On the First Sunday of Great Lent, March 5, we commemorate the proper veneration of the Holy Icons, the Triumph of Orthodoxy over the iconoclasts (those who wanted to abolish veneration of the icons).
After the Divine Liturgy we will have a procession around the church with the icons. All children (18 years old and younger), who plan to attend the service, should bring icons of their patron saint or any other favorite icon (we will have extra icons for those who forget to bring their own). The sermon delivered on Sunday of the Last Judgment, Feb. 19, based on the Gospel reading Matthew 25:31-46. In these preparatory weeks before Great Lent, we have been exploring the theme of repentance. We prepare for Lent with repentance, so that we could spend this period of fasting gaining spiritual benefits.
Today is called Sunday of the Last Judgment. The Church offers us to contemplate the event that we will all face during the Second Coming of Christ, when everyone will be judged according to his or her deeds. Friends, It is with sadness we announce that one of our longtime parishioners, Joseph Mirowsky, has passed from this temporal world to life eternal. In April he would've been 95 years old. The wake will be on Thursday evening, Feb. 23, in Gaita Memorial Home, with Panikhida/Parastas at 7pm. The Funeral will be at St John the Baptist Church on Friday, Feb. 24, at 10am. May he rest in peace, and rise in glory with Jesus Christ. Вечная память! By Fr. Hans Jacobse Original source. It comes from the depths of hell to destroy their characters before they can grow into a healthy sense of who they are. I am old enough to remember the sexual revolution and its dubious promises that once moral restraints on sexual behavior were removed, a new golden era would dawn in which everyone would live happily, carefree and satisfied.
Sermon delivered Feb. 5, 2017 on Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, Luke 18:10-14. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
We hear the story about Tax collector and Pharisee every year. As soon as we hear that two men went up to the temple to pray, and one was a Pharisee and another a Tax collector – we immediately know who was the good guy and who was bad. We think we know the moral of the story too – do not do as the bad guy, but do as the good guy. When hear this story we are asked to identify with one or the other, and we definitely know who we should identify with. Since we know this reading so well, the power of the message it offers is not as strong. We know that the Pharisee is a sinner, and that we should side with the Tax collector. After all, isn’t it easier to be with the Tax collector, not much is expected of him? But if we jump to conclusions before the Gospel reading is even finished, don’t we make the same mistake the Pharisee made? Don’t we effectively say, “O thank God I am not like him!” |