This Daily Devotion is to help our members and others reflect on the understanding of Christian service to our Lord.
Devotion for Monday, December 18, 2023
The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite, Msgr. George Appleyard
An Invitation to Prayer
O Lord and Ruler of the house of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush
and gave him the law on Sinai,
come and redeem us with outstretched arms.
-Come, let us welcome him.
Tzadei
You are righteous, O Lord,
and your judgments are correct.
You insist that your dictates
be absolutely just and true.
Zeal for you overwhelms me,
for my enemies have forgotten your words.
Your utterance is absolutely pure
and your servant loves it.
I am young and of no account,
but I do not overlook your judgments.
Your justice is eternal justice,
and your law is truth.
Oppression and constraint have found me;
your commands are my pursuit.
Your testimony is true for the ages,
teach me and I shall live.
A reading adapted from Basil’s, On the Human Condition
But the restoration, after the present age, will be such as it was at the beginning of creation. Humanity will return to its original condition, rejecting evil, this life of chronic trouble, its obsessions with life’s concerns. Putting aside all of this, humanity will return to that life in paradise, liberated from the passions of the flesh, free, intimate with God, and to the same way of life as the angels.
A Prayer
O God, who has chosen us to be an Order of Knights under the blessed protection of Saint Lazarus, grant that we-in full devotion to You, and abounding in neighborly charity-may show ourselves invincible against the enemies of the Cross, remaining faithful unto death, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen!