Our Venerable Father Bessarion the Wonderworker (457-74). Venerable Hilarion the New (845-46).
Apostles’ Fast.
Romans 8:22-27. Matthew 10:23-31.
St. Paul offers encouragement and hope to the Church of Rome. In the verses preceding today’s reading, Paul reassures the Romans that the sufferings we now undergo in our bodies are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed in us (see Rom. 8:18).
Since the time of the apostles, the Church has held a firm belief in the resurrection of the body. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor. 15:20-23). In today’s reading, Paul says that “we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:22-23). The entire creation is awaiting the glorious resurrection of the body, of which Christ’s body is the first.
As we suffer in the flesh, we look forward to the resurrection of the body. We are hoping for what we have yet to see. Paul writes: “Hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Rom. 8:24-25). Faith, hope, and love are called the “theological virtues” because God is their object. Hope is given to us by God’s grace. Let us pray that God may grant us the virtue of hope to keep us from despair.