The Holy Wonderworkers and Unmercenaries Cyrus and John (284-305). Venerable Father John Bosco.
1 John 3:21-4:6. Mark 14:43-15:1.
Read Mark 14:43-15:1
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
Today is Wednesday of Meatfare Week, and we read the account of Jesus’ Passion in the Gospel of Mark beginning from Judas’ betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane. We hear about Jesus being taken to the high priest, assembled before him “all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law” (Mk. 14:53). False witnesses spoke up against Jesus, but Jesus “remained silent and gave no answer (Mk. 14:61). “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Is. 53:7).
It is customary for us to pray the Prayer of St. Ephraim the Syrian throughout the Great Fast. One of the translations of his prayer includes the petition: “O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of laziness, indifference, lust of power, and idle chatter.” Why this focus on praying to be delivered from a spirit of “idle chatter?” Jesus warns, “that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt. 12:36-37). Whenever we attend Vespers (including the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts), we hear the psalm verse: “Set a guard, O Lord, before my mouth and a portal around my lips” (Ps. 140:3 (LXX)). Again, we are constantly reminded of the importance of guarding our speech.
Words do things. In the book of Genesis, God created by His Word: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light” (Gn. 1:3). St. John the Evangelist begins his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (Jn. 1:1). Whenever the gospel is proclaimed during a liturgy, something happens. Christ is made present among us through the reading of the Word of God. We should receive Him with our ears as carefully and reverently as we receive Him with our mouths when we approach to receive the Holy Eucharist.
We are about to begin a season of intense fasting. Let Christ remind us, “not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man” (Mt. 15:11). We can speak words that do good or words that do evil. What we say reveals what’s in our heart, and so as we pursue purity of heart and to be cleansed through fasting, let us be increasingly attentive to the words we choose to speak. Sometimes it is simply best to keep silent.