Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, November 20, through Thursday, November 26, 2009
THIS WEEKEND
Friday
LITURGY - There will be an Evening Liturgy for the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple this Friday, November 20, at 6:30 pm
Saturday
VESPERS - Saturday, November 21 is the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple. Great Vespers will be at 5:00 pm.
Sunday
PAGEANT REHEARSAL - The first rehearsal of the Church School Christmas Pageant will be held upstairs during coffee hour this Sunday (not last week, as previously announced). Performance will be Sunday, December 20.
BAKE SALE - The Women's Club presents its Annual Thanksgiving Charity Bake Sale this Sunday, November 22, 2009 (the Sunday before Thanksgiving). Plan on purchasing all your holiday breads, pies, goodies, Syrian pastries and much more! All proceeds will benefit the Convent of Saidnaya, North West of Damascus in Syria. Call Renay DiFiore @ 617-327-6361, if you can help bake and/or donate.
WOMEN'S CLUB CHRISTMAS OUTING - Join us for the Reagle Players' 40th Anniversary Season Christmas Show: "It's Christmas Time!" with featured singer Sarah Pfisterer, leading Broadway entertainer, on Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 4:00 pm in Waltham, MA. Discounted tickets: $36/each (regular price: $46). Make checks payable to St. Mary Women's Club. Advanced payment required. Reservation Deadline: This Sunday, November 22, 2009. See MaryEllen Mabardy or, if questions, call 781-729-6303. ALL WOMEN ARE WELCOME!! Information about the show can be found at http://www.reagleplayers.com/current.html
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
THANKSGIVING WEEK SCHEDULE - The Church Office will be closed from Wednesday through Friday, November 25 - 27 of Thanksgiving Week 2009. Early deadline for Sunday Bulletin is Tuesday, November 24 at Noon.
THANKS FROM THE TEENS - The
teens of Teen SOYO would like to thank everyone for your support at the
spaghetti dinner. Through your generosity we were able to raise $500.
This will go towards the teen retreat this spring, making dinner at the
Boston Rescue Mission, and our other projects this year. We would also
like to thank Eric, Liz, and Leila for helping to organize the event.
REMINDERS
PARISH COUNCIL - The next meeting of the Parish Council will be Tuesday, November 24.
N.G. BERAM AWARDS BANQUET: The N. G. Beram Veterans Association will present its Distinguished Service Award, Veterans Service Award and 13 Scholastic Achievement Awards at its banquet next Saturday, November 28, 2009 at the Holiday Inn, Dedham from 12:30-5:00 pm. For more information see http://www.stjohnd.org/ngberam/banquet/index.htm
SCHAEFFER TO SPEAK - Frank Schaeffer, best-selling author of Keeping Faith and Crazy for God, a frequent commentator on MSNBC and other news outlets and contributor to The Huffington Post, will be speaking here at St. Mary on the evening of Saturday, December 5, 2009. His talk, which promises to be both witty and provocative, will be entitled "Can Christianity Be Saved from the Christians?" Great Vespers will begin at 5:30 pm, followed by the lecture at 7:00 pm in the Church Hall. For more information about Mr. Schaeffer and his latest book, see https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/newsevents/2009-frankschaeffer.php.
ST. MARY CHRISTMAS CARD - Save yourself time, let us do the work and have all proceeds benefit Antiochian Women's new Project 2009/2010: The Convent of St. Thekla at Antiochian Village. Let the Women's Club send a lovely Christmas Card on your behalf to our parishioners. You will receive this card with the names of parishioners, like yourself, who are wishing a Blessed Nativity and a Merry Christmas to all. Use the order form in the Sunday Bulletin. Deadline is Sunday, December 6, 2009.
COME SEE THE MESSIAH - Join friends from St. Mary's for the Handel and Haydn Society's annual performance of Handel's Messiah, on Sunday afternoon, December 6, at 3:00 p.m. We will carpool to Symphony Hall after Liturgy and have lunch together before the concert. Contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com for discounted tickets - possibly separate from the rest of the St. Mary group - or order your own tickets online at http://www.handelandhaydn.org. Either way, plan to join us for lunch first!
LESSONS AND CAROLS - The Fellowship of St. John the Divine cordially invites you to a service of prayers, scripture readings and Christmas Carols - Western Rite Evensong with Lessons and Carols - on Saturday, December 12, 2009 (snow date: Saturday, December 19, 2009) at 5:00 pm. A festive Lenten Pot Luck Supper will follow - last names A-P please bring a main dish or salad, Q-Z please bring dessert. For more information, contact Tiffany Conroy at trattus1@gmail.com
FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE - Canned Food Drive: October - December, 2009. Bring in canned goods to the Church and place them in the large, blue plastic containers outside the Church Office. They will be distributed to local food pantries in our area. 42 pounds of food will feed a family of four for three days, and 37 million people in America need our help!
ATTENTION COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - If you are a new or returning college or university student, please fill out a blue College Student Address Form on the Bengarri (desk in the Narthex) so that we have your current addresses and information and you can receive announcements about activities at St. Mary's and on campus. See Charlie Marge if you have questions.
ATTENTION PARENTS OF ST. MARY PARISH COLLEGE STUDENTS - If you would like your sons or daughters to receive a copy of the CORNERSTONE each month while they are away at school to keep them in touch with what's going on at St. Mary's, please fill out one of the blue College Student Address Forms and return it to Marilyn Robbat.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR SERVICE
There are a number of ways you can help the Church, your fellow worshippers and those in need. Consider serving in one of these ways:
PARTICIPATION
Liturgical Service - Each Sunday, members of the congregation are needed to read the Epistle and assist during Communion by holding the Communion Cloths and Holy Bread Baskets. All Orthodox Christians in the Parish are welcome and encouraged to participate. We usually need one Epistle reader and six people to hold cloths and baskets. If you would like to read the Epistle or assist during the Communion, please contact Jeff Wasilko, 781-820-0882, jeffw@smoe.org.
Coffee Hour - People are needed every week to provide coffee, juice and cookies, or more if desired, and set it up Sunday morning. To sign up for an available Sunday, please put your name on the signup sheet on the bulletin board outside the Hall or call Marilyn Robbat in the Parish Office and she will write your name in. If you need any help with figuring out what to bring or do, check the list below the signup sheet (also printed in the Bulletin), or ask Marilyn at secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org or 617-547-1234.
VOLUNTEERING
Holy Resurrection Open Doors - The Holy Resurrection Open Door Meal Ministry in Allston needs volunteers every Monday evening (there is a special need in the summer). The official hours of the project are 4:30 pm-7:30 pm, but it is fine to come anytime and leave any time. Best times would be 5:30-5:45 to 7:15-7:30 pm. You can serve meals, coffee and tea to the people who arrive for dinner (6-7 pm) or just stay behind the scenes doing set-up and clean-up. It is a very rewarding, hands-on, face-to-face way to serve the community with (mostly) other Orthodox Christians-we even chant the Our Father together before the meal begins. Church info can be found at http://hrocboston.org. Questions? Please contact Liz Straghalis at liztutella@gmail.com phone 617-974-5005, or Tiffany Conroy at trattus1@gmail.com.
St Paul's Food Pantry - Two to four volunteers help each week in the food pantry at St Paul 's Roman Catholic Church in Harvard Square , Saturday mornings from 9:30-11:45. If you are interested in helping, please contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com, or (617) 876-5684.
DONATIONS
Food and Clothing - Holy Resurrection in Allston takes donations of non-perishable food items and clothing to distribute at the Open Door Ministry on Monday evenings. You can bring your donations by on Monday nights between 4:30 pm and 7:30 pm or contact Tiffany Conroy, trattus1@gmail.com, for more information.
- St. Paul 's Food Pantry in Harvard Square , where volunteers from St. Mary help every Saturday, depends upon regular donations of canned and packaged foods. To help, contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com, or (617) 876-5684.
Monetary Contributions - The Agape Canister Program is an Orthodox non-profit development program of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center . It is dedicated to meeting the needs of children, families, and communities throughout the world, regardless of race, color, or creed. All funds collected by the Agape Canister Program are earmarked for medical care and clinics, water wells, agricultural development, food and clothing, support personnel (e.g. doctors, nurses, teachers), the construction of schools, and the education of indigenous people in their own communities. Please contribute each Sunday - A clear plastic box is on the Bengarri.
"As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me," says our Lord.
THIS WEEK'S VOLUNTEERS
FOOD PANTRY
November 21: David Vermette and Kern Ormond
LITURGICAL SERVICE
Sunday, November 22: Epistle: Mary Long
COFFEE HOUR
Sunday, November 22: Women's Club Thanksgiving Charity Bake Sale
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Friday, November 20: Evening Liturgy for the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple 6:30 pm
Saturday, November 21: Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, November 22: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 8; Pageant rehearsal during coffee hour
SCRIPTURE READINGS for November 22:
Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians 2:14-22 Brethren, Christ is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.
Gospel: Luke 12:16-21 The Lord said this parable: "The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; ... And he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; ....' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." As he said these things, he cried out: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
LOOKING AHEAD
Friday, November 27: No Akathist at St. Mary
Saturday, November 28: No Vespers at St. Mary
Sunday, November 29: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; No Church School
Saturday, December 5: Great Vespers 5:30 pm, followed by Frank Schaeffer talk 7:00 pm
Saturday, December 12: Western Rite Lessons and Carols 5:00 pm, followed by Pot Luck Supper
INSIGHT
Orthodoxy sees the human being as psychosomatic - that is, as an embodied soul or an ensouled body. Thus, the physical affects the spiritual and the spiritual affects the physical. For this reason Orthodox worship is very physical, not only in effort (as with prostrations) but with all five senses. The church is filled with icons of Christ and the saints, lit candles, the smoke and smell of incense, and so on.
- Allyne Smith, annotation in Philokalia: the Eastern Christian Spiritual Texts - Selections Annotated and Explained
Although prayer is a habitual action for us, it needs preparation...So, morning or evening, immediately before you begin to repeat your prayers, stand a while, sit for a while, or walk a little and try to steady your mind and turn it away from all worldly activities and objects. After this, think who He is to whom you turn in prayer, then recollect who you are; who it is who is about to start this invocation to Him in prayer. Do this in such a way as to wake in your heart a feeling of humility and reverent awe that you are standing in the presence of God.
- St. Theophan the Recluse, The Path of Prayer
If your intellect is still distracted during prayer ... your prayer is still worldly, embellishing the outer tabernacle. When you pray, keep close watch on your memory, so that it does not distract you with recollections of your past. But make yourself aware that you are standing before God. For by nature the intellect is apt to be carried away by memories during prayer. While you are praying, the memory brings before you fantasies either of past things, or of recent concerns, or of the face of someone who has irritated you. The demon is very envious of us when we pray, and uses every kind of trick to thwart our purpose. Therefore he is always using our memory to stir up thoughts of various things and our flesh to arouse our passions, in order to obstruct our way of ascent to God.
- Evagrios the Solitary
God is light inaccessible. His being is far superior to any image-not only material image but mental, too-and therefore so long as the human mind is concerned with thoughts, words, conceptions, images, it has not achieved perfection in prayer.
- Archimandrite Sophrony, From St. Silouan the Athonite
Attentiveness is the heart's stillness, unbroken by any thought. In this stillness the heart breathes and invokes endlessly and without ceasing, only Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God and God Himself.
- St. Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness
He who through virtue and spiritual knowledge has brought his body into harmony with his soul has become a harp, a flute and a temple of God. He has become a harp by preserving the harmony of the virtues; a flute by receiving the inspiration of the Spirit through divine contemplation; and a temple by becoming a dwelling place of the Logos through the purity of his intellect.
- St. Gregory Palamas