Monday
Phil.1:1-7; Luke 4:37-44
I must preach the Kingdom of God to other cities also; for therefore am I sent (Luke 4:43). Our priesthood needs to take "for therefore am I sent" as an immutable law. The Apostle commanded them, in the person of St. Timothy, to be instant int season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort (II. Tim. 4:2). The Lord and the Holy Spirit, who filled the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, brought the truth to the earth, and the truth walks the earth, and the truth walks the earth. Its transmitters are the mouth of God's priests. If any priest closes his mouth, he blocks off the path to the truth, which demands to enter the souls of believers. That is why the souls of believers grow weary, when they do not receive the truth. The priests themselves must feel weariness, since the truth, not receiving an exit, burdens them. Relieve yourself of this weight, priest of God. Pour forth streams of Divine words unto your own joy and to the enlivening of the souls entrusted to you. If you see that you yourself do not have the truth, get it: it is in the Holy Scriptures. Then, filling yourself with it, pass it on to your spiritual children. Just do not be silent. Preach, for it is unto this that you have been called.
-From St. Theophan the Recluse
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