Sunday \u00a0Matthew 1:1-25 (ancestors of Jesus listed)<\/p>\n
VENERABLE AUGUSTINE: Matthew, by beginning with Christ\u2019s genealogy, shews that he has undertaken to relate Christ\u2019s birth according to the flesh. But Luke, as rather describing Him as a Priest for the atonement of sin, gives Christ\u2019s genealogy not in the beginning of his Gospel, but at His baptism, when John bare that testimony, Lo, He that taketh away the sins of the world. (John 1:29.) In the genealogy of Matthew is figured to us the taking on Him of our sins by the Lord Christ; in the genealogy of Luke, the taking away of our sins by the same; hence Matthew gives them in a descending, Luke in an ascending, series. But Matthew, describing Christ\u2019s human generation in descending order, begins his enumeration with Abraham.<\/p>\n
Monday \u00a0 [The Birth of Christ starting with Gabriel’s appearance to Mary…March 25)<\/p>\n
In appearing to Her, the Angel called Her \u201cfull of grace,\u201d i.e., having found favor with God (see verse 30) \u2014 God\u2019s special love and benevolence, His help that is essential for holy and great deeds. The words of the Angel bewildered Mary by their extraordinary nature, and She commenced to ponder over them. Having calmed Her, the Angel foretells the birth of a Son from Her, Who will be great not like John, but much greater because He will not simply be full of God\u2019s blessed gifts as John, but He Himself will be the Son of the Almighty<\/strong>. Why is the Angel saying that the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David and He will reign over the house of Jacob? Because the Jewish kingdom in the Old Testament was predetermined to prepare people for a spiritual, eternal Kingdom of Christ and to slowly transfigure into it. Consequently, David\u2019s kingdom as such is one in which God Himself placed kings, which was ruled according to God\u2019s laws, in which all forms of civil life was permeated with the idea of serving God, which was found in an uninterrupted link with the New Testament Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n Mary\u2019s question, \u201cHow can this be, since I do not know a man?\u201d<\/em> \u2014 would have been completely incomprehensible and would have made no sense, if She hadn\u2019t given a promise to God, to remain a Virgin forever<\/strong>. The Angel explained that Her promise would not be violated, as She will give birth to a Son without a husband, by extraordinary means. The Holy Spirit, \u201cthe power of the Almighty,\u201d<\/em> will bring about this seedless conception; i.e., the Son of God Himself (see 1 Corinthians 1:24) will overshadow Her, will enter Her like a cloud akin to that which overshadowed the tabernacle, as expressed by Isaiah (19:1), \u201cupon a swift cloud.\u201d<\/em> While the Blessed Virgin did not demand any proof, the Angel himself in confirmation of the authenticity of his words pointed to Elizabeth, who had conceived a son in her old age by the will of God, to Whom nothing is impossible. The Holy Virgin knew through the books of the prophets that not only glory awaits Her and Her Divine Son, but also grief. Nevertheless, completely obedient to God\u2019s will, She replied: \u201cBehold the Virgin servant of the Lord! Let it be to Me according to your word.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Annunciation is celebrated on the 25th of March. Having accepted the glad tidings, the Blessed Virgin said nothing to Joseph, and as St. John Chrysostom explains, She was justly afraid that he may not believe Her and think that through Her warning, She is trying to hide a transgression.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/p>\n (Luke 1:39-56).<\/p>\n The Holy Virgin hurries to share Her joy with Her relative Elizabeth, who presumably lived in Judea in a town named Juttah, situated close to the sacred city of Hebron. Elizabeth greeted Her with the same extraordinary words that were uttered by the Angel: \u201cBlessed are You among women\u201d<\/em> \u2014 and added: \u201cAnd blessed is the fruit of your womb!\u201d<\/em> \u2014 Although, as Her relative, she should have known about the promise given by Mary to remain chaste. Following this, Elizabeth exclaimed: \u201cBut why is this granted to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?\u201d <\/em>Elizabeth immediately explains the meaning of her words, in that the child she was carrying \u201cleaped in the womb\u201d no sooner than she heard Mary\u2019s greeting. Undoubtedly, under the infusion of the Holy Spirit, the child in Elizabeth\u2019s womb sensed the other Child \u2014 He, before Whose arrival into the world, humanity would have to be prepared by him. That\u2019s why he produced such an unusual movement in his mother\u2019s womb. The reaction of the child to the Holy Spirit was imparted to his mother, and she, through the grace of foresight, instantly recognized what joyous tidings Mary conveyed. That\u2019s why she glorified Her as the Mother of God with the same words as that of Archangel Gabriel. Elizabeth beatifies the Blessed Virgin for Her faith with which She received the Archangel\u2019s tidings, contrasting this faith with Zacharias\u2019 disbelief.<\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n From Elizabeth\u2019s words, the Blessed Virgin Mary understood that the mystery revealed to Elizabeth was from God Himself. Amid feelings of rapture and emotions at the thought that the time for the long-awaited Messiah and the liberation of Israel has arrived, the Holy Virgin praised God with a marvelous song. This song is now constantly sung in Her honor during matins: \u201cMy soul doth magnify the Lord, and My spirit hath rejoiced in God My Saviour . . .\u201d<\/em> She wards off any thoughts of personal worthiness and praises God because He has been attentive to Her humility. In a prophetic prescience, She foretells that for this mercy from God, She will be glorified by all generations and that this mercy of God will be extended to all that are fearful of the Lord. She subsequently praises God that the promise given to the Fathers and to Abraham has been fulfilled and that the Kingdom of the Messiah, anticipated so much by the Israelites, has come\u2014 that His humble followers, despised by the world, will soon triumph, be uplifted and filled with goodness, while the proud and powerful will be disgraced and vanquished. It\u2019s apparent that the Holy Virgin, not having waited for the Forerunner\u2019s birth, returned home.<\/p>\n Friday<\/p>\n (Matthew 1:18-25).<\/p>\n Saint Matthew informs us that soon after the Holy Virgin\u2019s betrothal with eighty-year-old Joseph, \u201cbefore they came together,\u201d<\/em> i.e., before the consummation of their marriage, Mary\u2019s condition of being with child became clear to Joseph. Being righteous (and this means just and merciful), Joseph did not wish to expose Her seeming transgression before the public, so as not to subject Her to the shameful and agonizing death called for by the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 22:23-24), and intended to release Her without announcing the reason. As soon as he thought this, the Lord\u2019s Angel appeared to him and explained \u201cthat which is conceived in Her is of the Holy Spirit\u201d and not the fruit of a clandestine sin. The Angel further announces: \u201cAnd She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.\u201d<\/em> The name Jesus, Joshua in Hebrew, means Savior. So that Joseph has no doubts about the veracity of what was said, the Angel quotes Isaiah\u2019s prophecy that witnesses to the fact that this great miracle of the seedless conception and birth of the Savior of the world by the Blessed Virgin was preordained in God\u2019s pre-eternal counsel: \u201cBehold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son . . .\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 7:14). There is no need to imagine that the prophecy had not been fulfilled because the prophet had said \u201cand shall call His name Immanuel,\u201d whereas the Newborn was named Jesus. Immanuel is not a personalized name but a symbolic one meaning \u201cGod is with us.\u201d So when this miraculous birth from a Virgin takes place, people will say \u201cGod is with us\u201d because it is in this identity God came down to earth and lived among mankind. This is only a prophetic indication of Christ\u2019s Divinity \u2014 indication that this extraordinary infant will not be an ordinary person, but God.<\/p>\n Saturday<\/p>\n Convinced by the Angel\u2019s words, Joseph \u201ctook to him his wife,\u201d<\/em> that is, rejected his intention to send Her away and left Her to live in his house as a wife \u201cand did not know Her till She had brought forth Her Firstborn Son.\u201d This does not mean that he \u201cknew\u201d Her after the birth of Jesus and began living with Her as a wife. Saint John Chrysostom rightly notes that it is simply not credible to submit that such a righteous individual as Joseph would decide to \u201cknow\u201d the Holy Virgin after She had so miraculously become a mother. While in Greek the word \u201czos\u201d and in Church Slavonic \u201cdondezhe`\u201d mean \u201cuntil<\/strong>\u201d this cannot be interpreted in the way that those who do not honor the Holy Virgin do \u2014 Protestants and sectarians \u2014 as though Joseph did not \u201cknow\u201d Her before Christ\u2019s birth and then he did. He absolutely never \u201cknew\u201d Her. In the Holy Scriptures the word \u201czos\u201d is used in the narration on the concluding stages of the Flood: \u201cAnd he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until (\u201czos\u201d) the waters were dried up\u201d (Genesis 8:6) \u2014 but the raven never did return afterwards. Or again, in the words of our Lord: \u201cI am with you always, even to<\/em> (\u201czos\u201d) the end of the age<\/em>\u201d (Matthew 28:20). As the Blessed Theothilact rightly observed, this doesn\u2019t mean that Christ would not be with us after the end of the age. Definitely not, as it is especially then that He would be with us!<\/p>\n Jesus is named \u201cFirstborn\u201d not because the Blessed Virgin had other children after Him but because He was born first, and, being that, was her only child. In the Old Testament, God decrees that \u201call the firstborn\u201d<\/em> are to be consecrated to Him, irrespective of whether the family will have further additions or not. And if the Gospel mentions \u201cbrothers of Jesus Christ\u201d (Matthew 13:55, John 2:12, and others), it certainly doesn\u2019t mean that they were His brothers by birth. As tradition witnesses, Joseph\u2019s children were from his first marriage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday \u00a0Matthew 1:1-25 (ancestors of Jesus listed) VENERABLE AUGUSTINE: Matthew, by beginning with Christ\u2019s genealogy, shews that he has undertaken to relate Christ\u2019s birth according to the flesh. But Luke, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2764,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2742\/revisions\/2764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}