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READ MESSAGES/ PRAYERS FOR H.G.
MAKARIOS
DAILY MESSAGES FOR
MEDITATION GREAT LENT 2008
Dear All,
This is the beginning of a series of a simple meditation
for the liturgical season of Great Lent. An attempt is
made to get acquainted 50 verses/phrases during the
season. The text is II Corinthians. Every day one
verse/phrase is introduced followed by a brief explanation
and a short prayer. The prayer is taken from the 'Promiyon/Sedro/Ethro'
(Prayers from West Syrian Liturgy) of the respective day.
1st
Sunday, Great Lent:
Grace and peace to you from God. 2 Corinthians 1: 2
The Great Lent is commencing this evening after the
'supper'!
Let us greet each other with the divine 'grace and peace'.
'Grace' from New Testament original language is 'the wholly
generous act of God', which is something essentially and
undoubtedly needed by all of us. We are busy in making our
life and we wish to have peace in life. We cannot attain
peace unless we ourselves are 'peace-makers'. With all the
'Grace' we have, let us become carriers of 'peace'.
Prayer:
Lord, protect us under the wings of Your Grace. Amen.
(from the 'Sedro' of the 'Third Hour' of Kothne Sunday)
2nd Day:
Father of compassion and the God of all comfort… 2
Corinthians 1: 3
We began this observation by greeting each other with Divine
grace and peace. But who is God to us? He is our
compassionate Father and source of all our comfort. We may
justify our acts and deeds substantially in many ways; hence
it is only even easy to prove that we survive and exist in
this way because of our 'acts and deeds'! But how far we can
realize that we exist because He is compassionate to us?
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses". Are we among
them? There will be many sources of comforts in this world
but the real source of comfort is Him.
Prayer:
Lord our compassionate Father, may this lent be an unfailing
weapon for us to prepare ourselves to eternal goodness.
(from the Ethro of 'First Monday Morning Prayers', Great
Lent).
God help us to realize that You are compassionate and You
are the real source of all comfort. Amen
3rd Day,
…..so that we can comfort those in any trouble… 2
Corinthians 1: 4
Obviously the highlight is "comforting others". What we
would feel then? Feeling good that we have helped somebody
out of our generosity?! But from where we have received this
goodness? The verse continues to say, "…with the comfort we
have received from God". Yes, He has provided all these
resources. If we are not sharing these that becomes
unnatural; it is only natural to comfort others in trouble
and it is our duty.
Prayer:
In accordance to Your Will to the humankind, Lord, through
this Lent strengthen us to dispense our whole life. Amen
(from the ethro of the 'First Tuesday, Morning
Prayer' of the Great Lent).
4th Day,
……...If we are distressed…….. 2 Corinthians 1: 6
Distressed! Troubles and afflictions are unavoidable. It may
be cruel to say that it is with a purpose but a person in
his/her spiritual journey has to find positive results in
it. St. Paul with his fellow Christian workers confirm that
all their distresses are for the 'comfort and salvation' of
others. Someone, somewhere has to be burned out for the
cause of goodness in community and family, which is again
the duty of a Christian.
Prayer:
Lord, who offered Himself as a remissive incense for us
kindly accept our prayers.
(from the ethro of the
'First Wednesday, Evening Prayer' of the Great Lent).
Help and bless us to happily spend us for the cause of
goodness. Amen.
5th Day,
……….our hope for you is firm…… 2 Corinthians 1: 7
The reference is made to the hope of the Apostolic Community
in the early Church on the standard of life that they would
fulfill. There is an anticipated level of life for the
baptized Christians. We have firm hopes about our children
and we expect them to be responsible enough to rise up to
the level of our hope.
God as the loving and caring Father have firm hopes about
us; do we feel responsible?
Prayer:
Our Lord; through the Holy Baptism You have put on the
weapon of justice on us. Through Your redemptive fasting to
fight against all greed you have given us this Holy Lent….
Help us to fulfill our vows to You. Amen
(from the sedro
of the 'First Thursday-Morning Prayer' of the Great
Lent)
6th Day,
…..We were under great pressure…2 Corinthians 1: 8
Once again St. Paul is narrating the hardships he and his
companions endured for the cause of the Gospel. There were
even life threatening experiences but he accepted all these
in high spirit. Specifically he was convinced that all those
things has happened that they will not rely on themselves
but on God and that there will be many who will be giving
thanks on their behalf for all those endurances. We may not
be able take this as a doctrine of the Church but at least
we could see that a spiritual person takes things in a
different way.
We will be 'under great pressure'; but are we ready to takes
things in a different way?
Prayer:
Lord, give us the strength to face all the tribulations;
bless us that we all will always find happiness in keeping
Your Commandments. Amen.
(from the Sedro of 'First
Friday, Evening Prayer' Great Lent)
7th Day,
….in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. 2
Corinthians 1: 12
The aspect in question is 'conscience'. St. Paul, on behalf
of his companions and on behalf of his personal self gives
the testimony that they have behaved well and according to
him they did this 'in the holiness and sincerity from God'.
For anything which need a justification in our life we rely
on our conscience which is an ultimate 'measuring rod' for
us. But have we ever thought that our conscience is just
another relative thing as it is very much tuned according to
our own personal ethical understandings? Here Paul makes a
difference by taking 'sincerity and holiness from God' as
the measuring rod. Source of all goodness is Him.
Prayer:
Lord, establish in us Your true wisdom so that we will have
a proper life. Amen (from the Sedro of the 'second
watch' of the 'Night Prayer of First Saturday, Great Lent)
8th
Day,
….we work with you for your
joy.. 2 Corinthians 1: 24
We can commence and continue a work in
different modes with variant motives. In Christian
perspective in a work or a service, priority is not personal
aspects but the beneficiaries. Are we ready to take up a
responsibility just for the joy of others?
Prayer:
Lord, in Your mercy make us
perfect with all goodness; in Your Glory enlighten us with
all kindness. Amen (from the Sedro
of the Garbo Sunday, Morning Prayer).
9th
Day,
…but to let you know the depth of my love for you…2
Corinthians 2: 4
St. Paul was stating the reason for which he is writing the
letter. He was in anguish and distress because of the
churches but he never wanted to grieve the church by telling
all those things. Yet he would like to moderately present
something just to communicate the depth of his love.
It is important to draw a fine line between what is to be
expressed and what not.
Prayer:
We praise you Lord, who provided us this blissful day. Amen
(from
the 'Monday Morning promiyon of the Garbo
Week)
10th Day,
….you ought to forgive and comfort... 2 Corinthians 2: 7
Somebody stood against the good will of the Community and
St. Paul instructs them to forgive him. For Paul doesn't
want to see anybody being "overwhelmed by excessive sorrow".
In family and in community we may tend to marginalize people
who did anything wrong but it is quite important to think
whether they have been put into an agonizing situation by
our attitude and actions.
Prayer:
Lord, may Your peace dwell among us. Preserve your peace for
us. Amen
(from the 'Tuesday Morning ethro of the Garbo
Week)
11th
Day, Great Lent
the Lord had opened a door for me… 2
Corinthians 2: 12
There were times in our life when all the
possibilities of getting through were absolutely shut. And
then we might have definitely asked this question, "now
what?" Whether that were the end of our life? He was
gracious enough to be an answer in all those times.
Do we have a real record on the number of
doors that Lord had opened to us in our life?
Prayer:
Lord, the lover of humankind, please do not
forsake us to get trapped in any nets in the ways of our
life. Amen
(from
the 'Wednesday Evening' slooso of the Garbo
Week)
12th
Day, Great Lent
…through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the
knowledge of Him. 2 Corinthians 2: 14
There are at least two aspects here: a) What/who am I to
others? Are we stumbling blocks or the fragrance of the
knowledge of Him?
b) We are becoming instrumental in this! We are not the very
source of this fragrance but it is only that, "through us
the fragrance spreads".
Prayer:
Lord, strengthen us to offer our souls as living sacrifice,
our bodies are weapons of holiness, our life as goodness,
emotions of our heart are sanctified presents, our words as
burnt offerings and our acts as sweet fragrant Myron. Amen.
(from the
sedro of the 'Thursday Evening Prayer' of the 'Garbo
Week' of the Great Lent
13th
Day, Great Lent
…. for we are to God the aroma of Christ.
2 Corinthians 2: 15
For others, "who am I?" was yesterday's thought but today it
is working towards the other end. For God who/what am I?
Apostle is giving us another responsibility by presenting us
as aroma of Christ to God. We are not supposed to be
otherwise.
Prayer:
Lord, may our
incense be pleasing for your divinity, our service be in
Your Will and our intercessions be in accordance to Your
Wish. Amen.
(from the ethro of the Friday Evening of the Garbo
week of Great Lent)
14th
Day, Great Lent
… we do not peddle the word of God for profit.2 Corinthians
2: 17
If we ask to ourselves whether we (mis)interpret the message
of the Gospel for our own personal gains probably we may say
a big NO. But if we go to the extend of asking ourselves,
are we in any manner making the life of the Church as a
vehicle of our 'personal honour' what would be the answer?
Is there any fine line between these two questions? It is
important to have a self examination to find out whether
even in the remotest corner we are peddling the word of God
for our profit.
Prayer:
Lord, sanctify our thoughts, enlighten our inner sights,
open the ears of our hearts, calm the pronounces of our
mouth and purify the praises of our tongues. Amen (from
the sedro of the Saturday Evening Prayer of the
Garbo week)
15th
Day, Great Lent
…you are a letter from Christ, 2 Corinthians 3: 3
Here
the Apostle is figuratively referring to the Corinthians as
they themselves are the letter. As parents, as teachers, as
leaders or as responsible people at our work place through
our children, our aspirants or with whom all we are engaged
with we are leaving this same legacy of making them as our
letters. Are we in the process of bringing out good and
effective letters? Being 'ambassadors of Christ' (another
phrase from St. Paul- 2 Cor. 5: 20), we are suppose to
produce creative letters from Him.
Prayers:
Lord, You have made the earth a heaven with chanting and
praises of your glory. Now that You have given us the right
to be in Your presence, strengthen us to sing You praises
and bring out good fruits. Amen(from
the sedro of the First Watch of the Night Prayer of
Msario Sunday)
16th Day, Great
Lent
.. our
competence comes from God 2 Corinthians 3: 5
We have discussed almost
the similar idea that 'source of all goodness is God' (cf.
Seventh Day, Great Lent). Does this mean that we have no
role in becoming good? We are becoming good with in the way
which we dispense things. The resource of goodness is the
same but we become good in the way how we handle this
resource.
Nature has tremendous
resources but it is up to us the utility of those resources.
We can exploit it, we can use those for the benefit of the
humankind, we can privatize and so on. In the same way the
author of competence or any other goodness is Him but it is
up to us how we would exercise it.
Prayer:
Lord, help us to be fragrant incense with good works, to
be scented-flowers leading a good life and to be holy
temples with true worship. Amen
(from the ethro of Monday
Morning, Msario week, Great Lent)
17th Day, Great Lent
…what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the
surpassing glory. 2 Corinthians 3: 10
'Future
Glory' is a recurring theme in St. Paul. Here in this
context St. Paul was but having a comparison between the
glory of the old Covenant and that of what is experienced in
Jesus Christ.
Rather than looking into the doctrinal part of this let us
meditate on this comparison of 'passing glory' and
'surpassing glory.
We consider many things as glorious in our life. When we
meet people in the process of getting acquainted to what
extend we try to sell our so-called 'glory'!? Even
aspirations about our future generations are not altogether
free from these glories. Christian way of life doesn't
demand a total negligence of what is 'present' but it will
obviously highlight on the 'future glory' and will consider
the life here as a preparation to be made for 'that future'.
Prayers:
Lord, without any hindrances of body, mind and spirit help
us to carry out the rest of our life. .. give us all the
strength to do all possible good things. Amen
(Sedro Tuesday Evening, Msario
Week)
18th Day, Great Lent
…whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
2 Corinthians 3: 16
If we are looking into the context of the text St. Paul was
again referring to the Old Testament event of 'Moses Putting
veil on his face' because of the glory he had on his face as
he gazed the presence of God in Mount Sinai and the people
of Israel couldn't look upon him. (Ex. 34:29-35). But here,
St. Paul says, in Christ, all such veil has been taken away.
The experience of God became more imminent.
To put this in a simpler way: let us think of two things:
a) The closeness that we would experience in Jesus Christ
and b) the transparency we would have in Him. He is closer
to us than we could even imagine and we cannot put any veil
on us as our life is transparent before Him. This
transparency should not be in anyway a frightening
experience for us on the contrary it should be a matter of
consolation that He knows us. Yes, He is close to us and He
knows us with all our infirmities.
Prayers:
Lord who is the ocean of mercy and endless goodness, bless
Your people with the Almighty right hand. Bless us to aspire
for what is good in life. Amen
(Sluso, Wednesday Evening, Msario Week).
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