Blessed Hieromartyr Mykola Charnetsky and the Twenty-Four Martyrs with him; Blessed Hieromartyr Omelian Kovch; Our Venerable Father Samson, friend of travellers and the poor. All-Night Vigil Feast.
Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat.
Ephesians 6:10-17; Luke 21:12-19.
Read Luke 21:12-19
This chilling passage on how Christians will be persecuted before Christ comes at the end of time is a good reminder of how to be prepared for those times, which are approaching, possibly even sooner than we would like to admit. The advice that Jesus gives to His disciples is not to trust in their own arguments and reasoning but to depend upon the Wisdom of God, or the Holy Spriit, Who will inform them as to how to respond to their persecutors. Acquiring an awareness to the movements of our hearts is a great help in discerning the voice of the Holy Spirit and how He communicates to us. Being able to remain calm and at peace when moments of agitation and frustration come to us, is a sign that we are in the presence of the Hoy Spirit and that we are able to hear His voice and listen to it. Even when we find ourselves responding in a hostile and agitated manner, let us not get discouraged but remember that some things take longer to learn and practice and that if we can be patient with ourselves, we will often discover that progress is being made even though falls and mishaps occur along the way. May we also keep in mind that the end of our journey is not self mastery but the Kingdom of Heaven which is our only true salvation.