The Web of Imagined Security
Our nation is going through a period of economic slough, with many families having suffered great loss. Mortgage foreclosures have displaced many from their homes, with increased numbers of children attending school, counted among the homeless, and hiding their plight from their friends. They are living in motels, in family vans, or even tents, and feeling terrible shame and despair. Husbands and fathers are feeling like total losers, unable, as they are, to find jobs to support their families. For many, this period of history has become a repeat of the Great Depression, and they see no end in sight.
As this modern tragedy unfolds, many others are doing quite well, holding down jobs in the high tech industry that pay very well. We have become a society of the haves, and the have-nots. Many people who have abundance, tend to ignore the plight of those unfortunate enough to have lost everything, perhaps fearing they may be next. They’ve given themselves over to the pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment, like the grasshopper of storybook fame, fiddling away, and not preparing for winter.
Having job security, and money, often leads to a sense of false security, and the person is distracted from the real meaning of life. We were not placed on this earth to pursue pleasure, but rather, to pursue the Kingdom of God. We dare not allow ourselves to ignore the spiritual, especially if we are feeling comfortable with job security, and abundance. All this could be taken away in an instant, and we would have squandered valuable time, and finding ourselves in a state of spiritual poverty, as earthy poverty has taken a grip on us.
We must live our lives in balance, making sure that pleasure and ascetic struggle are at least lived in equal proportions, lest we lose the treasure that will be eternal, and find ourselves caught in a web from which there can be no escape.
“The eyes of pigs have a natural conformation which makes them turn towards the ground and they can never look up to Heaven, so is the soul of one who lets himself be carried away by pleasure. Once the soul is allowed to slip into the slough of enjoyment, she can no longer get out again (The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers).”
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Friday April 29, 2022 / April 16, 2022
Bright Friday.
Bright Week. Fast-free
“Life- giving Spring” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (movable holiday on the Friday of the Bright Week).
Commemoration of the renewal (sanctification) of the Holy Theotokos temple near the Life-giving Spring in Constantinople (5th c.) (movable holiday on the Friday of the Bright Week).
“Pochaev” Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos (movable holiday on the Friday of the Bright Week).
Virgin-martyrs Agape, Irene, and Chionia in Illyria (304).
Martyrs Leonidas, Chariessa, Nice, Galina, Callista (Calisa), Nunechia, Basilissa, Theodora, and Irene of Corinth (250).
The Weeping Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos “Ilyin Chernigov” (1658) and “Tambov” Icon (1692).
Venerable Theodora-Bassa, princess of Novgorod (1378).
Martyr Irene of Greece.
New Martyr Michael of Smyrna (1772).
Martyrs Felix the bishop, Januarius the priest, Fortunatus and Septimus of Lycaonia (304).
St. John, blessed fool-for-Christ’s sake of Verkhoturye (1701).
St. Fructuosis of Braga in Iberia.
Monk-martyr Christopher of Dionysiou, Mt. Athos, who suffered at Adrianople (1818).
The Scripture Readings
Acts 3:1-8
A Lame Man Healed
3 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.
Philippians 2:5-11
The Humbled and Exalted Christ
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
John 2:12-22
12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house [b]has eaten Me up.”
18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”
19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”
21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
Luke 10:38-42
Mary and Martha Worship and Serve
38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 11:27-28
Keeping the Word
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”