A people deprived of hope
Accustomed as we’ve become to hearing about shootings in our communities, I would like to make an observation concerning the overall direction we are witnessing as our society moves further into a sort of madness.
As we witness the wholesale abandonment of religious belief in our society, we are seeing a breakdown in the moral fiber that has sustained Western Culture for many centuries. Increasing numbers of the population are declaring themselves as atheists, and holding to a pedestrian image of God. This image of the God our people are rejecting is far from the actual reality of the God revealed to us through the Incarnation of the Word, and experienced in Jesus Christ, worshiped in Holy Trinity.
The increase in shootings proves our nation has become obsessed with violence. That our movies portray extremes in violence, and pollute our minds with sick images of darkness, evil and death, clearly exposes the origins of such mayhem, yet the real source, to my mind, is the total loss of hope. As a people, we have deprived ourselves of hope, and the despair and hopelessness of our society has resulted in the proliferation of violence and depravation.
What we put into our minds makes a difference, and if we want our society to develop into a sensitive, loving, and caring people, we have to know that the movies we watch, the games we play, and the company we keep, does make a difference. But even more important, we must not allow ourselves to deprive the next generations of young people a faith that will sustain them. As a country we have drifted away from the faith that sustained generations of our ancestors, even as they, like us, faced the horrors of a fallen, war torn world.
Just as we of the older generations must be concerned with what goes into the minds of our youth, we must, more importantly, be concerned about what goes into the hearts of our young people. When a heart is not prepared to be the tabernacle of the Living God, it remains crippled and darkened, and open to the demonic influencing of a violent world, which is devoid of hope. If we really love our young, we must be willing to image, in a real and sustainable way, the faith in the Living God. The greatest gift we can give our children is not a good education, or a cool car, but a faith that will sustain them.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Sunday October 2, 2016 / September 19, 2016
15th Sunday after Pentecost. Tone six.
Sunday after the Universal Elevation of the Precious and Life-Creating Cross of the Lord
Afterfeast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Martyrs Trophimus, Sabbatius, and Dorymedon of Synnada (276).
St. Theodore, prince of Smolensk and Yaroslav (1299), and his children Sts. David and Constantine.
New Martyr Priest Constantine (Golubev) of Bogorodsk, and two others with him (1918).
New Hieromartyr Nicholas priest (1919).
Venerable Alexis, Hieroschemamonk of Zosima Hermitage (1928).
New Martyr Nilus priest, Virgin-martyr Mary (1938).
Martyr Zosimas, hermit of Cilicia (4th c.).
Blessed George (Igor), Prince of Chernigov (1147).
Hieromartyr Januarius, bishop of Benevento, and his companions: Sosius, Proclus and Festus, deacons, Gantiol, Eutychius, Acutius, and Desiderius, at Puzzuoli (305).
St. Seguanos of Gaul (Gaul).
St. Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury (690) (Celtic & British).
Scripture Readings
Luke 24:1-12
He Is Risen
24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’”
8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
2 Corinthians 4:6-15
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Cast Down but Unconquered
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Matthew 22:35-46
35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is thefirst and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus: How Can David Call His Descendant Lord?
41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?”
They said to Him, “The Son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying:
44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at My right hand,
Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”’?
45 If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” 46 And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore.