Daily Readings & Meditations
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FIFTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST |
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SUN., June 28, 2009, 4TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST; translation of the relics of the Wonderworkers and Unmercinaries Cyrus and John
Romans 6:18-23 Matthew 8:5-13
“But what profit did you get then from
the things of which you are now ashamed?” ( “In You, O Lord, I have hoped. Let me
never be put to shame. Be the God of my protection, and a house of refuge
to save me.” – Alleluia
Verses for the Third
Resuurectional Tone
Mon., June 29, 2009 SAINTS PETER AND PAUL, PRIME APOSTLES
2 Cor. 11:21-12:9 Matthew 16:13-19
“And apart from all these things, there
is the daily anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak?
Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?” (1
Cor. 11:28-29) When
we break a foot, we need added upper body strength to be able to walk with
crutches in the proper way. When we have a cold, our whole body can ache.
When we can’t hear too well, we learn to read lips. When we can’t see
too well, we learn to walk more with the sense of touch. Get the picture?
Our body works as a unit, and all parts are dependent on each other and
compensate for one another in order to keep the body functioning to the
best of its ability at any given moment. “At that first Eucharist before You
died, O Lord, You prayed that all be one in
You; At this our Eucharist again preside, And in our hearts Your law of love renew.
Thus may we all one Bread, one Body be;
Through this blest Sacrament of Unity. For all Your Church, O Lord, we
intercede; O make our lack of charity to cease; Draw us the nearer each to each we plead, By drawing all to You, O Prince of peace.
Thus may we all one Bread, one Body be,
Through this blest Sacrament of Unity. We pray for those who wander from the
fold; O bring them back, Good Shepherd of the
sheep, Back to the faith which saints believed
of old, Back to the Church which still that faith
does keep.
Thus may we all one Bread, one Body be,
Through this blest sacrament of Unity. “Holy gifts for the holy people of
God….One is holy, one is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the
Father. Amen. Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the highest.
Alleluia….The Lamb of God is broken and distributed – broken but not
divided, ever eaten yet never consumed, but sanctifying those who
partake.” - Prayer
before Receiving the Holy Eucharist during the Divine Liturgy
Tue., June 30, 2009 Synaxis of the Twelve Apostles
1 Cor. 4:9-16 Mark 3:13-19
“We are fools on Christ’s account. .
. .When ridiculed, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered,
we respond gently. We become like the world’s rubbish, the scum of all,
to this very moment.” ( Who
is considered to be a fool in the eyes of the world? It is a person who
lacks commonsense and understanding and thus is unable to wisely make
proper judgments according to worldly ways. So, what kind of fool does
that make each one of us who follow Christ? Because we Christians are to
base our decisions on what we have learned by following the teachings and
life of Jesus Christ, our bank account, our savings account for eternal
life, is not considered solvent in earthly eyes. In fact, it is capable of
dissolving many earthly investments that are detrimental to our spiritual
health. And this is thought to be very stupid according to the money gurus
of this present day. Their favorite anthem is the “Money Song” from
the popular musical Cabaret. To them, “Money
makes the world go round.” The WAY we follow and upon which we base
our savings in, with and through Jesus Christ is counter-cultural to the
“culture of death” so prevalent in the world today, and what makes our
world go round is LOVE. If we do not realize it, we Christians are the
original “peace-niks” and “flower children” from the time of the
early Church. Didn’t Christ come to bring peace to the world as the
angels sang at His birth and as He later told the apostles after He
resurrected from the dead? Also, before He ascended into heaven, He
endowed us with His nourishing Body and Blood so that we might become His
witnesses to this. He continually provides us with this personal incoming
of His love in the Holy Eucharist so that we might more readily put out a
bit of peace and love to those around us in our own daily lives.
Furthermore, are we not the “flower children” God originally planted
in the Garden of Eden and has now replanted to blossom in the wilderness
of the world? Our ancestors advocated peace and love as they joyfully and
peacefully went to their deaths in the early days of persecution under
Roman rule, as well as more recently under the reign of communism, and
even today in some of the hot spots of religious intolerance in the world.
As Jesus told His disciples while explaining the parables of the weeds and
of the sower, “He Who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the
good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the
Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil.” (Matthew
13:37-39). And to explain further, “[T]he
seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it,
who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew
13:23). As God’s flower children
planted in this world, we do not live in communes but are members of the
Mystical Body of Christ. We do not carry or wear flowers to symbolize our
Christian stand on the issues of the day but wear our crosses with deep
faith. We do not embrace soft drugs but are continually nourished with the
Body and Blood of Christ. We do not favor acid rock or progressive rock
music but sing as the children did on our Savior’s entrance into
Jerusalem along with the angels in heaven, “Blessed
is He Who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest” (Matthew
21:9). Do we realize how much we are
at odds with worldly interests? Are we banking our lives on fleeting
worldly praise or everlasting glory? Are we blooming as the sunflowers in
God’s garden should by following His Light from east to west all day
long? Let’s just spend a few moments thinking about what Jesus tells us
as to why He spoke in parables and we are the seeds of His word planted on
this earth: “Because knowledge of the mysteries of
the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been
granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from
anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I
speak to them in parables, because ‘they look but do not see and hear
but do not listen or understand.’” (Matthew
13:11-13). So,
it is up to us. Do we want to be rich in the “Lord, You bless those who bless You;
and sanctify those who trust in You. Save Your people and bless Your
inheritance. Protect the full membership of Your Church. Sanctify those
who love the beauty of Your house. Glorify them in return by Your divine
power. Do not forsake us who hope in You. Grant peace to Your world, to
Your churches, to the clergy, to our nation under God, to our government,
to the military and to all Your laity. For every worthwhile gift, every
generous benefit comes from You, the Father of Lights. And to You we give
glory, thanks and worship, to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy
Spirit, now and for ever and ever. Amen.” – Prayer
of Dismissal for the Divine Liturgy
Wed., July 1, 2009 SS. Cosmas and Damian (Unmercinaries)
Romans 15:7-16 Matthew 12:38-45
“Welcome one another, then, as Christ
welcomed you, for the glory of God.” ( Abraham
sat at the door to his tent in the heat of the day when he noticed three
men standing at the Terebinth of Mamre. He ran over to them and bowing to
the ground asked them to allow him to give them some hospitality (Gen.
1:1-18). This was a common practice
to greet guests and strangers in the desert and offer them food and drink
and other comforts if need be. No one could live alone in the desert. The
guest was received with honor, wined and dined and made immune from any
attack on his person. The guest was treated with dignity and respect that
is due to a human being. To the host the guest seemed to have a special
sense of a sacredness of being surrounding him. This ancient practice came
back with a new twist when Jesus Christ appeared on the scene. Recall His
appearance after His resurrection to the two disciples on their way to
Emmaus. They asked Him to join them for dinner and to stay until daybreak
before continuing on His way, for nobody traveled at night unless they
really had to because it was too dangerous (Luke
24:13-35). However, with Jesus it is
the host who is honored and not so much the guest as it was in the past.
As Jesus told His apostles, “Anyone who loves Me will be true to My word, and My father will love
him, We will come to him and make our dwelling place with him” (John
14:23). So, if we love God and live
according to His will in our life, He will come and dwell within us. How
awesome and mind boggling is this thought. Our God loves us so much that
He wants to honor us with His living presence within us. To go a step
further, do we realize what a marvelous privilege we grant our God by
presenting Him with a pure heart into which He can come each time we
partake of the Holy Eucharist? Our God makes Himself small enough in the
consecrated morsel of bread and wine, His Body and Blood, so that we can
welcome Him into our life because He wants to be a part of it and have us
join Him in His life. Note what “Before You, O kind and loving Master, we
place our whole life and hope, and we
pray, beg and beseech You: make us
worthy to partake of Your awesome and heavenly Mysteries at this sacred
and spiritual table with a clean conscience, for forgiveness of sins,
pardon of offenses, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, inheritance of the
heavenly kingdom, confidence before You not for judgment or
condemnation.” – Prayer by
the Priest before the Recitation of the Our Father during the Divine
Liturgy
THU., July 2, 2009, Deposition of the Robe of the Theotokos
Heb. 9:1-7 Luke 10:38-42 & 11:27-28
“Behind the second veil was the
tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, in which were the gold altar of
incense and the Ark of the Covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were
the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted,
and the tablets of the covenant.” (Heb.
9:3-4) As
the Jews wandered about in the desert, they had a sanctuary, a consecrated
place in which they could consult with God through Moses (Ex.
33:7-11). God had given them
specific instructions as to how it was to be built (Ex.
25-31), and then how it was to be
faithful used by them (Ex. 35-39).
When it was completed the glory if God descended upon it in the form of a
splendid cloud which filled it to show them that God was taking possession
of it as His dwelling place. God’s divine presence was visibly evident
to them through a cloud that blocked the door of the tent (Num.
12:4-10). Within the tent was the
Ark of the Covenant which contained, among other things, the tablets of
the covenant of God’s written Word, the Ten Commandments, which they
were to follow. God was present to them in His Word, and the ark was
believed to be His footstool on earth because God was seated on His throne
between the two cherubim placed on top of the ark (1
Chron. 28:2; Num. 10:33-35; Ps. 99:5).
Thus, to the Jews, their portable sanctuary, or tabernacle, was the
“Tent of Meeting” in which God dwelt among them. Now, let’s bring us
up to date. We likewise meet God in a portable meeting place, the personal
tabernacle we have within us, the place in which He resides called our
heart, that is if we love Him and, like the Israelites, keep His
commandments (John 14:23).
Through our Baptism, we have become the consecrated sanctuaries of God.
And it is within this tabernacle of ours that we carry the Ark of The
Covenant of God with us today. For the Israelites, the ark just carried
the presence of God among them in the form of His written word on some
tables. The “Tent of Meeting” for them was out there away from them
and placed in the desert. Our “Tent of Meeting” is within our very
being and the ark within us contains the sacrifice of the New Covenant,
the Blood shed for us and the body broken for us of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God and Son of Man. Do we realize that we have within ourselves the
much greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by human hands which is
the very dwelling of God in the heavens (Heb.
9:11)? What did Jesus tell us about
the “You have not come to call the
righteous, but rather, to call sinners to repentance. Cleanse me from
every stain of flesh and spirit. Teach me how to fulfill Your will in fear
and holiness so that, having the witness of a clear conscience and the
communion of Your holy Mysteries, I may be united to Your Body and Blood
and have You, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, dwell and abide
in me. Amen.” – From the
Prayer of St. Basil the Great before Communion
FRI., July 3, 2009, St. Hyacinth (Martyr)
Romans 16:1-16 Matthew 13:4-9
“Greet one another with a holy kiss.
All the churches of Christ greet you.” ( Louie
Armstrong, the great jazz trumpet player and scat singer, is known for the
song he made popular which went like this: “A
kiss is just a kiss…as time goes by.” Is it? Is a kiss just a mere
gesture of putting our lips to the object of our affection or to the one
whom we are greeting? “Having asked for unity of faith and
for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, let us commit ourselves and one
another, and our whole life, to Christ our God”…”To You, O Lord.”
– Said before Praying the Our
Father during the Divine Liturgy
SAT., July 4, 2009, St. Andrew of Jerusalem (Archbishop)
Romans 8:14-21 Matthew 9:9-13
“For you did not receive a spirit of
slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption,
through which we cry, Abba, ‘Father!’” ( Many,
many, many moons ago a young couple lived in their father’s house.
However, they became irresponsible and went against a certain rule he had
set for living in his house. As a result, he used some tough love and
threw them out to fend on their own in the world. As time went by, he
could see that they were trying to do better and were beginning to turn to
him for help. So, he, because he still loved them and was filled with
compassion for their plight in having a not so rosy future to look forward
too, decided to show them the ropes of how to get back into his good will
and thus give themselves the chance to prove themselves worthy enough to
live in his house again. Does this story sound familiar? It should because
it is our story, the story of our human race. Because of our sinful human
nature, we were evicted from our Father’s house in “Our Father, Who art in heaven hallowed
be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil…..For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the
glory, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and for
ever and ever. Amen.”
SUN., July 5, 2009, 5TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST; St. Athanasius of Mount Athos (Venerable)
Romans 10:1-10 Matthew 8:28-9:1
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Created on January 1, 2001
Updated 01/05/2003