Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, June 13, 2008 through Thursday, June 19, 2008
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
GRECIAN FESTIVAL - Ss. Constantine and Helen Church in Cambridge is having their
Annual Grecian Festival this weekend, Friday through Sunday, June 13-14-15, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Free Admission, Live Music/disco, Greek Cuisine, Pastry, Flea Market, Crafts, Game Room.
WOMEN'S CLUB SUMMER READING: This summer Women's Club members (and anyone else who'd like to join us) will be reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, currently #2 on the New York Times best-seller list. Read the book over the summer, and join us in the fall for an enjoyable evening of discussion, refreshments and fellowship!
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL - St. George Church, West Roxbury, will hold a Vacation Bible School for ages pre-school through 4th grade (pre-schoolers must be potty-trained), from Monday, July 7, through Thursday, July 10, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. There is a planning meeting on Tuesday, June 3 at 7:30 p.m. for anyone interested in helping. Call Khalil Samara 617-323-0323 if interested.
NO VOLUNTEERS = NO COFFEE - The services of the Church continue all year round, and volunteers continue to be needed throughout the summer! If you've never given a coffee hour before, now's a good time to start. It's never difficult, but it's even easier in the summer. 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 in the Office 617-547-1234 and she'll write your name in. Plenty of help is available if you need it.
REMINDERS
FASTING IN JUNE - Fasting on Wednesday and Friday resumed after the Feast of the Ascension on June 5, and continues until the Feast of Pentecost this Sunday, June 15. During the week after Pentecost, June 15-21, there is again no fasting. Then the Apostles' Fast begins on June 23 and continues until the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul on June 29.
SUMMER HOURS - Summer hours at St. Mary's begin next Sunday, June 22. Orthros will begin at 8:15 a.m., Divine Liturgy at 9:30.
PARISH LIFE CONFERENCE - The 2008 Diocesan Parish Life Conference will be June 26 through 29, at the Mariott Hotel in Providence , RI , hosted by St. Mary Church, Pawtucket . Keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr. Emanuel S. Chris. To see the schedule of events and register for the conference, click on http://worcesterdiocese.net/conferences/2008-plc.html - you can register either online or on paper. To register for the hotel call 866-807-2171.
The church offices will be closed, and no services will be held at St. Mary's, during the Parish Life Conference.
CONGRATULATIONS - Our Fourth Grade Sunday School class came in First for their grade in the Creative Arts Festival, with a perfect score! The students in this class are Anthony Marge, James Jabbour, Luke Porr, Rachel Bargoot, Carolyn Mabardy, Lukas Nahass, Nathan Nebiye, and Jonathan Mekinon; their teacher is Paul Joseph. Congratulations to them all!
NEW CHANDELIERS (new update) - New Chandeliers have been ordered for the Church, and we hope to have them installed in time for our 80th Anniversary Celebration in October. There will be one large chandelier, which has been donated, and six smaller chandeliers, four of which have been donated so far. We are presently looking for donations to cover the cost of the remaining two chandeliers, which are $10,000 each. Donations can be made through the Bengarri or you can speak with Ray Sayeg or Mary Winstanley O'Connor.
VONHOLZHAUZEN LECTURE - If you missed Brett Grainger's popular lecture on Fundamentalism last month, you can read a transcript of it on the St. Mary website at https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/index.php
PILGRIMAGE TO NEW SKETE - The Monastic Communities and parishioners of New Skete Monastery (OCA) in Cambridge , New York , invite you to join them for a day of prayer and reflection celebrating their feast day on Saturday, August 9, 2008 (rain or shine). The theme of the pilgrimage is "Healing: New Life in Christ." As is the rule of monastic life, the day will begin and end with prayer-- Matins at 8:30 am, followed by the celebration of the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 am, and Vespers and Vigil at 5:30 pm. In addition, a special healing service will be held at approximately 4:15 pm. Two main presentations will be held in the afternoon--"Perspectives on Healing" with Dr. Demetra Velisarios Jaquet and Fr. Steven Voytovich and "Holy Unction: Human Illness, Healing, and Wellness" given by Rev. Dr. Alkiviadis Calivas. In addition, the day will include tours of the monastery Churches, a demonstration of the monks' dog program, as well as time for hiking, conversation, reflection and quiet. Activities for children and teens are also planned. Traditional ethnic and American style food will be available for purchase. For more information (or to be part of the band of volunteers from the area), see the flier on the church bulletin board and/or contact Teva Regule at teva@mitlns.mit.edu.
ST. MARY'S 80th ANNIVERSARY - We will be celebrating our 80th anniversary the weekend of October 24 - 26, 2008. If you are interested in working on the planning committee, please call Mary Winstanley O'Connor at work: 617-523-1010 or at home: 781-641-2967.
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. If you would like to read the Epistle or assist during the Communion, contact Jeff Wasilko, 781-820-0882, email: jeffw@smoe.org and/or use the sign-up sheet on the Bengarri.
FOOD DONATION NEED CONTINUES - Please continue to bring cans, jars, and boxes of food and place them in the container outside the Church Office. The need is still great at St. Paul 's Food Pantry in Harvard Square , where volunteers from St. Mary help every Saturday. To help, contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com or (617) 876-5684.
SOUP KITCHEN - Three or four St. Mary's volunteers are needed to help each week at the Open Doors Meal Ministry at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church in Allston, Mondays any time between 4:00 pm and 7:30. Contact Liz Tutella at 617-974-5005 or ETutella@sovereignbank.com.
INSIGHT
Why is it that people who meet us never notice that we are limbs of the risen Christ, temples of the Holy Spirit? Why? Each of us has got to give his own reply to this question. Let us, each of us, examine ourselves and be ready to answer before our own conscience and do what is necessary to change our lives in such a way that people meeting us may look at us and say, "Such people we have never seen. There is something about them that we have never seen in anyone. What is it?" And we could answer: It is the life of Christ abroad in us. We are His limbs. This is the life of the Spirit in us. We are His temple. Amen.
- Metropolitan ANTHONY Bloom
Participation in the Holy Spirit gives human beings the grace to be shaped as a complete copy of the divine nature.
- St. Cyril of Alexandria
The real and true life then is the Father, who through the Son in the Holy Spirit pours forth as from a fountain His heavenly gifts to all; and through His love to man, the blessings of life eternal are promised without fail to us men also. We must not disbelieve the possibility of this, but having an eye not to our own weakness but to His power, we must believe; for with God all things are possible.
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem , Catechetical Lectures
In the desert [Christ] rejected the temptation of riches, magic, and power that would have drawn people after him like tamed animals. He did not come down from the cross. He rose from the dead in secret, and is recognized only by those who love him. In the Holy Spirit, he walks at everyone's side, but he waits for the response of loving faith, that Yes like Mary's, by which our freedom is set free.
- Olivier Clément
It is true that Christian sanctity is the sanctity of Christ in us: but this does not mean that the Holy Spirit will do His work in us while we remain completely passive and inert. There is no spiritual life without persistent struggle and interior conflict.
- Fr. Thomas Merton, Life and Holiness
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, June 14: No Vespers at St. Mary's
Sunday, June 15: Feast of Pentecost - Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am, with Kneeling Prayers. No fasting during the following week
SCRIPTURE READINGS for June 15, the Feast of Pentecost:
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Gospel: John 7:37-52; 8:12 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, June 21: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 22: Summer hours begin - Orthros 8:15 am, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am
Monday, June 23: Apostles' Fast begins (until June 29)
Thursday-Sunday, June 26-29: Parish Life Conference at Marriott Hotel, Providence , RI
(St. Mary church and offices closed)
VOLUNTEER SCHEDULES
FOOD PANTRY
Two to four volunteers help each week in the food pantry at St. Paul 's RC Church in Harvard Square , Saturday mornings from 9:30-11:45. If you are willing to help, contact Christian Alcala at cmalcala1989@yahoo.com or (617) 876-5684.
June 14: John Rodriguez and Sandra Kondratiuk
LITURGICAL SERVICE
The Epistle each Sunday is read by a member of the congregation, and six members of the congregation hold the cloth and Holy Bread baskets during Communion. If you would like to help with these services, please contact Jeff Wasilko at jeffw@smoe.org or 781-820-0882.
June 15: Epistle: Charlie Marge; Left Cloth: James Wilcox & Tiffany Conroy; Right Cloth: Sarah Gosselin & Amelia Perkins; Left Bread: Abra Greene! Right Bread: Chris Magnusson!
COFFEE HOUR
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 in the Office 617-547-1234 and she'll write your name in.
June 15: FSJD