Sunday

++St Nikolai’s Prologue this week

In the heart is the will, in the heart is love, in the heart is understanding, in the heart is the face of the All-holy and Divine Trinity. The heart is the home of the Father, the altar of the Son, and the workshop of the Holy Spirit. God wants the heart: My son, give me thy heart (Proverbs: 23:26). O my brethren, above all that is guarded, guard your heart! Let the mountains be overturned; let the seas dry up; let your friends abandon you; let your wealth fail you; let your body be consumed by worms; let the world pour upon you all the ridicule that it has—but be not afraid. Only guard your heart; guard it and affix it to the Lord; give it to the Lord. From the heart comes life; but from where does life in the heart come if there does not dwell in it the breath of the Lord and the Source of Life—the breath of God? A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matthew 12:35). These are the words of the Lord, Who fills the treasury of your heart with His riches. Who is this “good man”? He who has the good treasure of the heart. Who is this “evil man”? He who has the evil treasure of the heart. For out of the heart [of an evil man] proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,

blasphemies (Matthew 15:19); and from the good heart proceed love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22–23). Do you see how great a storehouse is the heart of man? Do you see all that can fit in the heart of man? O brother, God the Holy Spirit Himself, when it pleases Him, can fit in the heart of man. He not only can, but He will. He only waits for you to prepare your heart for Him, to turn it into a temple, for God the Holy Spirit will only dwell in a temple. Just as a serpent protects its head, so also you, son, guard your heart. Above everything that is guarded, son, guard your heart! For into the heart enters life and from it proceeds life, life from the Living God. O Life-giving Lord,

Prayer:
Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace good will among men.

Monday

It is the will of the Creator, Who sent us into this world, that we work as long as we are in this world. The Lord Jesus Himself commands: “Work; Watch!” He praises those who multiply their given talents and condemns the slothful who bury their talents. He calls His time on earth service and says that He did not come to be served but to serve. He uses as an example His Heavenly Father and says: My Father worketh hitherto, and I work (John 5:17). He commands His disciples: “Work while you still have light.” Oh, what a terrible shame for man when an ant, an irrational creature, is used as an example of diligence. But when man does not know how to emulate the diligence of God, it is necessary to direct him at least to emulate the ant. An ant works all summer and prepares food for itself for winter. Brethren, do we also prepare winter stores that we will open and display after death? Oh, may we not come with empty hands before Him Who gives to us with full hands as long as we are in this life! Slothfulness is one of the deadly sins, for it deadens the soul in man. A slothful soul is a nest of vices; a slothful soul is a habitation of the devil. O Lord Almighty, Thou Who, at the same time, art all peace and all work, deliver us from destructive slothfulness and move us by Thy Holy Spirit toward all good works, for the sake of the salvation of our souls.

Prayer:   May the Strength of God guide us. May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us. May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us. May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us. – Against the snares of the evil one.
Prayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick Part 1

Tuesday

Fear in suffering and fear of not suffering—this is one and the same fear, and it signifies the fear of a spiritual man as to whether God has distanced Himself from him. When St. Catherine suffered many difficult tortures, the Lord appeared to her and she asked Him: “Where wast Thou until now, O Lord, to comfort me in so many sufferings?” The Lord answered her: “I was here in thy heart.” But as great a fear can come upon a spiritual man when sufferings do not come his way for a long time. A monk once entered a church in Alexandria and saw a woman kneeling before the icon of the Savior, shedding tears and crying out to the Lord: “Thou hast abandoned me, O Lord. O Merciful One, have mercy on me!” Following the prayer the monk asked her: “Who has wronged you that you so bitterly complain to God?” The woman replied: “Up to now no one has wronged me—that is why I am weeping—because God has abandoned me and for three years  has not visited me with any sufferings. During this time, neither have I been sick, nor my son, nor have any of my household livestock perished.”

 

Prayer:
May Christ be with us! May Christ be before us! May Christ be in us, Christ be over all!
May Thy Grace, Lord, Always be ours, This day, O Lord, and forevermore. Amen.
Prayer for the Faithful of St. Patrick  Part 2

 

Wednesday

Let not a king think that he rules by his wisdom and power, for he will be mocked by the weak and the foolish. Let not a ruler think that he establishes justice among the people by his own intelligence and will, for this would be foolishness, absurd even to children. Let not princes, rulers and judges think that they rule according to someone else’s will and mercy, contrary to God’s will and mercy, for all those who forget God will be fatally injured on the ice upon which they are sliding. I love them that love Me, says the Lord. The Lord speaks this, first of all, to the kings, princes and judges of mankind. For if they love the Lord, they are very dear to the Lord. If they love the Lord, the people whom they rule and judge will love Him also. And if the people love the Lord, they will love their kings, princes and judges. Inasmuch as a man is elevated by power and authority over people, so much closer to God should he be than the people over whom he is elevated.

 

Prayer:
Glory to Jesus Christ – Glory forever!
Thursday

We sin if we consider it our duty to hate those whom our relatives hate. This hatred is passed on to us like a family sickness. In adopting the love of our relatives, we also adopt their hatred. Sometimes even great spiritual giants have succumbed to that weakness. Patriarch Theophilus disliked St. John Chrysostom and remained his bitter enemy even until death. St. Cyril, his kinsman and successor to the throne of Alexandria, inherited that hatred against the holy Chrysostom and, for a long time, bore this hatred within himself. In vain did St. Isidore of Pelusium advise Cyril to change his opinion about Chrysostom and to enter his name in the Diptych of the Saints, but Cyril could not change his ill will. Then the All-holy Theotokos, for whose glory and honor Cyril had fought so much against Nestorius, appeared to Cyril in a vision with a multitude of angels, and with them John Chrysostom in great glory. The Holy and All-pure one begged Chrysostom to forgive Cyril. Then Chrysostom approached Cyril and they embraced and kissed one another. This vision completely changed Cyril’s feelings toward Chrysostom, and Cyril repented with shame because he had rashly hated him. That is why, to his death, Cyril did everything to glorify Chrysostom as a great saint of God.

 

Prayer:
For as many have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ…Alleluia

Friday

Thus speaks the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, through His prophet. He who hates the wisdom of God, hates God, and he who hates God—what else is there for him to love except death? Is not everything outside of the Lord death? The sun and stars, the seas and mountains, animals and plants—what is all of this except dead dust formed and enlivened by the power of God, the word of God, the wisdom of God? He who does not love God not only does not love God, but also does not love anything that is from God: neither the beauty of the stars, nor the order of the seas and mountains, nor the living power that is in animals and plant life. He who does not love God removes and distances God from nature. What else then is left? Only dead, formless, dark dust—only death. Even that dust is created by God, and the blasphemer of God must return that dust to God, and that which is left over he can love. What is left over? Only that which does not touch God, that is, death, sin and the devil. He who does not love God, in essence, loves death, sin and the devil. Every blasphemer of God is a toy of the devil, a fruit of sin, and a pawn of death.  If we despise Thee, O Loving Lord, we do not have anyone or anything to love. For that which we love on earth we love because of Thee, and the ability to love is from Thee. Foolish is he who loves the rays and despises the sun, and who loves a drop of water and despises the spring.

Prayer:
Christ is in our midst – He is and always shall be

Saturday

It is not the same to eat your meal with a blessing and to eat it without a blessing. Every meal is God’s table, which God Himself has set for us. This is why it is necessary to thank God as our Host and beg His blessings. Food that has been blessed is tastier and more satisfying, while unblessed food is unpalatable, unsatisfying and unhealthy. On one occasion, Emperor Theodosius the Younger went for a walk in the surroundings of Constantinople and, seeing the hut of a monk, stopped and visited. The elder asked the emperor whether he would like something to eat. “I would,” answered the emperor. The elder brought bread, oil, salt and water before the emperor. The emperor ate and drank and then asked the monk: “Do you know who I am?” “God knows who you are,” replied the monk. “I am Emperor Theodosius.” The monk bowed down before the emperor silently. The emperor said to him: “I am an emperor and the son of an emperor, but, believe me, never in my life have I eaten such tasty food as I have today with you.” “And do you know why?” asked the elder. “Because,” he continued, “we monks always prepare our food with prayer and blessing, and therefore bitter food is transformed for us into tasty food. With you, however, food is prepared with much labor, but you do not seek a blessing (from God), and because of that even tasty food becomes tasteless.”

 

Prayer:
Preserve O Lord while waking and guard us while sleeping that awake we may watch with Christ and asleep we may rest in peace.