Sunday

*Readings from St Nikolai’s Prologue this week

Brethren, “The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit” is recited over all of us who are baptized by water and the Spirit. The Spirit of God is given to us not because of our merits—no one should ever think that—but according to the mercy of the Living God. Even in normal relations between men, happy is he who gives a gift and happy also is he who receives the gift. Giving is joy on both sides. The greater the gift, the greater the joy. God rejoices when He gives the grace of His Holy Spirit; why then should men who receive it not rejoice? The needy one who receives usually rejoices more than the rich man who gives;gives; why then should not miserable men rejoice who receive this enormous gift from the rich God?…the Spirit of God is grieved by our every sin. Let every sin be put away from us, and the Spirit of God will be joyful and by Him we will rejoice. When we have an important guest in our home we endeavor to do everything that is well-pleasing for that guest. Can there be a greater guest than the Holy Spirit of God? Since He is our greatest and most desired Guest, we need to invest the utmost effort into pleasing Him. We know with what we please the Spirit of God—with the same thing with which we please Christ the Lord. The Lord said: If you love me, keep My commandments (John 14:15). Therefore, he who keeps the commandments of Christ has love toward the Son and toward the Holy Spirit. He who pleases the Son, keeping His commandments, also pleases the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Apostle especially recommends: Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another (Ephesians 4:32). If we are kind, if we are tenderhearted, if we forgive one another, by this we please the Spirit of God Who is a Guest in our hearts. The Spirit

Prayer:  O Lord, our God, in Thy goodness and love for men forgive me all the sins I have committed today in word, deed or thought. Grant me peaceful and undisturbed sleep. Send Thy Guardian Angel to guard and protect me from all evil. For Thou art the guardian of our souls and bodies, and to Thee we ascribe glory, to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen.
*(Evening Prayer and Confession of Sins)

Monday

The Apostle Paul said: Unto the pure all things are pure (Titus 1:15). The food of man cannot be called impure in itself, although some food can evoke impure thoughts and desires in man. The wonderful St. Simeon the Stylite pondered on this in a conversation with his Elder John. John the Elder said: “Man cannot make food and drink impure, for the Lord says in Scripture: Even as the green herb have I given you all things (Genesis 9:3).” To this Blessed Simeon responded: “Although man cannot make food and drink impure, nevertheless they can give birth to impure thoughts and darken the mind; they can give root to and fatten the passions, transforming a spiritual man into a carnal man and nailing his thoughts to earthly desires.” Is not the water that falls from the clouds clean? But when too much rain falls, the crops rot because of it. Likewise, strong foods provoke the corruption of the spiritual and moral being of man.

Prayer:  O come, let us worship God our King.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ our King and God.
O come, let us worship and fall down before Christ Himself, our King and God.

Tuesday

Love is joy, and love anoints the heart of man with joy. Brethren, love is power, and love anoints the heart of man with power. Love is peace, and love anoints the heart of man with peace. And from joy, power and peace is born courage, and love anoints the heart of man with courage. The love of God, like a fragrant oil, is poured out upon our hearts in no other way than by the Holy Spirit, the All-gentle and All-powerful Spirit. Though we are completely undeserving of it, the Spirit of God is poured out upon us: the love of God is shed in our hearts in the Mystery of Chrismation. However, in time we neglect this love and by sin we alienate ourselves from God and fall into the disease of spiritual paralysis. And the Holy Spirit, unwilling to abide in an impure vessel, distances Himself from our heart. When the Holy Spirit distances Himself from us, then joy, power, peace and courage likewise depart from us immediately.

 

Prayer:  Soul of Christ, sanctify me, Body of Christ, save me Blood of Christ, inebriate me, Water from Christ’s side, wash me, Passion of Christ, strengthen me, O good Jesus, hear me, Within Thy wounds hide me, Suffer me not to be separated from Thee, From the malicious enemy defend me, In the hour of my death call me, And bid me come unto Thee, That I may praise Thee with Thy saints, and with Thy angels, Forever and ever, Amen.

Wednesday

When the Holy Spirit distances Himself from us, then joy, power, peace and courage likewise depart from us immediately. We become sorrowful, weakened, disturbed and fearful. But the All-good Spirit of God only distances Himself from us; He does not abandon us completely. He does not abandon us, but rather offers us, as sick men, remedies through the Mystery of Repentance and the Mystery of Holy Communion. When we again cleanse ourselves through the Mysteries of Repentance and Communion, then He, the Holy Spirit of God, again abides in us, and the love of God is poured out upon our hearts. We fall, we rise, we fall, and we rise! When we fall, the Spirit of God stands by us and raises us, if we desire to be raised. And when we are raised, the Spirit of God stands within us all until, through our sinfulness and foolishness, we fall again. Thus, in this life we interchangeably become a fertile field and a wilderness, sons of repentance and prodigal sons, fullness and emptiness, light and darkness.

 

Prayer:  Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.  Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
*Memorare

Thursday

Some misguided men think more about the end of the world than about the end of their lives, even though it is obvious that, when the end of a man’s life has come, the end of the world has come for him, too. A brother standing in the presence of St. Seraphim of Sarov was turning over in his mind how he was going to ask the saint about the end of the world. St. Seraphim discerned his thought and said to him: “My joy! You think highly of the wretched Seraphim. How could I know when the end of the world will be, and that great day when the Lord will judge the living and the dead and render to each one according to his deeds? No, no, this is impossible for me to know!” And if the saints could not know, how could sinners know? Why should we know that which the Savior Himself did not find beneficial to reveal to us? It is much better to think that our death will come sooner than the end of the world, rather than that the end of the world will come before our death.

 

Prayer:  Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, who taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit,  grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

Friday
**On the day of our Judgement

What kind of day is that blessed day? It is a day of self-condemnation. When that day dawns, the man who until then judged the entire world will at once look and see himself as the greatest stain on God’s world. He will become ashamed before God, ashamed before every man, and ashamed before every created thing of God in the world. Shame will begin to burn him like fire. Then he will recognize and confess: Truly, I am the greatest blot in God’s world! Truly, all men are better than I! Truly, all things are more pure than I! I am blacker than burned wood, and until now I thought I was white! I am uglier than the frogs, and until now I thought I was as beautiful as an angel! Lord, Lord, Lord, have mercy on me a sinner and wash from me the mud of sin, so that I can, as much as possible, begin to resemble Thy creation! Brother, do not wait, do not wait for that blessed day of repentance to come by itself. Seize firmly, brother, the first day that comes to meet you and say: “You are the blessed day on which I will purchase life eternal!” Do not wait, my brother, do not wait, for Behold, the Judge standeth before the door! That Judge is the Living Lord Who created you and has seen and numbered all of your transgressions up to now. In a day or two, He may call you to the judgment, where you will not have even a word of justification. Seize the day! Seize the day of repentance! Seize the day before death has seized you! Behold, the Judge standeth before the door!

Prayer:  With the Saints, give rest, O Christ, to the souls of Thy servants, where there is no pain, no sorrow, no sighing, but life everlasting.
*Kontakion of the Departed

 

Saturday

We should not desire the death of a sinner but his repentance. Nothing so grieves the Lord, Who suffered on the Cross for sinners, than when we pray to Him for the death of a sinner, thereby to remove the sinner from our path. It happened that the Apostle Carpus lost his patience and began to pray that God would send down death upon two sinful men: one a pagan and the other an apostate from the Faith. Then the Lord Christ Himself appeared to Carpus and said: “Strike me; I am prepared to be crucified again for the salvation of mankind.” St. Carpus related this event to St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who wrote it down as a lesson to all in the Church that prayers are needed for sinners to be saved and not for them to be destroyed, for the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9)

Prayer:  Lord, I have cried to Thee, hearken unto me. Hearken unto me, O Lord. Lord, I have cried to Thee, hearken unto me.  Attend to the voice of my prayer, when I cry unto Thee. Hearken unto me, O Lord. Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.  Hearken unto me, O Lord.
*Psalm 140 (141)