Weekly Newsletter for the week Friday, October 30, through Thursday, November 5, 2009
THIS WEEKEND
Friday
HELP MAKE KIBBEH- Plan to come to the church this Friday morning, October 30, starting at 9:30 am to help the Women's Club cook Kihbbeh. Pick-Up date for Kibbeh will be Sunday, November 1.
Saturday
FALL DIOCESAN MEETINGS - Fall meetings for Antiochian Women, the Fellowship of St. John the Divine, and Teen SOYO will be held this 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. Please join us. Everyone is welcome to come!
Note: Fr. Michael Nasser, pastor of St. Innocent Orphanage & Project Mexico in Tijuana , Mexico, was scheduled to give a presentation during lunch. Unfortunately, he is ill and unable to come.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
THEOPHANY SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE - During the week of November 2-6, visitors are welcome to visit Theophany School in Needham from 9:30 to 11:30 am - you'll have an opportunity to meet the staff, visit the classrooms and ask questions. They are now accepting enrollments for Fall 2009 Programs: 2-, 3-, and 5-day programs for children ages 2.9 -6 years. Extended day program also available. New families will be accepted on a first come, first served basis starting December 1st. Please call Leeann Plouffe at 781-444-3058 to schedule a tour or to receive more information. Visit their website at http://www.theophanyschool.org
BAKE SALE - The Women's Club presents its Annual Thanksgiving Charity Bake Sale on 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.
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 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
REMINDERS
SPAGHETTI DINNER - On Sunday, November 8, the Teen SOYO will be serving a Spaghetti Dinner after Liturgy. The menu includes Spaghetti, Meatballs (just before the Fast!)
Salad, Bread, Dessert and Coffee/Beverage. Your goodwill donation will be much appreciated.
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 right away.
FAMILY VESPERS - Attention Church School Parents & Students: Join us for a Church School Family Vespers at 5:00 pm on Saturday, November 14. Fr. Antony will be hearing confessions. For a small donation, we will have pizza together in the church hall after Vespers. This is a great way to prepare for the Nativity Fast, which starts on Sunday, November 15th.
IOCC WINE TASTING - The Metropolitan Committee of International Orthodox Christian Charities -Boston (IOCC) announces an Afternoon of Jazz, Wine Tasting & Hors d'oeuvres on Sunday, November 15th. It will take place at the X & O Restaurant in Stoughton from 2:00 - 5:00 pm. This is a great chance to find out about the work of IOCC and support their projects -- both in America and around the world. Tickets are $50 each or $40 if you order in advance at http://iocc.org/boston Designated Driver and Under-21 tickets are just $20. For more information email BostonMet@IOCC.org
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.
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!
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 31: Bill Coyle
LITURGICAL SERVICE - Sunday, November 1: Epistle: Jonathan Hill; Left Cloth: Linda Arnold and Andrea Jabbour; Right Cloth: Melissa Nassiff and Jeanne Brickman; Left Bread: Trish Orlovsky; Right Bread: Elias Orlovsky
COFFEE HOUR - Sunday, November 1: Doug & Barbara Shoop & Daughters, and Church School Parents
LITURGICAL SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK
Saturday, October 31: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
Sunday, November 1: Orthros 8:45 am; Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School Lesson 5
SCRIPTURE READINGS for November 1:
Epistle: St. Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians 12:27-31; 13:1-8 Brethren, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. ... Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Gospel: Luke 16:19-31 The Lord said, "There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; ... But Abraham said [to the rich man, when both had died], 'Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able ... .' "
LOOKING AHEAD
Saturday, November 7: Great Vespers 5:00 pm
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
Wednesday, November 18: Paraclesis 6:30 pm
Friday, November 20: Evening Liturgy for the Presentation of the Theotokos into the Temple 6:30 pm
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
...without love the works of virtue are not praiseworthy or profitable to the man who practices them, and the same is true of love without works. St. Paul makes this fully clear with reference to works when he writes to the Corinthians, 'If I do this and that, but have no love, it profits me nothing' (cf. I Cor. 13:1-3); and with reference to love the disciple especially beloved by Christ writes, 'Let us not love in word or tongue but in action and truth' (I John 3:18).
- St. Gregory Palamas
The more a person loves God, the more he loves other people. He loves them with holiness, respect and refinement, as images of God. ... We must have Love; even if they do us the greatest harm, we must love them. We will be able to enter Paradise only with love.
- Elder Amphilochios Makris
If we refuse to love, then we have also chosen to reject God's love. The anxiety we feel when we face those we will not love is the direct result of our personal rejection of God's love in our lives.
- Fr. Antony Hughes, sermon https://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/sermons/2008-05-04-hughes.php
Those who are suffering in hell, are suffering in being scourged by love.... It is totally false to think that the sinners in hell are deprived of God's love. Love is a child of the knowledge of truth, and is unquestionably given commonly to all. But love's power acts in two ways: it torments sinners, while at the same time it delights those who have lived in accord with it.
- Saint Isaac the Syrian
May you love one another and not be embittered by reason of egotism. Humility is a sure guide; it does not allow the one who has it to strike against the reefs of carelessness and be crushed, but as a luminous guide it leads faultlessly to safety.
- Elder Ephraim of Philotheou Mount Athos, "Counsels from the Holy Mountain"