When we have strong faith in God, we keep this story going!
Have you ever heard somebody say, “It’s a long story!”? Maybe you wanted to hear the rest of the story, but your friend didn’t have time to
tell it! The epistle reading almost tells us, “It’s a long story!” We read, “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and all the prophets.” It’s a long story, he says.
Today is the Sunday of Orthodoxy, a day we remember the long history of our holy Orthodox Church. This long history had many, many heroes, heroes who worshipped God and did anything they could to keep the faith. The epistle tells us how the heroes of the Bible
“stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword… Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.” So many awful things happened to these faithful people, but they still never gave up. Their faith in God was more important than anything!
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PREACHING THE GOOD NEWS: SAINT JUSTIN POPOVICH
We celebrate St. Justin’s nameday on Thurs., March 25th (OC: April 7th).Do you know what great feastday we celebrate this Thursday, March 25th? Well, the big one is the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she would be the mother of Jesus and the Mother of God! But we also celebrate a saint who was born and who died on this great feastday! Saint Justin Popovich was a Serbian saint who was named Blagoje as a baby (Blagovest means Annunciation, or “Good News”). Later on, when he be- came a monk, his name became Justin.
Saint Justin was a great teacher and writer. He spent most of his life preaching about the real Good News—that Jesus Christ came to save us. Sadly, Saint Justin lived when evil rulers (who were called Communists) didn’t want people to hear about the Good News of our Lord. Saint Justin was a brilliant teacher, but the rulers would not let him teach in the Serbian schools or universities. That’s because he was an Orthodox Christian.
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