The Holy Venerable-Martyr Eudocia (98-117)
Great Fast Day 18. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
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Genesis 7:11-8:3
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Lent is wonderful time for each of us to examine those things in our life that influence and pressure us in various ways that lead us away from the very life that the Lord wishes us to live. Just like we choose good and healthy food to enter our bodies, so we also choose to allow only that which is good and wholesome for our soul to enter our minds and hearts (which often happens through our eyes and ears).
How many of us watch movies or television shows or other shows on a video-streaming service? How do we determine exactly what we will view? Do we make the decision to watch simply on the ad or trailer which we came across? Did a friend or neighbour make the suggestion? Was it wholesome for our minds and heart? Did it embrace goodness and virtue and help to build up to the human person and our relationships? Did it focus on various vices? Do we allow others to influence us and lean on us to watch certain off-colour entertainments? Sometimes peer or societal pressure can be hard to ignore.
Noah had to make a big decision in the midst of peer and societal pressures. He had to endure many torments and even abuse. He remained faithful to God and His plan. He preferred God as a friend. And the Lord blessed his faithfulness—he and his family were saved from the flood, and he became a father of the human race after the Flood.
Each of us can please the Lord in the midst of influence, pressure, and even torment and abuse—if we want to.