Readings for the Week of March 22, 2020

3/22: Hebrews 4:14-5:6; Mark 8:34-9:1

3/23: Isaiah 14:24-32; Genesis 8:21-9:7; Proverbs 11:19-12:6

3/24: Isaiah 25:1-9; Genesis 9:8-17; Proverbs 12:8-22

3/25: Genesis 28:10-17; Ezekiel 43:27-44:4; Proverbs 9:1-11; Exodus 3:1-8; Proverbs 8:22-30; Luke 1:39-49, 56; Hebrews 2:11-18; Luke 1:24-38; Isaiah 26:21-27:9; Genesis 9:18-29; Proverbs 12:23-13:9

3/26: Isaiah 28:14-22; Genesis 10:32-11:9; Proverbs 13:20-14:6

3/27: Isaiah 29:13-23; Genesis 12:1-7; Proverbs 14:15-26

3/28: Hebrews 6:9-12; 1 Corinthians 15:47-57; Mark 7:31-37; John 5:24-30

Words from the Saints -- March 19, 2020

"We must, therefore, guard thus against evil desires, because death hath his station near the entrance of pleasure." --St. Benedict of Nursia

"Every day you provide your bodies with good to keep them from failing. In the same way your good works should be the daily nourishment of your hearts. Your bodies are fed with food and your spirits with good works. You aren't to deny your soul, which is going to live forever, what you grant to your body, which is going to die." --St. Gregory the Great, Pope of Rome

"You, O Christ our Savior, have become for me the path of life which leads to the Father. There is but one path, and it is my joy, and at the end of it is the heavenly kingdom." --St. Ephraim the Syrian

Penitential Stanzas (Tone 6)

I have no repentance and no tears. Therefore, Savior, I entreat You: Before the end comes convince me to turn back and grant me compunction, that I may be delivered from torment.

Christ, at Your fearsome Second Coming may we not hear the words: I do not know you (Matthew 25:12). For we have put our trust in You, Savior, though in our negligence we do not keep Your Commandments. Still we entreat that You save our souls.

Savior and Physician of Our Souls and Bodies: Heal the wounds of my heart inflicted on me through my many sins. For You always grant forgiveness of transgressions to those who ask. Lord, grant me tears of repentance and remission of my transgressions, and have mercy on me.

Finding me naked, stripped of virtues, the Enemy wounded me with the arrow of sin. But God, Physician of Our Souls and Bodies, heal the wounds of my soul and have mercy on me.

Readings for the Week of March 15, 2020

3/15: Hebrews 1:10-2:3; 7:26-8:2; Mark 2:1-12; John 10:9-16

3/16: Isaiah 8:13-9:7; Genesis 6:9-22; Proverbs 8:1-21

3/17: Isaiah 9:9-10:4; Genesis 7:1-5; Proverbs 8:32-9:11

3/18: Isaiah 10:12-20; Genesis 7:6-9; Proverbs 9:12-18

3/19: Isaiah 11:10-12:2; Genesis 7:11-8:3; Proverbs 10:1-22

3/20: Isaiah 13:2-13; Genesis 8:4-21; Proverbs 10:31-11:12

3/21: Hebrews 10:32-38; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Mark 2:14-17; John 5:24-30

Words from the Saints -- March 12, 2020

“Rain cannot fall without a cloud, and we cannot please God without a good conscience.” --St. Mark the Ascetic

“Even if others make war against us, it is right for us to remain in peace.” --St. John Chrysostom

“Prayer is a petition for good addressed by the pious to God. But we do not rigidly confine our petition to words. Nor yet do we imagine that God requires to be reminded by speech. He knows our needs even though we ask Him not...I say that we must not think to make our prayer complete by syllables. The strength of prayer lies rather in the purpose of our soul and in deeds of virtue reaching every part and moment of our life.” --St. Basil the Great

Penitential Stanzas (Tone 5)

Lord, I do not cease my sin; I do not comprehend Your love for mankind, Only Good One! But overcome my blindness, and have mercy on me!

Lord, even though I fear You, I do not cease to do evil. Who at judgment does not fear the Judge? Or who, desiring healing, chases away the Physician as I do? Have compassion on my infirmity, and have mercy on me, O Patient Lord!

Woe is me! Why have i become like the barren fig tree? I fear cursing and cutting down! But, Heavenly Gardener, Christ my God, reveal my parched soul to be fruitful. Accept me as You did the Prodigal Son and have mercy on me!

Disregard the great number of my transgressions, Lord born of the Virgin. Blot out all my iniquities; grant me, I pray, a firm intention to change, for You are the Lover Of Mankind, and have mercy on me!

Prayer List for the Week of March 8, 2020

For healing: Metropolitan Antony, Fr. Andrei, Fr. Daniel, Fr. Gregory, Fr. James, Fr. John, Fr. Yves, Matushka Katherine, Matushka Myra, Monk Gerasim, Monk Meletios, Ross, Justin, Steven, Marian, Paul, Dale, Roger, Nancy, Claire, Patricia, Mark, Nikolai, Anastasia, William, Metodije, Annabelle, Alice, Kathleen, Walter, Jay, Denise, Denise, Heather, Alexis, Robert, Gerald, Alexander, Cassie, John, Karen, Pamela, Sabra, Robert, Eric, Michael, Melissa, Marianne, Ryan, Joanne, Rose Mary, Diane, Robert, Irene, Marianne, Marie, Timothy, Jon, Emily, Charles, Carlos, David, Hank, Nicholas, Katrina, Valentine, Nicholas, Matthew, Alicia, Kathleen, Thomas, Carol, Mary Jo, Margaret, John, Eleanor, Heather, Matthew, Rosemary, Nicholas, Joanna, Richard, Jennifer, Clara, Joan, Ella, Sarah, Alex

For God’s protection: all captives; all persecuted Christians throughout the world

For God’s protection: all those in the military

For God’s mercy and peace: those who are in hospice care

For God’s mercy, direction and protection: those who are unemployed, poor, hungry and/or homeless

*** We pray for: those who love us; those who hate us; those who have no one to pray for them; those who have asked us to pray for them, even though we are unworthy. ***

Departed: Anthony, Barbara, Arthur, Mother Sophia, Sally

Readings for the Week of March 8, 2020

3/8: Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2; John 1:43-51

3/9: Isaiah 4:2-6; 5:1-7; Genesis 3:21-4:7; Proverbs 3:34-4:22

3/10: Isaiah 5:7-16; Genesis 4:8-15; Proverbs 5:1-15

3/11: Isaiah 5:16-25; Genesis 4:16-26; Proverbs 5:15-6:3

3/12: Isaiah 6:1-12; Genesis 5:1-24; Proverbs 6:3-20

3/13: Isaiah 7:1-14; Genesis 5:32-6:8; Proverbs 6:20-6:35

3/14: Hebrews 3:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Mark 1:35-44; John 5:24-30

Words from the Saints -- March 5, 2020

"God wants only one thing from us--humility. Nothing else." --St. Paisios the Athonite

"The only person who is free is the one who lives for Christ." --St. John Chrysostom

"Above all let us be convinced that nothing can happen to us apart from the providence of God." --St. Dorotheos of Gaza

"Let listening to worldly news be bitter food for you, and let the words of saintly men be as combs filled with honey." --St. Basil the Great

"Intelligent men have no need to listen to much talk, but should attend only to that which is profitable and guided by God's will." --St. Antony the Great

"Unbelievers, those who believe with difficulty, or believe in part, are those who do not show their faith through works. Apart from works the demons also believe (James 2:19) and confess Christ to be God and Master. 'We know who You are' (Mark 1:24), they say, 'You are the Son of God' (Matthew 8:29), and elsewhere, 'These men are servants of the Most High God' (Acts 16:17). Yet such faith will not benefit the demons, nor even humans. This faith is of no use, for it is dead." --St. Symeon the New Theologian

Penitential Stanzas (Tone 4)

Lord, I want to wash away the record of my sins with tears, and through the rest of my life please You with repentance. But the Enemy deceives me and fights against my soul. Lord, before I perish utterly, save me!

If one takes refuge from the tempest in this harbor, will one not be saved? If in agony one kneels before this house of healing, will not one be cured? Maker-of-All and Physician of the Sick: Lord, before I perish utterly, save me (Colossians 2:14)!

Savior, wash me with my tears, for I am defiled by many sins. Therefore, I fall down before You: I have sinned, have mercy on me, O God!

I am a sheep in Your rational flock, and I flee to You for refuge, Good Shepherd. O God, I have gone astray: Seek me and have mercy on me (John 10:11).

Words from the Saints -- February 27, 2020

"'Like a tree planted by streams of water,' [Psalm 1:3] the soul is irrigated by the Holy Scriptures and acquires vigor, produces tasty fruit, namely, true faith, and is beautified with a thousand green leaves, namely, actions that please God." --St. John of Damascus

"May God teach every one of us to strive for His truth, and for the good of the Holy Church, rather than something for our own sake." --St. Tikhon of Moscow

"No cloud is formed without a breath of wind; and no passion is born without a thought." --St. Mark the Ascetic

Words from the Saints -- February 18, 2020

"A good conscience is found through prayer, and pure prayer through the conscience. Each by nature needs the other." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Blessed the one who has cleansed himself of every stain of sins, so that with boldness he may receive into his own house the King of glory, our Lord Jesus Christ." --St. Ephraim the Syrian

"If we were to receive the entire universe as a gift, that gift would be less than the Grace of God." --St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Words from the Saints -- February 11, 2020

"We are not without hope of salvation, nor is it at all the right time for us to despair. All our life is a season of repentance, for God 'desires not the death of the sinner', as it is written, 'but that the wicked turn from his way and live' (Ezekiel 33:11). For, if there were no hope of turning back, why would death not have followed immediately on disobedience, and why would we not be deprived of life as soon as we sin? For where there is hope of turning back, there is no room for despair." --St. Gregory Palamas

"A self-indulgent heart becomes a prison and chain for the soul when it leaves this life; whereas a diligent heart is an open door." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The memory of insults is the residue of anger. It keeps sins alive, hates justice, ruins virtue, poisons the heart, rots the mind, defeats concentration, paralyzes prayer, puts love at a distance, and is a nail driven into the soul. If anyone has appeased his anger, he has already suppressed the memory of insults, while as long as the mother is alive the son persists. In order to appease the anger, love is necessary." --St. John Climacus

"As a fish cannot swim without water, and as a bird cannot fly without air, so a Christian cannot advance a single step without Christ." --St. Gregory the Theologian

"Give no ear to the slanderer's talk nor let your talk run on in the fault-finder's hearing, by readily speaking and listening to things against your neighbor; otherwise you will fall from divine charity [love] and be found a foreigner to eternal life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

Words from the Saints -- February 4, 2020

"There are three things which produce love of material wealth: self-indulgence, self-esteem and lack of faith. Lack of faith is more dangerous than the other two." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"When the devil sees a soul protected by virtues, he dare not come near it, fearing the strength and power given to it by prayer." --St. John Chrysostom

"To yield and give way to our passions is the lowest slavery, even as to rule over them is the only liberty." --St. Justin Martyr

"If a man tries to overcome temptations without prayer and patient endurance, he will become more entangled in them instead of driving them away." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

Words from the Saints -- January 28, 2020

"If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. And yet we refuse to cry over the evil we have done! Not only do we not weep for the sins we have committed, we even add to them. . . If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. Nobody must rejoice in the security of their own good deeds. As long as we are still experiencing the uncertainties of this life, we do not know what end may follow... we must not trust in our own virtues." --St. Gregory the Great

"Thus it is we ought to love our enemies. This is to love God, Who hath enjoined it, Who hath given it as His law. To imitate Him is to love our enemy. Consider it is not thine enemy thou art benefiting, but thyself; thou art not loving him, but art obeying God. Knowing therefore these things, let us confirm our love one to another, that we may perform this duty perfectly, and attain those good things that are promised in Christ Jesus our Lord, with Whom to the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, be glory, might, and honor, now, and forever and ever. Amen." --St. John Chrysostom

"Sometimes men are tested by pleasure, sometimes by distress or by physical suffering. By means of His prescriptions the Physician of souls administers the remedy according to the cause of the passions lying hidden in the soul." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"The forceful practice of self-control and love, patience and stillness, will destroy the passions hidden within us." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing when your conscience says another. For Scripture places such people under a curse." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Of course, it would be easier to get to paradise with a full stomach, all snuggled up in a soft feather-bed, but what is required is to carry one’s cross along the way, for the kingdom of God is not attained by enduring one or two troubles, but many!" --St. Anthony of Optina

Words from the Saints -- January 21, 2020

"The New Man of grace is the result of prayer." --St. Isaac the Syrian

"There is still time for endurance, time for patience, time for healing, time for change. Have you slipped? Rise up. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand among sinners, but leap aside." --St. Basil the Great

"Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When your neighbor comes to you, always have great respect for him, because the Lord is in him, and often expresses His will through him. 'It is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure' (Philippians 2:13). Therefore, do not grudge anything to your brother, but do to him as to the Lord; especially as you do not know in whom the Lord will come and visit you; be impartial to all, be kind to all, sincere and hospitable. Remember that sometimes God speaks even through unbelievers, or disposes their hearts towards us, as it happened in Egypt when the Lord gave Joseph favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison (Genesis 39:21)." --St. John of Kronstadt

"Having read Holy Scripture very carefully, you should also read the holy Fathers who interpret the Scriptures. You will receive no less delight from reading the Fathers than you do from the Scriptures. The Fathers develop the hidden meanings in Scripture and with their own writings help us to understand what we did not before. Because of that philosophic axiom that all men by nature seek knowledge, we must say that great delight follows naturally when we learn about hidden and unknown matters. This is why there will be ineffable joy and gladness that will come to your soul from the interpretations and the words of the holy Fathers. You too will be shouting, ad did David, those enthusiastic words in the Psalms." --St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain

"What is the will of God that St. Paul urges and invites each of us to attain (1 Thessalonians 4:3)? It is total cleansing from sin, freedom from the shameful passions and the acquisition of the highest virtue. In other words, it is the purification and sanctification of the heart that comes about through fully experienced and conscious participation in the perfect and divine Spirit." --St. Makarios of Egypt

"Just as those whose sense of smell is healthy can tell who has hidden perfumes, so the pure soul can recognize in others both the fragrance which he himself has obtained from God, and the stench from which he has been freed." --St. John Climacus

"Fire makes iron impossible to touch, and likewise frequent prayer renders us more forceful in our warfare against the enemy. That is why the demons strive with all their strength to make us slothful in attentiveness to prayer, for they know that prayer is our invincible weapon against them." --St. John of Karpathos

Words from the Saints -- January 14, 2020

"The tongue of a back-biting soul is three-pronged: it injures the speaker, the listener and sometimes the person being maligned." --St. Thalassios the Libyan

"If the poison of pride is swelling up in you, turn to the Eucharist; and that Bread, Which is your God humbling and disguising Himself, will teach you humility. If the fever of selfish greed rages in you, feed on this Bread; and you will learn generosity. If the cold wind of coveting withers you, hasten to the Bread of Angels; and charity will come to blossom in your heart. If you feel the itch of intemperance, nourish yourself with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, Who practiced heroic self-control during His earthly life; and you will become temperate. If you are lazy and sluggish about spiritual things, strengthen yourself with this heavenly Food; and you will grow fervent. Lastly, if you feel scorched by the fever of impurity, go to the banquet of the Angels; and the spotless Flesh of Christ will make you pure and chaste." --St. Cyril of Alexandria

"Hence it is very clear that disturbing urges are not always aroused in us by other people's faults. Rather, we are to blame -- we who have stored up within ourselves the causes of our offenses and the seeds of our vices that, when the rain shower of temptation drenches our mind, at once break forth into buds and fruits." --St. John Cassian

Words from the Saints -- January 7, 2020

"There are many differing methods of prayer. No method is harmful; if it were, it would be not prayer but the activity of Satan." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"The person who truly wishes to be healed is he who does not refuse treatment. This treatment consists of the pain and distress brought on by various misfortunes. He who refuses them does not realize what they accomplish in this world or what he will gain from them when he departs this life." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"Without contrition of the heart it is altogether impossible to rid ourselves of evil. Now the heart is made contrite by threefold self-control: in sleep, in food and in bodily relaxation. For excess of these three things leads to self-indulgence; and this in turn makes us accept evil thoughts, and is opposed to prayer and to appropriate work." --St. Kosmas Aitolos

"True hope seeks the one Kingdom of God and is sure that everything necessary for this mortal life will surely be given. The heart cannot have peace until it acquires this hope. This hope pacifies it fully and brings joy to it. The most holy lips of the Savior spoke about this very hope: 'Come to Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'" (Matthew 11:28).” --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"No one in this world is happy unless he has opened wide the gates of his spiritual Jerusalem--his soul--and received God into himself. A godless man feels lonely to despair. The society of others does not make his loneliness go away, but only increases it. However he who has taken God into his soul will never feel lonely even in a desert. No one dies an eternal death other than one in whom God has died." --St. Nikolai Velimirovich

Words from the Saints -- December 31, 2019

"No other book so glorifies God as does the Psalter (Book of Psalms). It profits the soul; it glorifies God together with the angels." --St. Basil the Great

"It is necessary that the Holy Spirit enter our heart. Everything good that we do, that we do for Christ, is given to us by the Holy Spirit, but prayer most of all, which is always available to us." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Without sorrows there is no salvation. On the other hand, the Kingdom of God awaits those who have patiently endured. And all the glory of the world is nothing in comparison." --St. Seraphim of Sarov

"Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven." --St. Jerome "A true Christian is made by faith and love toward Christ." --St. Herman of Alaska

Words from the Saints -- December 24, 2019

"Guard your mind, and you will not be harassed by temptations. But if you fail to guard it, accept patiently whatever trial comes." --St. Mark the Ascetic

"Prayer is a petition for good addressed by the pious to God. But we do not rigidly confine our petition to words. Nor yet do we imagine that God requires to be reminded by speech. He knows our needs even though we ask Him not...I say that we must not think to make our prayer complete by syllables. The strength of prayer lies rather in the purpose of our soul and in deeds of virtue reaching every part and moment of our life." --St. Basil the Great

"Every genuine confession humbles the soul. When it takes the form of thanksgiving, it teaches the soul that it has been delivered by the grace of God." --St. Maximos the Confessor

"To deny oneself means to give up one's bad habits; to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad thoughts or desires; to suppress every evil thought; not to desire to do anything out of self love, but to do everything out of love for God." --St. Innocent of Alaska