Sunday of Cheesefare; Octoechos Tone 8; The Holy Hieromartyr Theodotus, Bishop of Cyrenia.
Romans 13:11-14:4; Matthew 6:14-21.
Read Romans 13:11-14:4
Maintaining focus is an ongoing challenge in life. Every day many things compete for our attention: meal planning and preparation, transportation, work, school, shopping, errands, relationships, social events, exercise, health care, housework, paying bills. Within each of these activities there are multiple tasks, people, and concerns. And then there is our variable condition and disposition: stress, fatigue, and boredom, or relaxation, energy, and stimulation.
Today’s epistle reading cuts to the chase to help us prioritize our spiritual lives. It begins with the call to focus. Both we and the world are farther down the road than we once were: “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” In ways that we’ve been dozing off spiritually, now is the time for us to wake up.
Once we begin paying attention again, we notice ways in which our lives have become cluttered. It is difficult to focus when we are entangled in diversions. Paul helps us sort that out. Just as God created light, saw that it was good, and separated it from the darkness, there are two categories to clarify things for us: disconnect from “works of darkness”, and connect with “conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day.”
And then Paul begins two chapters addressing one of our most common distractions from focusing on our own spiritual lives – focusing on each other’s. Paul’s remedy for this is essentially what we pray in the Divine Liturgy: “Let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” This brings us full circle. Today’s reading began with, “Besides this…” Besides what? The preceding verses say, “The commandments…are summed up in this sentence, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”