27Jul23-Fourth Tuesday After Pentecost

[Mat 11:16-20]  But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: 'We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent:

[St. Theophan on 3rd Tuesday after Pentecost]  The Lord says that we who do not hear the Gospel are like those to whom merry songs are sung, but who do not dance; to whom sad songs are sung, but who do not cry - nothing can be done with them.

We are promised the Heavenly Kingdom, most bright and joyous, but we are unmoved, as though someone else were being spoken to.  We are threatened with impartial judgment and unending torments, but we are not alarmed, as if we did not hear.  Downtrodden, we have lost all feeling of true self-preservation.  We move as ones being led directly to destruction, and have not a care for our destiny.  We have lost heart and given ourselves over to carelessness - let what happens, happen!  Such is our state!  Is this not why suicides are so frequent?  It is the fruit of modern teachings and views on man and his significance!  There is progress for you!  There is enlightenment!  

It would be better to be totally ignorant, but save your soul with fear of God than, having attained the title of an enlightened person, to perish unto the ages, never thinking for your entire life about what will happen after death.  Not a single jot shall pass from the word of God, which describes both the Heavenly Kingdom and hell - all will be as it is written.  Let everyone take this to heart as something that touches you personally; and take care for yourself, with all your strength, as long as there is time left.