Living In Expectation Of Miracles
While just a little boy in the Lutheran Church, I remember asking the pastor why we didn’t see miracles in the church like had happened in the Bible. He told me they were used in New Testament times to jump start the church, and were not needed now. As a boy of about ten, I remember feeling cheated, for I wanted to see miracles, and felt we still needed them in this age.
There is a man in Irvine, California, who prayed for help from Saint George the Great Martyr, only to have the saint appear before him, and give him a wooden cross. Within a short time this cross was gushing forth holy myrrh, and healing to those who’d been anointed with it. A priest friend showed me the video of the cross, and the myrrh was literally gushing out of the cross and into a bucket, continuously.
The Myrrh Streaming Icon of the Mother of God of Hawaii is another example of holy myrrh streaming forth, performing miracles of healing of both physical and spiritual nature. When I myself was scheduled for by-pass surgery, after anointing myself with the myrrh from the Hawaiian icon, the cardiologist canceled the surgery, right in the operating room, and this after two days of testing had shown I needed stints, and at the very least, one by-pass.
The scriptures tell us that we can move mountains if we only have the faith of a mustard seed, yet many don’t expect they’ll see a miracle, even when they pray for one. The expectation of experiencing miracles, such as healing, are far from the mindset of many Christians, and I suspect it is because they don’t think their faith is strong enough.
The truth is, we don’t always prepare ourselves to live a life that is open to miracles, for in the little things, during our everyday comings and goings, we live as though anything needed depends totally on our own efforts. We don’t live with the expectation that God cares about our needs, both physical, spiritual, and material, in nature. We don’t live with the expectation that God cares enough about us that He enters into our lives in a real, concrete way. So we go about our lives as though there probably is a God out there, but a God that is hardly interested in me.
If we begin to live each day with the expectation that God is not only there, but is actually interacting in a real way, we will soon experience the truth of this. We will begin to see with new eyes, and hear with new ears, how much God does enter into each and every moment of our life, if only we are paying attention.
Faith must be built up little by little, much like a painter puts on layers of oil paint, until one day, layer upon layer, a beautiful painting is resting on the easel. Like oil painting, faith is formed through layers of learning to trust, so that one day we realize the depth of God’s involvement in our life has been there all along, and we experience the miracles that have been happening around us, all along.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Tuesday September 20, 2022 / September 7, 2022
15th Week after Pentecost. Tone five.
Forefeast of the Nativity of the Theotokos.
Martyr Sozon of Cilicia (304).
St. John, archbishop and wonderworker of Novgorod (1186).
Martyrdom of St. Macarius, archimandrite of Kanev (1678).
Venerable Macarius of Optina (1860).
New Hieromartyrs Peter and Michael priests, Alexander deacon (1918).
New Hieromartyr Priest John Maslovsky of Verkhne-Poltavka, Amur (1921).
New Hieromartyrs Eugene metropolitan of Gorky, Stephan priest and Hieromartyrs Eugene, Nicholas and Pakhomius, New Hieromartyrs Gregory, Basil priests, Hieromartyr Leo (1937).
Venerables Alexander Peresvet and Andrew Osliaby (1380).
Venerable Serapion of Spaso-Eleazar Monastery in Pskov (1480).
Apostles Evodus (Euodias) (66) and Onesiphorus (67) of the Seventy.
Martyr Eupsychius of Caesarea in Cappadocia (2nd c.).
Venerable Luke and St. Peter the Cappadocian, abbots of the monastery of the Deep Stream (10th c.).
St. Cassia (Cassiane) the Hymnographer (9th c.).
Venerable Cloud (Clodoald), abbot-founder of Nogent-sur-Seine near Paris (560) (Gaul).
The Scripture Readings
Galatians 2:21-3:7
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Justification by Faith
3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
Mark 6:1-7
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
6 Then He went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. 2 And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” 5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.
Sending Out the Twelve
7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.