VIII Pentecost!
8th Sunday
after Pentecost.
Western Rite
Greetings in Christ Jesus,
VIII Sunday after
Pentecost
(Second Sunday of the cycle of six Sundays)
During this week:
At the Beginning of
Night read the Gospel of St. John throughout this week.
Matins: Week VIII
throughout this week, (St. john 20: 19-31) for the verses before the
Second Canticle of Moses, the Song of the Three Youths, and
the Matins Resurrection
Gospel.
The Divine Liturgy:
Old Testament: Jer.
16:19-21 [S] (“O Lord, my might, and my
strength, and my refuge
in the day of tribulation: to You the Gentiles shall come
from the ends of the earth, and
shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a vanity which
has not profited them.
Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
Therefore behold I will this
once cause them to know, I will show them my hand and my
power: and they shall know
that my Name is the Lord.”)
Epistle: II
Corinthians 12:20-13:2 (St. Paul warns that he will judge those who cause
strife in the
Church.) “For I fear lest perhaps, when I come, I
shall not find you such as I
would, and that I shall
be found by you such as you would not. Lest perhaps
contentions, envyings, animosities, dissensions,
detractions, whisperings, swellings,
seditions, be among you. Lest again, when I come, God humble
me among you; and I
mourn many of them that sinned before and have not repented
for the uncleanness and
fornication and lasciviousness that they have committed. Behold,
this is the third time I
am coming to you. In
the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand. I
have told before, and foretell, as present and now absent,
to them that sinned
before, and to all the rest, that, if I come again, I will
not spare.”
Gradual and
Alleluia: Psalm 86 (Heb. 87) The foundations
thereof are in the holy
mountains: The Lord loves the
gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob. (Verses
6-7 may be used as the Alleluia.)
Gospel: Mark 4:24-34 (Measure for measure: we will get
what we give. Also, the seed
in the earth, and the mustard seed. Jesus explains everything in
parables.)
Friends,
In today’s prophecy we see the body of Christ. The gentiles
have come to God through Christ because we have seen that the idols or gods
man made are indeed false. What false gods exist today? Science and money are
honored and revered and worshiped as gods. People in science, people who are
rich, entertainers also are worshiped as idols. In spite of Jesus, man knd has
not changed very much.
Oh friends how pitiful we are as Christians, in the second epistle to
the Corinthians St. Paul was defending himself from among the accusations
against him from the legalists, one of the accusations he had been accused of was
skimming money from the contributions, in today’s epistle he went on from
defending himself to begin pointing out the sins of the Corinthian church that
he may still find there when he arrives. How easily do we fall while raising
ourselves in our own mind? How easily are we blinded by our own sins and yet
accuse others?
Our Lord Jesus Himself spoke out in parables so that those who thought
that they could see and hear actually could not as they were blinded by their
own pride, lust, envying, and arrogance as they believed that they already knew
it all and yet knew little. My friends, we can never stop seeking, we must
never become complacent in our intellect, this is when we begin to fool
ourselves, we must prove all things, the spirit does not simply give but we
must seek, do we not remember the story of the old woman before the judge when
the judge granted her petition only because she appeared daily before him and
would not let it rest?
Did not our Lord say that we are to be the same before the Father? (Luke
18:1-8). We must never stop seeking spiritual growth by the shedding of our own
corruption and gaining the spirit of truth and love for one another. Did Jesus
say; “forgive them Father for they know not what they do?” or did He say;
forgive those whom you have given me because they believed me and should be
saved? You know the answer. Love your enemies and pray for them, if your enemy
thirsts give him water, if he is hungry give him bread.
Do you not ask a departed saint to pray for you while another
Christian does? Do you accuse that one? The Christian church has done this from
the beginning and nowhere was it condemned. The bones of the prophet Elisha
brought a dead man back to life and yet while all call this scripture, there
are those who bring accusation against those who still believe that this can
happen. Why do we accuse one another? There is no law that says to believe or
not to believe either of these things, so why accuse? Can either side prove
either position?
Love one another, this is the command. If one says that Jesus did not
come from the Father then this we know is untrue and this person is not truly
Christian. If one says that Jesus did not rise from the dead then this we know
is not true and this person is not a true Christian. From these things we stay
away from and yet we pray for those who make these statements.
Today’s Psalm speaks of the gates of Zion and how the Lord loves them,
it speaks of those who are born there and the Lord loves them. The new Zion,
the New Jerusalem is being built, it is built by those who belong to the Christ
Jesus, and we are all building blocks of the living Jerusalem. Do not remove
yourself from the walls by hate and pride, arrogance and envy; keep yourself
alive in Christ through the love of others and living the word of Christ in
this world.
We must live our faith in spite of those who make the statement that
they do not need God in their life to do good. We who believe still need our
Savior because we sin everyday whether in thought, word or deed. There is no
amount of good that we can do that will erase our sin once we have committed
it. There is only our faith in Christ Jesus, our recognition of our sin, our
confession, and repentance. This is our faith.
God can do all things; there is no situation that we get
ourselves into that God cannot help us out of. Don’t think though that if there
is some earthly penalty that we must pay that we will escape this because we
suddenly come to God for help. We simply must have the faith and believe. Keep
in mind however; God's plan is far above ours. We suffer and we have plenty
coming based on what God Himself has in store for us whether it is for purging,
for testing, or for reward or necessity for our life. God is in control.
We do not know when this will end and the new beginning will be, in spite of the many modern prophets who make a living selling Jesus and the destruction of the world; we have no clue when it will be. In the meantime, it rains on us all, haters and lovers of Jesus. The sun shines on us all, haters and lovers of Jesus. We remain together in this world until that day. So take a lesson from the readings. Continue to praise and worship Jesus the Christ and the Father through Him. Never cease to pray and live according to the gospel. Allow the Holy Ghost to guide you. Love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength; love your neighbor as yourself. You never know whose life you will change because of this love of God in you.
The light has entered the world and the times; they are a-changing.
If one does not have love for the soul of mankind and the
desire that all come to the truth than one does not have Christ in them fully.
Little children, love one another; because this is our
Lord’s command and if you fulfill this, nothing else is needed. Through love
and because of love we will follow all of the commandments that we have been
given. They are written on our hearts by the hand of Almighty God. We simply
need to see them within us and follow.
Remember; if we confess our sins and repent, he is faithful
and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.
May the peace of our Lord Jesus the Christ be with you
throughout this day and the rest of your life. May the Holy Spirit fill us all
to overflowing so that everyone in whose path we cross may receive a blessing
from our Lord Jesus the Christ.
St. Michael’s Monastery and the New Warrior Ministries Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW8XyPtkmtu6a1vVg6MEiNg
Many Blessings!
+William
