Sunday
Luke 14:1..   At that time: It came to pass, as Jesus went into the house of – one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go and answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things. And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted

Prayer:  O Gentle Light of the holy glory of the immortal, heavenly, holy, blessed Father, O Jesus Christ: Having come to the setting of the sun, having beheld the evening light, we praise the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit: God. Meet it is for Thee at all times to be hymned with reverent voices, O Son of God, Giver of life. Wherefore, the world doth glorify Thee.
*Eastern Vesper Hymn

Monday
Fr Alban Waggener on Prayer and Life in Christ… “Abiding in Christ is essentially our life of prayer; the spiritual rule of our life. The corporate prayer of the Body of Christ in the Daily Offices, and the Communion with our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, but especially that third component of our Rule, our “private” prayer, which, while done in private is still very much a part of the prayer of the Body of Christ, of which we are members in particular. It is also our meditation upon Scripture and the life and acts and words of our Lord, and on the great doctrines of the Faith; our converse with Him in “colloquy” as it is called in the traditional vocabulary of ascetical theology; our self-examination which flows from the above and leads to our confession of sin; our “recollection” or “practice of the presence of God” throughout the day. All this is designed to free us from a sporadic life of prayer, as slaves to our feelings alone, to balance us in Christ, and enable us to truly abide in Him. And, as we progress, virtue is built in our lives as efficient Christians, as contributing members of His Body, to the building up of the whole Church.”

Prayer:  Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Tuesday
Fr Peter Kavanaugh on the Darkening of Sin…
“Ephesus was once a thriving port city renown for wealth and industry. At one point it was the most important city in the Roman Empire. Yet, a few centuries passed and it became a wasteland. For the longest time, archeologists wondered what happened. Was it a plague, war, invaders? Nothing explained it, until they discovered the deposits of silt. Little by little, the river washed silt into the bay. The build up was so gradual that it went unnoticed, but eventually, the silt cut off the city from the sea. Its trade economy was ruined.

We do the same every time we close our hearts to God. In all the passing moments scattered in the day, when we chose selfishness or disobey God in our conscience, the deposit of silt builds up. We put up a veil between us and God. When we do not seek his forgiveness, we get used to it. We prefer darkness. We want space…God is everywhere and his beauty shines in everything. We spend our lives bogged down with heavy veils. We think the world is dark, when really it is our heart that is dark. If we can turn to him, if we can let Him into our heart to cleanse and purify it, then we will be able to see God. We will say, with the joy of St. Efrem: ‘Blessed is the Hidden One shining out!’”

Prayer:  Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
*Agnus Dei

Wednesday
Elder St Paisios on Knowing When to React…
“When a spiritual person tries to defend himself indignantly in a personal matter, this is clearly selfish, an act of temptation. Such a person is subject to external demonic influences. If someone is being wronged or ridiculed, others should defend him, for the sake of justice, not for their own self-interest. It is not right for you to quarrel on your own behalf. It is, of course, another matter if you react to defend serious spiritual matters, matters that relate to our faith, to Orthodoxy. You have a responsibility to do this.”

Prayer:  O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance. Grant victory over their enemies to Orthodox Christians, and protect Thy people with Thy Cross.

Thursday
Elder Joseph the Hesychast on Our Dependence on God…
“My child, man is unable to do anything on his own. He neither had, nor has, nor will ever have the power to do something good, unless God overshadows him from above. Every good thought, every good movement of the intellect is due to the operation of God’s grace. If you accomplished a task without your body’s participation, it is your own. However, if you did it with your body, it is God’s, since your body is a creation of God. If you thought of something without your mind, it is yours. However, if you thought of it with your mind, it is God’s, since your mind is a creation of God. Therefore, man has nothing of his own—everything begins from God and ends in God.”

Prayer:  O my God relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
*Act of Hope

Friday
“Gratitude is another one of those virtues that requires practice and strengthening. But it starts with that ability to be like a child and to revel in that which is actually right in front of you. Not revel in a selfish way: look at all great things that I’ve got, but to just take delight. If you watch a child open a Christmas present, there’s this look on their face, as if to say, ‘When I peel that next sheet of paper off, the whole universe may change.’ And then they see the doll, or toy, or whatever it is, and their eyes get huge; their universe did just change! That’s the spirit we want to have all the time. Maybe not the gleeful dance the children do after they see the toy but that same conviction that one little turn of the page and the whole world could be new for us. God is making it new, minute by minute, day by day. Start looking at things that way. When you walk around, make sure you look at the beautiful surroundings and notice how astonishingly beautiful they are.

The more you focus on experiencing the joyfulness of what’s around you, gratitude becomes the natural response. When you’re filled with delight at how beautiful something is, you automatically become thankful for it. When you’re filled with awe at the closeness of God in the temple, you become grateful for it automatically. And then that gratitude starts to take root in your heart, and it starts to express itself in things that are less obvious.”
– Talk by Bishop Irenei of Western Europe

Prayer:  O my God I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and worthy of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life.
*Act of Contrition

Saturday
Archimandrite Symeon Kragiopoulos on Becoming Free to Love God…
“Many people talk about love. Today especially, as we realize that the ground is being moved out from under our feet and we’re headed for chaos, so much is happening! Both the grown-ups and the young talk about love, they talk about this oneness. But this is a cry that shows exactly the plight of mankind, the sorry state that men have been reduced to as they have left true love behind. Nothing happens merely with words and shouts. What’s needed is for man to find true love.
But true love is given only by God, Who came into the world out of love and passed, as they say, through all the stages of life patiently and in the end He was crucified out of love for men and rose from the dead. And He created a group of people to whom again He gave love, and He calls us all to draw near to this group so that we all become one family. God wants us to be free human beings, and He wants us as free beings to give ourselves absolutely to Him, loving Him, as He, being free, gave Himself to us out of love. The more a person denies himself, the more he sacrifices himself, the more he dies to the old man, then the more there lives within him the new man, the more he is a true man. He is a man who finds peace, joy, happiness.”

Prayer:  O my God I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. (Act of Charity)