6th Week of Pentecost

Acts 12:25-13:12
After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission, they returned to Jerusalem, taking with them John, who is called Mark. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, completing their fasting and prayer, they laid hands on them and sent them off. So they, sent forth by the holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus. When they arrived in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They had John also as their assistant. When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they met a magician named Bar-Jesus who was a Jewish false prophet. He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who had summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is what his name means) opposed them in an attempt to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, also known as Paul, filled with the holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all that is right, full of every sort of deceit and fraud. Will you not stop twisting the straight paths of (the) Lord? Even now the hand of the Lord is upon you. You will be blind, and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately a dark mist fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he came to believe, for he was astonished by the teaching about the Lord.

Matthew 15:21-28
Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III. Safro – First Prayer
O holy One, you sanctify the saints who, through the Holy Spirit, proclaim your holiness; sanctify us, that we also may acknowledge you as all holy. Our Lord and God, in whom we place all our hope, we praise and call upon you, now and for ever. Amen.
Saint of the Day: Saint Veronica (c.1st century): When Christ fell on his way to Golgotha, a woman wiped his face with a towel; an image of Christ remained on the towel. This woamn was Veronica; this incident is all we really know about her, and the relic has become her symbol ever since.
Meditation: In Eastern Christian thought the dignity of the laity indeed of all the Baptized is rooted in Chrismation. In Chrismation the Holy Spirit ushers us into the Trinitarian life and therefore make us people of the end-time, eschatological beings.
The anointing formerly reserved for kings, priests, and prophets, is extended in the Church to all believers. It is Christ who unites in Himself all those baptized “into the people of God” where everyone belongs to “the priestly people”. It is not a question of “priest” in the sense of “a presbyter” and of his sacramental power. A priest of the royal priesthood, that is every believer, is one who participates in the Priesthood of Christ, not through his sacred functions but by virtue of his sanctified being. It is in view of this ontological sacerdotal dignity that each baptized person is sealed with the gifts, “anointed by the Spirit” in their very being. The believer offers the totality of his life and being as a sacrifice, that he makes of his life a liturgy. Every lay person is the priest of their existence. (Evdokimov, Paul, The Sacrament of Love, SVS Press, 1985, p.85.)
In Eastern Christian thought the life of all believers is a liturgy in which one’s life is sacrificed to God. In doing so the believer is freed from the idols of this world, so that the “One Who Is Holy” may be worshiped in “Spirit and in Truth”. The Trisagion of the Eucharistic Liturgy is the common proclamation of all believers, that unites us with the praises of the Angels who stand before God, “Qadeeshat aloho…”.