Our Venerable Father Cassian (430-35).
Great Fast Day 18. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Sixth Hour – Isaiah 11:10-12:2. Vespers – Genesis 7:11-8:3. Proverbs 10:1-22.
Read Isaiah 11:10-12:2
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In today’s reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear about the gathering of the nations to the Messiah and the healing of the divisions within the people of Israel caused by sin. “In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwellings shall be glorious. ..In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant which is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea”
In the Holy Scriptures, we see that division is the result of sin – ultimately the sin of unfaithfulness to God’s plan. Division is endemic in our society. We all experience its effects, yet we rarely think of our part in contributing to it.
St. Silouan the Athonite, asks us to reflect on this very point: “Many of us cannot, or do not want to, accept and suffer of our own free will the consequences of Adam’s original sin. “Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit but what has that to do with me?” we protest. “I am ready to answer for my own sins but certainly not for the sins of others.” And we do not realize that in reacting thus we are repeating in ourselves the sin of Adam, making it our own personal sin, leading to our own personal fall. Adam denied responsibility, laying all the blame on Eve and on God who had given him this wife; and by doing so he destroyed the unity of Man and his communion with God.”
According to St. Silouan, “…each time we refuse to take on ourselves the blame for our common evil, for the actions of our neighbor, we are repeating the same sin and likewise shattering the unity of Man. The Lord questioned Adam before Eve, and we must suppose that if Adam, instead of justifying himself, had taken upon his shoulders the responsibility for their joint sin, the destinies of the world might have been different, just as they will alter now if we in our day assume the burden of the transgressions of our fellow man.”
In his voluntary Passion, Christ, the only sinless One, took upon himself the burden of the sins of all men, as the prophet writes… “he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5). In doing so, he fulfills the prophecy we read today, standing as a sign to all the nations (cf Isaiah 1110), and drawing all men to himself (cf John 12:32).
As we continue on our journey of the Great Fast, let us try to look upon our own sins, not in a morbid or despairing way, but with loving concern for our brothers and sisters whose faults we consider our own. This way we become a healing presence in the midst of division. “Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own transgressions, and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen.”