March 8 Lenten Meditation, Prayer and Scripture

Find 15-20 uninterrupted minutes each day to dwell in the presence of God, setting aside any distracting thoughts and connecting with our Lord through your prayers, while being attentive to listening to Him speak to you through the words of this meditation and Holy Scripture. Begin with this prayer: “Shine within our hearts, Loving Master the pure light of Your divine knowledge and open our hearts that we may hear the message of Your Good News today. Amen.”

DAILY MEDITATION – March 8 (St. Theophylactus; Apost. Hermas of the 70)

Someone once asked St. Paisios, “Elder, does Christ fit into everyone’s heart?”  “He does, but it’s people who can’t contain Him, because they make no effort to correct themselves.  The heart must be pure for Christ to fit in it.  Create in me a clean heart, O God...”–St. Paisios, Spiritual Struggle, p. 127.

Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you (Matt 6:33).

Genesis 1:14-23 (Vespers, 1st reading)

14

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

15

“and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

16

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

17

God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18

and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19

So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20

Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”

21

So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

22

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”

23

So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Proverbs 1:20-33 (Vespers, 2nd reading)

20

Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares.

21

She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks her words:

22

“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.

23

Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.

24

Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,

25

Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke,

26

I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,

27

when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

28

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.

29

Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30

they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.

31

Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

32

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them;

33

but whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

Conclude your time with God by taking 5 minutes to sit quietly and pray the Jesus Prayer – “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me the Sinner.”