Daily Bread
Monday, November 4, 2024
“Some people by the word freedom understand the ability to do whatever one wants … People who have the more allowed themselves to come into slavery to sins, passions, and defilements more often than others appear as zealots of external freedom, wanting to broaden the laws as much as possible. But such a man uses external freedom only to more severely burden himself with inner slavery. True freedom is the active ability of a man who is not enslaved to sin, who is not pricked by a condemning conscience, to choose the better in the light of God’s truth, and to bring it into actuality with the help of the gracious power of God. This is the freedom of which neither heaven nor earth are restrict.”
+ St. Philaret of Moscow, Sermon on the Birthday of Emperor Nicholas I, 1851
Daily Scripture Readings
Philippians 2:12-16 (Epistle)
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
14 Do all things without complaining and disputing,
15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16 holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.
Luke 12:13-15, 22-31 (Gospel)
13 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14 But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”
15 And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
22 Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?
25 And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
26 If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
29 And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.
30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.
Hieromartyr Seraphim (Samoilovich), Archbishop of Uglich
Hieromartyr Seraphim, Archbishop of Uglich (in the world Semyon N. Samoylovich) was born on July 19, 1881 in the city of Myrgorod, Poltava governorate.
Semyon graduated from the Poltava Theological Seminary in 1902 and received a place as a teacher of Unalashkinskaya, a two-year school in Alaska. In 1905 he held the same position at Sitka, where he was tonsured into the mantiya by Bishop Innocent (Pustynsky) and a month later he was ordained as a Hieromonk. In 1906, Father Seraphim was rector of the Nugek Spiritual Mission in North America. In 1907-1908 he taught at Sitka Theological Seminary. In America, Vladyka was the associate of His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon, the future Patriarch, who valued the zealous missionary-ascetic highly.
In 1908, Father Seraphim was an assistant to the Vladikavkaz diocesan missionary, and in 1909 he was the Father Confessor of the Alexander Ardon Theological Seminary. In 1910, he was appointed first Vicar of the Mogilev Brotherhood First-Class Monastery, and then, at the request of His Eminence Archbishop Tikhon, who then held the Yaroslavl kathedra, he was transferred to the post of viceroy of Tolzhsk Yaroslavl Monastery.
There, Father Seraphim wrote a serious work on the history of the Tolzhsk Monastery, timed to coincide with its 600th anniversary. He started a beekeeping school for orphan boys, and at the beginning of the war he established an infirmary.
Universal Lack of Common Sense
It’s very important for people to have common sense. Everybody says so, but how many actually possess ordinary, common sense?
As psychosomatic beings, people receive stimuli and bodily and mental messages. They receive feelings through their senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell). These stimuli are passed on by centripetal nerve fibers to the respective centers in the brain. There the brain processes them, apprehends them, and transmits them as knowledge to the mind, which is the core of our psychosomatic being. Our stimuli, sensual and mental, are empirical states allowing for critical analysis, comparison and classification and, through the coaction of all the above mental functions, we acquire knowledge.
BThis knowledge is used by reason, so that we react rationally, with cognitive experience. This is the basic form of cognitive reaction which comes from our experiences and constitutes common sense.
The great value of common sense lies in its simplicity. It isn’t caught up in the chaos of complex reasoning. The thought process is simple, clear and precise and the search for truth, for solutions, for answers to the way we deal with problems is more likely to be simple and clear.
In common sense, the meaning of words is particular and not susceptible to confusion. Any problem that arises is formulated clearly and the answer proposed leaves no room for misinterpretation. Once we start being verbose, it’s a sign that the aim is to create confusion.
For example, common sense tells us that lying is bad behavior and that therefore we should avoid lying or spreading false information. This is an unambiguous position, without any ‘Yes, but…’. Excuses come when lies have been told. This is an attempt to cover them up and it’s where the problems begin.
This week’s calendar reminders:
Monday 11/04: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday 11/05: no services or events
Wednesday 11/06: no services or events
Thursday 11/07: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Friday 11/08: Matins 8:30 a.m.
Saturday 11/09: Catechumen class 4:30; Great Vespers 6 pm
Sunday 11/10: Divine Liturgy 9: 15 a.m. Great Vespers for St Nektarios 4pm
