The Holy Martyrs Terentius and Neonila; Our Venerable Father Stephen the Sabaite, Composer of Canons (9th c.); the Holy Martyr Parasceve of Iconium
Colossians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:44-50
Read Colossians 3:17-4:1
In the Divine Liturgy, we hear this prayer by the priest often: “…let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.“ We are reminded at every Liturgy what our God desires of us, that we commend to Him our very self and our whole life. In fact, this is what we pledge every time we make the sign of the cross—when we bless ourselves and put ourselves under the power of the life-giving cross. Every time we cry out ‘Lord have mercy’—we admit to the Lord that we only rely on His mercy and seek it as life-giving. This is the summation of the Law of God: “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30).
This is what St. Paul means when he says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”(1 Corinthians 10:31) Or “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17). This is what St. Paul means when he says, “take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). Jesus Christ exemplified this total consecration of everything in his life, even every thought. Jesus is the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) and the perfect human being who exemplifies for us what it means to be human. To become truly human we must little by little strive to consecrate more and more of our life to God. This is the path of salvation and eternal blessedness our heart desires.