'Daily Bread'
Monday, September 16, 2024
Pay attention carefully. After the sin comes the shame; courage follows repentance. Did you pay attention to what I said? Satan upsets the order; he gives the courage to sin and the shame to repentance.
+ St. John Chrystotom, Homily 8, On Repentance and Almsgiving (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)
Daily Scripture Reading
2 Corinthians 8:7-15 (Epistle)
7 But as you abound in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us – see that you abound in this grace also.
8 I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
10 And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago;
11 but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have.
12 For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened;
14 but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack – that there may be equality.
15 As it is written, “He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack.”
Luke 3:19-22 (Gospel)
19 But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,
20 also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.
21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.
22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Martyr Ludmilla the grandmother of Saint Wenceslaus, Prince of the Czechs
The Holy Martyr Ludmilla, a Czech (Bohemian) princess, was married to the Czech prince Borivoy. Both spouses received holy Baptism from Saint Methodius, Archbishop of Moravia and Enlightener of the Slavs (Comm. 11 May).
As Christians, they showed concern for the enlightening of their subjects with the light of the true Faith, they built churches and invited priests to celebrate the divine services. Prince Borivoy died early at age 36. Saint Ludmilla, as a widow, led an austere, pious life and continued to be concerned for the Church during the reign of her son Bratislav, which lasted for 33 years.
Bratislav was married to Dragomira, with whom he had a son, Wenceslaus (Vyacheslav). After the death of Bratislav, eighteen-year-old Wenceslaus came on the throne. Taking advantage of the inexperience and youth of her son, Dragomira began to introduce pagan manners and customs in the country.
Saint Ludmilla, of course, opposed this. Dragomira came to hate her mother-in-law and tried to destroy her. When Saint Ludmilla moved away to the city of Techin, Dragomira sent two boyars in secret to murder her. Saint Ludmilla was praying at the time, and the two assassins entered the house and carried out Dragomira’s orders.
The relics of the holy Martyr Ludmilla were buried in Techin in the city wall. Numerous healings occurred at her grave. Prince Vyacheslav transferred the body of Saint Ludmilla to the city of Prague and placed it in the church of Saint George.
Spiritual “Potholes”
I once heard a priest give the image of a highway to describe our spiritual journey towards God. All of the moral laws and commandments that we practice as Christians are what makes up the guard rails. Fasting rules, canon laws, the “do nots” are all of the practices we put into our lives that protect us from falling off of the road and down a cliff. They are put there for a reason and are extremely important! But what happens if they become the sole purpose of our life?
We don’t drive our cars on the guard rails to test their strength, because if we did (although we wouldn’t veer off of the road) we would still get dings, dents, and scratches! We drive rather in the center of the road, in between the guardrails, following the path that our Lord has laid out for us through His Church.
The spiritual life for Orthodox Christians is not unlike this image of the highway. How we conduct ourselves on the outside and in public is important, but it is what is in our hearts that really matters. True Life…true Union and Communion with God, is not something that only happens externally. It begins deep in the depths of our souls. Life is about manifesting within ourselves that Love and Grace of God, which literally transfigures us into something greater.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 9/16: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 9/17: no services or events
Wednesday 9/18: no services or events
Thursday 9/19: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 9/20: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 9/21: Choir Rehearsal 5:00 p.m.; Panikhida 5:45 pm; Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 9/22: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m.
