Day 1 (Monday)
Genesis 11:26-32; 12:1-9
Over the past two years, we have begun our Old Testament readings with the first two major cycles of story within the book, the account of the Creation and the entrance of sin into the world through the Fall of Adam and Eve in Year 1, and the destruction and restoration of the world at the time of Noah in Year 2. This year, we will continue that story with the story of Abraham. We will recall that the story of Noah and his descendants ended with the Tower of Babel, when the nations gathered together to try to control God, and God instead separated them from one another and exiled them all from His presence. From this story, Genesis gives a genealogy, which outlines the line of descent from Noah to a man named Terah, living in the city of Ur in Mesopotamia, and of his three sons, one of whom was named Abram.
The story of Abram continues immediately from this point, as God calls this man called Abram to leave his country, his city, his people, and even his father’s house, to follow the Lord. This is the beginning of God’s resolution of the exile of the nations of humanity from His presence; He creates a new nation, out of nothing but Abram’s faithful obedience to His call, through which priestly nation He will redeem and reconcile all the nations to Himself.
End of Genealogy
26 When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Descendants of Terah
27 Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.
The Call of Abram
12 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Leader should point out how Abram begins in the city of Ur, which is famous for its ancient ziggurat, of at least the same sort as the Tower of Babel, but is called to leave it, and eventually to leave even his father’s house and his family behind, and to become a wanderer, a stranger without any settled home, to place all his trust in the God Who has called Him to follow Him. This is the Faith and faithfulness for which he was praised in our reading from Hebrews last week. We should also note what God’s intent is with Abram; He intends and promises to make of him a “great nation,” one that will be a blessing to all the nations of the world, to bring them back to the worship of the God Who created them all.)
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)
A Prayer for 6:00 A.M.
Our Day 1 reading presents us with Abram, who is called by God to leave his home and his people and everything that had defined him to that point, and to follow God out into the unknown. We would very much like to think that it is only Abram that God asks to do this, or perhaps some other special and dedicated people. But in truth, all of us are called to follow the Lord, to hold Him more dear and precious than anything else in this life.
As a part of this struggle of the Christian life, one discipline is that we pray early in the morning, even before the sun comes up, looking toward the dawning of the sun as a reminder that the true source of light and life for us is not the sun itself, but the Son of God, Who enlightens and sanctifies everyone who comes into this world. For if He is the true source of light and life, then we must hold fast to Him, and not to the world.
We see this reflected in the prayer of the Church at the 1st Hour, which is prayed around sunrise, or perhaps around 6 am. This short service includes three Psalms (5, 89, & 100), a hymn to the Theotokos, the general prayer of the Hours, and then this prayer for the 1st Hour. We will read both the general prayer of the Hours (although we have read this before, in week 16 of Year 1), and the Prayer of the 1st Hour, and reflect on what it means to look to Jesus Christ as the light of our lives.
Prayer of the Hours
O Christ our God, who at all times and at every hour, both in heaven and on earth, are worshipped and glorified, long suffering and plenteous in mercy and compassion; who love the just and show mercy to the sinners; who call all men to salvation through the promise of the blessings to come: Do you, the same Lord, receive also our supplications at this present time, and direct our lives according to your commandments. Sanctify our souls; purify our bodies; set our minds right; clear up our thoughts, and deliver us from every sorrow, evil and distress. Surround us with your holy Angels so that being guarded and guided by their presence, we may arrive at the unity of the faith and the knowledge of your ineffable glory; for blessed are you unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Prayer at the 1st Hour
O Christ, the true light, Who enlighten and sanctify every person who comes into the world, let the light of Your countenance shine on us, that in it we may behold the unapproachable light. And direct our steps to keep Your commandments, by the intercessions of Your all-immaculate Mother and all the saints. Amen.
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (Besides what has already been noted, the Leader should point out that the Prayer of the Hours affirms that the Lord is worshipped and glorified everywhere and at all times, so that, for those who follow Him, there is no place that is truly an exile, as we are at home with Him wherever we go, so long as we remain faithful to Him. The Leader should also note that, although the Lord is light and life, nonetheless the Prayer of the 1st Hour has us ASK Him to shine in our lives, for we are able to reject that Light, and too easily do so by default, so the Prayer has us purposely “reject that rejection” as it were, and ask the Lord to shine the Light of His face upon us, so that we may see the light that no one can approach.)
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 2:7-18 (Wise Men Visit, Slaughter of the Innocent)
Last time, we saw the birth of the Lord, and how “wise men” came from the east seeking him, and went to Jerusalem to ask where the child who had been born King of the Jews had been born. We saw King Herod summon the chief priests and scribes, and ask them where the Messiah was supposed to be born, and learned from them that Bethlehem was the place that the Prophet Micah had foretold. So this time, we will see Herod send the wise men to Bethlehem, and ask them to tell him where the child was.
Wise Men Visit Jesus
2:7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
The Escape to Egypt
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
The Massacre of the Infants
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
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 that the wise men arrived quite a while after Jesus was born; the implication here is that it was as much as two years after His birth, because the wise men had seen signs in the sky at the time that He was born, and then journeyed to Jerusalem, where they told Herod how long ago they had seen those signs. It was on the basis of this information that he had all the infants two years old and younger killed, so from this, we may understand that the wise men came from quite a distance, although the exact place from which they came isn’t made clear here. This story also shows us, importantly, that the Lord does not immediately, by His coming, abolish all evil and suffering; instead, He joins us in our suffering and brokenness, enduring it first with us, and then overthrowing the power of death itself in His Resurrection, and finally, in His glorious appearing, He will bring justice and healing and peace to all. But not immediately, and even at His coming, death and violence and injustice continue to prevail, apparently. For us, as for the Holy Innocents slaughtered by Herod, the time of restoration is yet to come, but even so, even now, we abide in the peace and the hope of the Lord, entrusting ourselves to Him until the day of the Lord arrives. Finally, we should note that Jesus is fulfilling what was prefigured by Israel itself, in going into Egypt in a time of danger, from which place He will return to the Promised Land. This is another place where we see Matthew quoting the Old Testament to show us how the Lord is fulfilling prophecy, and it is interesting that the prophecy is not just in the words of the prophet, but in the very history of the people of God. Finally, we also see here that even at the beginning of His life in this world, the Lord is welcoming and accepting the worship not only of His own people, the children of Israel, but of all nations; the Wise Men are the first from among the nations that had formerly been exiled from the presence of God at the Tower of Babel to enter into His presence and worship Him in truth, and in their visit, God’s promise to Abraham that “in his seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” begins to be fulfilled.)
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?