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FOURTH WEEK OF THE GREAT FAST |
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ICON OF THE CRUCIFIXION
Sunday, March 7, 2010 THIRD SUNDAY OF THE GREAT FAST - VENERATION OF THE HOLY CROSS SS. Basil, Ephrem and Others (Martyrs) Heb. 4:14-5:6 Mark 8:34-9:1
“So let us confidently approach the
throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” (Heb.
4:16) Christ
our Lord and King does not rule us as He sits upon a golden throne wearing
a jewel bedecked diadem. But He shows us the WAY to true Life from His
wooden throne of the Cross to which He is nailed wearing His crown of
thorns. His throne is the throne of grace from which His divine Light
shines down upon us and from which He pours forth His Holy Spirit to guide
us. The Cross is our unfailing weapon of peace in this unsettled, violent
world in which we now live. The Cross is our hope of salvation from all
this turmoil in which we are daily immersed. The following are a few
tributes to the cross upon which we might spend a few moments to
contemplate and consider its meaning in our own lives.
“By the sign of the Cross .
. .all magic is stayed, all sorcery confounded, all idols are abandoned
and deserted, and all senseless pleasure ceases, as the eye of faith looks
up to heaven from the earth” (“On the Incarnation”).” St.
Cyril of
“It (the Cross) is a
powerful safeguard . . . a grace from God, a badge of the faithful, and a
terror to devils . . .”
“The Cross is – the
resurrection of the dead.
The Cross is – the hope of Christians.
The Cross is – the staff of the lame.
The Cross is – the consolation of the poor.
The Cross is – the dethronement of the proud.
The Cross is – the hope of the hopeless.
The Cross is – the helm of those who sail.
The Cross is – the harbor of the storm-tossed.
The Cross is – the father of orphans.
The Cross is – the comfort of the afflicted. The Cross is – the protector of youth The Cross is – the glory of men.
The Cross is – the crown of the aged.
The Cross is – the purity of virgins.
The Cross is – the bread of the hungry and the
fountain of the thirsty. . . .Therefore, let us make the Sign of
this Life-Giving Cross on our forehead, lips and breast. . . . Let us not
leave the Cross even for one hour, even for one moment, and let us not do
anything without it, but whether we are going to sleep, or getting up;
whether we are eating or drinking, whether we are traveling on land,
sailing the sea, or crossing rivers, we should adorn all members of our
body with the Sign of the Life-Giving Cross.” So,
what does the Life-Giving Cross of Christ really mean to each one of us
personally? Do we even have any hanging in our homes to remind us of the
ultimate sacrifice of love our God did for us? He willingly gave His whole
life for us. How much of our life are we willing to give to Him? Our God
is not stingy with us. He lavishes us daily with the abundance of His
graces as He continues to give of Himself in an all out effort to get us
back home to live with Him for all eternity. How much of an effort are we
honestly putting into fulfilling His desire for our spiritual welfare?
Let’s not kid ourselves. We have a part to play in our own salvation.
Did we learn anything about how to go about doing it from our Master? And,
how much of what we have learned are we even caring to do on our behalf? “Having beheld the Resurrection of
Christ, let us adore the holy Lord Jesus Who alone is sinless. We bow to
Your Cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Your holy Resurrection.
You are our God and besides You we recognize no other, and we invoke Your
name. Come, all you faithful, and let us bow down to the holy Resurrection
of Christ, since, through the Cross joy has come to all the world. Ever
praising the Lord, let us extol; His Resurrection, since He, having
endured the Crucifixion, has destroyed Death by His death.” – Hymn
of Resurrection from Resurrection Matins
Monday, March 8, 2010 St. Theophylactus (Bishop-Confessor) “The depraved of heart are an
abomination to the Lord, but those who walk blamelessly are His
delight.” (Prov.
11:20)
In other words, we who live immorally are hateful to our Lord, but
we who live humbly in the innocence of our love for our God bring Him joy.
And to help us to bring Him this joy, Jesus gave us the gift of His Mother
from the Cross before He gave up His life for our salvation. As He looked
down from the Cross, He saw His Mother standing there along side the
disciple whom He loved. He then said to His Mother, “Woman, behold, your son,”
and to the disciple, “Behold,
your Mother.” (John
19:26-27) From that day on the
disciple, John, took Mary, the Mother of God, into his home.
Now, just what does this relationship mean to us? Let’s look at
it this way. Mary gave Jesus our human flesh which wasn’t stained by sin
because she was immaculately conceived. John was born as a true human
being from human parents who were blessed by God the Father to conceive
him. We are born into our human family as John was. We were born into
God’s Divine Family at our Baptism when we were again clothed with the
divinity of His Son which we had lost. Not only then, but we also become
one with Him each time we partake of His Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
Thus, we are members of the Body of Christ, the Son of God and the Son of
Man. It then follows that, in becoming children of God, we also become the
spiritual children of Mary, the spiritual Mother present in the Divine
Family of God. Lest we forget, the Son of God became clothed in our flesh
so that we might again become radiant with the divine life within us.
Recall how Christ glowed at the time of His Transfiguration. At that
moment, He gave us a picture of how we are to appear at our own glorious
resurrection in our glorified bodies on that final day. Remember, we are
to live on this earth striving to fulfill our permanent purpose in life,
that is, to become deified, to become holy as our Father in heaven is
holy. And as John, through the sacramental life of the Church, we likewise
are to take our Blessed Mother into the inner most recesses of our heart,
the home in which God dwells within us, so that she can care for us as a
mother would and intercede for us with her Son for our needs. Furthermore,
Mary is the Mother of the Church, and we are the Church, the People of God
making up the Body of Christ. And she is the one we are to turn to, the
one to help us bring joy to God our Father.
As one example, we can bring Him joy when we receive Him in
the celebration of the Eucharist. Does it ever occur to us to pray to the
Theotokos, the one who is the true God-Bearer, to help us receive Him into
our humble inner abode in a more worthy fashion? Perhaps, we might pray in
words such as these before receiving Him: “Most Holy Mother of God, please come
into my soul and prepare a place to receive your Son, my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, so that I may more worthily receive Him as unworthy as I
am.” And
then after Communion, pray something like this: “Most Holy Mother, please welcome your
Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in an embrace of love and
thanksgiving which I am so unable and so unworthy to do. Thank you for
doing this with me and for me. Amen.”
John took Mary into his home. How willing are we to take her into
our homes, both the one we live in and the one within our very innermost
being? Do we, or do we not, cherish our heavenly Mother? Does the Mother
of God really mean anything in our lives? Does singing the Hymn to the
Theotokos during our Divine Liturgy resonate at all with us? Do we fully
realize how her motherly intercession with her Son is the greatest gift,
besides Himself, that God could give to us as a means of helping us get
back home to live eternally with our true Divine Family? “Since we have no one in whom to
confide because of our many sins, O Virgin Mother of God, intercede for us
with the One Who was born of you; for a mother’s prayer is a powerful
means for obtaining the Master’s favor. You are most worthy of
veneration, so do not turn away from the pleading of us sinners; for the
One Who willed to suffer in the flesh for our sake is full of mercy, and
His power is sufficient to save us.” – Prayer
of the Daily Office of the Sixth Hour
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste Gen. 9:8-17 Prov. 12:8-22 Heb. 12:1-10 Matthew 20:1-16 “From the fruit of his words a man has
his fill of good things, and the work of his hands comes back to reward
him.” (Prov.
12:14) As
Jesus spoke to the apostles about His coming persecution by the ones who
hated Him, He told them that the Holy Spirit will come and testify on His
behalf and likewise said, “And you also testify, because you have been with Me from the
beginning.” (John
15:27) To testify means to declare
publicly, sometimes under oath, that what you believe to be the truth.
Now, John was the beloved friend of the Lord. Along with the women, he is
the only one of the apostles that stood by Jesus until the end. He thus
became an Evangelist the official spokesperson for the Gospel message. Not
only that, Jesus also gave Him the privilege of writing the prophetic Book
of Revelation announcing what is to come. And John’s concluding
statements in both his Gospel and the Book of Revelation include the
following; “It is this disciple who testifies to
these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is
true.” (John 21:24) “Warn everyone who hears the prophetic
words in this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the
plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in
this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and
in the holy city described in this book. The One Who gives this testimony
says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen! Come Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:18-20 And
to go along with the above, John begins his First Letter with these words: “What was from the beginning, what we
have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and
touched with our hands concerns the Word of Life – for the Life was made
visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the Eternal
Life that was with the Father and was made visible to us – “ (1
John 1:1-2)
John saw with his eyes and brings us alive in words the Word of
Life. Now, we are to be the ones who testify on what we see with our eyes
of faith and through our words bring the Word of Life to others. Others
are to see how the Word is actively working in our own lives for the good.
If we don’t know it, our lives are serving as evidence to the presence
of the Word of Life among us. We now are the evangelists spreading the
“Good News” of the Gospel. We are called to testify that without a
doubt God is alive and well in us.
So, how fruitful are our words and daily actions in testifying to
the Word of Life? Are we as ready to stand by our belief in God as John
was? How are we spending the Great Fast to show God that we truly believe?
Are we willing to accompany Him all the way to the Cross, or not? Lest we
forget, He is accompanying us up and down our daily Calvarys. In fact, He
is yoked up with us on the cross beam of our crosses to help us carry
them. What are we doing for Him? Will we stand with heart-felt repentance
at the foot of His Cross on Good Friday looking up at Him Who paid the
ultimate price for our sins? Are we ready to put into words for others to
hear what this sacrifice really means to us personally? “In the middle of the earth You
suffered the Passion and the Cross, to grant us in Your goodness both
redemption and the control of our passions. In the middle of the Fast
today we bring out Your Cross and bow low before it, kissing it with joy.
Grant that we may see Your sufferings and Your life-giving Resurrection in
the light of the heavenly virtues, O Word of God, Who alone have mercy on
us.” – Prayer from the Office
of Vespers for Tuesday of the Great Fast, Week 4 Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Gen. 9:18-10:1 Prov. 12:23-13:9 Gen. 10:32-11:9 Prov. 13:19-14:6 Friday, March 12, 2010 Gen. 12:1-7 Prov. 14:14-26 Saturday, March 13, 2010 4TH ALL SOULS SATURDAY; Translation of the Relics of St. Nicephorus (Patriarch of Constantinople) Heb. 6:9-12 Mark 7:31-37 Sunday, March 14, 2010 FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE GREAT FAST; St. John Climacus (Venerable)
Heb. 6:13-20 Mark 9:17-31
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