This Daily Devotion is to help our members and others reflect on the understanding of Christian service to our Lord.
Devotion for Thursday, December 5, 2024
The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite, Msgr. George Appleyard
An Invitation to Prayer
From the rising of the sun to its setting
my name is glorified among the nations,
and everywhere incense and a pure offering is brought to my name,
for my name is great among the nations. (Malachi 1:11)
-O come, let us adore him!
Psalm 118/119, Vav
May your mercy come upon me, Lord-
the salvation you promised.
And I shall have an answer for those who criticize me
because I trust your words.
Do not leave my mouth utterly bereft of your truth,
for I set my hope on your judgments.
And I will keep your law continually forever;
yes, for ages of ages.
I will walk about freely because I sought your commandments.
I speak of your testimonies before rulers and am not ashamed.
I muse on your pronouncements, which I dearly love.
And I reach for your judgments, which I love,
and I study your laws.
A reading from Basil’s, On the Human Condition
“God created the human being in his image. In the image of God he created him.”Gen. 1:27 Isn’t there something missing here? Didn’t God say, “Let us make the human being according to our image and likeness?” So the design had two elements, “according to the image” and also “according to the likeness.” The act of creation was a single event. So are the words “image” and “likeness” simply two synonyms to mean the same thing? Image and likeness are not the same thing. So we need to look at the human being created according to both the image and also the likeness. By our creation we have the image first, innately; but we build the second, the likeness, by our free choice. By free choice we mold ourselves after the pattern-the likeness-of God. And this is how our choice works. The ability exists in us, but we make it actual by our own endeavor. If God had not invested us with the potential to become like him, we could never develop that by ourselves. Indeed, he made us with the ability to become like God.
A Prayer for the feast of St. Nicholas
Glorious Lord Jesus, as you said to Peter, if you love me, care for my lambs and tend to my sheep. As we remember Nicholas, who epitomized this concern for the poor and the endangered, enable me, who have sworn to serve in the ranks of a hospitaller Order, to be mindful of the lowly, the poor and the oppressed. And as one sworn to military zeal and effort, move me to show my love for you by my concern for them, for your glory, and that of the Father who sent you to us, and the Spirit that comes to us through you.
Amen!
Note
Nicholas, archbishop of the port city of Myra (now called Demre) on the coast of what is now Turkey, is honored throughout the whole Christian Church. He died in the mid fourth century and his remains are enshrined chiefly at Bari in Italy, but also in Venice.