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Glory be to Jesus Christ!
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There were two readings today, one of which was in honour of St. Ephrem the Syrian.
A daily Apostle reading is about the knowledge of truth and the connection with the commandment of love for brothers (and sisters, neighbours, people in general). Brief comments only.
(Edited at 10:45 pm EET, 2023-02-10)
the darkness blinded his eyes
– a direct parallel to Jesus' words about the eye as a lamp for the body
– if the light that is in you is darkness, then how intense is the darkness itself?
(Matthew VI, 22-23).
(The following has been corrected and added on 01/03/2024):
The eye should give light, not darkness. If a person is blinded by darkness, it is not just the absence of light in their eyes, around them, but the presence of evil in their perception. And this evil in perception leads to a multiplication of evil in all behaviour, conduct, thoughts, words, in life, acting as an open door and a magnifying lens for it.
About the commandment of love – I previously wrote beautifully about love for enemies – I quote:
The Lord Jesus Christ says:
Love your enemies … that you may be sons of your Father, the One who is in heaven, Who commands his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous (Matthew V, 44 -45).
Why the sun when talking about goodness, and the rain when talking about righteousness? Why not vice versa? Or something else? Because the sun, like goodness, a person feels more compared to the rain, from which they often hide, although they know how necessary the latter is. So it is easier to compare goodness with what you feel better, and righteousness with what you need (more than you feel — although this is imperceptible). And also: if you want to feel more of God's love, rejoice in the sun when it shines and warms, and when you want to be more satisfied, rejoice in the necessary rain. You can even do it as a spiritual exercise in good weather.
From the daily Gospel was the reading about the anointing of Jesus with fragrant nard oil, less than a week before the Passion on the cross. The event is described in all 4 evangelists, but there are differences in details, in particular, regarding the exact time of the event. In my opinion (I thought about it today), the Gospel of John contains the most details, written by an eyewitness and participant in the event, written after all the other Gospels, the truth of which John also confirmed, therefore, it most accurately tells the story of the event. According to him (John XII, 1-8), this woman (whose name the other evangelists withheld, like the story of the resurrection of Lazarus, so that there would be no temptation to kill her, like Lazarus, while she lived, like him) was a saint Mary, sister of Martha and Lazarus, friend of Jesus, myrrh-bearer, one of my favorite saints (not to be confused with Mary Magdalene, my favorite saint, and another Mary, a relative of the Virgin, the myrrh-bearers). Judas Iscariot is also named by John: She has done a good deed for me
– I assume that she could foresee the imminent suffering of Jesus (unlike the disciples), and could also prepare in advance for His death, and then decided that it will not be (at least in the near future, given the history with her brother Lazarus. One way or another, the Lord thoughtfully shows how He acts through people.
You always have the poor with you, but not Me always,
– what is done for the sake of Christ to people, He accepts as what is done to Himself, but the meaning of the words here is different: if someone expresses their great love in a special way, then the Lord accepts such a visible excess
as one of the good gifts (compare with Judas, who didn't love Jesus).
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!