When we consider the Orthodox Christian understanding of vocation, several points can be made. The most obvious are the following:

1.

   Every Sunday morning, newspapers are delivered to households across the country and in the Sunday paper are a plethora of advertisements. Some of us may have looked them over before coming to church this morning.

   Introduction- Jesus was walking along one day when he came upon a man crying, and He said, ?My friend, what?s wrong?? The man replied, ?I?m blind; can you help me?? Jesus healed the man and he went on his way. Jesus continued along and came upon another man sitting and crying.

   Most of us probably think there is one Gospel reading for the Orthodox Funeral Service. That is for good reason because only one passage, John 5:24-30, is read in the Greek Orthodox practice. However, the ancient tradition calls for a different reading for each day of the week.

   Christ is Risen! This is our greeting of the past week since the celebration of Pascha and we will continue to use it for the next five weeks in order to spread the Good News that Jesus our Lord has defeated sin and death.

A little less than half way through the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 12 we hear that:

³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered [Jesus], saying, ?Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.? ³⁹But He answered and said to them,

   Between the strict Fast of Great and Holy Lent and the austere Fast of Great and Holy Week is a two day period of great joy and celebrating. It?s kind of like a soldier who goes through basic training and then gets a furlough before having to report for duty on the battlefield.

   If we have been reading the scriptures regularly during Great Lent according to the Lectionary of the Church, we notice that the Epistle readings on Sundays all come from the book of Hebrews. Why is this? Plain and simple, one of the main themes of Hebrews is the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ.

   Have you ever felt like you have a problem that never goes away? Or you feel like you have one problem after the next? They just keeps coming and coming?somewhat relentlessly. Most of us do, if you do not, you are blessed. Most of us are fighting against problems in our life.

   M.

   In today?s gospel reading, the Second Sunday of Great Lent, we read from Mark 2:1-12 and we hear about the Paralytic at the town of Capernaum. What or who is a ?paralytic?? ?Paralytikos? comes from ?paralysis/paralyo? in Greek which is the same word we use in English.

   Dwight Moody told a story of a man who was asked by his ten-year-old son, ?Daddy, why don?t you ever go to church with us?? The father replied, ?I don?t need to go to church, son. My faith is established.? Later that same day the man drove his horses out of the barn and hitched them to a buggy.

   This past Friday, February 27^th, we celebrated the life of St. Titus the Presbyter of the Kiev Caves. He was a 12^th century priest in a monastery and he fell into a hateful relationship with a deacon named Evagrius.

   If any of us watch late night television, we may have seen the sitcom ?Friends? which broadcasts old episodes. Now in syndication, it was popular during the 1990s. Back then I didn?t like the show because of its numerous perverted and distorted messages about life.

   We talk a lot about humility but sometimes we have difficulty realizing what it truly is and how to practice it.