Friday, April 19(6), 2024
No Liturgy ─ no New Testament reading appointed
“The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God” [Wisdom 3:1]. And in whose hand are the souls of the sinners? The Lord told the apostles that “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” [Lk. 22:31], that is, knock them down from the right path and take full control over them. Thus, all those who turn away from the Lord are in fact in the hand of Satan: he sifts them and casts them wherever he wants.
Because of that, sinners are dizzy in their mind: the enemy is pushing and shoving them, giving them no chance to come to their senses. And, moreover, as soon as someone shows signs of recovery, he begins to shake him still more fiercely, to make sure that he is dizzy again, unable to have his mind focused.