Sunday
Matthew 8:28-9:1     Jesus sends the demons into the herd of swine

The demons, recognizing Jesus as the Son of God, are surprised that their power is being terminated before the time of the last judgment. Though the malice of the demons is great, they can do nothing against the will of God, and thus can only enter the swine at Christ’s command. The immediate destruction of the herd shows that the men had been protected by God’s care; otherwise, they would have perished under the demonic influence. Further, it reinforces that swine herding was not lawful for the Jews, and shows the incomparable value of human beings, whose salvation is worth every sacrifice.

Quote:

“Worry about food, drink and clothing must not paralyse our spiritual life due to an obsessive preoccupation with passing material goods…when we take too much care of the material, limited and passing goods, we forget the unlimited, eternal spiritual good things.”
(Patriarch Daniel of Romania, June homily)

Monday

Parable of the Strong Man

Luke 11 “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. 18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22 But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

Explanation

The strong man is Satan, who holds sway over the fallen human race, while the stronger is Christ

Tuesday

Parable of the Sower
Luke 8

4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”

10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that

‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’

11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.

Wednesday

St. Nikolai, homily excerpt:    No type of good stands outside Him; likewise, no type of evil is contained in Him. Our Lord said: I am the Vine, ye are the branches (John 15: 5). What can the branches do without the Vine? Can they grow and bring forth fruit? No, they can do nothing but become firewood. Man can think as hard as he wants, but he cannot conceive of one true good that is not in Christ and that does not stem from Christ. If someone were to say that he does good and humane works outside of Christ, know that his works are spoiled to the core and corroded, be it from vanity or from hidden selfishness. Man without Christ is the same as branches without the vine. He Himself told us this. The Vine is hidden and unseen, but the branches are seen. Nevertheless, the grapes on the branch and the branch itself depend on the Vine.

Thursday

St. Nikolai, reflection:   On one of the stones in the Church of St. Sophia, the following words were engraved: “Wash your sins, not just your face.” Whoever entered this glorious church read this inscription and remembered that the Christian Faith requires of him moral purity: purity of the soul, purity of the heart and purity of the mind. Inasmuch as the complete spiritual man is concentrated in the heart of man, the Lord also said: Blessed are the pure in heart (Matthew 5: 8). Total external cleanliness does not help at all in gaining the Kingdom of Heaven. Oh, if only we would invest as much effort in washing ourselves from sins as we invest daily in washing our faces, then God would truly be seen in our hearts as though in a mirror!

Friday

Parable of the Barren Fig
Luke 13 6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that[a] you can cut it down.’”

Explanation:   The fruitless fig tree is universally interpreted in the Church to be fallen humanity. The three years represent God’s covenants with His people through Abraham, Moses, and Christ, all of which are rejected, as well as the three-year earthly ministry of Christ. The keeper of the vineyard is Christ Himself, who intercedes on our behalf that He should suffer His Passion and send the Holy Spirit to us before the final judgment takes place.

Saturday

This true story shows the importance of setting a good example in the faith to others and the influence it has, and which spreads.

She was struck by acute leukemia. With incomparable silence and endurance, with an expression of great sweetness shining constantly from her pale little face, she faced all the aggressive therapies she was given. The more endurance she showed, the more her parents broke down, as they gradually lost their last shreds of faith together with their hopes. They were not people of faith anyway, but there was something within them. They had sent Myrto to a good school. She had a teacher who was very fond of her. Every night before she went to sleep, she would cross herself and say, ‘Cross of Christ, save us by your power/ That was what the teacher had told her.

‘Why do you cross yourself?’ her mother asked.

‘So that Christ will give me strength,’ she replied. ‘That’s what Ms. Helen at school told us.’

‘Wouldn’t it be better to ask Him to make you well?’

‘It’s not necessary, since He gives me strength and joy.’
Her parents did not insist. They did not understand much, in any case. But as her illness progressed, they lashed out at God. Even so, they could not lash out at their child, who continued to cross herself and say her prayers.

Myrto died at the age of eight, asking her mother to say the Lord’s Prayer to her because she could no longer say it herself. She put down the doll she was holding, crossed her arms and asked for the prayer. Her mother could not deny her wish. She said the prayer, and as she said it she wept. She abandoned the logic of arguments and proofs, of narrow-mindedness and thought, and began to function in her child’s world. As she shed tears from her eyes, she drew faith from her heart. As she was losing Myrto, she was gaining God. Her little daughter became her spiritual mother. She remembered her words. She did not have her child alive in her arms, but she did have strength, resilience and joy.

~ Excerpt from ‘When God is Not There’