Our Venerable Father Nicetas, Bishop of Chalcedon (716-40)
Apostle’s Fast
Read
Romans 2:28-3:18; Matthew 6:31-34; 7:9-11
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Countless times in my childhood, my now 99 year old baba would often reply to any future plans by saying, “I don’t even know if I will be alive tomorrow.” This amused myself and my brother because we, like many people in this world, make lots of future plans with the full intention of fulfilling these plans just as they have been laid out. The more years that go by, the more we realize how even the best made plans can fizzle because of various circumstances.
While we undoubtedly have to plan for the future, we cannot be consumed by our future plans or endeavours to the point that we neglect to worry about today: the day we are currently living. When we sin, we sometimes make plans about not repeating that sin for days, or months, or years whereas in reality, what we ought to do is to work on not repeating that sin today.
Today is the only day we have control over. Today is the only day that we can fight off sin and temptation. Today is the only day where we can seek the Kingdom of God. And when today ends, we begin again on the next day, focused only on that day and not those in the past or those that will come.