Twenty Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

   "When," says St. Basil, "the inclination to sin comes upon you, I wish you would think of this dread and awful tribunal of Christ, where He will sit and judge on His throne on high.  There every creature will appear, and stand trembling in His presence, and there shall we be led, one by one, to give an account of the actions of our life.  And immediately afterwards those who in life have wrought much evil will be surrounded by fearful and hideous angels, who will throw them headlong into a bottomless pit where in impenetrable darkness burns a fire which gives no light; where worms whose bit is intolerable anguish, ceaselessly gnaw the flesh; and where, sharpest of all punishments, shame and confusion reign without end." (from) the Saint Andrew Daily Missal

  He lies in the manger, but contains the world;  He nurses at the breasts, but feeds the angels;  He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but vests us with immortality;  He found no place in the inn, but makes for Himself a temple in the hearts of believers.
  In order that weakness might become strong, strength became weak.
   -  Augustine, Sermon 190, 4

Prayer:  Mu faith prays to You, Lord, the faith You gave me, and inspired in me by the Incarnation of Your son and the mission of Your preacher. - Confessions 1, 1