Update for the week Thursday, March 26, through Thursday, April 2, 2015

THIS WEEK

FRIDAY, 3/27 – Final Akathist (Madayeh) service 7:00 pm

   + Our teens are invited for the annual Lenten Retreat at the Saint Methodios Retreat Center in Contoocook, New Hampshire, on Friday-Sunday, March 27-29. The speaker will be Father Gregory Christakis, a Greek Orthodox priest from Medford, MA.

SATURDAY, 3/28 – Great Vespers 5:00pm

SUNDAY, 3/29 – Enquirers Class (St. Ignatius Catechetical Group) 9:00 am; Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am; Church School lesson 19

   + Violet Robbat will speak on the work of the Antiochian Women. A special collection will be taken for the Antiochian Women’s Project, “Regional Camps and Monastic Communities.”

   + The St. Mary Women’s Club's annual Pascha Bake Sale will be held this Sunday, during Coffee Hour. Plan on purchasing all your Pascha/Easter desserts, pastries and goodies. If you can bake something please call Mary Ellen Mabardy at 781-729-6303.

MONDAY, 3/30 – Great Compline at St. George, Worcester at 6:30pm. (Note the time.)

TUESDAY, 3/31 – The next meeting of the Convention Committee will be Tuesday, March 31 at 7:30pm

WEDNESDAY, 4/1 – Pre-Sanctified Liturgy 6:30 pm, followed by final Potluck Supper. Potluck leader for 4/1 is Elana Jabbour, Elana.Jabbour@gmail.com

THURSDAY, 4/2 - The Bible Study group meets next Thursday, April 2, at 7:00 pm in the church library. This week’s discussion will focus on the book of Judges, using the podcasts at http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/judges-part-1-2/ and http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/judges-part-2-2/

   The Bible Study at St. Mary meets every other Thursday, and is based on a very interesting course originally broadcast on Ancient Faith Radio, entitled Search the Scriptures. For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mailto:mksayeg@gmail.com ) or Fr. Antony (mailto:mksayeg@gmail.com ). New members are always welcome.

NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS

THEOPHANY SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE - Theophany School is now enrolling for Fall 2015!  They are excited to announce Theophany School's expansion into Elementary School and offering Preschool, Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade Enrollment for this Fall!

   Join them for an Open House on Thursday, April 2, 2015 from 6-8pm. They’re located at 754 Greendale Ave Needham, MA 02492. Meet their staff and learn more about Theophany School. Fun activities for kids and light refreshments will be provided. All families are welcome! For more information contact them at 781-444-3058 or theophanyschool@gmail.com, or visit their website at http://www.theophanyschool.org

CHURCH SCHOOL – There will be no Church School classes on Sunday, April 5 or Sunday, April 12

BIBLE BOWL - Any teen interested in being on St. Mary's Bible Bowl Team please see Violet Robbat or call her at 781-862-4388.  We will be studying the life of St. Raphael beginning the Sunday after Pascha, during coffee hour.  Participants must be present for all sessions. The Bible Bowl will be held at our Diocesan Parish Life Conference June 18-21.

HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 4, Lazarus Saturday:  Matins 8:00 am, Divine Liturgy 9:00 am, Communion Breakfast 10:15 am, followed by Church Cleanup and choir rehearsal; Great Vespers 4:00 pm.

Sunday, April 5, Palm Sunday:  Orthros 8:45 am;  Divine Liturgy 10:00 am with Procession; followed by annual Fish Dinner provided by Hospitality Group.  Bridegroom Matins 7:00 pm

Holy Monday, April 6:  Presanctified Liturgy 7:00 am; Bridegroom Matins 7:00 pm

Holy Tuesday, April 7:  Presanctified Liturgy 7:00 am; Bridegroom Matins 7:00 pm

Holy Wednesday, April 8:  Presanctified Liturgy 7:00 am; Holy Unction 7:00 pm

Holy Thursday, April 9:  Vesperal Liturgy 7:00 am; Washing of the Feet 6:45 pm and Twelve Gospels 7:00 pm

Holy Friday, April 10:  Children’s Retreat 9:30 am;  Royal Hours 1:00 pm;  Unnailing Vespers 3:00 pm; Lamentations 7:15 pm with Procession to Central Square; Teen Vigil overnight

Holy Saturday, April 11:  Vesperal Liturgy 9:00 am, followed by Coffee Reception

Saturday-Sunday, April 11-12:  Vigil/Rush Service 10:00 pm; Resurrection Matins 11:00 pm; Great and Holy Pascha Divine Liturgy 12 midnight;  Paschal Festivities in the Church Hall following

Joint Agape Vespers (Baouth) on Easter Sunday morning will be held at 11:00 am at St. George Church, 55 Emmonsdale Rd., West Roxbury, MA.

REMINDERS

WOMEN'S MONTH SERMONS - This month (March) a number of women from the parish are sharing their thoughts on the various "Themes of Holy Week." By reflecting on Holy or Great Week, it is our hope that we can gain a greater understanding of the services that mark our yearly celebration of our Lord's  death and resurrection and its meaning for our lives today. This Sunday Melissa Nassiff will talk about Holy Saturday: “Praise and Hope”

LAZARUS SATURDAY - Please come and bring your friends and family to celebrate the Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday, April 4 at 9:00 am (Matins 8:00 am), and enjoy a Communion Breakfast following, at 10:15 am, presented by the Women’s Club and offered by Selma Winstanley in loving memory of brother, Mitchell Mabardi.

   Following the Communion Breakfast, there will be a Church Clean-Up in preparation for Pascha.  Everyone is encouraged to  bring some rags, cleaning supplies, small buckets, brown paper bags and irons for wax removal, etc.  Please come and lend a hand in preparing God’s House for the Feast of Feasts. John Rodriguez and Steve Walker are our clean-up leads - please see one of them to know where/what you can help clean. Thank you!  Remember,  “Many hands make light work!”

PALM SUNDAY FISH DINNER – The Hospitality Group invites you to its annual Palm Sunday Fish Dinner, hosted by Ed & Lisa Brylczyk, on Sunday, April 5, 2015.  Spend Palm Sunday with your family and friends at Church after Liturgy and let us do the cooking! $8 per person / $16 per family

   Please also help us with setup, cleanup, or serving meals to the parishioners. **We always need more help with clean-up.** 

HOLY FRIDAY RETREAT –  Spend the morning in fellowship and activities with friends and families at the St. Mary’s Holy Friday Retreat on Friday, April 10 from 9:30-12:30. A variety of activities will be provided. Recommended for ages 5 - adult. Younger children welcome but must be accompanied by an adult.

   We welcome your energy and talent if you are able to provide a craft, read stories, or spend time coloring with the children as part of the morning’s activities. Teens and adults are welcome to assist with egg dying and pysanky decorating, crafts with the children, or decoration of the tomb upstairs. Fr. Antony will be available to hear the children’s and teen’s confessions before lunch.

   Lunch will be provided for everyone! ($5 donation per person donation requested. Make checks payable to St. Mary Orthodox Church.)

   Please let Trish Orlovsky know by Palm Sunday, April 5, if you are coming, and how you can assist or an activity you can provide for the morning. Contact her at t_orlovsky@hotmail.com or call 781-641-0182

DONATIONS FOR HOLY WEEK – For the special services of Holy Week, the Church needs  donations of olive oil for the Unction Service (Wednesday), flowers for the tomb of Christ (Friday), flowers to distribute on Great and Holy Friday, rose water to anoint the faithful (Friday), incense, Paschal lilies and other flowers, and candles. Deadline for donations is Palm Sunday, April 5. Please use the donation form in the Sunday Bulletin.

FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE – You are urged during this season of prayer, self-discipline and fasting, to be generous in your contribution to the Food for Hungry People program of our Archdiocese. Money Boxes for collecting alms at home will be on the Bengarri; please pick one or two up and place them throughout your home, fill them up, and return them on Palm Sunday, April 5. “Whoever gives a hand to help his neighbor is helped by God’s own hand.”  - St. Isaac the Syrian

BBC LENTEN RECORDINGS – You can span the liturgical cycle from Lent to Pascha with the triad of recordings from the Boston Byzantine Choir: Lenten Journey, Thy Passion, and Thy Resurrection.  These CDs, $15 each or $40 for all three, are available from the Church Office or from Charlie Marge.

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE:

   - Scholarships ($1,000) are available to young women of Syrian and Lebanese origin, residing in Massachusetts within 50-mile radius of Boston, who plan to pursue a four-year college education. Scholarships are based on outstanding academic achievement, extra-curricular activities, charitable and civic involvement and good character; and applicants must be in good academic standing in her school and possess those personal attributes, which best serve the community. Applications are available through the Church Office and must be postmarked by March 31, 2015. If you have any questions, contact Mary Winstanley O’Connor at 617-523-1010 or email at moconnor@koilaw.com .

   - The New England Region Fellowship of St. John the Divine is awarding scholarships to students who are faithful and active Orthodox Christians, whose high school records indicate a potential for being successful in an accredited college and who are in need of financial assistance.   Applications are available through the Church Office and must be received by the Scholarship Committee Chairperson by May 1, 2015.
   - The Francis Maria Scholarship is available through the Archdiocese Scholarship page, www.antiochian.org/scholarships.  Several $2500 scholarships will be awarded to students attending an accredited 4-year college.  Applications must be postmarked by May 15, 2015.

   -  Antiochian Women’s Scholarships are available to females 25 years of age and older in good standing of the Antiochian Archdiocese, actively involved in their parish and who demonstrate need.  The application deadline is June 1, 2015.  Applications are available in the Church Office.  E-mail cindy@cnyhondas.com with any questions.

   - Nicholas G. Beram 49th  Scholastic Achievement Awards are available for high school seniors of our Arab American Community planning to attend a 4 year college full time.   Applications are available in the Church office or on-line at http://www.stjohn.org/ngberamwww.stjohn.org/ngberam.  Application deadline is June 1, 2015.

FEAST DAY AND ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND  - St. George Church, West Roxbury, invites you to join them in celebrating their Feast Day and the 115th Anniversary of the founding of their parish, with Metropolitan JOSEPH and Bishop JOHN, Friday-Sunday, April 17-19.   Saturday Banquet and Hafli and Sunday Hierarchical Divine Liturgy followed by Brunch.  For more information, Call the church Office: 617-323-0323 or Amal Hourani: 781-793-0219.

   + There will be no Vespers at St. Mary on April 18.

ETHIOPIAN ICON EXHIBIT - The Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA is featuring an exhibit on the History of Ethopian Icons through April 18.  For information call 978-598-5000 or see www.museumofrussianicons.org.

PARISH COUNCIL – The next meeting of the Parish Council will be Wednesday, April 22, at 8:00 pm.

FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN - On Saturday, June 27 at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, volunteers from all over the Diocese will be measuring and scooping 100,000 meals of MannaPack Rice, a scientifically formulated food that is culturally acceptable worldwide, for starving children.  Organizations in nearly 70 countries distribute these meals to children in greatest need.   We need 500 volunteers on that day as well as donations to help meet the $22,000 goal for the cost of the MobilePack Rice.  This Humanitarian project is being conducted in conjunction with Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) a Christian non-profit organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit. 

   - Volunteers - Registration will be live 6 weeks prior to the event at fmsc.org/mobilepack.

   - Donations - submit online at www.HYPERLINK "http://www.fmsc.org/mobilepack" fmsc.org/mobilepack or checks, made out to FMSC, Memo line Mobil Pack #1506-99, can be given at the Bengarri or church office.

   Please consider volunteering and/or making a donation to this worthy cause.  If you would like to learn more you can contact Fr. Milad Selim at St. George Worcester 508-752-9150 or mailto:fr.milad.selim@gmail.comfr.milad.selim@gmail.com.

ANTIOCHIAN VILLAGE SUMMER CAMP - Summer Camp registration is now open. Last year most sessions were full by the end of February, so make sure you register right away! There are currently over 300 campers registered. Please visit the Registration Page for instructions on how to register. Please note that you are not registered until they receive a deposit and you receive a confirmation email. For more information go to http://www.antiochianvillage.org/camp.html

ARCHDIOCESE CONVENTION – The 52nd  Antiochian Archdiocese Convention, hosted by St. Mary Church, will be held Sunday, July 19, 2015-Sunday, July 26, 2015 at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, Boston, MA. The convention room rate is $199.00 per night, plus tax. To book rooms at the hotel, register for the convention, purchase convention event tickets and tickets for Boston excursions and obtain forms to place a message in the Souvenir Journal, go to www.acboston2015.com. Rooms are booking quickly for this historic convention. Please call the church at (617) 547-1234 with any questions.

THIS WEEK'S VOLUNTEERS

Greeter:  Jim Higgins

Liturgical Service: 

Epistle:  Carol Hughes

Procession:   Elana Jabbour, Marcella Hastings, Rachel Contos, Tashie Leva, Esther Porr, & TBD

Communion:  Lea Crea, Doreen Bargoot, Khourieh Carol, Larisa Patacchiola, Azeb Mitiku, Jeanne

Brickman

Collection:  Juliana Paraschiv and Marianna Sayeg

Coffee Hour:  Women ‘s Club Bake Sale

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY

   Epistle:

… For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

   - Hebrews 9:11-14 

   Gospel:  

Jesus taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise." … And Jesus called them to him and said to them, "You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

   - Mark 10:32-45 

REFLECTION

One of the surest ways of attracting the Holy Spirit is by humility. Even if you are an honest, just, good, and merciful man, in a word, even though you may have achieved much goodness, keep considering yourself as an unworthy servant of God. Indeed, if we examine our good works more closely, we will see that none of them are completely beyond reproach. For example, if we give alms or help someone, how often do we add conceited, regretful, self-interested, judgmental, or other such unkind thoughts to our alms or help. Of course, every good deed always remains good, even when it is imperfect. It can be likened to gold which has value even before it is purified. But as gold becomes more precious when an experienced craftsman purifies and works it, so let us entrust our good deeds to the Heavenly Master that He will make them even more valuable.

   - St. Innocent of Irkutsk, Indication of the Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven

When humility delivers a man from attachment to his own works and his own reputation, he discovers that perfect joy is possible only when we have completely forgotten ourselves. And it is only when we pay no more attention to our own deeds and our reputation and our own excellence that we are at last completely free to serve God in perfection for His sake alone.

   - Fr. Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

All the Holy Fathers lived a good life, a quiet life. All of them say that the perfection of the Christian life is in extreme humility. This means that patient long-suffering is what we most need in this life. We must bear everything patiently and forgive all. If we have good thoughts and desires, these thoughts will give us peace and joy even in this life and even more so in eternity. Then we will see that there is no death, that the Lord has vanquished death, and that He has given us eternal life!

   - Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica  

 Our warfare does not make the living dead, but rather makes the dead to live, because it is conducted in the spirit of meekness and humility. I persecute by word, not by acts. I persecute heresy, not heretics. It is mine more to be persecuted, than to persecute. So Christ was victorious as a Crucified, and not as a crucifier.

   - St. John Chrysostom