Plough Monday
ORTHODOX CHRISTMAS-DISTAFF DAY
Psalm
2, verse 11
Serve
the LORD with fear; exult with trembling, accept correction lest
he become angry and you perish along the way when his anger suddenly blazes up.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him!
To
fully understand this verse, we must know who the writer is referring to. In
verse 10 the writer states “Now
therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord
with fear. Our God is a just God and
to “those who have been given much; much is required”; to quote the spider man
movie. Kings (and the 1 percent’ers) to be wise must humble themselves. It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle then for a rich man to
get into heaven. The
"Eye of the Needle" has been claimed to be a gate in Jerusalem, which
opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through
this smaller gate if it was stooped and had its baggage removed.[1]
I also with
this verse picture Mary Magdalene. Mary who by many accounts was a very rich
woman financed our Lord’s ministry. We see in this verse the shadowing of her
kissing of His feet and at the same time the hardening of Judas’ heart: who on
seeing her act of love and wanting riches refused to humble himself and died in
his pride.
Does Christ desire us to serve with
Fear and trembling? I noticed the other day that my two dogs when I come
in are so excited about seeing me that they tremble with excitement. I think
our God wants our hearts and our desires. I think we should have the humble
fear that a loved child has for his or her parents, full of love and respect
and that we should be excited too. So, let us approach each day with the kind
of excitement that makes us tremble ready to do the will of God?
Plough
Monday is the
traditional start of the English agricultural year. While local practices may
vary, Plough Monday is generally the first Monday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany),
6 January. The day traditionally saw the resumption of work after the Christmas
period.
As we begin our working year let us
remember that our primary work in the world as a follower of Christ is to do
his will for us putting our hand on the plough and looking forward to the year;
may all of our days and rows be straight.
No man, having put his hand ... -
To put one's hand to a plow is a proverbial expression to signify undertaking
any business. In order that a plowman may accomplish his work, it is necessary
to look onward - to be intent on his employment - not to be looking back with
regret that he undertook it. So, in religion; He that enters on it must do it
with his whole heart, He that comes still loving the world - still looking with
regret on its pleasures, its wealth, and its honors - that has not
"wholly" forsaken them as his portion, cannot be a Christian, and is
not fit for the kingdom of God. How searching is this test to those who profess
to be Christians! And how solemn the duty of all people to renounce all earthly
objects, and to be not only "almost," but "altogether,"
followers of the Son of God! It is perilous to tamper with the world - to look
at its pleasures or to seek its society. He that would enter heaven must come
with a heart full of love to God; giving "all" into his hands, and
prepared always to give up all his property, his health, his friends, his body,
his soul to God, when he demands them, or he cannot be a Christian. Religion is
everything or nothing. He that is not willing to sacrifice
"everything" for the cause of God, is really willing to sacrifice
nothing.[2]
Orthodox Christmas[4]
Well if you have not got enough of the Christmas
Season you can always celebrate with the Orthodox Catholics.
Some
Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25th, but others mark the
birth of Jesus on a variety of dates including January 7th and January 19th. It
depends on which calendar the particular church follows - while western
Christendom has adopted the Gregorian calendar, some Orthodox churches use the
older Julian calendar to calculate the dates for holy feast days. December 25th
on the original Julian calendar falls on January 7th of our calendar. Most
Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on this date; however, some churches,
including Armenian orthodox Christians use the revised Julian calendar and
their Christmas falls on January 19th of our calendar. While Christmas is a
very important religious celebration for Orthodox Christians, it falls second
to Easter which they consider to be the most important date in the religious
calendar.
Religious
Observance of Orthodox Christmas
·
Traditionally,
when the first star appears on Christmas Eve Eastern Orthodox Christians will
break their fast with a celebratory meal.
·
Also,
on Christmas Eve, traditionally Orthodox Christians will cut a branch from a
tree and bring it into their home, as a symbol that Jesus is entering their
house and their hearts.
·
A
prayer and blessing will be said before the Christmas Eve feast begins, and the
head of the family will greet each person present with the traditional
Christmas greeting of 'Christ is born'
to which the response is 'Glorify him!'.
Then the bread will be torn by hand and shared with all present. Some families
will have straw scattered around the table, as a reminder of Jesus's birth in
the manger.
·
On
Christmas Day, Orthodox Christians will attend Divine Liturgy, which will
usually be a little longer than usual due to being an exceptional religious
holiday. It is traditional to light candles in honor of Jesus, as light of the
world.
·
Afterwards
people walk in procession to a sea, lake or river. The water will be blessed as
part of an outdoor ceremony, and some people will take the blessed water back
to their homes.
Orthodox Christmas Top
Events and Things to Do[5]
·
Attend
an Orthodox Christmas service. Orthodox Christianity is popular in Greek
and Slavic-language communities, including Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian,
Macedonian communities.
·
Go
on a fast or diet leading up to Orthodox Christmas. Try eliminating meat
and animal foods from your diet.
·
Go
for dinner at the Russian or Greek Restaurant. Many will serve specials
to commemorate this holiday.
Marital Love is Free, Total,
Faithful and Fruitful
marriage rite beautifully express four qualities of marital love: free, total, faithful and fruitful.
29. This revisitation of a wedding, dear married couples and those of you called to marriage, I hope will resound in its beauty, its profound meaning, and its call to be vulnerable to this love and to avoid the deadly state the Sacred Scriptures call hardness of heart. “To love at all is to be vulnerable,” wrote CS Lewis. This is why real love can cause awe and even a paralyzing fear. Love is risky! Is it really necessary to take such risks? Yes. For the alternative to the risk of love is self-enclosed hell. Lewis’s striking passage on love continues: “…Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.”
30. Do not be afraid of love! We need love in all of its necessary vulnerability and sacrifice because we are made in the image of Love itself! In the story of creation found in Genesis 1, we read:
And
God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man
in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and
multiply…”
33. The first is this: “Have you come here to enter Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?”
34. “Are you truly free?” the Church is asking, and, “Are you here in front of this altar of sacrifice—willing to give a total gift of yourself to this other person?” The man and the woman reply, “Yes.”
35. This love requires your freedom, your free willing of the good for your spouse! And it requires your total gift, holding nothing back out of fear. It requires that you consider this promise irrevocable, never to be taken back despite the inevitable challenges that accompany love in a fallen world.
36. The second question speaks to faithfulness: “Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?” The man and woman each reply, “I am.”
37. True love is faithful. Living this faithfulness requires a constant exercise of “willing the good of the other” in marriage such that a powerful force in the world is increased. St. John Chrysostom said, “The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together.” Therefore, the Church and wise nations and communities recognize and support even at great cost the need for families to be based on marriage, the committed, life-long covenantal bond with all of its necessary rights and duties.
38. Think here of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Contemplating with awe and gratitude the mystery of a God who is eternally and reliably a fire of never-ending love, we best understand the nature of marital love and the demands that flow from it. Would there be “cheating” among the members of the Trinity? Obviously not, and therefore the marital covenant which images the Trinity must be faithful through all the storms of life. Can we imagine a “breakup” of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? Certainly not, and therefore a valid, sacramental marriage is indissoluble. Nothing but death can break the bond of such a marriage. Would the three Divine Persons opt for sterility, or does their love bear constant and abundant fruit? Hence marital love requires the rejection of any chosen option for sterility, whether it be contraception use or surgical sterilization.
39. This brings us to the third question of intent. The priest or deacon asks, “Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and His Church?” “I am,” the man and woman each reply.
40. Love is fruitful. Usually, though not in every case, acts of sexual intercourse proper only to marriage give rise eventually to the gift of children.
41.
Despite the cultural propaganda against children being a good for their
parents, those who experience children learn that what the Second Vatican
Council beautifully stated is true: “Marriage and conjugal love are by their
nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are
really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to
their parents’ welfare.”
During
this Christmas season let us take up the nature of God by reflecting on these
traits that make us a model for our children and our sisters and brothers in
Christ. Today reflect on:
Self-Control vs. Self-indulgence
Instant obedience to the initial promptings of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:24–25)
736 By
this power of the Spirit, God's children can bear much fruit. He who has
grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear "the fruit of the Spirit:
. . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control." "We live by the Spirit"; the more we
renounce ourselves, the more we "walk by the Spirit."
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise,
led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to
call God "Father" and to share in Christ's grace, called children of
light and given a share in eternal glory.
1765 There are many
passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of
the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining
it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good
possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the
impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the
anger that resists it.
1832
The fruits of
the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits
of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness,
modesty, self-control, chastity."
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
Anything that does not lead you to God is a hindrance. Root it out
and throw it far from you.
Daily Devotions
·
Day Fourteen activity
(Legend of the Little Girl)
·
Day Fourteen recipe
(Christstollen)
[2] Barnes' Notes on the Bible
[6]https://family.dphx.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-Complete-My-Joy-Apostolic-Exhortation-English.pdf
[7]http://graceonlinelibrary.org/home-family/christian-parenting/49-godly-Tcharacter-qualities/
[8]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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