Father of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited-KSH).
Bore da i chi wrtho ni’n dou….
mwynhewch eich penwythnos gyfeillion🙏🏻❤️Bore da to you from both of us…enjoy your weekend my friends🙏🏻❤️@StormHour @ThePhotoHour pic.twitter.com/0Na7tdaaeF
— Aled Hall 🏴 (@AledHall) January 27, 2024
In the spring of 388, a rebellion erupted in Antioch over the announcement of increased taxes. Statues of the emperor and his recently deceased wife were desecrated. Officials of the empire then began punishing city leaders, killing some, for the uprising. While Archbishop Flavian rushed to the capital in Constantinople 800 miles away to beg for clemency, John preached to a city in turmoil:
“Improve yourselves now truly, not as when during one of the numerous earthquakes or in famine or drought or in similar visitations you leave off your sinning for three or four days and then begin the old life again. . . . Stop evil slandering, harbor no enmities, and give up the wicked custom of frivolous cursing and swearing. If you do this, you will surely be delivered from the present distress and attain eternal happiness.”
After eight weeks, on the day before Easter, Flavian returned with the good news of the emperor’s pardon.
John preached through many of Paul’s letters (“I like all the saints,” he said, “but St. Paul the most of all—that vessel of election, the trumpet of heaven”), the Gospels of Matthew and of John, and the Book of Genesis. Changed lives were his goal, and he denounced sins from abortion to prostitution and from gluttony to swearing.
He encouraged his congregation not only to attend the divine service regularly but also to feed themselves on God’s written Word. In a sermon on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, he said, “Reading the Scripture is a great means of security against sinning. The ignorance of Scripture is a great cliff and a deep abyss; to know nothing of the divine laws is a great betrayal of salvation.”
His applications could be forceful. About people’s love of horse racing, he complained, “My sermons are applauded merely from custom, then everyone runs off to [horse racing] again and gives much more applause to the jockeys, showing indeed unrestrained passion for them! There they put their heads together with great attention, and say with mutual rivalry, ‘This horse did not run well, this one stumbled,’ and one holds to this jockey and another to that. No one thinks any more of my sermons, nor of the holy and awesome mysteries that are accomplished here.”
Today, January 27th ✝️
in the #Catholic Church (Traditional Rite)
is the feast day of
Saint John Chrysostom 😇
Lived c. 347 – 407 AD, born in Antioch
He began his clerical career at a young age.
However, he soon abandoned it and as a hermit, devoted himself to asceticism and the… pic.twitter.com/KeSuMAawYL— Adam Bil (@1addamB) January 27, 2024
O God, who didst give to thy servant John Chrysostom grace eloquently to proclaim thy righteousness in the great congregation, and fearlessly to bear reproach for the honor of thy Name: Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellency in preaching, and fidelity in ministering thy Word, that thy people shall be partakers with them of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
St. John Chrysostom, Bishop, Doctor of the Church (407)
He was called Chrysostom, "golden mouthed" on account of his eloquence. He loved St. Paul of whom he said: "The heart of Paul is the heart of Christ." He died in exile after suffering persecution under the empress Eudoxia. pic.twitter.com/awiLyIrxA4
— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) January 27, 2024
Most great and glorious Lord God, accept my imperfect repentance, and send Thy Spirit of adoption into my heart, that I may again be owned by Thee, call Thee Father, and share in the blessings of Thy children.
‘The world is big, and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.' – John Muir
The path from Mam Tor to Rushup Edge in the morning light, leading ever onward into those stretching curves and valleys of green. A long walk ahead, but what a view to look at on the way. pic.twitter.com/XoqVWDepyG
— peaklass (@peaklass1) January 27, 2024
And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men stood in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I fetch a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on–since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds, and milk, and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
–Genesis 18:1-8
Clever use of the 1812 Overture by @willjgibbons in his @TransformWigan sermon this evening – on Abraham and Sarah entertaining their three angelic guests at Mamre. Tchaikovsky evokes the deep devotion of the Russians, and so their most famous icon, Rublev's Trinity came to mind. pic.twitter.com/vFg1QgFmU2
— Philip Anderson (@P_G_Anderson) June 14, 2020