Tuesday, January 12 / December 30 (Church Calendar)

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever!

Saints of the Day

December 30 / January 12. Afterfeast of the Nativity of Christ. Virgin Martyr Anysia at Thessalonica. Martyr Zoticus, Keeper of Orphans. Martyr Philoterus of Nicomedia, and with him six soldiers and one count. St. Theodora, nun of Caesarea in Cappadocia.St. Theodora, nun of Constantinople. Apostle Timon the Deacon. Martyrs Magistrianus, Paulinus, Umbrius, Verus, Severus,Callistratus, Florentius, Arianus, Anthimus, Ubricius, Isidore, Euculus, Sampson, Studius, and Thespesius, who suffered under Julian the Apostate. New-Martyr Gideon of Mt. Athos. Opening of the Relics of St. Daniel of Pereyaslavl. (Greek Calendar: St. Leothe Archimandrite.)

Photo of the Day

This photograph was taken from my third floor room, at the Christian Conference Center in Canon Beach, Oregon. Our Northwest Regional session, of the International Conference of Police Chaplains, has begun. The timing of this annual conference could not be better, for we chaplains have been through a lot of late, given the eight shootings, and six deaths, of the Puget Sound area police officers. A week of lectures, strolls on the beach, and fellowship with fellow chaplains, many of whom have become good friends, together with good conference food, will go a long way in helping the healing process of the “healers”. Please remember all of us chaplains in your holy prayers. 

Quote for the Day

“HEART- not simply the physical organ but the spiritual centre of man’s being, man as made in the image of God, his deepest and truest self, or the inner shrine, to be entered only through sacrifice and death, in which the mystery of the union between the divine and the human is consummated.”

Philokalia

Scripture Readings for the Day

James 3:1-10

The Untamable Tongue

¹ My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. ² For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. ³ Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. ⁴ Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. ⁵ Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.
See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶ And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. ⁷ For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸ But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.

Mark 11:11-23

¹¹ And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

The Fig Tree Withered

¹² Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. ¹³ And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
And His disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹⁵ So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹⁶ And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. ¹⁷ Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
¹⁸ And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. ¹⁹ When evening had come, He went out of the city.

The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree

²⁰ Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹ And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.