Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, October 16, through Thursday, October 22, 2009
THIS WEEKEND
NEW SKETE FALL RETREAT - The Communities of New Skete will host their annual Fall retreat this Saturday, October 17, beginning with Matins at 8:00 am, breakfast and registration at 9:00, and concluding with Vigil from 5:00 to 6:00 pm. A few people from St. Mary's will be going. Questions? Contact Teva Regule - TEVA@mit.edu
"WELCOME BACK COLLEGE STUDENTS" BREAKFAST - After Liturgy this Sunday, October 18, the Fellowship of St. John the Divine (FSJD) will host a special breakfast to welcome college students back to their "Church home away from home." Please join us in welcoming and supporting students who strive to remain connected to the Church while away from their families. All are welcome!
A suggested minimum donation of $5 will be gratefully accepted from non-students. Please RSVP so we'll know how much food to prepare: call the church office at 617-547-1234.
HELP WITH THE BREAKFAST - Chef Socrates needs four or five people Saturday afternoon, from 2:00 till about 4:00, to help with food prep. Then Sunday morning six or seven people will be needed to cook and serve, starting around 9:30. Please come help!
SPECIAL OLYMPICS AWARENESS DAY - This Sunday, October 18, our teens will solicit your financial donations to enable them to sponsor the 29th Annual Special Olympics Sports Camp at the Antiochian Village in the summer of 2010. Please be generous in helping them raise the $50,000 needed.
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. Those who have done this before have thoroughly enjoyed it - not only do we hear a world-class orchestra and chorus with famous soloists singing glorious words (taken directly from the Bible), but we also have an opportunity to spend time getting to know some fellow parishioners we normally may not encounter.
Good seats go fast - for discounted tickets ($22.50) please contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com by this Sunday, October 18, or order your own tickets online at http://www.handelandhaydn.org .
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
OCMC SUCCESS - Thanks to all those who helped out at the Orthodox Christian Mission Center agape canister fundraiser last Sunday. With your kind contributions, we raised a whopping total of $354 which all will go to benefit the soup kitchens, schools, food pantries around the world. Please continue to donate your spare change to the Agape canister which is located on the bengarri table upstairs. The need is still great. God bless.
COFFEE HOURS - Several upcoming Sundays are available, so please sign up to sponsor a coffee hour, individually or with friends. Some do this to celebrate a special event or anniversary, others simply as an act of hospitality. It can be as simple as coffee, juice, and cookies. Signup sheets are on the bulletin board downstairs outside the Hall. Call the Church Office if you have any questions: 617-547-1234.
REMINDERS
YOUTH MONTH - October is Youth Month throughout the Antiochian Archdiocese. In our parish young people will be reading the Epistle, holding the Communion cloth and Holy Bread baskets, and taking the collection.
PARISH COUNCIL BALLOTS - Ballots for 2010 will be going out soon. If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council, please see Fr. Antony or Ray Sayeg.
HELP MAKE SFEEHA AND KIBBEH- Plan to come to the church on Saturday morning, October 24, starting at 9:30 am to help make meat pies with the Women's Club. Lots of help will be needed - young and old, women and men are all welcome - and it's always lots of fun. Also, come at 9:30 Friday morning, October 30, to help the Women's Club cook Kihbbeh. Pick-Up dates will be Sunday, October 25 for Sfeeha, and Sunday, November 1 for Kibbeh.
TEEN SOYO - On Sunday, October 25, St. Mary's Teen SOYO (ages 12-18) will be going apple picking immediately after Liturgy. The Teen SOYO at St. George West Roxbury will be joining us for liturgy and for apple picking fun! The group will carpool to the orchards together, and will return to St. Mary's for parent pick-up around 4:00 or 5:00 pm. Teens should plan to bring a change of clothes to church, as well as a few dollars for purchasing apples or snacks. If your teen is interested in attending, please RSVP by October 17th to Liz Straghalis at (617) 974-5005 or elizabeth.straghalis@gmail.com. This will be a great opportunity for fellowship and fun!
FALL DIOCESAN MEETINGS - Fall meetings for Antiochian Women, the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and Teen SOYO will be held on Saturday, October 31, 2009 at St. George Cathedral, Worcester. The schedule includes Morning Prayers at 10:00 am followed by Coffee: Meetings at 10:30 am; and Lunch at 12:30 with a presentation by Fr. Michael Nasser, pastor of St. Innocent Orphanage & Project Mexico, in Tijuana , Mexico . Please join us. Everyone is welcome to come!
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
October 17: John Rodriguez
LITURGICAL SERVICE
October 18: St. Mary Teens
COFFEE HOUR
October 18: "Welcome Back" breakfast
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, October 17: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 18: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School Lesson 3; followed by Welcome Back breakfast
SCRIPTURE READINGS for October 18:
Epistle: St. Paul's Letter to the Colossians 4:5-11, 14-18 Brethren, conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every one.
Gospel: Luke 10:16-21 The Lord said to his disciples, "He who hears you hears me, and he who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, October 24: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, October 25: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 4
Sunday, November 8: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 6; followed by Teen SOYO Spaghetti & Meatball Dinner
Saturday, November 14: Church School Family Vespers, with confessions and Pizza to follow
Sunday, November 15: Nativity Fast begins
INSIGHT
Brothers, we shall hymn with praise the tongues of the disciples, because not with elegant speech but in divine power they have revived all men. Because they took up His Cross as a reed, so that they might again use words as fishing lines and fish for the world. Since they had speech as a sharp fishhook, since the flesh of the Master of all has become for them a bait, it has not sought to kill but it attracts to life those who worship and praise the All-Holy Spirit.
St Romanos the Melodist - On Pentecost
The Holy Spirit accomplishes all wonders and miracles. By the same Spirit power is given to one, and to another works of power. You have only to speak with faith, and need have no anxiety as to the fulfillment of the word; the Holy Spirit will care for this.
St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
The
nature of water is soft, and the nature of stone is hard; but if a
bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall down drop by
drop, it wears away the stone. So it is with
the Word of God: it is soft and our heart is hard, but the man who
hears the Word of God often opens his heart to the fear of God.
-Abba Poemen
Prayer is more essential to us, more an integral part of ourselves, than the rhythm of our breathing or the beating of our heart. Without prayer there is no life. Prayer is our nature. As humans we are created for prayer just as we are created to speak and to think. The human animal is best described, not as a logical or tool-making animal or an animal that laughs, but rather as an animal that prays, a eucharistic animal, capable of offering the world back to God in thanksgiving and intercession.
Bishop Kallistos Ware
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
This newsletter is provided as a service of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church in Cambridge , Massachusetts . Subscription requests, questions, comments, and concerns about this Weekly Update can be directed to Melissa Nassiff, editor, at FSJD.StMary@gmail.com.