March 14, 2018

Our Venerable Father Benedict of Nursia (547)
Great Fast Day 31. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.

Read
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 41:4-14
Presanctified – Genesis 17:1-9; Proverbs 15:20-16:9


Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

Our contemporary culture filled with fast food, fast service, instant communication and immediate gratification has a difficult time with the virtue of patience. As Christians we are the product of our culture and far too often we are formed for better or worse by our surroundings. How often do we get frustrated with slow service, or delayed communication. Without knowing it we transfer these human experiences onto our spiritual relationship with God: Why aren’t you answering God? Where is the fix to my problem? Didn’t I say my prayers, light my candle and go to Church? What else do I need to do to get quicker service? Chop, Chop!

Abraham, the father of faith, gives us a testament that is very much contradictory to this type of impatient expectation. God is not a service dispenser where you place a dollar and turn the dial to receive your reward. This is how we relate with objects, but God is not an object. God is tri-personal and we relate to the Holy Trinity in a personal way. We relate to Him in relationship. Abraham who was 99 years old had yet to receive the promise of his prayer, trust and obedience. God kept promising great blessings, most of which he never saw in this life. That out of one offspring he would father a multitude of nations. It is not likely that he would have understood the true meaning of this promise: that through his lineage Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would become incarnate and that billions of people would become his spiritual children. This is the great blessing God had in mind, but Abraham was asked to show faithfulness, trust and patience.