Homelessness

We are our brother’s keeper

With the nation’s shutdown we are seeing millions of people losing their jobs, and the homeless rate is about to swell to numbers not seen since the Great Depression. Countless individuals are facing the very real possibility that their extended unemployment payments, and the emergency funds sent out by the national government, may not ultimately be enough to sustain them. This means that even more individuals and families will be facing homelessness.

Through no fault of their own, these people are facing the likelihood they will be forced to live in their cars or on the streets. Many children will have their education put on hold because their parents will no longer be able to keep the children in their neighborhood schools. With a sense of shame, these families will join the countless other Americans who already make up the mass of homeless people. Untold numbers of these homeless will be our elderly, forced out on the streets during the very years that should have been filled with the warmth and security of their own homes. Added to these numbers will be families with children.

The sense of shame and hopelessness that will descend upon these people should be a shared shame for all of us. They are our brothers and sisters, and they are God’s children. Some of them could be our former neighbors, or a cousin we have not seen in years. They could even be us.

We are our brother’s keeper, and we must, as a people and a nation, reach out with everything we have at our disposal to help bring these people back into the safety, security, and warmth, of their own homes. No person should be forced to live without shelter, and no child should be forced to live the life of a homeless person. Every homeless family is our neighbor, our brothers and sisters, and we must not allow them to become invisible to us.

Since this Covid-19 pandemic has caused so many individuals to suffer loneliness and ever increasing despair, sequestered away from their families and friends as they are, many individuals are giving in to a sense that the only way out is to end their lives. Thus, suicide rates in the United States are skyrocketting to levels never seen before, and there is evidence these numbers have already outnumbered the deaths from the pandemic itself.

After receiving a number of emails and telephone calls from people who are at the point of wanting to give up, I have found myself sitting in my study with tears in my eyes. My heart is breaking for these people, especially knowing that the only thing I can do for them is to offer my poor prayers, and light candles for them ahead of our monastic services.

Please, dear ones, let us join our heartfelt prayers as one, pray for our brothers and sisters who are hurting, and who have lost everything. Let us join our hearts together for all those who are suffering, both in our neighborhoods, our cities, our nation, and even the whole world. With tears in our eyes, let us plead before the Throne of God, together with His saints, for the end of suffering, that God, in His mercy, will bring us all out of this mess, and with renewed hearts, join together in worship before the Holy Trinity.

Let us also remember that our Co-Suffering Saviour is with us, and that God is sad as well, for the Lord suffers when we suffer, and grieves when we grieve. God is not some force of the universe devoid of feelings, but is our Loving Father, and suffers with us.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Tuesday June 2, 2020 / May 20, 2020
Afterfeast of the Ascension. Tone six.
Martyr Thalelaeus at Aegae in Cilicia and companions, Martyrs Alexander and Asterius (284).
Uncovering of the relics (1431) of St. Alexis, metropolitan of Moscow and wonderworker of all Russia (1378).
St. Dovmont-Timothy, prince of Pskov (1299).
Martyr Asclas of Egypt (287).
Sts. Zabulon and Susanna, parents of St. Nina (Nino) (4th c.) (Georgia).
Venerable Thalassius the Myrrh-giver of Libya (ca. 660).
Venerables Nicetas, John, and Joseph, monks, of Chios (1050).
St. Ethelbert, king and martyr (793) (Celtic & British).
Venerable Stephen, abbot of Piperi in Serbia (1697) (Greek).
St. Mark hermit (Greek).
St. Austregiselus, bishop of Bourges (624) (Neth.).

The Scripture Readings

John 10:1-9

Jesus the True Shepherd

10 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

Acts 21:26-32

Arrested in the Temple

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them.

27 Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.)

30 And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. 31 Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. 32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. .

John 16:2-13

2 They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. 3 And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. 4 But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.

“And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

5 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11 of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.