January 30, 2018

The Three Holy and Great Hierarchs: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom; and the Holy Priest-Martyr Hippolytus (235)
Rank: All-Night Vigil
Day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy

Read
Hebrews 13:7-16; Matthew 5:14-19


Christ is born! Glorify Him!

Have you ever approached a city on the highway late at night and been able to see the glow of it from many miles away? Our modern cities produce so much light that they light up the sky to the point where those in them can barely see the stars, and others approaching them could find them just by driving in the direction of the “glow.” Of course, we are still competing with the traffic lights on the side of the highway our headlights and the glowing instrument panels within the car.

A city on a hill in Our Lord’s time would have been impossible to miss. You would have seen it very far off, and without other “light pollution,” this city would give light, definition and distance to those things around it. Christ likens a city on a hill to the way Christians are meant to act in the world. People are meant to turn to us to see how to live and how to act. The light of our deeds is related to the truth of the Lord. We can never have love without truth and so we are called to be light to the world, witnessing to the truth, which is Christ, and His love for us.

As you prepare for Great and Holy Lent, ask yourself where you have fallen short of the truth, and consequently, where you have failed to love. Start praying and planning in order to approach the Lord in humility during this Fast and regain the heights of the city on the hill He asks us to be!