Monday. [Eph. 1:22-2:3; Mark 10:46-52]

   The blind man of Jericho raised up his voice when he learned that the Lord was walking past. His wail reached the Lord; nothing surrounding the Lord could interfere with His hearing it, and the Lord called the blind man over and returned his sight. At every time and in every place the Lord does not just walk by, but is there; He governs the whole world. As human thinking would have it, this means that He has many cares; furthermore, multitudes of angels surround Him with doxologies. But if you are able to raise up your voice like the blind man of Jericho, nothing will stop your wail from reaching the Lord; He will hear and fulfil your petition. It does not depend on the Lord; He Himself is near, and all that is necessary for you is already prepared in Him; now all that is wanting is you. Manage to raise up your voice to the measure of the Lord’s hearing, and you will immediately receive everything. What then is this measure? Faith, hope, devotion to God’s will. But even these measures have their own measures. What then should these measures be? Ask the one who has prayed and received what he requested; he will say to you: “I prayed about this and about that and I received according to my request; now I need this, I have been praying and have not received it, and I know why: because I cannot in any way ascend to that measure of prayer which I had earlier.” It turns out that it is impossible to determine this measure with literal preciseness. Only one thing is definitely true, that the matter depends upon us, and not on the Lord. As soon as you reach the point where you are capable of acceptance, you will unquestionably receive.

Tuesday. [James 3:1–10; Mark 11:11–23]

The Lord took away His blessing from the fig tree which was rich with leaves but had no fruit, and it dried up. This is a lesson in action. The fig tree represents people who in appearance are proper, but in essence are not worthy of approval. Who are these people? They are those who eloquently discourse about the faith, but do not have that faith—they hold the objects of faith in the intellect only. They are those whose outward behaviour is proper but their feelings and dispositions are very improper, and they manifest proper works only to hide their impropriety from people; whenever possible, they do not do these works. For example, such a person gives alms when someone asks of him in front of people, but ask him in private and he will berate you. He goes to church to pray to God, prays in sight of everyone, and prays at home as well, so as to not bring shame upon himself before his household. But as soon as he is alone, he does not even make the sign of the cross over his brow. He does not have any idea about turning to God with the mind and heart. Let us pray that God will not allow us to be as these. For then we will not escape the judgement pronounced over the fig tree.

Monday (32nd). [James 2:14–26; Mark 10:46–52]

What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? (James 2:14).^[1] The path to faith is repentance. In repenting what does one say? “I have sinned; I will not do it again. I will not sin; therefore I will live by the commandments.” Repentance does not depart with the acceptance of faith; but uniting with faith, it remains through to the end. So too this resolution to live by the commandments remains in force in the presence of faith. Consequently, if the believer came to faith along a direct path—that is, the path of repentance—he is zealous in fulfilling the commandments, or is a doer of good works. Faith gives him a most powerful motivation for this; faith also gives him grace-filled strength to accomplish this through the Holy Mysteries. Thus, faith furthers works. Works in turn make faith perfect, for until that which someone believes is done in deed, faith is not really faith. It becomes apparent only in works; not only apparent, but strong. Works influence back upon faith and strengthen it.

^[1]Throughout the text, the King James Version will be used for New Testament quotes and allusions.