Daily Bible Reading

“And there was a great calm” [Matt. 8:26]. It is necessary that what you read daily from the Gospel be a real event in your life, as if it had taken place in your presence and with your participation. For that is precisely why we are given the holy Gospel, in order that all the faithful, and not simply the elect who were with him in the past, might see His earthly days and take part in them. Therefore, train your eyes to see it not as a story about something that happened once upon a time to others but instead as what is taking place this very day with you. Scrub your heart clean until you feel the truth of these words. That is exactly why we have the daily Gospel readings, so that from day to day we might live with the Lord. And, if you read the story about the calming of the sea, then understand—not allegorically but directly—that this is happening to you, that you are drowning or losing strength, or that you are being made to stumble and being tempted by the waves of sin or circumstances, and that the words “O thou of little faith” [Matt. 8:26] are directed at you. But this miracle is also happening in you: there was a great calm, the tumult of the heart is quieted, and in the clarity of its waters heaven is reflected. Place yourself before the face of the Lord, pray to Him for help, take His hand outstretched toward you, and you will conquer the tumult of your soul and you will know the joy of meeting the Lord once more. O mercy of God, O miracle, to daily read the Gospel!  Sergius Bulgakov