Monday

Acts 10:1-16; John 6:56-69

When the Lord presented His teaching about the Mystery of His Body and Blood, setting it forth as a necessary condition for contact with Himself and as a source of true life, then many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him (John: 6:66). Such an act of God's boundless mercy toward us seemed too miraculous to them, and their disinclination toward the miraculous tore them from the Lord. The Lord saw this, and although He was prepared to be crucified for the salvation of every person. He did not consider it possible to diminish or annul the miracle. It is so crucial in the economy of our salvation! Albeit with regret, He allowed them to depart from Him into the darkness of unbelief and destruction, and said to them and to the chosen twelve as well, Will ye also go away? (John 6:67). This showed that He was ready to let them go also, if they could not yield before that which was miraculous. So it is that to flee from the miraculous is to flee from the Lord and Savior; and one who turns away from the miraculous is as one who is perishing. May those who are horrified by even the mention of the miraculous heed this! Even they will come across a miracle which they will not be able to thwart: death, and after death, judgement. But whether this inability to thwart it will serve them unto salvation, only God knows. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Monday

Acts 6:8-7:5, 47-60; John 4:46-54

St. Stephen says: The most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands... What house will ye build Me? saith the Lord, or, what is the place of My rest? (Acts 7:48-49). Only the temple in the heart, not made with hands, can contain God, as the Lord said: If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 14:23). How this is accomplished is unfathomable to us, but it is true because it is obvious that then it is God Who worth in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). Do not deliberate about it, just give your heart to the Lord, and He Himself will make of it a temple for Himself-but give it unsparingly. If there are parts which are not given, then an integral temple cannot be made from the heart, for one thing will be decayed, another broken-and what will result, if anything results, will be a temple with holes or without a roof, or without doors. It is not possible to live in such a temple: the Lord will not dwell in it. It will only seem that it is a temple, but in reality it will just be a pile of material. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse 

The Bright Resurrection of Christ

Acts 1:1-8, John 1:1-17

Pascha, the Lord's Pascha! The Lord has led us from death to life by means of His Resurrection. And "the angels in heaven hymn" this Resurrection, having seen in the countenance of the Lord and Redeemer the brightness of the deified human nature in the glory foreordained for it. All who truly believe in Him and cleave to Him with all their soul are changed into His image by the power of His Resurrection. Glory, O Lord, to Thy most glorious Resurrection! The angels hymn, rejoicing with us and foreseeing the filling of their assembly. Vouchsafe us also with pure hearts, O Lord, to glorify Thee resurrected, seeing in Thy Resurrection the cutting off of our consuming decay, the sowing of a most bright new life, and the dawn of future eternal glory, into which Thou hast gone before us by Thy Resurrection for our sake. The tongues not only of men but also of angels have insufficient strength to express Thine unspeakable mercy toward us, O most gloriously resurrected Lord!

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Praise God! He has given us new life by dying on the cross for us and taking away all the sins of the world. The ultimate sacrifice it truly is. His Resurrection gives us eternal life. Glory be to God! We are no longer broken and wretched, the cross has made us clean of our iniquities and sorrows. Simply put, it was more than enough. More than life itself, we receive our purpose, our calling, and our meaning through Christ our Lord and Savior. Jesus dying on the cross is love in action. It is the reason we are here, breathing, and alive on this earth. 

Written by Jackie Loupakos

Palm Sunday 

Phil. 4:4-9; John 12:1-18

Who did not meet the Lord when He triumphantly entered Jerusalem as a king; and who did not cry out then, Hosanna to the Son of David? (Matt. 21:15)? But only four days passed, and the same crowd cried with the same tongues, Crucify Him, crucify Him! (John 19:6). An amazing change! But why should we be surprised? Do we not do the very same thing when, upon receiving the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of the Lord, we barely leave the church before forgetting everything-both our reverence and God's mercy toward us? We give ourselves over as before to self-pleasing deeds-at first small and then also large. Perhaps even before four days have passed, although we do not cry, "Crucify Him!" we will crucify the Lord within ourselves. The Lord sees all of this, and endures it. Glory to Thy long-suffering, O Lord!

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Monday (Sixth Week of Lent)

Is. 48:17-49:4; Gen. 27:1-41; Prov. 19: 16-25

Thus says the Lord: I am thy God, I have shown thee how thou shouldest find the way wherein thou shouldest walk.And if thou hadst hearkened to My commandments, then would thy peace have been like a river, and thy righteousness as a wave of the sea. Thy seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of thy belly as the dust of the ground: neither now shalt thou by any means be utterly destroyed, neither shall thy name perish before Me. Under what condition should all this come to pass? Go forth of Babylon (Is. 48:17-20). 

Babylon is an image of all-around sinfulness. Abandon sin and turn to the Lord with all your heart. He will not remember your transgressions, and will consign of all your unrighteousness to oblivion. You will enter again into His mercy-and then you need only to walk the way which He will teach you, and your inner peace will be like river; the good thoughts of your heart, like the sand; and the fruits of your good works, like the dust of the ground. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse 

Monday (Fifth Week of Lent)

Is. 37:33-38:6; Gen 13:12-18; Prov. 14:27-15:4

The eyes of the Lord behold both the evil and the good in every place (Prov. 15:3). Oh, if only rational creatures would always keep this in mind! Then not only would they not dare to commit excesses openly and to give themselves over to dissoluteness of the flesh, but neither would they inwardly, in their thoughts and in the movements of their heart, allow anything unpleasing to God. They would then stand like soldiers at the front before the king, with all attention and strictness toward themselves, that they not be found ignorant of their orders, nor be subject to the king's wrath and punishment. The orders given to rational creatures are the commandments of God, which determine the proper form of their thoughts, and how their feelings and dispositions ought to be. 

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

Saturday

Heb. 10:32-38; Mark 2:14-17

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Mark 2:17). Through the mouth of Wisdom the Lord called the foolish to Himself (Prov. 9:4). He Himself, sojourning upon the earth, called sinners, Neither the proud “clever ones” nor the self-willed righteous ones have a place with Him. Let the intellectual and moral infirmity rejoice! Let proud intelligence and practicality step aside! Total weakness that acknowledges itself as such and hastens with faith to the Lord, Who heals the weak and fills the impoverished, will become strong both intellectually and morally, but will continue to acknowledge both its intellectual poverty and evil inclinations. The power of God, under this unprepossessing cover and made perfect in weakness, invisibly creates a different person who is mentally and morally bright. This brightness is often manifest here, but it is always manifest there, in heaven. Behold what is hidden from the wise and prudent and is revealed only to babes (Matt. 11:25)!”

-From St. Theophan the Recluse

God calls all people to come to Him. But he especially welcomes the hurt, brokenhearted, and sorrowful sinners to rest in His grace. God is our strength and we rely on Him during our dark times of weakness. Our faith in Him will be restored in this way and He will make us new and perfect through Him.

Written by Jackie Loupakos