Lenten Services,
Friday, March 21, 2008
Part 2: Saint of the Day
1. SAINT JAMES, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR
Neither the place of his birth nor the place where James served as bishop are known. Only this is known: he fulfilled the law of
Christ and spent much time in mortifying himself through strict fasting and
prayer. During the time of Copronymos, James endured
great hardships and suffering at the hands of the Iconoclasts, such as hunger,
imprisonment and ridicule of all sorts. Finally, he gave up his soul to God,
Whom he had faithfully served in this life. He lived and suffered in the eighth
century.
2. VENERABLE CYRIL, THE BISHOP OF
Born in
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Thomas lived during the reign of the Emperors Maurice and Phocas and at the time of the Patriarchs St. John the
Faster and Cyriac. Because of his great piety and
zeal, Thomas attracted the attention of
4. THE VENERABLE SERAPION
Serapion was a companion of St. Anthony the Great.
He was the abbot of the Monastery of Arsina in the Nitrian wilderness where there were over eleven thousand
monks. Paladius and Sozomenus
called him "Great." He died about the year 366 A.D.
HYMN OF
PRAISE
SAINT SERAPION
Serapion,
to save a sinner, he wanted,
The appearance of a sinner upon
himself, he then took,
And to the sinner he entered, as if
sin to commit,
But before sinning, to her, in this
manner, he spoke:
You wait for a while, the entire
night we have
Until, my prayer, I complete, then to
misdeed we will proceed!
Serapion
began the prayers to read
Uplifting his mind toward God, that
it not wander anywhere.
And prayer after prayer began to reel
off,
Sigh after sigh, to the Most High he
uplifts.
The entire Psalter and other prayers
he read,
And lengthy prayers for the sinner he
began;
With sobbing and sighing, his prayers
he interrupts,
Until even the sinful woman began to
moan,
To moan and sob as never before in
her life,
Realized that the saint, because of
sin did not come,
Rather to save her from her
perversion
And to raise her to
God and from mud to cleanse her.
Then, exclaimed the woman: What
should I do?
Behold, ashamed and repulsed with
myself, am I!
Serapion,
then instructions, gave he to her,
And to the wise
sisters, committed her to their care.
Then the path before him, to the
wilderness he took
Joyful, because a sinful soul he
saved.
REFLECTION
You will hear this kind of justification from many who pursue riches:
"When I become rich, I will be able to perform good works!" Do not
believe them, for they deceive both you and themselves. St. John Climacus knew in depth the most secret motives of men's
souls when he said, "The beginning of love of money is the pretext of
alms giving and the end of it is hatred of the poor" (Step 16).
This is confirmed by all lovers of money, the rich or the less rich. The
average man says, "If only it were that I had money, I would carry out
this and that good work!" Do not believe him. Let him not believe himself.
Let him look at himself, as in a mirror, at those who have money and who are
not willing to do this or that good work. That is how he would be if he
acquired some money. Again, the wise John says, "Do not say that you
are collecting money for the poor; so that through and by this you give help to
them, in order to gain the kingdom; remember, for two mites the kingdom was
purchased" (Step 16) - (St. Luke 21:2). Truly, the
Gospel widow purchased it for two mites, and the rich man, before whose gates
Lazarus lay, could not purchase it for all of his
countless riches. If you have nothing to give to the poor, pray to God that He
will give to them and, by this, you have performed almsgiving and purchased the
CONTEMPLATION
To contemplate the Lord Jesus crucified on the cross:
1. His head is sorely wounded by the thorny wreath;
2. His eyes are closed from pain;
3. His mouth is dry from thirst.
HOMILY
About the First and Last who lives
"Do not be afraid. I am thefirst and the
last, the onewho lives. Once I was dead,but now I am alive foreverand ever" (Revelation 1:17-18).
Thus says the Lord Jesus to His beloved disciple John in a vision on the
How could I not be afraid, O Lord!, Why then should
we not be afraid when the entire world is armed to the tooth and assembled
against us who are small in number and unarmed?
Do not be afraid for I am the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega.
All of those forces armed against you are nothing but a whirlwind of the dead.
I am before time and I am after time; before the beginning of all and after the
end of all things that were created, I Am! They are all locked in one span of
time that I measured out to every created thing and outside of this span of
time, they cannot extend. "Do not be afraid, once I was dead but now, I
am alive." Do not be afraid, not even of death. I am before death and
after death. Death is my servant and I permit my servant to serve me in the
world. I gave myself up to my servant for three days and ordered him to release
me and "now, I am alive." I am the Master of death as well as
of life. I am the Master of time as well as of eternity. Do not be afraid!
"I am alive forever and ever." And you will be alive with Me. All they who remain faithful to Me
and are not afraid will live with
O Lord, Eternal and Immortal, allow these holy words of Yours to ring in the
souls of Your faithful always whenever a persecution is raised up against Your
Holy Church that, holding on to Your right hand, we may not be afraid.
To You be glory and thanks always. Amen.
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