Scripture Readings Oct. 31, 2012 / Live Eucharistically: Colossians 3:17-4:1
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Dan Rudder
Oct 30, 2012, 9:59:41 PM10/30/12
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Scripture Readings
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Today’s commemorated feasts and saints
Hieromartyr Archpriest John Kochurov (1917). Apostles of the Seventy: Stachys, Amplias, Urban, Narcissus, Apelles, and Aristobulus (1st c.). Martyr Epimachus of Alexandria (250). Ven. Spyridon and Nicodemus the Prosphora-bakers, of the Kiev Caves (Far Caves—12th c.). St. Maura of Constantinople (5th c.).
Wednesday
LITURGY
Colossians 3:17-4:1
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God; 23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; 24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. 25
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons. 1 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.
Luke 11:42-46
42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets. 44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them. 45
Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying thou reproachest us also. 46 And he said, Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
Colossians 3:17-4:1 (10/31 or 11/13) Epistle, Wednesday, Twenty-second Week after Pentecost
Live Eucharistically: Colossians 3:17-4:1, especially vs 17: “And whatever you do in
word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” In Colossians, the Apostle Paul admonishes the faithful to give thanks to God in all things. He speaks of acts of doing all with a precondition: let all be done in the Lord’s Name with “eucharist,” with praise and thanksgiving to God the Father. After this initial charge, the Apostle issues a number of directives concerning everyday relationships.
Saint Paul raises “eucharist” as an umbrella over husbands and wives, children and parents, employees and employers. We might say that he places
these daily interactions with one another in a “eucharistic context,” as if to say: take all your life, the most exalted and the most mundane, and live it with praise and thanksgiving before God, making eucharist to Him.
In the decades before his repose, Father Alexander Schmemann echoed this same thought: “When man stands before the throne of God, when he has fulfilled all that God has given him to fulfill, when all sins are forgiven, all joy restored, then there is nothing else for him to do but to give thanks. Eucharist (thanksgiving) is the state of
perfect man. Eucharist is the life of paradise. Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God’s creation, redemption, and gift of heaven.” Indeed, as Father Schmemann says, eucharist is the life in Christ, the lifestyle that honors the kingdom of God in everyday relationships with praise and thanksgiving. The prayer, “Thy kingdom come on earth” is fulfilled in eucharist. Consider the meaning of Saint Paul’s directives in this light.
When wives and husbands perceive each other as God’s creation and gift, the
natural response is to give thanks to the Lord and to shape all actions toward one another as God wills. In eucharist, marriage partners discover the key to submitting their lives to each other “as to the Lord” (vs 23). To those partners who give praise and thanksgiving to Christ, the Lord reveals Himself in and through their spouses. This is true because eucharist reverses the alienating process described by Saint Paul: “although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom 1:21). By giving praise and thanks to God, the hearts of the faithful are illumined and evince the Kingdom in thought and action. Bitterness departs and love is facilitated (Col 3:19).
The Orthodox practice of baptizing in infancy enables families to raise children under the umbrella of eucharist, especially at home but also in the eucharistic assemblies of the Divine Liturgy. Theophan the Recluse points out that “The most effective means for the education of true taste in the heart is a church-centered life, in which all children in their upbringing must be unfailingly kept. Sympathy for everything sacred, pleasure in remaining in its midst for the sake of quietness and warmth...cannot better be imprinted in the heart than by a church-centered life.” This is true, of
course, because praise and thanksgiving are the God-given norm and constant of life. Parents never will discourage or provoke their children (vs 21) when truly “giving thanks to God the Father through” our Lord Jesus Christ in all things (vs 17).
Whenever employers and employees work eucharistically, their relationship is transformed. As work is performed eucharistically, “as to the Lord and not to men” (vs 23), effort is vested in Christ and achievement becomes the cause for thanksgiving and praise to God - for what Christ
achieves. Blessed are any companies that operate this way.
Let us commend ourselves, and each other, and all our life unto Christ our God.
In Christ,
Rdr. Daniel Rudder
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