At Morning Prayer
from the Lenten Triodion, at Orthros
Rolling away the stone of hardness from my heart, raise up my soul that I slain in the passions, O loving Lord, and count me worthy in compunction to bring palms of virtue to Thee the Victor over hell. So may I obtain eternal life, singing the praises of Thy power and Thy compassion, for Thou alone lovest mankind.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
O Christ of many mercies, I have followed the ways of the rich man who showed no compassion; but I pray Thee, make me to dwell with the poor man Lazarus, and deliver me from the flame and the fire that never shall be quenched.
Both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
O Full of Grace, beholding in thee the wonder of all wonders, the creation rejoices. For without seed thou hast conceived, and ineffably hast borne as a child Him upon whom the leaders of the angelic Hosts dare not gaze. O Theotokos, pray to Him for the salvation of our souls.
Morning Reading
Isaiah 48:17-49:4
Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!” They thirsted not when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He cleft the rock and the water gushed out. “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked. Listen to me, O coastlands, and hearken, you peoples from afar. The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother He named my name. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand he hid me; He made me a polished arrow, in His quiver He hid me away. And He said to me, ‘You are My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ But I said, ‘I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God.’”
At Evening Prayer
from the Lenten Triodion, at Vespers
My strength is weakened by my many sins and by the pleasures of this life, and in my misery, O Master, I lie always on the bed of slothfulness; but I cry to Thee: With loving compassion come and visit me, granting me health and mercy. Forsake me not, lest I sleep in death and the enemy rejoices over my destruction; for he seeks to drag me down, O Saviour, into the fearful depths of hell.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Deliver us, O Saviour, from soul-destroying greed, and give us a place with Lazarus the poor man in the bosom of Abraham. For Thou Who art rich in mercy hast for our sakes willingly become poor, and Thou hast led us from corruption into incorruption, because Thou art a God of tender compassion and love for mankind.
Both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Deliver us from our distress, O Mother of Christ our God, who gavest birth to the Creator of all, that we may ever cry to thee: Hail, protection of our souls.
Evening Readings
Genesis 27:1-41
When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son, and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and hunt game for me, and prepare for me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat; that I may bless you before I die.” Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat it, and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves; and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me.” So, he went and took them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared savory food, such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son; and the skins of the kids she put upon his hands and upon the smooth part of his neck; and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. So, he went in to his father, and said, “My father”; and he said, “Here I am; who are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your first-born. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” So, Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so, he blessed him. He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” Then he said, “Bring it to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So, he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” So, he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his garments, and blessed him, and said, “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed! May God give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine. Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be every one who curses you, and blessed be every one who blesses you!” As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. He also prepared savory food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your first-born, Esau.” Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? - Yes, and he shall be blessed.” When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” But he said, “Your brother came with guile, and he has taken away your blessing.” Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright; and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” Isaac answered Esau, “Behold, I have made him your lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered him: “Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be, and away from the dew of heaven on high. By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you break loose you shall break his yoke from your neck.” Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Proverbs 19:16-25
He who keeps the commandment keeps his life; he who despises the word will die. He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. Discipline your son while there is hope; do not set your heart on his destruction. A man of great wrath will pay the penalty; for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established. What is desired in a man is loyalty, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life; and he who has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, and will not even bring it back to his mouth. Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.
At Evening Prayer
from the Lenten Triodion, at Vespers
My strength is weakened by my many sins and by the pleasures of this life, and in my misery, O Master, I lie always on the bed of slothfulness; but I cry to Thee: With loving compassion come and visit me, granting me health and mercy. Forsake me not, lest I sleep in death and the enemy rejoices over my destruction; for he seeks to drag me down, O Saviour, into the fearful depths of hell.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Deliver us, O Saviour, from soul-destroying greed, and give us a place with Lazarus the poor man in the bosom of Abraham. For Thou Who art rich in mercy hast for our sakes willingly become poor, and Thou hast led us from corruption into in-corruption, because Thou art a God of tender compassion and love for mankind.
Both now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.
Deliver us from our distress, O Mother of Christ our God, who gavest birth to the Creator of all, that we may ever cry to thee: Hail, protection of our souls.
Leo the Great
Pope of Rome
†461
~ from a homily of his ~
In the gospel of John, the Lord says: By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35) In a letter of the same Apostle, we read: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God; he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
The faithful should therefore enter into themselves and make a true judgment on their attitudes of mind and heart. If they find some store of love’s fruit in their hearts, they must not doubt God’s presence within them. If they would increase their capacity to receive so great a guest, they should practice greater generosity in doing good, with persevering charity.
If God is love, charity should know no limit, for God cannot be confined.
Any time is the right time for works of charity, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace, for charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.
As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ did away with our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings of works of mercy. In this way we shall give to those who have sinned against us what God in His goodness has already given us.
Let us now extend to the poor and those afflicted in different ways a more open-handed generosity, so that God may be thanked through many voices and the relief of the needy supported by our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on His poor. Where He finds charity with its loving concern, there He recognizes the reflection of His own fatherly care.
In these acts of giving do not fear a lack of means. A generous spirit is itself great wealth. There can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ Who feeds and Christ Who is fed. In all this activity there is present the hand of Him Who multiplies the bread by breaking it, and increasing it by giving it away.
The giver of alms should be free from anxiety and full of joy. His gain will be greatest when he keeps back least for himself. The holy Apostle Paul tells us: He Who provides seed for the sower will also provide bread for eating; He will provide you with more seed, and will increase the harvest of your righteousness, (2 Corinthians 9:10) in Christ Jesus our Lord, Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.