The holy martyr Justin was a philosopher who followed purely the true wisdom he had recognized in the truth of Christ. He instructed by his character, taught the truth of the faith and fought by his writings. When he presented his Apology for the Christian religion to the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (161-180) in Rome and confessed he himself was a Christian, St. Justin was condemned to death.
O Lord our God, your holy martyrs have deserved the crown of immortality on account of their good fight. Armed with your strength they have vanquished their persecutors and crushed Satan’s dreadful might. Through their supplications, O Christ our God, save our souls.
Embellished by the wisdom of your heavenly words, all of God’s Church tells the world of your holy life. Receiving a crown in return for your blood, you stand before Christ in the company of angels and pray unceasingly for all of us.
Romans 3: 19-26
Brothers and sisters: We know that everything the law says is addressed to those who are under its authority. This means that every mouth is silenced and the whole world stands convicted before God, since no one will be justified in God’s sight through observance of the law; the law does nothing but point out what is sinful.
But now the justice of God has been manifested apart from the law, even though both law and prophets bear witness to it – that justice of God which works through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. All men have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. All men are now undeservedly justified by the gift of God, through the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus. Through his blood, God made him the means of expiation for all who believe. He did so to manifest his own justice, for the sake of remitting sins committed in the past – to manifest his justice in the present, by the way of forbearance, so that he might be just and might justify those who believe in Jesus.
Matthew 7: 1-8
The Lord said: “If you want to avoid judgment, stop passing judgment. Your verdict on others will be the verdict passed on you. The measure with which you measure will be used to measure you. Why look at the speck in your brother’s eye when you miss the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take that speck out of your eye,’ while all the time the plank remains in your own? You hypocrite! Remove the plank from your own eye first; then you will see clearly to take the speck from your brother’s eye.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before swine. They will trample them under foot, at best, and perhaps even tear you to shreds.
“Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. The one who knocks, enters.”
Icon courtesy of Jack Figel, Eastern Christian Publications – ecpubs.com
Friday, May 31 –
