Confidence before God. That's sort of an oxymoron if you meditate upon it. Yet through the presence of Jesus at the Father's right hand and the intercession of the Holy Spirit, we can have confidence and come boldly before the Creator of the universe and know that he not only hears us, but also cares for us. Wow, what an audience! Oh, and one final thing, he also ACTS on what we ask.
Day 29 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Baramoudah, may God make it always received, year after year, with reassurance and tranquility, while our sins after forgiven by the tender mercies of our God my fathers and brothers.
Amen.
The Twenty-Ninth Day of the Blessed Month of Baramoudah
Departure of St.Erastus, the Apostle
On this day, St. Erastus, one of the Seventy Apostles, departed. He received the grace of the holy spirit in the upper room of Zion with the Disciples. He preached, ministered, and suffered along with them frequently. They laid the hands on him, and ordained him bishop for Jerusalem. He taught there and in many other places, and God worked great signs and wonders on his hands. As example he changed bitter salty water to sweet water. He labored with St. Paul the apostle in his many journeys, for he ministered unto him. He is mentioned in chapter nineteen of the Acts of the Apostles. After he reached a good old age, he departed in peace.
May His prayers be with us. Amen.
Departure of St.Acacius, Bishop of Jerusalem
On this day also, St. Acacius, Bishop of Jerusalem, departed. He was a pure and righteous man. He was persecuted for a long time, and God wrought many signs and wonders by his hands, then departed in peace.
May His prayers be with us and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 42 : 8 - 11
Chapter 42
| 8 | The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me--A prayer to the God of my life. |
| 9 | I will say to God my Rock, "Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?" |
| 10 | As with a breaking of my bones, My enemies reproach me, While they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" |
| 11 | Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Vespers Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint Luke the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Luke 18 : 35 - 43
Chapter 18
| 35 | Then it happened, as He was coming near Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the road begging. |
| 36 | And hearing a multitude passing by, he asked what it meant. |
| 37 | So they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. |
| 38 | And he cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" |
| 39 | Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" |
| 40 | So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be brought to Him. And when he had come near, He asked him, |
| 41 | saying, "What do you want Me to do for you?" He said, "Lord, that I may receive my sight." |
| 42 | Then Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight; your faith has made you well." |
| 43 | And immediately he received his sight, and followed Him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God. |
And Glory be to God forever.
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 111 : 1 - 2
Chapter 111
| 1 | Praise the LORD! I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. |
| 2 | The works of the LORD are great, Studied by all who have pleasure in them. |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
Matins Gospel
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
John 5 : 37 - 47
Chapter 5
| 37 | And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. |
| 38 | But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. |
| 39 | You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. |
| 40 | But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. |
| 41 | "I do not receive honor from men. |
| 42 | But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. |
| 43 | I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. |
| 44 | How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? |
| 45 | Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you--Moses, in whom you trust. |
| 46 | For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. |
| 47 | But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" |
And Glory be to God forever.
Liturgy Gospel
Paulines Epistle
Paul, the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, appointed to the Gospel of God.
A reading from the Epistle of our teacher Paul to Timothy .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
2 Timothy 2 : 8 - 15
Chapter 2
| 8 | Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, |
| 9 | for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. |
| 10 | Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. |
| 11 | This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. |
| 12 | If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. |
| 13 | If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. |
| 14 | Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. |
| 15 | Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle 2 of St. John .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
2 John 2 : 21 - 25
Do not love the world or the things in the world.
The world passes away, and its desires; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Amen.
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of our fathers the apostles, may their blessings be with us.
Acts 9 : 31 - 35
Chapter 9
| 31 | Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. |
| 32 | Now it came to pass, as Peter went through all parts of the country, that he also came down to the saints who dwelt in Lydda. |
| 33 | There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden eight years and was paralyzed. |
| 34 | And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed." Then he arose immediately. |
| 35 | So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. |
The word of the Lord shall grow, multiply, be mighty, and be confirmed, in the holy Church of God.
Amen.
Divine Psalm
Stand in the fear of God and listen to the Holy Gospel.
A reading from the Gospel according to our teacher Saint John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all. Amen.
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet, and the Good King.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 107 : 20,22
Chapter 107
| 20 | He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. |
| 22 | Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And declare His works with rejoicing. |
Hallelujah.
Divine Gospel
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Our Lord God, Savior, and King of us all, Jesus Christ, the Living Son of God to whom be glory forever.
Amen.
John 6 : 1 - 14
Chapter 6
| 1 | After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. |
| 2 | Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. |
| 3 | And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. |
| 4 | Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near. |
| 5 | Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" |
| 6 | But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. |
| 7 | Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." |
| 8 | One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, |
| 9 | "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" |
| 10 | Then Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. |
| 11 | And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. |
| 12 | So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." |
| 13 | Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. |
| 14 | Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world." |
And Glory be to God forever.
I’m convinced that beneath the ugly manifestations of our present evils—political corruption, ecological devastation, warring against one another, hating each other based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or nationality—the greatest dis-ease facing humanity right now is our profound and painful sense of disconnection. We feel disconnected from God, certainly, but also from ourselves (especially our bodies), from each other, and from our world. Our sense of this fourfold isolation is plunging our species into increasingly destructive behavior and much mental illness.
Yet many are discovering that the Infinite Flow of the Trinity—and our practical, felt experience of this gift—offers the utterly grounded reconnection with God, with self, with others, and with our world that all spirituality, and arguably, even politics, is aiming for, but which conventional religion and politics fail to access.
Trinity overcomes the foundational philosophical problem of “the One and the Many.” Serious seekers invariably wonder how things can be both deeply connected and yet clearly distinct. In the paradigm of Trinity, we have three autonomous “Persons,” as we call them, who are nevertheless in perfect communion, given and surrendered to each other with an Infinite Love. With the endless diversity in creation, it is clear that God is not at all committed to uniformity but instead desires unity—which is the great work of the Spirit—or diversity overcome by love. Uniformity is mere conformity and obedience to law and custom; whereas spiritual unity is that very diversity embraced and protected by an infinitely generous love. This is the problem that our politics and most superficial religion are still unable to resolve.
Trinity is all about relationship and connection. We know the Trinity through experiencing the flow itself, which dissolves our sense of disconnection. The principle of one is lonely; the principle of two is oppositional and moves us toward preference and exclusion; the principle of three is inherently moving, dynamic, and generative. Trinity was made to order to undercut all dualistic thinking. Yet Christianity shelved it for all practical purposes because our dualistic theologies could not process it. [1]
God is not a being among other beings, but rather the Ground of Being itself which then flows through all beings. As Paul says to the intellectuals in Athens, this God “is not far from us, but is the one in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27-28). The God whom Jesus reveals is presented as unhindered dialogue, a positive and inclusive flow, and a waterwheel of outpouring love that never stops! St. Bonaventure (c. 1221–1274) called God a “fountain fullness” of love. [2]
Our sense of disconnection is only an illusion. Nothing can stop the flow of divine love; we cannot undo the eternal pattern even by our worst sin. God is always winning, and God’s love will finally win in the end. Nothing humans can do can stop the relentless outpouring force that is the divine dance. Love does not lose, nor does God lose. That’s what it means to be God!
References:
[1] See Cynthia Bourgeault, The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three: Discovering the Radical Truth at the Heart of Christianity (Shambhala: 2013); and The Shape of God: Deepening the Mystery of Trinity (CAC: 2004), CD, DVD, MP3 download.