The Morning Offering

Homeless

We Are Our Brothers Keeper

Countless fellow Americans are about to lose their extended unemployment payments. This translates into the fact 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 make up the homeless population.

The suggestion that people who have been receiving unemployment benefits are not motivated to look for jobs is downright ludicrous, for most of these people had barely enough money to pay for housing and food. Under such conditions, who would not seek out a job that would pay them a living wage? Now that they will be losing what little money they were receiving, how can anyone expect they will have the will, or the means, to seek employment? How can any homeless person feel anything but shame, as they try to present themselves as worthy of a job, when they don't even have an address?

Untold numbers of America's homeless citizens are elderly people who have been forced out on the streets because of medical bills, or loss of other income, and are living in parked cars or in shelters, during the very years that should have been filled with the warmth and security of their own homes.

An astounding one-third of the homeless population is made up of families, and of the more than 4 million people who are experiencing homelessness, 1.9 million are children. According to national studies, even more Americans are at risk of homelessness because millions of low-income American households pay more that 50 percent of their income on rent when estimates say the figure should be no more than 30 percent. This means that a missed paycheck, the loss of their unemployment benefits, a health emergency, or an unpaid bill, creates a crisis that can push them out of their homes and in to homelessness.

Beginning in the early 1980s, the number of homeless Americans grew dramatically, and the face of homelessness became diverse. It came to include mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, and racial and ethnic minorities. The sense of shame and hopelessness that descends 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.
 

Add the 26 million stateside that have lost their jobs since 2008 just as the economy was beginning its' free fall. Because they have fallen off the official 'rolls' they are no longer given account and now suffer in silence. These numbers include former business professionals, persons who due to no fault of their own, and having worked diligently for 20-30 years or more, have since fought an uphill battle to try and reengage in a job market that is skeletal and teeters at best. Many economists believe the market will never be able to reabsorb everyone who has been displaced.

We are our brothers 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.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Friday February 7, 2014 / January 25, 2014
33^rd Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.
Fast. Fish Allowed
St. Gregory the Theologian, archbishop of Constantinople (389).
Venerable Anatole I (Zertsalov, the "Elder") of Optina (1894).
New Hieromartyr Vladimir, metropolitan of Kiev, proto-martyr of the communist yoke in Russia (1918).
New Martyr Abbess Margaret (Gunaronulo) of Menzelino (1918).
New Hieromartyr Peter archbishop of Voronezh (1929).
New Hieromartyr Basil bishop of Priluksk. 1930).
New Martyr Abbess Athanasia (Lepeshkin) of Zosima Hermitage (1931).
St. Stephen priest, martyr Boris (1938).
St. Moses, archbishop of Novgorod (1362).
Martyrs Felicitas of Rome and seven sons: Januarius, Felix, Philip, Silvanus, Alexander, Vitalis, and Martial (164).
Venerable Publius, ascetic of Syria (380).
Venerable Mares the Singer of Syria (430).
Icons of the Most Holy Theotokos "Assuage My Sorrow" and "Unexpected Joy.".
New Martyr Auxentius of Constantinople (1720) (Greek).
Martyr Medula and her companions (Greek).
St. Castinus, bishop of Byzantium (240) (Greek).
Venerable Demetrius Skevophylax ("Keeper of the Sacred Vessels") of Constantinople (8th c.) (Greek).
Venerable Apollo of the Thebaid, monk (4th c.) (Greek).
St. Bretanion (Vetranion), bishop of Tomis (380) (Romania).
St. Gregory of Golutvin (15th c.).
St. Dwyn, virin of Llandwyn.

You can read the life of the saint by clicking on the highlighted name.


THANKS to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

Donations can be made directly to the monastery through PayPal, or you may send donations to:

All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420 USA


The Scripture Readings for the Day

2 Peter 1:1-10

Greeting the Faithful

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
² Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³ as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴ by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶ to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷ to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸ For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.
¹⁰ Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;

Mark 13:1-8

Jesus Predicts the Destruction of the Temple

13 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”
² And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age

³ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”
⁵ And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you. ⁶ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many. ⁷ But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.

 I invite my readers to listen to my
Ancient Faith Radio podcasts:
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/morningoffering