This Daily Devotion is to help our members and others reflect on the understanding of Christian service to our Lord.
Devotion for Sunday, February 2, 2025
The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite, Msgr. George Appleyard
Candlemas: The Presentation of the Lord in the Temple
The Conclusion of the Christmas Season
An Invitation to Prayer
The One who gave the Law observes the Law,
the omnipotent Lord is ransomed.
—may we proceed by his example,
and may he bestow that redemption upon us.
Psalm 115 (116:10-19)
Alleluia!
I believed, so I spoke.
I was terribly humiliated.
I said in my agitation,
“Everyone is a liar!”
What can I give to the Lord
for all that he has given to me?
I will take hold of the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his devoted ones.
I am your servant, O Lord—
I am your servant,
and the child of your servant.
You have pulled apart my chains.
I will offer you a sacrifice of praise,
and invoke the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people,
in the courts of the House of the Lord,
in your very midst, Jerusalem.
A reading from Basil’s Sermon on Charity
A person should be like the earth and bear fruit, and should not let inanimate matter appear to outdo us. The earth produces its crops for your benefit, not its own; so when you give to the poor you are bearing fruit that you will reap for yourself because the reward for good deeds goes to those who perform them. Give to a hungry person and what you give becomes yours. In fact, it returns to you with interest. As the one who plants profits from the seed that falls into the ground, so will you profit greatly in the world to come from the food you set before a hungry person. Your farming must be the planting of celestial seed. The Scripture says, “Sow justice for yourself and reap the fruit of life.” Hosea 10:12
A Prayer
What a marvel, the gates of Paradise are breached for us! The Word of the Father with no beginning, begins in time with no loss to his divinity. As an infant forty days old he was presented by a virgin-mother in the Temple to fulfill the Law of Moses, and so the one who gave the Law on Sinai submitted to that same Law. Grant that we who marvel at your humility, O Jesus, may imitate it with all joy, and practice it in all our doings. Amen.