Angels Unaware

Let us be angels unaware to others

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. They are often mothers, whose children are going to bed at night hungry for lack of food money. The old woman whose husband is long gone, and whose children are too busy to check in on her. The young college student down the hall in the dorm who has no place to go for Thanksgiving. There is the lonely bag lady, sitting on a park bench watching everyone avoid eye contact with 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 possible that his frown is masking grief for a lost wife, or a son whose turned his back on his father? There’s the police officer whose pulled you over for going over the speed limit, and whose being rather abrupt with you? Is there a chance he’s having marital problems, and is in a bad mood?

All these people can be in need of a kind word, a gentle smile, or a word of encouragement. Can you imagine the impact on the officer’s day, if you, after having been served with the traffic ticket, thanked him for making our roads safer, and possibly saving your life by calling you on your dangerous driving? 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 Thanksgiving dinner? What if you baked a plate 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 Thanksgiving dinner 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 to a 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 day, 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

Thursday September 19, 2019 / September 6, 2019
14th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Commemoration of the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossae (Chonae) (4th c.).
Martyr Eudoxius, and with him Martyrs Zeno, Macarius, and 1,104 soldiers in Melitene (311).
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Constantine, John and Vsevolod priests (1937).
Venerable Archippus of Hierapolis (4th c.).
Martyrs Romulus and 11,000 others in Armenia (2nd c.).
Hieromartyr Cyril, bishop of Gortyna (3rd-4th c.).
Martyrs Cyriacus, Faustus, Abibus, and 11 others at Alexandria (250).
Venerable David of Hermopolis in Egypt (6th c.).
Kiev-Bratsk (1654) and Arabia Icons of the Mother of God.
Martyrs Calodote, Macarius, Andrew, Cyriacus, Dionysius, Andrew the Soldier, Andropelagia, Thecla, Theoctistus, and Sarapabon the Senator, in Egypt (256).
St. Beya, virgin, first abbess of Copeland in Cumbria (7th c.) (Celtic & British).
St. Magnus of Fussen, enlightener of the Allgau region of Germany (750-772).

The Scripture Readings

Galatians 1:1-10

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Only One Gospel

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Mark 5:1-20

A Demon-Possessed Man Healed

5 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”

8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?”

And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.

18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.