All Souls Saturday; our Venerable Father and Confessor Procopius the Decapolitan (716-40)
Great Fast Day 13
Hebrews 3:12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; Mark 1:35-44; John 5:24-30
Read Hebrews 3:12-16
Do we remember when we first felt the stirrings of faith in Jesus Christ? Or perhaps, do we remember times when we felt the presence of God especially strongly? Perhaps this took place during the Divine Liturgy, perhaps during our reading and meditating on Holy Scripture, or perhaps in a moment of quiet contemplation of an icon or in praying the Jesus Prayer. In today’s epistle to the Hebrews, we are cautioned against losing faith or succumbing to unbelief. “For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end…” We are encouraged to contemplate the Israelites fleeing Egypt, who, even though they experienced the powerful hand of God at the Red Sea and in Sinai, they lost faith in God and repeatedly strayed from God. They had great confidence in God who delivered them but then they lost hope, they lost faith and worshipped other gods. We also must hold fast to our faith, brothers and sisters, and remember that “first confidence” we had in God. That confidence, that faith, has its roots in our baptism.
Great Lent is a season for returning to God, of experiencing a moment of metanoia, of turning back to God like the Prodigal, like St. Mary of Egypt. May God restore to us that first confidence and may we persevere firmly in that faith to the end of our lives.