'Daily Bread'
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
"The enjoyment of this present life, though it seems to give delight and sweetness, is well thrust from us. At the very moment of its being it ceases to be, and for our joy repays us with sorrow sevenfold. Its happiness and its sorrow more frail than a shadow, and, like the traces of a ship passing over the sea, or a bird flying through the air, quickly disappear. But the hope of the life to come which the Christians preach is certain and quite sure; howbeit in this world it has tribulation, whereas our pleasures now are short-lived, and in the beyond they only win us correction and everlasting punishment without release. For the pleasures of life are temporary, but its pain eternal; while the Christians labors are temporary but their pleasure and gain immortal. Therefore, right it is to exchange the corruptible for the incorruptible."
- St. John of Damascus
Daily Scripture Reading
2 Corinthians 6:11-16 (Epistle)
11 O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open.
12 You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.
13 Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open.
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Mark 1:23-28 (Gospel)
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,
24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.
27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
28 And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.
Holy Martyr Ia of Persia
The Martyr Ia sent forth a fragrance of violets,
With her outpoured blood dyed red.
Saint Ia (Violet) was an elderly Christian woman who lived in the fortress of Bet-Zabde (or Phenak) on the right bank of the Tigris at the frontier of the Roman and Persian Empires. King Shapur II of Persia (309-379), after several attempts to capture this fortress, took it in 362. He razed its walls, put to death many of the garrison and made captive about 9,000 Christians, including the holy Bishop Heliodoros as well as priests, deacons, ascetics and pious Christians (Apr. 9).
Saint Ia was among the Christian prisoners who were deported to Bet-Houzae in Persia. She was well-instructed in the faith, and love moved her to make the word of God known to the women of the place. But the husbands, suspecting that she was trying to persuade their wives to flee matrimony, denounced her. King Shapur ordered two of his magi to seize the Saint and torture her until she would worship fire and water. As Ia valiantly confessed Christ, she was stripped, her limbs were torn asunder with ropes, and she was flogged mercilessly by five tormentors. Covered in wounds, she was thrown into prison. Two months later, when she was again questioned, she said, "I shall remain steadfast in the grace that has been given to me; nothing in the world will make me give up the true God in exchange for your vain idols." For this answer, she was beaten with forty rose-bush stems full of thorns until the shreds of her flesh covered the ground.
After keeping Saint Ia in prison for six months more, the magi, unable to overcome her resolution that was as strong as brass, tightly bound nine reeds to her body with fine cords. They pulled the reeds out one by one, tearing her flesh so deeply that her entrails appeared. Ten days after this torture, they crushed her in a press and then beheaded her, thus obtaining the crown of martyrdom at last. It is said that where her blood spilled on the ground, the earth began to swell and raise up in a supernatural manner, and the light of the sun was hidden. This, along with the beautiful fragrance that emanated from her relic, struck her executioners with awe. Her body was to be left for vultures and carrion-crows to devour, but the Christians succeeded in ransoming it and they gave her a proper burial. Later on, her holy relics were translated to Constantinople, where several churches were dedicated to Saint Ia.*
* She is also often commemorated on August 4th with Saint Eudokia, whose Passion is so similar to that of Saint Ia that the two Saints are probably the same person. For this reason, instead of celebrating the Translation of the Relics of Saint Eudokia on August 4th, as the Synaxarion of Constantinople states, it should be the Translation of the Relics of Saint Ia. She is also probably the same Saint Ia celebrated in the Synaxarion of Constantinople on September 10.
Is God’s Forgiveness Unconditional?
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (18:23-35)
by Fr. James Guirguis
We would not know a single thing about God or His kingdom had it not been shared with us in His great love for us. God did not want us to be ignorant people who walk around uninformed and unenlightened. God did not want us to be blind or empty. He wanted us to be full of joy and our joy is to know God, to know His ways and to know His kingdom.
Today’s parable is yet another example of the generosity that the Lord Jesus Christ has for us as He teaches us about the kingdom of heaven. These are not things that the Lord must teach us. No one is forcing Him to do so. He does them because He is merciful to us and He wants us to be with Him in His kingdom. He wants to share the kingdom with each of us. In teaching us about the kingdom we are also being reminded or put on notice “This is not our kingdom.”
What aspect of the kingdom does the Lord share with us in today’s parable? His focus is forgiveness. If we pay attention we find many examples of this teaching about forgiveness throughout the gospels. Perhaps if something is mentioned multiple times, we should open our ears as well as our hearts and minds and hear what it is that the Lord is saying to us. In today’s reading we are told that the kingdom of heaven is to be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. Upon finding that his servant could not repay his debt, he ordered the servant to be sold with his wife and kids in order to repay the debt. But something powerful happened! The servant who was about to be sold with his wife and children dropped to his knees and begged for patience. He asked for the king to be merciful to him and to his family. We can imagine such a scene, a man at the end of his rope, pleading, begging and crying out of despair. And how does the king respond? He responds by forgiving all of the debt and releasing the servant. So far so good. The king in this story is the Lord God. And we are the servants who owe a great debt to God. Such a debt as can never be repaid. Although it is God’s prerogative to sell us or allow us to be sent to another master (that is the evil one), He graciously chooses to forgive us all of our debt. So far so good.
But now comes the trouble. That same servant who was just released from all of his mountain of debt, was walking along the way and he found one of his fellow servants who owed him just one hundred denarii. And the anger inside him welled up and he grabbed that other servant by the throat and said “pay what you owe.” So the man who owed the hundred denarii fell to his knees and asked the man to be patient and merciful to him. How would this servant who had himself owed ten thousand talents to his king and was forgiven respond? He responded by taking the fellow servant and threw him into prison until he could pay the debt. This tells us that there is a problem with us when we ask God to forgive us from the bottom of our hearts but we are unwilling to forgive others who ask for our forgiveness from the bottom of their hearts.
The Lord Jesus tells us that the one who does not forgive another is essentially putting that person into a type of prison. And I have experienced this firsthand. We feel imprisoned because someone is angry with us and they refuse to properly forgive us. Each of us has been in that situation. We feel helpless because we have done our part to try and right the situation and have been apologetic (even when we may not have had much to apologize for in the first place), but those who are angry hold all the power. They can choose to remain angry or they can choose to forgive. In addition to making us feel imprisoned, those who are angry also put themselves into a type of prison of their own making.
This type of behavior is problematic for at least two reasons. The first is that each one of us is human and none of us is perfect yet. Since we are not perfect it is reasonable for us to assume that at some point or another, we will be the ones who are in need of mercy and forgiveness from others. But the second point is much more important than the first. We each owe a great debt to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We accumulated such a debt of sin that it reaches high into the sky like the tower of Babel. Our mountain of sin is so great that it is like the peak of Mt. Everest. We cannot even see it from the ground. It is so high it reaches above the clouds.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 9/9: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 9/10: no services or events
Wednesday 9/11: no services or events
Thursday 9/12: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 9/13: Vigil for the Exaltation of the Precious Cross 6:30 p.m.
Saturday 9/14: Festal Liturgy for Exaltation 9:15 a.m., Catechumen Class 4:30 p.m; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 9/15: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m., Church Picnic
