Day 1 (Monday)
Proverbs 1:20-35
As we begin the summer, we will start with another selection from the book of Proverbs. In this passage, the writer of Proverbs reflects on the nature of wisdom, how it is present everywhere, available for all, and yet how common and easy it is to turn away from wisdom to foolish desires and wrong actions. The repeated point of the book of Proverbs is the importance of attending regularly, with discipline and care, to the things of God, as a way of actively turning away from this world and turning towards the Lord.
The Call of Wisdom
20 Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
21 At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
23 Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
25 and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
27 when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
30 would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
32 For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
33 but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note that Wisdom, in the Old Testament, and especially in the book of Proverbs and similar books, is associated with the Word of God Himself, with our Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Proverbs itself makes this explicit in chapter 8, that Wisdom here is not just the idea of wise-ness, but a Person, God Himself, Who speaks in wisdom and cries out to human beings that they should return to Him. If we think of these words being spoken by Jesus Christ as we see Him in the Gospels, we find, I think, that the tone and voice are much the same as we have been hearing from Him throughout the Gospel of Luke. It should also be noted that the word for Wisdom in both Hebrew and Greek is grammatically feminine, which is why the feminine pronoun “she” is used here; so we aren’t saying that Jesus is a woman, but that this title of His, Wisdom, is grammatically feminine in Greek (σοφία), just as the word for road in Greek (ὁδός) is feminine, and the word for world (κόσμος) is masculine, but that doesn’t mean that the road is a woman, or the world is a man.)
2) What do we learn about God in this reading?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this reading?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) – 12
This week we finish with the Didache, the earliest text from the life of the Church outside of the New Testament. The Didache has two parts: the first describes the Way of Life and the Way of Death, and the second gives general instructions for the life of the Church. This final portion speaks of the Last Days, and warns the Faithful that there will be many troubles in the future, and that it will be a time of testing, but that at the end, the Lord will return. This tells us, then, of what the early Church expected to happen to the world, and to them, and what they were preparing for…it tells us, too, what we should expect, and how we should prepare.
Mini-Apocalypse
For in the last days the false prophets and corrupters will abound, and the sheep will be turned into wolves, and love will be turned into hate. For as lawlessness increases, they will hate and persecute and betray one another. And then the deceiver of the world will appear as a son of God and will perform signs and wonders, and the earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will commit abominations the likes of which have never happened before.
Then all humankind will come to the fiery test, and many will fall away and perish; but those who endure in their faith will be saved by the Accursed One Himself. And then there will appear the signs of the truth: first the sign of an opening in heaven, then the sign of the sound of a trumpet, and third, the resurrection of the dead – but not of all; rather, as it has been said, “The Lord will come, and all his saints with him.” Then the world will see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should note that what this describes is very intense, but we can break it down to a few central elements. First, the Apostles expected the troubles in the last days to reach inside the Church. This is the meaning of the “sheep will be turned into wolves, and love to hate.” Second, the “deceiver of the world” will appear as a son of God, which is to say, as an angel, a god, and will lead humanity into great sin; this is following the same pattern as we saw in the Old Testament readings with the giants, the demonized human beings, but the Apostles expect it to be worse than ever. Whether the deceiver of the world will be a human being, a demon, or an alliance between them, is not clear, but certainly an alliance between rebellious angels and rebellious humanity is what is being talked about. Third, the “Accursed One” who will save those who endure is Christ Himself, Who the world considers to be accursed because of His humiliation and death on the Cross, but Who saves us, even as we are suffering, through His own suffering. Finally, this text speaks clearly about the Resurrection of the Lord’s Faithful as the final sign of His coming, which matches with the final words of the Creed: “I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.”)
2) What do we learn about God in this reading?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this reading?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 3 (Friday)
Luke 23:36-53
We will continue to jump around the Gospel of Luke this week. On Thursday of this week we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, so we will read that passage today, along with the Lord’s appearance to His disciples before He ascended into heaven. This is the final passage of the Gospel of Luke, and comes immediately after the episode where Jesus revealed Himself to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and disappeared from their sight after blessing and breaking the bread, at which point they hurried back to Jerusalem and told the other disciples, who told them that He had appeared Simon Peter as well. As they were all talking, then, Jesus appeared to all of them together. Luke continues with a brief summary of the Ascension to conclude his account of the Gospel; a fuller account of the Ascension can be found at the beginning of the book of Acts (also written by St. Luke).
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Ascension of Jesus
50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them. 51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
Discussion Questions
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should point out that it is very important that Jesus eats in the presence of His disciples. St. Luke includes this to make very clear that the Lord really and truly rose from the dead. He wasn’t a ghost, He wasn’t an apparition, He wasn’t some sort of projection or a mass hallucination. He was really risen from the dead, in the flesh, and that He could eat food showed this more completely than any words can explain. Having established that Jesus was truly risen in the flesh, then St. Luke depicts Him ascending into heaven in their sight, showing them that He, being God and Man, risen from the dead, remains fully God and fully Man as He ascends into heaven. In Christ, then, human nature is fully united with divine nature, and remains so forever, so that we, if we remain in communion with the Lord, can also be partakers of divine nature in Him.)
2) What do we learn about God in this story?
3) What do we learn about human beings in this story?
4) What do you find difficult about this story? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always.).
5) Does this story make you think that you need to change anything in your life?