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Sunday of Saint Mary of Egypt
Saint Mary of Egypt
is commemorated on this fifth Sunday of Great Lent. Inasmuch as
the end of the Fast is drawing near, we commemorate her today so that if we think it is hard to practice fasting for
forty days, we might be roused by her heroism in fasting in the wilderness forty-seven years!
We also recall the great loving-kindness of God, and his readiness
to receive the repentant.
The Epistle reading today compares the ministry of Christ to that of the High Priest of the Jews.
The Gospel describes Jesus’ ascent
to Jerusalem before his Passion and the request of James and John to let them sit at his right and left hand in his glory. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The readings below are Sunday, April 6, 2025
Today's Epistle reading: [Hebrews 9.11-14]
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect
tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood
of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with
the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God.
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Today's Gospel reading: [Mark 10.32-45]
And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; and they were amazed, and
those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "Behold,
we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn
him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and
after three days he will rise.”
And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him, and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for
us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him,
"Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, "You
do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which
I am baptized?” And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you
will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left
is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” And when the ten heard it, they began to be
indignant at James and John. And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to
rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you;
but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For
the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." |
