12th Week of Pentecost

Acts 27:27,33-37,39-44
On the fourteenth night, as we were still being driven about on the Adriatic Sea, toward midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land. Until the day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take some food. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting, going hungry and eating nothing. I urge you, therefore, to take some food; it will help you survive. Not a hair of the head of anyone of you will be lost.” When he said this, he took bread, gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. They were all encouraged, and took some food themselves. In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship. When day came they did not recognize the land, but made out a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore on it, if they could. So they cast off the anchors and abandoned them to the sea, and at the same time they unfastened the lines of the rudders, and hoisting the foresail into the wind, they made for the beach. But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow was wedged in and could not be moved, but the stern began to break up under the pounding (of the waves). The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none might swim away and escape, but the centurion wanted to save Paul and so kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore, and then the rest, some on planks, others on debris from the ship. In this way, all reached shore safely.

Luke 13:1-5
At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them –do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

Readings for the Divine Liturgy – Tuesday of the Twelfth Week of Pentecost
Acts 27:27, 33-37, 39-44 Lk. 13:1-5

Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III
RAMSHO – FIRST PRAYER
Lord, have mercy on us and save us.
God of goodness,
you have promised your heavenly treasures to those who are
good.
Grant us the rewards you assured the laborers of the eleventh hour,
who sincerely believe in you and acknowledge you.
Count us among those invited to your spiritual banquet,
and grant us a place at your right hand.
Then, clothed in resplendent apparel,
we shall joyfully go out to meet you with deeds of love,
and receive from you the happiness you promised to those who
do good.
We shall praise and glorify you,
now and forever.
Amen.

Saint of the Day: Daniel the Stylite, In 409, a male child was born to Elias and Martha. The child came to Martha, who had been childless for a long time, after she had vowed in her prayers that if she had a child the child would be dedicated to the Lord. Daniel was born in the village of Marutha in the region of Mesopotamia near Samosata. Was an ascetic who lived for 33 years on a pillar near the city of Constantinople. St. Daniel was a disciple of St. Symeon the Stylite and followed his example after Symeon reposed. He was a counsellor of the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire: Leo the Great, Zeno, and Basiliscus. Died 493.

Meditation:
The following are reflections of St. Isaac of Nineveh (7th century):
• What salt is for any food, humility is for every virtue. To acquire it, a man must always think of himself with contrition, self-belittlement and painful salf-judgment. But if we acquire it, it will make us sons of God.
• Let us love silence till the world is made to die in our hearts. Let us always remember death, and in this thought draw near to God in our heart–and the pleasures of this world will have our scorn.
• Walk before God in simplicity, and not in subtleties of the mind. Simplicity brings faith; but subtle and intricate speculations bring conceit; and conceit brings withdrawal from God.
• As a man whose head is under water cannot inhale pure air, so a man whose thoughts are plunged into the cares of this world cannot absorb the sensations of that new world.
• It is a spiritual gift from God for a man to perceive his sins.
• Ease and idleness are the destruction of the soul and they can injure her more than the demons.
• The purpose of the advent of the Saviour, when He gave us His life-giving commandments as purifying remedies in our passionate state, was to cleanse the soul from the damage done by the first transgression and bring it back to its original state. What medicines are for a sick body, that the commandments are for the passionate soul.