Life is filled with many uncertainties. You never know when something unexpected is going to happen. You have no idea when the next disaster will strike. In a world filled with hate and terrorism, none of us has a clue when the next horrible atrocity will take place. So what do we do when we can't be sure of our circumstances? We take shelter under the wing of the One who is above all circumstances! We take assurance in our Father who has promised to bring us to himself no matter what may happen today ... in our world ... and to our bodies. Our lives are hidden with our Father because we've been joined to Christ. He is our Refuge! His wings are our shelter!
Day 28 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Tute, 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-Eighth Day of the Blessed Month of Tute
Martyrdom of Saints Abadir and Irai, His Sister
On this day was the martyrdom of Saints Abadir and Irai, his sister, the children of Wasilides, the minister of Antioch. Abadir was appointed Esfehselar in his father's position. He had a room wherein he prayed and the Lord Christ appeared to him in the middle of the night and told him: "Rise up and take your sister Irai and go to Egypt to receive the crown of martyrdom and I will instruct a man whose name is Samuel to take of your bodies and prepare them for burial, " and He gave him His benediction and went up into heaven. This vision was seen by his sister also and she heard a voice saying, "Hearken to your brother and do not transgress his command." When she woke up, she trembled and she went to her brother and told him about the vision, declaring that she would not disobey him. They swore to each other to go to shed their blood in the name of the Lord Christ. When his mother knew that, she rent her garments, she and her handmaidens and they came to St. Abadir. His mother adjured him not to become a martyr and he promised her that he would not go forward to Diocletian seeking martyrdom. Her heart was soothed, not knowing his intention of going to another place to become a martyr. Every night he used to change his apparel and go disguised to give water to the prisoners all night, and he asked the door-keeper not to tell anyone.
After this he saw a vision to remind him of travelling. he took his sister and went to Alexandria, then they came to Cairo and they found Saint Abekragon who recognized them and blessed them. From there they came to Tomwah where they entered the church and prayed; then, they went to El-Eshmunin and had a meeting with Samuel the deacon. On the following day he went with them to Ansena, and they confessed our Lord Christ before Arianus the governor, who tortured them severely. Meanwhile, Saint Abadir prayed and entreated God to strengthen his faith and the faith of his sister Irai. The Lord took their souls and carried them up to the heavenly Jerusalem and they saw the eminent ranks and the luminous habitations of the righteous; then he brought them back to their bodies. The governor wrote their decree and then adjured Abadir by his God to tell him his name and who he was. The saint replied, "Swear to me that you shall not change what you have decreed, " and when the governor swore to him, he said, "I am Abadir El-Esfehselar." The governor cried out saying, "Woe to me, O my Lord why did you not let me know that you are my Lord and let me go so far as to condemn you tpo all these severe tortures?" The saint replied, "Fear not, for you are about to receive a crown of martyrdom. The emperor will seek for me and will not find me, and he will hear that you have killed me. Then he will call you and torture you and you will die in the Name of our Lord Christ. And now make speed to finish." And straightaway the governor ordered their heads be cut off. The believers wrapped up their bodies in fine apparels and Samuel the deacon took them to his blessed house until the days of persecution were ended and a great church was built for them.
May their prayers and blessings be with us all, and Glory be to God forever. Amen.
Vespers
Vespers Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 4 : 3,6,7
Chapter 4
| 3 | But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him. |
| 6 | There are many who say, "Who will show us any good?" LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. |
| 7 | You have put gladness in my heart, More than in the season that their grain and wine increased. |
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 Matthew the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Matthew 10 : 24 - 33
Chapter 10
| 24 | "A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. |
| 25 | It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! |
| 26 | Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. |
| 27 | "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. |
| 28 | And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. |
| 29 | Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. |
| 30 | But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. |
| 31 | Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. |
| 32 | "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. |
| 33 | But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. |
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 113 : 1 - 2
Chapter 113
| 1 | Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD! |
| 2 | Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forevermore! |
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 Mark the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
Mark 8 : 34 - 9 : 1
Chapter 8
| 34 | When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. |
| 35 | For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. |
| 36 | For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? |
| 37 | Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? |
| 38 | For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." |
Chapter 9
| 1 | And He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power." |
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 the Romans .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
Romans 8 : 14 - 27
Chapter 8
| 14 | For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. |
| 15 | For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." |
| 16 | The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, |
| 17 | and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. |
| 18 | For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. |
| 19 | For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. |
| 20 | For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; |
| 21 | because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. |
| 22 | For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. |
| 23 | Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. |
| 24 | For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? |
| 25 | But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. |
| 26 | Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. |
| 27 | Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle 1 of St. Peter .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
1 Peter 2 : 11 - 17
Chapter 2
| 11 | Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, |
| 12 | having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. |
| 13 | Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, |
| 14 | or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. |
| 15 | For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- |
| 16 | as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. |
| 17 | Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. |
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 19 : 11 - 20
Chapter 19
| 11 | Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, |
| 12 | so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. |
| 13 | Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." |
| 14 | Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. |
| 15 | And the evil spirit answered and said, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" |
| 16 | Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. |
| 17 | This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. |
| 18 | And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. |
| 19 | Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. |
| 20 | So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. |
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 66 : 12 - 14
Chapter 66
| 12 | You have caused men to ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment. |
| 13 | I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows, |
| 14 | Which my lips have uttered And my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble. |
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.
Luke 21 : 12 - 19
Chapter 21
| 12 | But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. |
| 13 | But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. |
| 14 | Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; |
| 15 | for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. |
| 16 | You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. |
| 17 | And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. |
| 18 | But not a hair of your head shall be lost. |
| 19 | By your patience possess your souls. |
And Glory be to God forever.
In his book The Great Spiritual Migration, Brian McLaren writes about the possible meaning behind Jesus’ cleansing of the temple (see John 2:13-17):
Perhaps it is not merely the cost of sacrifice that Jesus protests. Perhaps it is the whole belief system associated with sacrifice, based on the fundamental, long-held belief that God is angry and needs to be appeased with blood. Perhaps Jesus is overturning that belief right along with the cashiers’ tables, right along with the whole religious system built upon it. . . .
More than seven hundred years before Jesus, Hosea dared to say that God desired compassion, not sacrifice [see Hosea 6:6]. . . . Around the same time, Isaiah dared to say that God found sacrifices disgusting when people weren’t seeking justice for the oppressed (Isaiah 1-2). And centuries earlier, the poet-king David made the audacious claim that God takes no pleasure in sacrifice, but desires a “contrite spirit” and “truth in the innermost being” (Psalm 51). In other words, . . . when [Jesus] said sacrifice wasn’t necessary . . . he was siding with the prophetic and mystical/poetic traditions within Judaism, even though that set him against the traditions of the priests and scholars. . . .
When the prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Micah come along, they don’t advocate rejecting religion and culture, even though they are highly critical of its spiritual hypocrisy and social injustice. They want their religion to expand, to evolve, to learn and grow. The same is true with Jesus. He came, he said, not to abolish or replace, but to fulfill what came before him [see Matthew 5:17]. . . . [Or “transcend and include,” as Ken Wilber would say.]
The spirit of goodness, rightness, beauty, and aliveness, Jesus said, is always moving. Like wind, like breath, like water, the Spirit is in motion, inviting us to enter the current and flow.
The problem is that we often stop moving. We resist the flow. We get stuck. The word institution itself means something that stands rather than moves. When our institutions lack movements to propel them forward, the Spirit, I believe, simply moves around them, like a current around a rock in a stream. But when the priestly/institutional and prophetic/movement impulses work together, institutions provide stability and continuity and movements provide direction and dynamism. Like skeleton and muscles, the two are meant to work together.
For that to happen, we need a common spirituality to infuse both our priestly/institutional- and our prophetic/movement-oriented wings. The spirituality will often be derived from the mystical/poetic/contemplative streams within our tradition. Without that shared spirituality, without that soul work that opens our deepest selves to God and grounds our souls in love, no movement will succeed and no institution will stand. . . . It’s the linking of action and contemplation, great work and deep spirituality, that keeps the goodness, rightness, beauty, and aliveness flowing.
Reference:
Brian D. McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World’s Largest Religion Is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian (Convergent: 2016), 27, 28, 103, 180-181.