For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Day 12 of the Blessed Coptic Month of Amshir, 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 Twelfth Day of the Blessed Month of Amshir
Commemoration of the Archangel Michael
On this day we celebrate, commemorating the honorable Michael the Archangel, the intercessor of mankind.
May His intercession be for us. Amen.
Departure of St.Gelasius
Also on this day, St. Gelasius, the struggling ascetic, departed. He was born of Christian parents, who brought him up in the Christian faith. They taught him the church subjects, and then he was ordained a deacon in the church. He labored in his obedience to Christ and in carrying His yoke. He went to the wilderness of Shiheet and became a monk. Afterwards, he was ordained a priest, and the angel of the Lord guided him to a distant place where many monks gathered around him, and he was a great example for them. He considered himself as one of them. He was patient and long suffering to the point that he transcribed the Holy Bible and placed it in the church for the other monks to read. One day a stranger visited him and stole the transcribed Bible and went to try to sell it to someone. That person wanted to know its value, so he went to St. Gelasius and showed him the Bible. St. Gelasius knew that it was his book and asked him, "For how much did he sell it to you?" He answered, "For sixteen Dinari." The saint said to him that it was cheap, and so the man took it and went to his home.
When the seller came back to him to pick up the price, he said to him, "I have shown the Bible to Father Gelasius and he said that the price was too high." The seller asked, "Did the father tell you anything else?" The buyer replied, "No." The man who stole the Bible said, "I do not want to sell it." He took the book and went to Father Gelasius and gave it to him weeping and regretting what he did. The saint did not accept it from him. However, after the man had insisted with many tears, the saint at last accepted it from him. God granted this saint the gift of performing miracles. One day, the monastery was presented with an amount of fish. After they were cooked, the cook asked one of the servants to guard it, but the servant ate a great part of it. When the cook knew what had happened, he was angry at that servant, for he ate before the time of eating and before the elders had blessed it. The cook beat him with a deadly hit that killed him. The cook was afraid of what he had done and went to St. Gelasius and told him what had happened. The saint told him to take the body and put it in the church in front of the altar and to leave it there. The saint and the monks came to the church, prayed the Vespers prayer, and then the saint departed from the church, and the boy rose up and followed him. The monks did not know of this miracle until the saint had departed. When this father finished the course of his life in a good old age, the Lord wanted him to rest from the labors of this world, and he departed leaving us with this good memory.
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 17 : 15,3
Chapter 17
| 15 | As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness. |
| 3 | You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. |
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 John the Evangelist.
May His Blessings be with us all.
John 5 : 39 - 47
Chapter 5
| 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.
Matins
Matins Psalm
From the Psalms of our teacher David the prophet.
May his blessings be with us all.
Psalms 89 : 52,49
Chapter 89
| 52 | Blessed be the LORD forevermore! Amen and Amen. |
| 49 | Lord, where are Your former lovingkindnesses, Which You swore to David in Your truth? |
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 12 : 44 - 50
Chapter 12
| 44 | Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. |
| 45 | And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. |
| 46 | I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. |
| 47 | And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. |
| 48 | He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. |
| 49 | For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. |
| 50 | And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak." |
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 Hebrews .
May his blessings be upon us.
Amen.
Hebrews 3 : 1 - 4 : 2
Chapter 3
| 1 | Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, |
| 2 | who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. |
| 3 | For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. |
| 4 | For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. |
| 5 | And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, |
| 6 | but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. |
| 7 | Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, |
| 8 | Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, |
| 9 | Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. |
| 10 | Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, "They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.' |
| 11 | So I swore in My wrath, "They shall not enter My rest."' |
| 12 | Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; |
| 13 | but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. |
| 14 | For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, |
| 15 | while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." |
| 16 | For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? |
| 17 | Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? |
| 18 | And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? |
| 19 | So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. |
Chapter 4
| 1 | Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. |
| 2 | For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. |
The grace of God the Father be with you all.
Amen.
Catholic Epistle
A Reading from Epistle of St. Jude .
May his blessing be upon us.
Amen.
Jude 1 : 14 - 25
Chapter 1
| 14 | Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, |
| 15 | to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." |
| 16 | These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. |
| 17 | But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: |
| 18 | how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. |
| 19 | These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. |
| 20 | But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, |
| 21 | keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. |
| 22 | And on some have compassion, making a distinction; |
| 23 | but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. |
| 24 | Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, |
| 25 | To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. |
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 20 : 7 - 16
Chapter 20
| 7 | Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. |
| 8 | There were many lamps in the upper room where they were gathered together. |
| 9 | And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. |
| 10 | But Paul went down, fell on him, and embracing him said, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." |
| 11 | Now when he had come up, had broken bread and eaten, and talked a long while, even till daybreak, he departed. |
| 12 | And they brought the young man in alive, and they were not a little comforted. |
| 13 | Then we went ahead to the ship and sailed to Assos, there intending to take Paul on board; for so he had given orders, intending himself to go on foot. |
| 14 | And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene. |
| 15 | We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. |
| 16 | For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost. |
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 89 : 1,6
Chapter 89
| 1 | I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever; With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. |
| 6 | For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD? |
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 : 27 - 46
Chapter 6
| 27 | Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." |
| 28 | Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" |
| 29 | Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." |
| 30 | Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? |
| 31 | Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat."' |
| 32 | Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. |
| 33 | For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." |
| 34 | Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." |
| 35 | And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. |
| 36 | But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. |
| 37 | All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. |
| 38 | For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. |
| 39 | This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. |
| 40 | And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." |
| 41 | The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven." |
| 42 | And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, "I have come down from heaven'?" |
| 43 | Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves. |
| 44 | No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. |
| 45 | It is written in the prophets, "And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. |
| 46 | Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. |
And Glory be to God forever.
Today, as you read this second excerpt from Howard Thurman’s book Jesus and the Disinherited, hold an open heart and mind. In other words, read with a contemplative stance. The meditation ends with a question that I’ll hope you’ll sit with—as Thurman and his companion did for five hours—and not rush to a pat, tidy answer.
I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that I have heard a sermon on the meaning of religion, of Christianity, to the man who stands with his back against the wall . . . the poor, the disinherited, the dispossessed. What does our religion say to them? The issue is . . . what religion offers to meet their own needs. The search for an answer to this question is perhaps the most important religious quest of modern life.
In the fall of 1935 I was serving as chairman of a delegation sent on a pilgrimage of friendship from the students of America to the students of India, Burma, and Ceylon. [On this trip Thurman also met and visited with Gandhi.] It was at a meeting in Ceylon that the whole crucial issue was pointed up to me in a way that I can never forget. . . . I was invited by the principal to have coffee. . . .
He said to me, “What are you doing over here? I know what the newspapers say . . . but that is not my question. What are you doing over here? This is what I mean.
“More than three hundred years ago your forefathers were taken from the western coast of Africa as slaves. The people who dealt in the slave traffic were Christians. One of your famous Christian hymn writers, Sir John Newton, made his money from the sale of slaves to the New World. He is the man who wrote ‘How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds’ and ‘Amazing Grace’—there may be others, but these are the only ones I know. The name of one of the famous British slave vessels was ‘Jesus.’
“The men who bought the slaves were Christians. Christian ministers, quoting the Christian apostle Paul, gave the sanction of religion to the system of slavery. Some seventy years or more ago you were freed by a man [Abraham Lincoln] who was not a professing Christian, but was rather the spearhead of certain political, social, and economic forces, the significance of which he himself did not understand. During all the period since then you have lived in a Christian nation in which you are segregated, lynched, and burned. Even in the church, I understand, there is segregation. One of my students who went to your country sent me a clipping telling about a Christian church in which the regular Sunday worship was interrupted so that many could join a mob against one of your fellows. When he had been caught and done to death, they came back to resume their worship of their Christian God.
“I am a Hindu. I do not understand. Here you are in my country, staying deep within the Christian faith and tradition. I do not wish to seem rude to you. But, sir, I think you are a traitor to all the darker peoples of the earth. I am wondering what you, an intelligent man, can say in defense of your position?”
References:
A note on language from Thurman’s editors: “We realize that inclusive language is noticeably absent in Howard Thurman’s writings. As gifted and prophetic as he was, Howard Thurman was also a product of his times, and inclusive language was not a part of the social consciousness. Regardless of language, the substance of Howard Thurman’s work is inclusive. His life and theology were inclusive, and if he were writing today his language would more accurately reflect this worldview.” [1] While his masculine words might suggest that Thurman didn’t consider other perspectives, he did see many women in his life (for example, his mentor Mary McLeod Bethune and his wife Sue Bailey Thurman) as peers and leaders. We must grant this same sympathy to all those who write with sincerity in previous times and various cultures.