The Morning Offering

Love Your Enemies

A tugboat in Quarter Master Harbor near the Monastery 
(click on photo to enlarge)

 Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

It is a terrible temptation to wish our enemies destruction. Our Lord instructs us to love our enemies and to do good to those who hate us or persecute us. To wish their destruction is to ignore the love that God has for us, even though our sins have made us enemies of God.

Our salvation is not accomplished in a vacuum, for all of humanity is the beneficiary of Christ's redemptive act upon the cross. Christ died for all of us and our salvation is interconnected to all of humanity. We should be just as concerned for the salvation of our neighbors as we are for our own salvation.

When we see someone filled with hate and far from God, we should pity them and pray for them. To wish ill upon them is not in keeping with Our Lord's commandment. Love must reign in our lives, and the salvation of others must be a central theme in our own prayers.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Monday October 10, 2011 / September 27, 2011

18^th Week after Pentecost. 

Martyr Callistratus and his company (49 Martyrs) of Carthage (304).
Venerable Sabbatius, wonderworker of Solovki (1435).
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Herman bishop of Volsk and Michael priest (1919).
Hieromartyr Peter, metropolitan of Krutitsa (1937).
New Hieromartyr Theodore priest (1937).
Apostles Mark, Aristarchus, and Zenas of the Seventy.

Ephesians 4:25-32

 

Do Not Grieve the Spirit

²⁵ Therefore, putting away lying, “ Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. ²⁶ “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil. ²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Luke 4:37-44

 

³⁷ And the report about Him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed

³⁸ Now He arose from the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her. ³⁹ So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset

⁴⁰ When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹ And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

⁴² Now when it was day, He departed and went into a deserted place. And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; ⁴³ but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” ⁴⁴ And He was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.

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