7th Sunday after Pentecost - July 21/3

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:1-7

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

Matthew 9:27-35

And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country. As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel. But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils. And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Amen.

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ST SYMEON THE FOOL FOR CHRIST'S SAKE AND ST JOHN HIS FELLOW ASCETIC

Troparion Tone 4
Righteous John and divine Symeon,/ united to God and united in soul to one another:/ one of you lived an inspired life in the desert,/ and the other by his foolishness made a fool of Belial./ Now you are rejoicing in heavenly glory: ever watch over us.

Kontakion Tone 2
Let us praise angelic and Godbearing Symeon/ who in the flesh appeared fleshless and shone with virtues;/ and with him let us praise glorious John,/ for they ever intercede with Christ our God for us all.

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I didn't have time today to type in the text from the Evangelistarion. Today, you have the King James Version as as published by the Project Gutengerg Association. Sorry.

I hope to look at these readings closer this week.

[尼古拉前执事]

I will be out of town Friday through Sunday night, so I will unable to be able to participate in this thread, this week. I hope everyone who will be around adds in their 2 cents.

[Julianna]

Not akers? The Epistle's to love your neighbor more than yourself. The Gospel's that God loves even those that've gone and done wrong and'll listen to their prayers

[Justin Kissel]

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find very much at all on this passage (with my limited access to the Fathers). There's just nothing said about this passage in the places I would normally look to find relevant patristic quotes. What's more, this passage is unique to Matthew, so I can't even find patristic quotes discussing the same story in another Gospel (which would at least point in a direction. So... the patristic quotes are going to be few this week. One, in fact.

Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 32 on Matthew

Edit--I will look tomorrow for some comments on some of the terms and goings-ons, such as the charge "He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils," which is gone into in more depth elsewhere. Maybe I can find something if I follow one of those paths.

[Justin Kissel]

Interesting that synergy is easily seen in this passage. The grace of God working in the lives of the two blind men required their cooperation. Without faith, and without wanting/seeking healing, they could not be healed. Unfortunately, even though the multitudes marveled (in the second part of the passage), the multitudes did not follow Jesus and cooperate with the grace. They wanted something for nothing: they wanted the miracles and to hear powerful orations and to just feel the presence of Jesus... but they didn't want to commit much of themselves. God willed that they all be saved, but without cooperation with God, without seeking him in faith and allowing God to work in them through grace by their actions, they all (ie. the multitude) fell away. We should not be decieved, the multitude we see around us will also fall away. We should not be so foolish as to think that our times are different, or that everyone in our Church is pious. Not that we should examine others to see how they are "holding up," but we should rather judge ourselves and persecute ourselves, so having been judged harshly here (on Earth) we won't be judged harshly there (Judgment day). If we want all of our spiritual sicknesses and diseases to be healed, we have to embrace the gospel of the kingdom and continue on the narrow road.

[Justin Kissel]

Well, today is the final day, any comments?

[尼古拉前执事]

My comment is I was gone and that was yesterday! Hopefully I can contribute this week. I think we all need to post an overviewof our priest's sermon on Mondays. Having involvement from a priest would be good in these threads.