Or “why was my brother born with a heart defect?” My own little brother was born with a heart defect. He lived for 10 years and then passed into eternal life when I was 12. I remember having to be quiet and good durin ..read more

I gave a talk yesterday at a women's retreat at St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church in Taylor, Pennsylvania on becoming a modern myrrhbearer. I know there were several people who had asked me if it would be livestreamed, or recorded, but knowing that probably wasn't going to be an option, I decided to share my transcript here. I hope you like the talk! Good morning! My name is Lynne Wardach. For those of you who don't know me yet, I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself. I'm married to my husband Paul for 28 years and we have 5 children, all in their 20's, and a sweet baby granddaught ..read more

The Sunday of the Forefathers From a Mom’s Perspective Matthew 1:1-25 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse th ..read more