Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, June 5, through Thursday, June 11, 2009
Happy Birthday, Father!
THIS WEEKEND
PENTECOST - This Sunday we will be celebrating The Feast of Pentecost with Festal Orthros (8:45 am) and Divine Liturgy (10:00 am) followed by the Kneeling Prayers.
FASTING AND FEASTS - Normal Wednesday & Friday fasting continues until the Feast of Pentecost this Sunday. During the week after Pentecost, June 8-13, there is again no fasting. The Apostles' Fast begins after that, on June 15, and continues until the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, on June 29.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
PARISH COUNCIL - The next meeting of the Parish Council will be this Wednesday, June 10, at 7:30 pm.
FR. ANTONY AWAY - Fr. Antony will be out of town next Friday, June 12 through Monday, June 15. In case of emergency during that time, please contact Fr. John Teebagy at St. John Church, Dedham 781-326-3046.
ICONOGRAPHY LECTURE - On Thursday, June 18, 2009, at 7:00 pm, the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA, will host a lecture by Sir Richard Temple in honor of the recent acquisition of a monumental Christ in Majesty Icon, the centerpiece of a 1580 iconostasis. The lecture, entitled The Iconography of Christ in Majesty: History, Symbolism, and Function, is free to museum members and $10.00 for others. For more information and to register, go to http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/calendar/2009/june/event2.html.
TANGLEWOOD OUTING - Join your music-loving friends from St. Mary's as we carpool out to Tanglewood after Liturgy on Sunday, July 12. We'll picnic on the lawn and listen to music by Beethoven, Bruch and Dvorak, with violinist Joshua Bell. (For more information see http://www.bso.org/bso/mods/perf_detail.jsp;jsessionid=3X3WSE4LGCMGMCTFQMGSFEQ?pid=prod2880017 ) The concert starts at 2:30; lawn tickets are just $19. Bring picnic food for yourself and to share, or buy it on the way. For more information and to let us know you're coming, especially if you'll need a ride, contact Melissa Nassiff by email (mnassiff@gmail.com) or phone (508 877-7483).
REMINDERS
WOMEN'S CLUB SUMMER READING - This summer Women's Club members (and anyone else who'd like to join us) will be reading Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, a New York Times best seller. Read the book over the summer, and join us in the fall for an enjoyable evening of discussion, refreshments and fellowship!
BOB HAMWEY MEMORIALS - Contributions in memory of Bob Hamwey, who fell asleep in the Lord on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, may be made to St. Mary Church, 8 Inman Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139; or to the National Brain Tumor Society, 22 Battery St. #612, San Francisco, CA 94111. His funeral services were held here at St. Mary Church on May 26, with interment at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Sudbury, MA.
SUMMER CONFERENCE AT ST. VLADIMIR'S - St. Vladimir's Seminary, Yonkers, NY, has announced a Summer Conference for Clergy & Laity, June 18 - 20, 2009 Keynote: Archpriest Alexander Garklavs. Topic: "The Council & the Tomos: 20th Century Landmarks towards a 21st Century Church." E-mail or call 914-961-8313 Ext. 343. To register: www.svotsedu or email: events@svots.edu See flyer on church bulletin board.
CROSSROADS - High School Juniors and Seniors: The Office of Vocation & Ministry at Hellenic College is now accepting applications for its summer CrossRoad program. Two sessions are offered: June 20 - 30 and July 7 - 17, 2009. For more information and application see www.crossroad.hchc.edu or call 617-850-1309.
PARISH LIFE CONFERENCE - St. George Church in Lawrence will be hosting the 2009 Parish Life Conference for the Diocese of New England, June 25-28, at the Wyndham Hotel in Andover, MA . Singles and Doubles: $95. Triples: $105 and Quads: $115. Hotel reservation deadline is June 4, 2009; mention Parish Life Conference for special rates. More information can be found on St. George's website at www.stgeorgelawrence.org/Conf2009
ARCHDIOCESE CONVENTION - The national convention for the whole Archdiocese will be held July 19 - 26 at Desert Springs JW Marriot Hotel, Palm Desert , California, hosted by St. Michael Church, Van Nuys. Check out their website at www.archdioceseconvention2009.org for more information.
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, 617-990-7162.
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, 617-990-7162, 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
June 6: Christian Alcala
LITURGICAL SERVICE
June 7: Epistle: Charlie Marge; Left Cloth: James and Brooke Wilcox; Right Cloth: Elias and Trish Orlovsky; Left Bread: ; Right Bread: Melissa Nassiff
COFFEE HOUR
June 7: J. Raumann-Davis
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, June 6: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, June 7, Feast of Pentecost: Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am, with Kneeling Vespers
SCRIPTURE READINGS for June 7:
Epistle: Acts of the Apostles 2:1-11 When the day of Pentecost had come ... they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. "...we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God."
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 13: No Vespers at St. Mary's
Sunday, June 14: Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am
Thursday, June 25 - Sunday, June 28: Parish Life Conference at Wyndham Hotel, Andover; NO SERVICES (no Vespers, no Liturgy) at St. Mary; church offices closed
Monday, June 29: Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul
Sunday, July 5: Summer hours begin - Orthros 8:15 am, Divine Liturgy 9:30 am
Sunday, July 19 - Sunday, July 26: 2009 Archdiocese Convention at Desert Springs JW Marriot Hotel, Palm Desert, California. Check their website for more information: www.archdiocesconvention2009.org
INSIGHT
The holy mystery of the day of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, is to be understood in the following manner: the spirit of man must be completed and perfected by the Holy Spirit, that is, it must be sanctified, illuminated, and divinized by the Holy Spirit. This holy mystery is realized continually in the Church of Christ and because of this the Church is really a continuous Pentecost.... From Holy Pentecost, the day of the Holy Spirit, every God-like soul in the Church of Christ is an incombustible bush which continuously burns and is inflamed with God and has a fiery tongue within it.
- (St.) Fr. Justin Popovich, Orthodox Faith and Life in Christ
Through the Holy Spirit comes our restoration to Paradise, our ascension to the Kingdom of heaven, our adoption as God's sons, our freedom to call God our Father, our becoming partakers of the grace of Christ, in a word, our inheritance of the fullness of blessings, both in this world and the world to come. Even while we wait for the full enjoyment of the good things in store for us, by the Holy Spirit we are able to rejoice through faith in the promise of the graces to come. If the promise itself is so glorious, what must its fulfillment be like? We are also able to distinguish between the grace that comes from the Spirit and mere baptism in water. John baptized in water for repentance, but our Lord Jesus Christ baptized in the Holy Spirit.
- St. Basil the Great, On the Holy Spirit
Lord Jesus Christ our God, You have bestowed your peace on humankind, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, to be with us even in this life as a perpetual inheritance to believers never to be taken away. On this day you have sent this grace upon your disciples and Apostles in a way more manifest, giving utterance to their lips by means of fiery tongues, so that every human race, hearing in our own language, received the knowledge of God; and illumined by the light of the Spirit, emerged from error as from darkness; and in the distribution of visible tongues of fire, and by extraordinary power, were taught faith in You; and were enlightened to speak of You, as of the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one Godhead, one power, one sovereignty.
... Grant me the Spirit of wisdom in my thoughts, the Spirit of prudence in my ignorance. Let the Spirit of the awe of you overshadow my deeds. Renew a steadfast Spirit in my breast, and let your guiding Spirit make firm my errant mind, so that each day, led by your good Spirit towards that which is profitable, I may be worthy to keep your commandments, ever mindful of your glorious and soul-searching presence. Do not allow me to be beguiled by the world's corrupting delights, but rather to desire the enjoyment of future treasures. ...
- The Kneeling Vespers of Pentecost: The Second Prayer
Come, all peoples, let us worship the Godhead in three persons: the Son in the Father, with the Holy Spirit. For the Father begot the Son before all ages, co-eternal and equal in majesty, and the Holy Spirit was in the Father, glorified with the Son: a single power, a single essence, one Godhead, which we all worship saying, "Holy is God, Who created all things with the Son, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. Holy and mighty, through whom we have known the Father and the Holy Spirit came into the world. Holy immortal, the Paraclete Spirit, which proceeds from the Father and abides in the Son: Holy Trinity, glory to you."
- The Kneeling Vespers of Pentecost: The Doxastikon