14 April 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” Luke 11:9
Christ is risen! In these weeks after Qyomtho, the newly baptized and all of us are tempted to settle down: the feast is over, Lent is behind us, life goes on as before. Hebrews refuses to let us stop. “Therefore let us go on toward perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.” The foundation is precious: repentance, faith, Baptism, the laying on of hands, the hope of the resurrection. But a foundation is laid in order to build. The Christian who received the risen Lord at Easter is called to grow, not merely to stay where he was. Then comes a hard warning about those who “have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,” and then fall away. The Church has never read this as if there were no forgiveness for sins after Baptism; she has always held that there is no sin so grave that the Church cannot forgive it, for those who repent (Catechism 982). The warning is against a deliberate turning away that refuses to come back: that heart, “holding him up to contempt,” closes the door on itself. The remedy is in the image that follows: “Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.” Easter is rain. Let it bear fruit.
Today the Panchangam commemorates Mar Shemun Bar Sabbae, known in the West as St Simeon bar Sabbae, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the twin royal city of the Persian Empire on the Tigris. In the fourth century, under King Shapur II, the Christians of Persia were suspected of siding with Rome. According to the ancient accounts, Shemun was ordered to collect a heavy double tax from his people and to bring them to worship the sun. He refused: he would not burden his poor flock, and he would worship only the God who made the sun. He was put to death with many bishops, priests and faithful, on a Good Friday, around 341 to 344, at the start of a long persecution. The historian Sozomen tells that an old court official named Usthazanes, who had once been a Christian and had given way under pressure, was moved by the bishop's courage, confessed Christ again, and died a martyr before him. There is Hebrews 6 in a single life: a man who had fallen away, given grace to return, and ground that at last bore fruit. The Syriac Churches have kept the memory of the Persian martyrs with love, and our own liturgy belongs to the same Syriac tradition in which their story was first told.
The Gospel gives the secret of such strength: persistent prayer. Jesus tells of a man who goes to a friend at midnight and says, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” The friend inside does not want to get up, but “at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.” Then the Lord says plainly: “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” And he ends: “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” The greatest gift to ask for is the Holy Spirit, and the Church is now walking toward Pentecost. St Augustine said that God delays at times so that our desire may grow and become able to receive what he wants to give (in substance). Begin today to pray each day for the Holy Spirit, and keep knocking: for your family, for those who have fallen away, and for Christians who are persecuted today, as Mar Shemun's flock once was.
Theme: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.”
On the commemoration of Mar Shemun Bar Sabbae: growing toward perfection, the ground that bears fruit, and the prayer that receives the Holy Spirit.
“but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
“Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13–14
Apply: Choose one step of growth this Easter season: daily Scripture, a weekday Holy Qurbono, or a work of mercy.
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,” Isaiah 55:10
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” John 15:8
Apply: Pray this week for one person who has fallen away, and for Christians persecuted today.
“I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:27
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26
Apply: Pray every day until Pentecost: “Heavenly Father, give me your Holy Spirit.”
The risen Lord has watered us with grace; he wants a harvest, not a pause.
Mar Shemun's courage came from the God he would not deny; the Father gives the Spirit to those who ask.
Take-home resolution: Grow, bear fruit, and keep knocking: ask the Father every day for the Holy Spirit as we walk toward Pentecost.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! Hebrews says: let us go on toward perfection (Hebrews 6:1). The feast of Easter is not an end. The foundation of faith has been laid in us; now the Lord wants to build.
Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God (Hebrews 6:7). Easter is rain on our lives. Let it bear fruit.
Today we remember Mar Shemun Bar Sabbae, bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Persia. He refused to burden his poor people and to worship the sun, and he died a martyr on a Good Friday in the fourth century. An official who had denied Christ was moved by his courage, came back to the faith and died a martyr too.
Where does such strength come from? From prayer. Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Let us ask every day until Pentecost. Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Jesus told a story about a man who knocked on his friend's door at midnight and kept knocking until his friend gave him bread. Jesus says: keep asking God! He is a good Father, and he loves to give us the Holy Spirit. Every night this week, say this little prayer: Father, give me your Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, you have poured the rain of your grace upon us this Easter. Do not let us settle down, but lead us on toward perfection, and make our lives produce a crop that is useful to others. By the prayers of Mar Shemun Bar Sabbae and the martyrs of Persia, give courage to all Christians who suffer for your name, and bring back those who have fallen away. Teach us to ask, to search and to knock, and fill us with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives to those who ask him. You live and reign for ever. Amen.