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Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.

For the Spirit of Prayer

Almighty God, who pours out the spirit of grace and of supplication to all who ask for it; Deliver me, when I draw near to you, from coldness of heart and wanderings of mind, so that with steadfast thoughts and kindled affections, I may worship You in spirit and in truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Lord, Bless My Enemies

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Enemies have driven me into Thy embrace more than friends have.
Friends have bound me to earth, enemies have loosed me from earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.
Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world.
Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Thy tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.
They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.
They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.
They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself.
They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.
Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.
Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.
Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.
Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.
Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.
Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of Thy garment.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:
so that my fleeing to Thee may have no return;
so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;
so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;
so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger;
so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;
ah, so that I may for once be freed from self deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.

Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.
One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.
It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world: friends or enemies.
Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies.
A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand.
But a son blesses them, for he understands. For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life. Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

~ St. Nikolai Velimirovich (Orthodox)

Benediction

Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.

Office of Prime, Western Breviary 8/25/2014

Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.

Psalm 85:10-13 (NKJV)

Acts 1:13-15 (ESV)

hen they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk [a little less than a mile] from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.

Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Notes on the Scripture

St. Andrew

This meeting, recorded in the first chapter of Acts, is (to the best of my knowledge) the last mention of Andrew in the Bible. Although it is difficult and perhaps impossible to know what actually became of Andrew thereafter, without doubt he traveled widely and actively spread Christ’s Gospel to many people.

Andrew was the first apostle to follow Jesus and was also the oldest — a year older than Jesus himself. He was a follower of John the Baptist. When Christ was baptized by John, Andrew followed Him and brought his younger brother, Peter, who apparently was a gifted and charismatic speaker. Andrew was reputedly the first to record the teachings of Jesus in writing, but we have no idea whether or to what degree any of his writings still exist as part of the Gospels in our Bible, or elsewhere. The originals were reported to have been collected in the Great Library of Alexandria (in Egypt), which was subsequently destroyed by fire and political purges over the course of several centuries.

There are many traditions about Andrew. Most agree that he traveled north to the Ukraine (then called Scythia) and Georgia. He became the patron saint of Russia, the Ukraine, and Romania; many Russian flags contained a Cross of St. Andrew similar to the flag of Scotland. Most accounts agree that he ended his travels in Patras, Greece (a city about 130 miles west of Athens), where he was crucified on a cross laid in the shape of an “X.”

The stories about the disposition of his remains are even more colorful than the accounts of his travels. Many churches claim to have received and enshrined parts of his body. Most notably, when the Emperor Constantine (son of Constantine the Great) ordered that Andrew’s body be exhumed and brought to Constantinople, a monk named Regulus reportedly was visited by an angel, who instructed him to take Andrew’s remains and flee to the farthest ends of the world. Regulus took such remains as he could manage and fled, only to be shipwrecked in Scotland, where the remains were enshrined.

Thus, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland, and the Scottish flag represented the cross he died upon: a white “X” shape on a blue field. The purported remains were destroyed or stolen during the Scottish Reformation, but we see his influence even today in the British flag (the “Union Jack”) and the flag of the Scottish Parliament.

The Crucifixion of St. Andrew, illustration from the Sforza Book of Hours, Milan, 1490.

Daily Inspiration

“Twinkle Lights”

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