St. Lawrence, Deacon: August 10, 2009

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lawrence

St. Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian. Lawrence in particular was charged with caring for the poor, and when asked by the persecutors to bring in the church's wealth, he spend the next three days distributing as much as he could to the poor to keep the authorities from getting the money. On the third day, he presented the poor to the authorities, and this is the probable immediate cause of his martyrdom. As St. Lawrence was being roasted alive, it is said that he said, I'm done on this side turn me over now (or this sides done, turn me over and have another bite), which has caused him to be the patron saint of comedians.

Seriously, his dedication to serving the church through serving the poor, and his strong witness in the midst of torture, makes him a model deacon and saint for all time.

Father, you raised up your deacon Laurence to serve you through acts of love, and fearsome martyrdom. Help us that we would always remember that the true treasures of the church are those who need to hear the word of God, this we ask through Yeshuah haMoshiach, who lives and reins with you and Ruach haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting, Amen. (red)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19016362@N00/1023753594/

Transfiguration

On this feast day we remember an event mentioned in three of the Gospels. Yeshua took Kephas, Yakob, and Yohanes to the mountain to pray (they are lying on the ground in fear. Suddenly the appearance of Yeshua was transformed, and they see Moshe and Eliyahu talking with Yeshua. Kephas (Peter) shouts out, we should build three tabernacles (tents) one for each of you. Yeshua is hidden by a cloud, and they hear a voice, "This is my Son, listen to him.

Let us remember this is a very special event. Yeshua is on his way to Yerushalayim to be crucified. Kephas, Yakob and Yohanes (Peter, James and John) are the three disciples of the inner circle, who alone were present with Yeshua for certain miracles. Moshe (Moses) represents the Law, and Eliyahu (Elijah) represents the prophet. They are there as witnesses that Yeshua completed the law and the prophets. Yeshua glows with the uncreated divine light demonstrating that he is God. The apostles naturally are terrified, which is the reaction of all who come face to face with the living God and his power, as we are convicted of our sins. Naturally also, they want to keep this mountain top experience, hence Kephas wanting to build shelters for the three.

OF course the problem with the mountain top, is it is the mountain top. It is not something we can hang on to. God grants visions, signs and wonders not to those who are strong, but to those who are weak and need building up in faith. Once we have been built up in faith, we need to go to the valleys to do our work, in the case of Yeshua, to Yerushalayim to be crucified, in the case of the Apostles to go from Spain (possibley Britain) to India to proclaim the faith and die for it.

Lastly, God tells the Apostles to listen to Yeshua. Those of you who are parents, what do you usually mean when you tell your kids to listen to you? Is it not a request for obedience. Le us then ask God to fill us with the power of the Ruach haKodesh so that we may be tranfigured by Yeshua, that others may see him in us, and that he would strengthen us to proclaim the Gospel.

Dear Lord, as you transfigured Yeshua upon the mountain that his disciples could see his Shekina Glory, so fill us with the power of the Ruach haKodesh that the light of Yeshua would shine out from us in all that we do and say. This we ask in the name of Yeshua haMoshiach, who lives and reins with you and the Ruach haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting. Amen. (gold)

Shavuot (Pentecost) 2009

The Jewish Pentecost celebrates the arrival at Mt. Sinai and the receiving of the Law, most especially represented by the Ten Commandments. Several important things to note about this day, fifty days after the Jewish Passover.

The first set of tablets were made by YHWH, who gave them to Moshe who took them down to the people. What Moshe found was less than pleasing. The people having given up on Moshe, and apparently on God as well had constructed an idol, the golden calf, and were worshipping it, showing it is easy to take the people out of Egypt, but not so easy to take Egypt out of the people. Moshe, in his anger threw down the tablets which were destroyed, demonstrating that God’s Holiness cannot exist in the presence of sin. Three thousand were killed that day for their apostasy, so a day which should have been of rejoicing became a day of mourning, and Moshe had to go up the mountain for another forty days, this time with tablets he made himself. The tablets being made by Moshe, were not destroyed and were kept in the ark.

The three thousand that died for their apostasy were remembered later. On the first Christian Pentecost, three thousand people were saved through the preaching of St. Peter and the witness of the Holy Spirit.

Traditionally on the eve of Pentecost we stay up late reading the scriptures. On the feast day itself we read of God giving Moshe the Ten Commandments.

The Jewish form of the 10 Commandments:

I. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

II. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

V. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI. Thou shalt not murder.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shall not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

St. Cuthbert, 20 March 2009

http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Cuthbert.htm


St. Cuthbert was from Northumbria, probably from the neighbourhood of the Firth of Forth. He became a monk in about 651, then became a soldier and returned to being a monk. After the death of the Abbot, Cuthbert was elected to the Abbacy and was later chosen to bring the western customs to Northubria after the council of Whitby. He spent most of his time going on missionary journey’s and attending the needs of his people. After 676, he too on the life of a hermit on the Farne Islands. He also introduced laws protecting the Eider ducks on the island. In 685 he was elected as Bishop of Lindisfarne. After King Ecgfrith came to visit him, he finally took the office of Bishop, but only for a year, after which he retired again to his island. He died the 20th of March 687. Many miracles were attributed tohim.

From Cuthbert, we learn that bishop must be out and about the mission f the church, especially bringing people into the church and training them. He dedicated himself to prayer and solitude, habits we today could foster. He never worried about is perogotives in office, instead building himself a monastic settlement, retired to solitude in his cell.




Collect: Father, you called Cuthbert from being a shepherd of sheep to being a shepherd of persons. Grant that as we was willing to spread the Gospel in remote and dangerous places, that we too may be willing to proclaim the Gospel in areas of which we might fear and to people of whom we may be afraid. This we ask through Yeshuah haMoshiach, who lives and reigns with you and the Ruach haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting. Amen. (white)

St. Joseph, 19 March 2009

We know little of the life of St. Joseph. We know, from the offering at the temple that he was a poor man, and we are told by the Bible that he was an honourable man, who did not wish to see his betrothed disgraced (The penalty would have been stoning for her). We do know that he was a man who obeyed the Lord. Each time God spoke to him in dreams, Joseph immediately followed through. As he is not mentioned much in the New Testament, it is believed that he died before Jesus began his public ministry. We do believe that he must have been a very special man to have been given the job of being Jesus’s step father. We pray that we would be like him, obeying the Lord.

Collect: Heavenly Father, you raised up Yosef to be a step Father to our Lord Yeshuah haMoshiach. Grant that every father would be as faithful as Yosef in his sacred responsibility of modeling your fatherhood to us. This we ask through the same Yeshuah haMoshiach our Lord, who called Yosef, “father.” Amen. (white)

St. Patrick, 17 March 2009

http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Patrick.htm

St. Patrick is the most well known of the Irish saints, a true hero of the church. Sadly his day has become more known for revelry and green beer than truly celebrating what he did.

The exact time and place of his birth is unknown. Guesses range from Wales to Kilpatrick, Scotland. What is know is that his father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest. They were according to sources either Romans, or Romanised Celts.

At the age of 14, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates (common at the time) and taken to Ireland where he herded sheep as a slave. During his captivity his prayer life grew, and at about the age of 20, guided by a dream, he found a ship willing to carry him and made his escape.

He studied to be a presbyter, and eventually was ordained as Bishop. Guided once again by dreams, these expressing the need of the Irish for his presence, he traveled back to Ireland to proclaim the Gospel. Patrick successfully preached the Gospel, aided by disciples he made in Ireland.

Of the legends attributed to him, he used the clover to preach the Gospel. When explaining the trinity he would pluck a clover and ask, is it one leaf or three (botanically speaking it is actually one leaf), and ask the Irish whether it was one or three. Easter at one point fell the same night as a Celtic festival, but Patrick beat them to the draw by lighting a bonfire first. Apparently the king’s men were unable to put it out. Several songs are attributed to Patrick, the most famous being his Lorica or the Deer Cry. It is said when one of the kings was out to capture Patrick, he and his disciples sang this song, and the king’s men only saw deer as they passed by them.

The true miracle behind Patrick’s life though is his great forgiveness. Anyone who can serve as a slave for some 6 years and return to the people who enslaved him to tell them about Jesus shows the true power of forgiveness. Would that we were all so eager to forgive those who sin against us, and to proclaim the Gospel.

Collect: : Heavenly Father; who gave Patrick the strength to persevere and power to forgive his enemies, give us the strength and ability to forgive those who wrong us, and willingness of heart to tell them of the great love of Yeshuah. This we ask in his name, who lives and governs with you and the Ruach haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting. Amen. (white)

St. Gregory the Great

http://www.allmercifulsavior.com/icons/Icons-Gregory.htm
St. Gregory, Bishop of Rome

Little is know of Gregory’s younger years, except that Italy was in turbulence from Goth invasions. He had three sisters who were nuns, and after the death of his parents converted the house into a monastery. He was ordained deacon, and later served as Papal delegate to Constantinople. He was elected Pope in 590, and immediately set down that he was not claiming St. Peter’s throne, and pr\ised the life of the monks (he was the first Monastic bishop of Rome).

Gregory is most know for sending missionaries to northern Europe in a time in which the Pope had little authority over Italy, Britain or Spain. Most famous of his missions was sending Augustine to England to proclaim the Gospel to the Anglo Saxon peoples, leading to some conflict with the Celtic church, but eventually leading to a missionary movement spreading form England to the north of Europe and extending as far east as Kiev.

Liturgically, plain song chant, or Gregorian chant is often attributed to him, and more factually the liturgy of the pre-sanctified which is used by the Eastern Orthodox church until this day for Lent and Holy Week. Private penance is also attributed to him.

Alms were important to him, but most of the money received by the church went immediately to the service of the poor.

Collect: Lord, you raised up Gregory of Rome to be a servant to the servants of God, and inspired him to send missionaries to England. Raise up in this and every generation Bishops who will truly serve their people in imitation of Messiah, and who are willing to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This we ask through Yeshuah haMoshiach, who lives and reigns with you and Ruach haKodesh, one God in glory everlasting. Amen. (white)