Sunday

St. Silouan the Athonite says, “If you encounter hardship, say, ‘The Lord knows my heart, and if this is what pleases Him, then everything will be good for me and for others.'” And, thus, your soul will always be in peace. But if people start complaining and grumbling, saying, “This is not good… and it should be different…,” then they will never attain peace in their heart, even if they observe all the fasts and prayers.

Peace comes from accepting reality as it is and loving others and accepting them as they are. Those who know how to surrender to the Divine Will and love their brethren can live in peace and contribute to changing reality truly, not just in words. “Be in peace, and thousands around you will find peace,” St. Seraphim of Sarov used to repeat.

This is the path that leads to the peace we desire. How can we accept everything with thanksgiving and positivity? If we truly live for God, with God, and for the sake of God, we will not only experience this peace but also transmit it to those around us, and we will pray with St. Silouan, “O Lord, grant Your peace to Your people. O Lord, grant them Your grace, that they may know You and love You with peace and love, and that they may say like the apostles on Mount Tabor, ‘It is good, O Lord, for us to be with You.'”

Prayer:
We adore Thee O Christ and we bless Thee for by Thy Holy Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Monday
Luke 9:

49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.”

50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against [h]us is on [i]our side.”

51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, [j]just as Elijah did?”

55 But He turned and rebuked them, [k]and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 [l]For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

Commentary:

Our Lord corrects the exclusivist and intolerant attitude of the Apostles. St Paul later learned this lesson, as we can see from what he wrote during his imprisonment in Rome: “Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will… What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in that I rejoice” (Phil 1:15, 18). “Rejoice, when you see others working in good apostolic activities. And ask God to grant them abundant grace and that they may respond to that grace.

“Then, you, on your way: convince yourself that it’s the only way for you” St Josemaria. Escrivá, The Way

V. 56: Jesus corrects his disciples’ desire for revenge, because it is out of keeping with the mission of the Messiah, who has come to save men, not destroy them (cf. Lk 19:10; Jn 12:47). The Apostles are gradually learning that zeal for the things of God should not be bitter or violent.

Prayer:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer

 

Tuesday
Luke 9:

57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”

58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”

But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”

60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”

62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Commentary:  We see here the case of the man who wanted to follow Christ, but on one condition — that he be let say goodbye to his family. Our Lord, seeing that he is rather undecided, gives him an answer which applies to all of us, for we have all received a calling to follow him and we have to try not to receive this grace in vain. “We receive the grace of God in vain, when we receive it at the gate of our heart, and do not let it enter our heart. We receive it without receiving it, that is, we receive it without fruit, since there is no advantage in feeling the inspiration if we do not accept it… It sometimes happens that being inspired to do much we consent not to the whole inspiration but only to some part of it, as did those good people in the Gospel, who upon the inspiration which our Lord gave them to follow him wished to make reservations, the one to go first and bury his father, the other to go to take leave of his people” (St Francis de Sales, Catholic Saint)

Prayer:
O Lord come to my assistance, O Lord make haste to help me.

 

Wednesday
:Luke 10:1   After these things the Lord appointed [a]seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. 2 Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals; and greet no one along the road. 5 But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. 9 And heal the sick there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘The very dust of your city which clings to [b]us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.’ 12 [c]But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city.

 

Prayer:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.
Thursday
Navarre Commentary on the Apostles’ mission:  “And the Lord goes on”, St Gregory the Great adds, “‘Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and salute no one on the road.’ Such should be the confidence the preacher places in God that even if he is not provided with the necessities of life, he is convinced that they will come his way, to ensure that worry about providing temporal things for himself does not distract him from providing others with eternal things” (In Evangelia homiliae, 17). Apostolate calls for generous self-surrender which leads to detachment: therefore, Peter, following our Lord’s commandment, when the beggar at the Beautiful Gate asked him for alms (Acts 3:2-3), said, “I have no silver or gold” (ibid. 3:6), “not so as to glory in his poverty”, St Ambrose points out, “but to obey the Lord’s command: it is as if he were saying, ‘You see in me a disciple of Christ, and you ask me for gold? He gave us something much more valuable than gold, the power to act in his name. I do not have what Christ did not give me, but I do have what he did give me: In the name of Jesus Christ, arise and walk’.

“And salute no one on the road”: “How can it be”, St Ambrose asks himself, “that the Lord wishes to get rid of a custom so full of kindness? Notice, however, that he does not just say, ‘Do not salute anyone’, but adds, ‘on the road.’ And there is a reason for this.

“He also commanded Elisha not to salute anyone he met, when he sent him to lay his staff on the body of the dead child (2 Kings 4:29): he gave him this order in order to get him to do this task without delay and effect the raising of the child, and not waste time by stopping to talk to any passer-by he met. Therefore, there is no question of omitting to have the good manners to greet others; it is a matter of removing a possible obstacle in the way of service; when God commands, human considerations should be set aside, at least for the time being. To greet a person is a good thing, but it is better to carry out a divine instruction which could easily be frustrated by a delay” (ibid.).

Prayer:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, the whole earth is filled with Thy Glory.

Friday
Luke 10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, [d]who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. 16 He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

17 Then the [e]seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but [f]rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Prayer:

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
(St. Patrick’s Breastplate prayer excerpt)
Saturday
Commentary on Luke 10 and the joyful Seventy:

Our Lord corrects his disciples, making them see that the right reason for rejoicing lies in hope of reaching heaven, not in the power to do miracles which he gave them for their mission. As he said on another occasion, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers’” (Mt 7:22-23). In other words, in the eyes of God doing his holy will at all times is more important than working miracles.

Prayer:

O Come let us worship and fall down before Christ, O Son of God, Who didst rise from the dead, save us who chant unto Thee, Alleluia.