Forbearance

By learning forbearance we unite ourselves to God 

We, by our very nature, want everything right now. We want results NOW, and by our very rush we deprive ourselves of real progress, the progress that only comes through labor and struggle. By being in a hurry, we rely only on ourselves, and thus distance ourselves from the very relationship that will last for all eternity. The more we activate God’s presence in our life, the more we learn forbearance, and discover the truth that only a relationship with God has lasting value. Our greatest enemy on the road to our salvation is our own ego. By learning forbearance, we crush the power of the ego, and we unite ourselves to God.

Each and every act that we perform, no matter how insignificant or boring, can be used by God to sanctify our day. If we get into the habit of embracing whatever God sends to us with gratitude and humility, we will learn forbearance, allowing the Fruits of the Spirit to take hold in our heart. Learning forbearance is the root of all spiritual progress, for in learning forbearance, we receive whatever God sends our way as meant for our salvation. We know that God is with us, and that He loves us, and desires that we become one with Him, allowing our hearts to receive the Indwelling Spirit. With each step towards forbearance, like the saints, we well fear nothing, and experience the truth of the words, “God is everywhere present and fills all things”.

With love in the Incarnate Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Monday January 9, 2017 / December 27, 2016
30th Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Sviatki. Fast-free

Third Day of the Feast of the Nativity.
Holy Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen (34).
Venerable Theodore Graptus (“the Branded”) of Palestine and Bithynia, confessor (840), brother of St. Theophanes the Confessor and Hymnographer (850).
New Hieromartyrs Tikhon, archbishop of Voronezh and with him 160 martyred priests (1919).
Virgin-Martyr Antonina (1937).
St. Theodore, archbishop of Constantinople (686).
Uncovering of Relics (1514) of Venerable Pherapont of Mozhaisk, Luzhetsk.
Venerable Luke, monk, of Tryglia.
St. Maximus, bishop of Alexandria (282).
St. Maurice and the Theban Legion. (Candidus, Innocent, Exuperius and 6,600 others) (302).

The Scripture Readings

Hebrews 8:7-13

A New Covenant

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Mark 10:46-52

Jesus Heals Blind Bartimaeus

46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.”

50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.