From The Greek Orthodox Diocese Of America:
Readings for today:
Daily Reading & Meditation
Sunday (October 17): "Keep praying and do not lose heart"
Scripture: Luke 18:1-8
1 And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; 3 and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, `Vindicate me against my adversary.' 4 For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, `Though I neither fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" 6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
Meditation: What can a shameless and unjust judge pitted against a crusty and pestering woman teach us about justice and vindication in the kingdom of God? Jesus tells a story that is all too true — a defenseless widow is taken advantaged of and refused her rights. Through sheer persistence she wears down an unscrupulous judge until he gives her justice. Persistence pays off, and that's especially true for those who trust in God. Jesus illustrates how God as our Judge is much quicker to bring us his justice, blessing, and help when we need it. But we can easily lose heart and forget to ask our Heavenly Father for his grace and help. Jesus told this parable to give fresh hope and confidence to his disciples. In this present life we can expect trials and adversity, but we are not without hope in God. The Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices perpetrated by his creatures and that God's love is stronger than death (Song of Songs 8:6). The just can look forward with hope to that day when they will receive their reward.
Jesus ends his parable with a probing question for us. Will you and I have faith — the faith that perseveres to the end — of time when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead? Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to us. If we want to live, grow, and persevere in the faith until the end, then we must nourish it with the word of God and ask the Lord to increase it (Luke 17:5). When trials and setbacks disappoint you, where do you place your hope? Do you pray with expectant faith and confidence in God's merciful care and providence for you?
"Lord, give me faith to believe your promises and give me perseverance and hope to withstand trials and adversities. Help me to trust in your unfailing love and to find joy and contentment in you alone."
Psalm 121:1-8
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and for evermore.
Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894], at sacred-texts.com
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October 17.—ST. HEDWIGE.—SAINT MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE.
ST. HEDWIGE, the wife of Henry, Duke of Silesia, and the mother of his six children, led a humble, austere, and most holy life amidst all the pomp of royal state. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament was the key-note of her life. Her valued privilege was to supply the bread and wine for the Sacred Mysteries, and she would attend each morning as many Masses as were celebrated. After the death of her husband she retired to the Cistercian convent of Trebnitz, where she lived under obedience to her daughter Gertrude, who was abbess of the monastery, growing day by day in holiness, till God called her to Himself, in 1242.
MARGARET MARY was born at Terreau in Burgundy, on the 22d July, 1647. During her infancy she showed a wonderfully sensitive horror of the very idea of sin. In 1671 she entered the Order of the Visitation, at Paray-le-Monial, and was professed the following year. After
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purifying her by many trials, Jesus appeared to her in numerous visions, displaying to her His Sacred Heart, sometimes burning as a furnace, and sometimes torn and bleeding on account of the coldness and sins of men. In. 1675 the great revelation was made to her that she, in union with Father de la Colombière, of the Society of Jesus, was to be the chief instrument for instituting the feast of the Sacred Heart, and for spreading that devotion throughout the world. She died on the 17th October, 1690.
Reflection.—Love for the Sacred Heart especially honors the Incarnation, and makes the soul grow rapidly in humility, generosity, patience, and union with its Beloved.
John 21:1-14
St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15
Luke 8:5-15
Feasts and Saints celebrated today:
Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council
Hosea the Prophet
Holy Martyrs Cosmas and Damian of Arabia
Andrew the Righteous Monk-martyr of Crete
Orthros Gospel Reading
The reading is from John 21:1-14
At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the
Sea of Tiberias; and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter,
Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of
Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said
to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with
you." They went out and got into the boat; but that night they caught
nothing. Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; but the
disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children,
have you any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast
the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So
they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, for the
quantity of fish. The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the
Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his
clothes, for he was stripped for work, and sprang into the sea. But the
other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for
they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards off.
When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish
lying on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish
that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the
net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them;
and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to
them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared ask
him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the
bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. This was now the third
time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from
the dead.
(C) 2010 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Epistle Reading
The reading is from St. Paul's Letter to Titus 3:8-15
TITUS, my son, the saying is sure. I desire you to insist on these
things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to apply
themselves to good deeds; these are excellent and profitable to men. But
avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over
the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is
factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with
him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful; he is
self-condemned.
When I send Artemas or Tychicos to you, do your best to come to me at
Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to
speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack
nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so
as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful.
All who are with me send greeting to you. Greet those who love us in
the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
(C) 2010 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Gospel Reading
The reading is from Luke 8:5-15
The Lord said this parable: "A sower went out to sow his seed; and as
he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and
the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as
it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some
fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some
fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold." And when his
disciples asked him what this parable meant, he said, "To you it has been
given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they
are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they
may not understand. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of
God. The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil
comes and takes away the word from their hearts, that they may not
believe and be saved. And the ones on the rock are those who, when they
hear the word, receive it with joy; but these have no root, they
believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And as for what
fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on
their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of
life, and their fruit does not mature. And as for that in the good
soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest
and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience." As he said
these things, he cried out "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
(C) 2010 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Sunday of the 7th Ecumenical Council
Reading from the Synaxarion:
On the Sunday that falls on or immediately after the eleventh of
this month, we chant the Service to the 350 holy Fathers of the
Seventh Ecumenical Council, which gathered in Nicaea in 787 under the
holy Patriarch Tarasius and during the reign of the Empress Irene and
her son, Constantine Porphyrogenitus, to refute the Iconoclast
heresy, which had received imperial support beginning with the Edict
issued in 726 by Emperor Leo the Isaurian. Many of the holy Fathers who
condemned Iconoclasm at this holy Council later died as Confessors and
Martyrs for the holy Icons during the second assult of Iconoclasm in the
ninth century, especially during the reigns of Leo the Armenian and
Theophilus.
Resurrectional Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
When the women Disciples of the Lord had learned from the Angel the
joyful message of the Resurrection and had rejected the ancestral
decision, they cried aloud to the Apostles triumphantly: Death has been
despoiled, Christ God has risen, granting His great mercy to the world.
Resurrectional Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
Savior and Deliverer is He who raised up from the tomb and from the
bonds those born on earth, for He is God; and He destroyed Hades' bars
and gates, and on the third day arose, as the Master of all.
Seasonal Kontakion in the Plagal of the Second Tone
O Protection of Christians that cannot be put to shame, mediation
unto the creator most constant: O despise not the voices of those who
have sinned; but be quick, O good one, to come unto our aid, who in
faith cry unto thee: Hasten to intercession and speed thou to make
supplication, O thou who dost ever protect, O Theotokos, them that honor thee.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of St. Gregory Palamas Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of St. Gregory Palamas Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Hosea the Prophet
Reading from the Synaxarion:
According to some, Hosea, whose name means "God is help," was from the
tribe of Issachar, or more likely, from that of Reuben; he was the son
of Beeri. He is the first in order of the twelve minor Prophets and
the most ancient of all. He prophesied in the days of the divided
Kingdom; the Lord told him to take a harlot to wife (Hosea 1:2), and then
an adulteress (ibid., 3:1). The harlot, a known sinner, was a figure
of the Kingdom of Israel in Samaria, which openly worshipped idols;
the adulteress, lawfully married yet sinning secretly with her
lovers, was a figure of the Kingdom of Judah in Jerusalem, which, while
having the Temple, and the priesthood, and the divine worship according
to the Law, stealthily served the idols also. The Prophet Hosea
prophesied for sixty years, and lived for some ninety years, from 810 to 720
B.C. His book is divided into fourteen chapters.
Apolytikion in the Second Tone
As we celebrate the memory of Thy Prophet Hosea, O Lord, through him
we beseech Thee to save our souls.
Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone
Initiated by divine illumination, thou wast deemed worthy of the lofty gift
of prophecy and foretoldest of the promise of grace, O Prophet. O
Hosea, since thou dwellest in God's glory now, do thou rescue from all
manner of adversity us who cry to thee: Rejoice, thou vessel of grace
divine.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Andrew the Righteous Monk-martyr of Crete
Reading from the Synaxarion:
Saint Andrew was from the island of Crete, where he lived the monastic
life. During the reign of Constantine Copronymus, he came to
Constantinople and suffered many things in defence of the veneration of the holy
icons. Finally, he was dragged through the market, bound by the feet,
one of which was severed by a fishmonger wielding a cleaver, and thus
the Saint surrendered his spirit unto God in the year 761. His sacred
relics were buried at a certain place called "The Judgment."
Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone
Trained on the mountain in ascetical labours, with the whole armour of
the Cross thou didst vanquish the spiritual arrays of unseen enemies;
and when thou hadst stripped thyself with great courage for contest,
thou didst slay Copronymus with the sword of the true Faith. For both
these things hast thou been crowned by God, O righteous Martyr, blest
Andrew of great renown.
Kontakion in the Third Tone
On this day the Church of Christ with great rejoicing observeth the
resplendent festival of thine illustrious mem'ry summoning all of the
faithful to come together. She is glad, for she possesseth the precious
treasure of thy much-afflicted body, O Martyr Andrew, light of the
Orthodox Faith.
Reading courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Apolytikion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
Kontakion courtesy of Holy Transfiguration Monastery
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