Great Tuesday
Matins – Matthew 22:15-23:39; Sixth Hour – Ezekiel 1:21-2:1
Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts – Exodus 2:5-10; Job 1:13-22; Matthew 24:36-26:2
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Job 1:13-22
Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, And blessed is that servant whom He shall find watching, And again, unworthy is the servant whom He shall find heedless. Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep, Lest you be given up to death, and lest you be shut out of the Kingdom. But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, art Thou, O our God, Through the Theotokos have mercy on us.
This Troparion, sung solemnly three times at Matins from Great and Holy Monday through Great and Holy Wednesday, brings to the forefront of our minds the parable of the ten virgins which we hear in the Gospel reading at the Presanctified Divine Liturgy this Great and Holy Tuesday evening.
Brothers and sisters, how watchful are we? Are we constantly preparing ourselves to meet the Lord whenever He may call us to Himself or do we live as if we have already prepared? In other words, do we continue to replenish the oil of our Christian lives or do we assume that we have enough oil to get by? We do not know when the Lord will come and call us back to Himself and so we must always be prepared for the Bridegroom’s return.