Sunday

He took his journey into a far country. No man can go farther than to abandon his own better self, to leave, not his country, but his morals, and, as it were, in an hideous fever of lust after the world, to divorce himself from the ties that bind him to holy things. Yes, he that turns his back on Christ, banishs himself from his Fatherland, and becomes a citizen of the world. But we are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, since we who sometimes were afar off, are made nigh by the Blood of Christ. Let us not envy the pleasures of them who remain in the far country. We too have once been there, but, as says Isaias, “they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (ix: 2). And that far country is the land of the shadow of death.

  • St Ambrose, Homily on Luke and the Prodigal Son

Prayer:  We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
*Sub Tuum Praesidium

 

Monday

Elder St Paisios on the Purpose of Fear…
“Maybe someone suffered something as a child and is now afraid because of that. Many times the fear may be natural, but it can also stem from a lack of faith, from the lack of trust in God. But fear can also be a brake because it helps man to turn to God. Man is afraid and looks to find something to hold on to and is then forced to hold on to God. You see, in tropical jungles inhabited by wild native people there are also wild animals, large beasts, boas, and so forth, in order to force the people to seek help from God, to turn to God, and to find their path. Otherwise, what would it take to constrain these people? All that God has made serves some purpose.”
– ‘Spiritual Awakening’

Prayer:  O Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, Who art everywhere present and fillest all things, Treasury of good things and Giver of life: Come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Tuesday

And many lepers were in Israel in the days of Eliseus the Prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. By these words of the Lord our great Physician, we are plainly taught and urged to put our trust in the Adorable God, since we see that none was healed, or cleansed from bodily plague- spots, save him who took a religious means to regain health. For the blessings of God are not given to them who close their eyes in sleep, but to them that look to Him. We have remarked in our other book, that the widow to whom Elias was sent was a “type” of the Church. And next after the Church comes, appropriately, the mention of her people,  Yes, the Gentiles were a people foreigners by birth, leprous, and covered with plague-spots, till they were baptized in the stream of the mystical Jordan; but from the sacramental waters they rise, lepers no more, but cleansed in body and soul, a glorious virgin Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.

  • St Ambrose, Homily on Luke IV

Prayer:  Holy angel of the Lord by guardian, pray to God for me.

Wednesday

“The main power of the prayer and the entire appetitive power of the soul lies in the cleansing of the heart by means of noetic/deep spiritual prayer. What does the Lord say? “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” He does not say “Blessed are those who see visions and revelations.” So we should not rejoice in these things even if they are from God. But one should rejoice when one sees that the nous/spiritual eye has found the heart and remained inside it. Then the entire body is at peace, the soul is calmed, the heart leaps, the nous illuminates its powers and tears run like a stream. The evil one is able to transform everything but these things that we are talking about now he cannot imitate.”

Elder Joseph ~Monastic Wisdom

Prayer:  Our Father, Who art in  Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Thursday

“Repentance is a baptism of tears. Through repentance man is rebaptized, reborn. Through his denial the Apostle Peter betrayed Christ in a way but because he wept bitterly he received forgiveness for his fall. In other words his sincere repentance washed him clean again. You see God first created the earth He sees and all creation and then took from the dust of the earth and created man. Man is firstborn of the flesh and that in Baptism he is reborn spiritually through water, a creation of God and through the Uncreated Divine Grace of the Holy Spirit – through water and the Spirit – he becomes a new man.” Elder Paisios

Prayer:  O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.

Friday

“… The Prophet David cried out when Nathan reproached him because of Bathsheba, “I have sinned against the Lord!” And the prophet told him, “The Lord has put away thy sin.” So, he was forgiven immediately yet he was punished throughout his life: first of all, the child that Bathsheba had, died. Then his son sinned against his sister Tamar. Afterwards his son Absalom pursued him – and he went through all of this after he had been forgiven. Do you see that even though the sin is forgiven the penance remains in proportion to the fault?” Elder Joseph ~Monastic Wisdom

Prayer:  Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. (3X)

Saturday

While the multitude, who were less instructed, wondered ever at the works of the Lord, the Pharisees and Scribes, on the other hand, denied the facts when they could, and when they were not able, twisted them by an evil interpretation, and asserted that the works of God were the works of an unclean spirit. And others, tempting Him, sought of Him a sign from heaven. They would have had Christ either to call down fire from heaven like Elias, (4 Kings i: 10), or, like Samuel (1 Kings vii: 10) to have made thunder roll, and lightning flash, and rain fall at midsummer. And yet and if he had so done, they had been still able to explain away these signs also, as being the natural result of some unusual, though, till that moment, unremarked state of the atmosphere. O thou, who stubbornly deny that which thine eye sees, thine hand holds, and thy sense perceives, what wilt thou say to a sign from heaven? In truth, thou wilt say that the magicians in Egypt also wrought diverse signs from heaven.

  • Venerable Bede, Homily on Luke XI

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.