Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 24:1-32 (Finding a Wife for Isaac)
Last time, we saw God test Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, his beloved son. When Abraham obeyed, and was about to strike the death blow, God intervened, and provided a ram instead for the sacrifice; in this way, Abraham confessed that Isaac, and all the descendants he hoped for from him, who had been the gift of God to him and to his wife Sarah, still belonged to God, and entrusted himself, and all his hopes, to the Lord. In the remainder of Chapter 22, which we will not read, Abraham learns that his brother Nahor had children and grandchildren, which will become significant in the coming chapter. In chapter 23, Sarah dies, having lived for 127 years (until Isaac was 37 years old, in short), and Abraham purchases a cave near Hebron in which to bury her; it is in this cave that he himself, and all his near descendants and their wives, will eventually be buried, and the place remains a place of pilgrimage and veneration to this day. At any rate, three years after Sarah’s death, Abraham decides that it is time for his son Isaac to marry.
The Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah
24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh 3 and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 6 Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 7 The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 8 But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time when women go out to draw water.
12 And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. 13 I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”
15 Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 The girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. 17 Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.”
18 “Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. 19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 21 The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, 23 and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?” 24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” 25 She added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night.” 26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin.”
28 Then the girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. 29 Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. 30 As soon as he had seen the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and there he was, standing by the camels at the spring. 31 He said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?” 32 So the man came into the house; and Laban unloaded the camels, and gave him straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out how determined Abraham is that Isaac should not go back to Mesopotamia, and also that he should not marry a daughter of the Canaanites among whom they lived. This indicates that the worship of Yahweh was not unique to him, but was shared, or at least supposed to be shared, with his father’s family, and also that he does not expect that faithfulness to persist long in the place where they live; he does not want Isaac to be corrupted, and he wants to ensure that he continues to live in the land to which God has called him. It is also worth noting that the prayer of the servant has a twofold significance. It expresses the desire to find a virtuous wife for Isaac, as he sets conditions for the sign in his prayer that match with what a virtuous young woman would do. It also expresses hope, and perhaps even trust, that Abraham’s relatives will have kept the faith…or perhaps, rather, it expresses the understanding that, regardless of blood relationships, whichever young woman is virtuous and hospitable is the true relative of Abraham, worthy of being brought into the household of Faith.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
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)
Prayer at the Third Antiphon
When we begin the Divine Liturgy Sunday morning, we start with the Great Litany (with all the Lord, have mercy’s), and then we sing either two Psalms and the Beatitudes, or selected verses from the Psalms, together with a refrain. These are called Antiphons, because they are sung back and forth by two choirs. While they are being sung, the Priest prays a series of three prayers on behalf of all the people, for the beginning of the Liturgy. We will read the third of these today.
Prayer at the Third Antiphon
Lord, You have given us grace to offer these common prayers with one heart. You have promised to grant the requests of two or three gathered in Your name. Fulfill now the petitions of Your servants for our benefit, giving us the knowledge of Your truth in this world, and granting us eternal life in the world to come.
For You are a good and loving God, and to You we give glory, to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages of ages. Amen.
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 this prayer follows the normal pattern of a prayer, in which the prayer begins with a confession of a promise that God has made to us (the promise about wherever two or three are gathered in the Lord’s Name is found in Matthew 18:20), and then asks Him to fulfill that promise for us in this time and place. It varies slightly from the norm in that it begins with a statement of what God has already done, in giving us the grace to offer prayers to Him as a community. Thus we also see here another important element of prayer, that God is both the one to Whom we are speaking in prayer, and the One Who has enabled us to approach Him. He is already with us, and nonetheless we undertake actively to approach Him with purpose and intent. As we have seen elsewhere this year, it is a good reminder that God is always present with us, but it is always a struggle, a matter of hard work and diligent effort, for us to be present with God. Therefore we ask the help of Him, as He is present always with us, as we apply ourselves to the work of approaching and being present with Him, seeking the knowledge of His truth and the eternal life for which we were created in the world to come.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
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)
Matthew 10:34-42; 11:1 (Jesus Instructs His Apostles)
Last time the Lord warned His disciples of the troubles that they would face as they proclaimed the Gospel, both at that time, and for the rest of their lives, promising them that if they remained faithful to the end, they would be saved, and that the Holy Spirit would inspire them, and that the Father would care for them always. This time He concludes His guidance to them as they are sent out.
Not Peace, but a Sword
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Rewards
40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
11 Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out the appearance of the Cross in this passage; the Lord has not yet been crucified, and yet He is already urging His Apostles that to follow Him, they must take up the Cross. This must have been a strange image for them at the time, and yet one that they came to understand much better after the Resurrection. It is a good reminder to us, as well, that the Lord is not simply speaking to His Apostles here, but through them to all of us. This is the way of the Christian life; to deny ourselves, take up the Cross, and follow the Lord.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
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?