Day 1 (Monday)
Leviticus 23:23-44; 24:1-9 (Day of Atonement, Festival of Booths, The Lamp and Bread for the Tabernacle)
Last time, we saw God command the first two holy days for the children of Israel, days of complete rest and of offerings in the Tabernacle, and therefore days on which they were to make pilgrimage to the place where His glory dwelt, which is to say, eventually, to Jerusalem. The first of these was Passover in the middle of the first month of the Hebrew year, and the second was Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks, held on the fiftieth day after the great day of rest during the Passover week. This time, we will see the festivals in the autumn, around the middle/end of the month of September.
The Festival of Trumpets
23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 24 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts. 25 You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the Lord’s offering by fire.
The Day of Atonement
26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the Lord’s offering by fire; 28 and you shall do no work during that entire day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. 29 For anyone who does not practice self-denial during that entire day shall be cut off from the people.
30 And anyone who does any work during that entire day, such a one I will destroy from the midst of the people. 31 You shall do no work: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your settlements. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of complete rest, and you shall deny yourselves; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening you shall keep your sabbath.
The Festival of Booths
33 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 34 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of booths to the Lord. 35 The first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 36 Seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the eighth day you shall observe a holy convocation and present the Lord’s offerings by fire; it is a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations.
37 These are the appointed festivals of the Lord, which you shall celebrate as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord offerings by fire—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day— 38 apart from the sabbaths of the Lord, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your votive offerings, and apart from all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.
39 Now, the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the festival of the Lord, lasting seven days; a complete rest on the first day, and a complete rest on the eighth day. 40 On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.
41 You shall keep it as a festival to the Lord seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations. 42 You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, 43 so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
44 Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed festivals of the Lord.
The Lamp
24 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.
The Bread for the Tabernacle
5 You shall take choice flour, and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6 You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold. 7 You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire to the Lord. 8 Every sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the Lord regularly as a commitment of the people of Israel, as a covenant forever. 9 They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire to the Lord, a perpetual due.
Reading 12
806 words
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, by a strange coincidence, last year at this same time in February we read from 1 Kingdoms about David eating the bread that is set aside for the priests when he came to the Tabernacle fleeing from Saul. This is the point that the Lord refers to in the Gospels when refuting the attacks against His disciples chewing on grain that they picked as they walked through the field on the Sabbath Day (as in Mark 2:23-28. Apart from that, it is worth noting that these festivals all commemorate, and indeed participate, in the Lord’s deliverance of His people from Egypt. By celebrating the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Booths, the people of God would confess and proclaim for themselves and their children that God was the One Who delivered them from bondage, made them His own particular people, and cared for them when they were wanderers in the wilderness, living in tents. And thus they were to participate in that same shared life for all generations, gathered together around the Temple, freed and chosen and cared for by God Who dwelt in their midst. It is therefore not an accident that, even to the present day in the Church, the traditional greeting for one Christian to another is “Christ is in our midst” and the response is “He was, and is, and shall be!”)
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)
Anaphora Prayers of St. Basil the Great – 2
Last time, we read the second part of the Anaphora Prayer of St. Basil the Great, in which he summed up all the good things that God has done for us through the ages, from our Creation to His patient work on our behalf after our self-imposed exile from Him, until He sent to us His Son, Who accomplished all things on our behalf, uniting Himself with us in death and destroying it by His own death, and leading us out of bondage into newness of life. Having spoken of all that the Lord did for us, St. Basil concludes the Anaphora prayer this week with the remembrance of the Lord’s institution of the Eucharist, which immediately precedes the Consecration, all of which we will read this week.
St. Basil’s Anaphora (Offering Prayer) – Part 3
Priest: As memorials of His saving passion, He has left us these gifts which we have set forth before You according to His commands. For when He was about to go forth to His voluntary, ever memorable, and life-giving death, on the night on which He was delivered up for the life of the world, He took bread in His holy and pure hands, and presenting it to You, God and Father, and offering thanks, blessing, sanctifying, and breaking it:
He gave it to His holy disciples and apostles saying: Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you and for the forgiveness of sins.
Likewise, He took the cup of the fruit of vine, and having mingled it, offering thanks, blessing, and sanctifying it.
He gave it to His holy disciples and apostles saying: Drink of this all of you. This is my blood of the new Covenant, shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim my death, and you confess my resurrection.
Therefore, Master, we also, remembering His saving passion and life giving cross, His three; day burial and resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, and enthronement at Your right hand, God and Father, and His glorious and awesome second coming.
We offer to You these gifts from Your own gifts in all and for all.
Consecration of the Gifts
Priest: Therefore, most holy Master, we also, Your sinful and unworthy servants, whom You have made worthy to serve at Your holy altar, not because of our own righteousness (for we have not done anything good upon the earth), but because of Your mercy and compassion, which You have so richly poured upon us, we dare to approach Your holy altar, and bring forth the symbols of the holy Body and Blood of Your Christ.
We pray to You and call upon You, O Holy of Holies, that by the favor of Your goodness, Your Holy Spirit may come upon us and upon the gifts here presented, to bless, sanctify, and make this bread to be the precious Body of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.
And this cup to be the precious Blood of Your Christ.
Shed for the life and the salvation of the world.
And unite us all to one another who become partakers of the one Bread and the Cup in the communion of the one Holy Spirit. Grant that none of us may partake of the holy Body and Blood of Your Christ to judgment or condemnation; but, that we may find mercy and grace with all the saints who through the ages have pleased You: forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, teachers, and every righteous spirit made perfect in faith.
Especially for our all-holy, pure, most blessed and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary.
People: All of creation rejoices in you, O full of grace: the assembly of angels and the human race. You are a sanctified temple and a spiritual paradise, the glory from whom God was incarnate and became a child; our God, existing before all ages. He made your womb a throne, and your body more spacious than the heavens. All of creation rejoices in you, O full of grace. Glory to you.
Part 3 – 566 words
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 two things. First of all, that all of this, the celebration, offering, consecration, and receiving of the Eucharist, is not simply about the Bread and the Wine, but about US, the ones who offer the fruits of our labors in this world to the Lord in Thanksgiving, as we ask Him to send the Holy Spirit not just upon the Gifts, but upon us, the ones who offer and who receive those Gifts. Second, he should point out that the purpose of this offering and receiving is that we become holy, that we are united in communion with God, so that we, and all creation with us, may rejoice forever.)
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)
Acts 13:44-52; 14:1-7 (Aftermath of Paul’s Sermon, Paul & Barnabas in Iconium)
Last time we saw St. Paul preach in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, summing up the entire history of the people of Israel, and proclaiming Jesus Christ as the long-promised Messiah, the son of David Who saw no corruption in death, but was raised up and brought forgiveness of sins to all. We saw that many of the people who heard him were interested, and asked him to speak again the following week. This time, we will see how that second sermon plays out.
Aftermath of Paul’s Sermon
44 The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul. 46 Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles,
so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. 49 Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their region. 51 So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Paul and Barnabas in Iconium
14 The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. 2 But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. 3 So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through them.
4 But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. 5 And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, 6 the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; 7 and there they continued proclaiming the good news.
Reading 25 – 374 words
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 what Paul and Barnabas say, that it is necessary that the people of Israel be granted the opportunity to hear the good news of the Lord’s coming first, as the promise is indeed to them and to their children. But once they have heard it, whether they receive it or reject it, the Gospel is to be preached to all the nations. This is not done in condemnation of the people of Israel, but as a fulfillment of their purpose from the beginning, that from them, light will dawn upon all the nations. Thus we see many of Israel, and many of the nations, receiving the word of the Lord from Paul and Barnabas with great joy, and beginning a new life together in the Church, even as the unbelieving Jews drive them out of the synagogue. This is the cause of the independent existence of the Church, separate from the synagogue in every place: because they were rejected and cast out when they proclaimed Christ to be the Messiah. From this event, and the many times that it is duplicated throughout the subsequent century, we eventually see the “apparent” birth of two separate religions: Judaism and Christianity. But they were not separate at the beginning.)
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?