Angel Unaware

Let us be an Angel Unaware

There is not one of us who does not meet someone in a given week who is not in need of encouragement, love, and mercy. There is the mother whose children are going to bed hungry for lack of food money. The elderly neighbor whose husband died, and whose children are too centered on themselves to check in on their lonely mom. The young college student down the hall in the dorm who has no place to go for Spring Break, or no caring family wanting to see him. There is the lonely bag lady, sitting on a park bench watching everyone avoid her.

The world is full of lonely people in need of comfort, kindness, and mercy. How about the crabby old neighbor who is always frowning? Is it not possible his frown is masking grief for a lost wife, or a son whose turned his back on his father? There is the police officer who pulled you over for going over the speed limit, and who is being rather short with you because he just had to deal with a domestic violence call. Can you imagine the impact on the officer’s day, if you, after having been served the traffic ticket, thanked him for making our roads safer, and possibly saving your life by calling you on your dangerous driving?

All these people can be in need of a gentle smile, and a word of encouragement. What if you sat down next to the old bag lady and asked her how she’s doing? What if you offered to take her into a cafe for an early dinner? What if you baked a plate full of cookies for the grumpy old man? What if you asked your parents if you could invite the lonely young man down the hall for a weekend in your home?

What if you quietly paid for the groceries of the young woman behind you in the check-out line? What if you collected all the old toys left over from your children, and gave them to a shelter for battered women? What if you gave out one hundred dollars worth of tens to homeless men on the street? What if you ordered an extra hamburger and fries, and gave the bag to a homeless man at the entrance of the fast food store, and included a twenty dollar bill as an extra gift?

What if you made a pact with yourself to do seven acts of kindness each and every week, without judgement. What if you took on the role of an angel unaware?

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (Hebrews 13:2).”

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Friday January 23, 2015 / January 10, 2015

Afterfeast of the Theophany.
St. Gregory of Nyssa (395).
Venerable Dometian, bishop of Melitene (601).
St. Theophan the Recluse, bishop of Tambov (1894).
Venerable Marcian, presbyter of Constantinople (471).
Venerable Paul, abbot of Obnora (Vologda) (1429), and his disciple St. Macarius, abbot of Pisma Monastery.
Venerable Antipas of Valaam (1882).
New Hieromartyr Zenobius priest (1920).
New Hieromartyr Peter priest (1930).
New Hieromartyr Anatolius metropolite of Odessa (1938).
Woman Hieromartyr Arsenia abbes (1939).
Venerable Macarius of Pisemsk and Kostroma (14c).
Blessed Theosebia the Deaconess (385), sister of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory of Nyssa.
Venerable Ammon of Nitria, monk (5th c.).
Venerable Antipas of Galapodeshti, Romania and Valaam Monastery (1882) (Romania).
Martyred Elder Ephraim and six incorrupt monks of Obnora (1538).

Daily Scripture Readings

1 Peter 1:1-2
Greeting to the Elect Pilgrims

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

1 Peter 1:10-12

10 Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, 11 searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us[a] they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into.

1 Peter 2:6-10

6 Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

“Behold, I lay in Zion
A chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”

7 Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient,

“The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,”

8 and

“A stone of stumbling
And a rock of offense.”

They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.

9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Mark 12:1-12

The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers

12 Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. 2 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. 3 And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 5 And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. 6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

9 “Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
11 This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

12 And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.