This Daily Devotion is to help our members and others reflect on the understanding of Christian service to our Lord.
Devotion for Sunday, December 1, 2019
The Rt. Rev. Archimandrite, Msgr. George Appleyard
An Invitation to Prayer
“Let us go over to Bethlehem,
and see this thing that has come to pass,
which the Lord has made known to us.”
-Luke 2:15b
Psalm 118/119, Aleph
Happy are the blameless on the way,
who walk by the law of the Lord.
Happy are those who study his testimonies,
they will seek him wholeheartedly.
Those who do wrong have not walked in his ways.
You ordered your commandments to be kept diligently.
Would that my ways be directed to keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be shamed as I respect your injunctions.
I will acknowledge you with an upright heart
as I learn your just rules.
I will keep your precepts, do not abandon me!
A reading from Basil’s, On the Human Condition
We get greater satisfaction from learning about the sky than about ourselves. Do not assess the wonder within you as nothing. While you may be insignificant in your own estimation, the Word says that you are great. For the wise David, examining and seeing himself exactly, says, “I am awesomely, wondrously made. Your work is wonderful.The craftsmanship, and the wisdom demonstrated in my physical structures, leads me to understand the great Creator.”
A Prayer based on Psalm 138/139.
O God, “I praise you for I am awesomely, wondrously made; your work is wonderful, and I know it well. My frame was not concealed from you when I was molded in secret, knit together, as it were, in the recesses of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed limbs, and all were recorded in your book. They took form in sue time, every last one of them.” Preserve me in good health and strength that I might serve you by loving and caring for all around me. Let me use all my unfolding potential to the glory of your name.
Amen!
Note
Nahum the prophet is remembered today in the East.