Update for the week Thursday, October 29, through Thursday, November 5, 2015
THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY'S
THURSDAY, 10/29 – The Bible Study group meets tonight at 7:00 pm in the church library. This week’s discussion will continue looking at the book of Elijah, using the podcasts at http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/elijah-part-2/ and http://orthodoxbiblestudy.info/elijah-part-3/
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.
SATURDAY, 10/31 – There will be no Vespers at St. Mary until further notice, while Fr. Antony continues his recovery.
+ If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council please speak to Deno Takles or Fr. Antony by this Saturday. To be eligible to serve you must be a member of St. Mary’s for two years and in good financial standing.
+ This Saturday is the last day of Daylight Savings Time.
SUNDAY, 11/1 – Daylight Savings Time ends. Don't forget to set your clocks back 1 hour!
+ Adult catechism 9:00; Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00; Church School lesson 6
+ Church School children will remain upstairs for a children's sermon after Communion
+ Creative Arts award ribbons will be presented to the Church School children after the children's sermon
+ The first Teen SOYO event will take place on this Sunday at Sky Zone. Teens must RSVP and have a signed permission slip to attend. Talk to Greg or Hannah Hakim for more details (greghakim@gmail.com)
THIS WEEK ELSEWHERE
MYRRH-STREAMING ICON – Join the faithful in venerating the myrrh-streaming icon of the Mother of God this Friday 10/30 and Saturday 10/31, at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church, 62 Harvard Ave, in Alston. Vespers, Paraklesis and more will begin on Friday at 5:00 pm; Orthros and Divine Liturgy will be celebrated Saturday at 8:00 am and 9:00am. Fr. Mark Leasure, pastor of St. George Orthodox Church in Taylor PA, will share some of the stories and blessings surrounding this grace-filled icon.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
TRUMPET OF THE SWAN - St. Mary’s own Gabi Popa, daughter of Cristian and Andrea Popa, will be performing in The Trumpet of the Swan at Wheelock Family Theatre from Friday, October 23 through Sunday, November 22 - Friday nights at 7:30; Saturday & Sunday matinees at 3:00. St. Mary's Orthodox Church parishioners can purchase tickets for only $10 by using the promo code "community" when ordering online. The performance will run 1 hour 45 minutes, including a 15 minute intermission. The play, which is based on E. B. White’s award-winning novel, is recommended for all ages, 6 through adult. For more information and to order tickets online, go to www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org .
MESSIAH AT GROUP RATES - Join friends from St. Mary’s for the Handel and Haydn Society’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah, on Sunday afternoon, November 29, at 3:00 pm. Note correction: group rate tickets are just $22, not $20 as in past years. Good seats go fast - please contact Melissa Nassiff right away at mnassiff@gmail.com.
PRESENTATION OF THE THEOTOKOS – On Friday, November 20, we will celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Theotokos in the Temple with Evening Liturgy at 6:30 pm.
THANKSGIVING BAKE SALE – The Women's Club will sponsor its annual Thanksgiving Charity Bake Sale on Sunday, November 22. All proceeds will benefit the Convent of Saidnaya, northwest of Damascus in Syria. Plan on purchasing all your holiday breads, pies, goodies, Syrian pastries and much more – and please volunteer to bake! Call Marilyn Robbat@ 781-729-3033 or the church office, if you can bake and/or donate.
PARISH CHRISTMAS CARD - Save yourself time, let us do the work and have all proceeds benefit the Antiochian Women Project 2015-2016: Help Feed Hungry Children Home and Abroad. Let the Women’s Club send a lovely Christmas card on your behalf to our parishioners. You will receive this card with the names of parishioners, like yourself, who are wishing a Blessed Nativity and a Merry Christmas to all. Please use the form in the Sunday Bulletin – deadline is Sunday, December 6.
REMINDERS
HELP MAKE SFEEHA – Please come to the church on Saturday morning, November 7, 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.
TEEN SOYO SPAGHETTI DINNER – The teens invite you to a spaghetti dinner on Sunday, November 8, following Liturgy. The menu includes Spaghetti, Meatballs (just before the Nativity fast!), Salad, Bread, Dessert and Coffee/Beverage. Suggested minimum donation of $5.00/person will be greatly appreciated - no charge for Teen SOYO members.
WOMEN'S CLUB – The next meeting of the Women's Club will be Monday, November 9, at 7:30.
FAMILY SHELTER - The Women’s Club provides the Cambridge YWCA Family Shelter with baskets filled with household goods, to help residents ready to move to their own apartments. We ask for your help by providing monetary donations to offset the cost of the items. Please give your donation to Marilyn Robbat or Barbara Shoop or mail it to the Church office c/o the Woman’s Club.
BAZAAR – The Church of St. John of Damascus will hold its annual bazaar on Friday-Sunday, November 6-8. Authentic Middle Eastern cuisine, Christmas Crafts, Country Store, Raffles and more. For more information visit them at www.stjohnd.org/bazaar
DIVINE COMPASSION CONFERENCE – Women: Healing, Authority and Ministry in the Orthodox Church is the topic of Divine Compassion Conference III, on Saturday, November 7, 9:00am-4:00pm at Hellenic College, Brookline. Donation: $35 includes lunch. Register online at www.divinecompassionconferenceiii.eventbrite.com.
MEN'S RETREAT – The Second Annual Archbishop Michael Memorial Men's Retreat, Responding to God's Call, sponsored by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, will be held Saturday, November 7, 2015, St. Basil Academy in Garrison, NY, from 9:30 am - 3:00 pm. Retreat Leader will be Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos. For more information, please contact: familycare@goarch.org (845) 424-8184
LITURGY RETREAT – A Fall Liturgy Retreat for Church School children and families will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 2015, from 9:30-3:00 pm. (This is Veteran’s Day - a day off of school for many students and off of work for some adults.) The theme of this event is “Let us love one another... Liturgy as Philanthropy.” We will be exploring how we love and care for one another by our prayers, petitions, and actions in the Divine Liturgy and in the "liturgy after the Liturgy." We will show our love for our Church Family by making Prosphora (Holy Bread) and our love and care for our neighbor through a number of service projects. Planned projects include a YES (Youth Equipped to Serve) "lunch" search (Teens), assembling soup mixes for St. Paul's Pantry, Knitting for the Needy, composing Greeting Cards for parish shut-ins and more. Donation: $5/student, $10/family; Also, we ask each participant to bring a non-perishable food item that will then be given to the needy.
For more information: Contact Teva Regule (teva@mit.edu), Shannon Sakellariou (srsakellariou@gmail.com) or Natasha Smith (nasmith05@gmail.com) To register: Contact Doreen Bargoot (dbargoot@aol.com)
vonHOLZHAUSEN LECTURE – How does a punk rock drummer from Washington, D.C. end up helping to archive Syrian history? This year's annual Fr. John vonHolzhausen Lecturer will answer that question on Sunday, November 15, 2015 at 12:30 pm, in a talk entitled Music, Photographs and Stories from Syria. Our speaker, Jason Hamacher, is an internationally recognized musician, photographer, writer, and public speaker, and massage therapist. His work has taken him across the globe documenting the sights and sounds of culture, music, people and food. Jason was profiled last year in a fascinating NPR interview – see http://www.npr.org/2014/08/07/338586411/before-war-a-punk-drummer-preserved-syrian-chants This event is free and open to the public; donations to St. Mary’s Hospitality Group are welcome.
MARRIAGE SEMINAR – A Seminar for Couples preparing for marriage will be held on Saturday, November 21, at the Chancery, 2 Lydia’s Path, Westborough, MA. Bishop JOHN will be the featured speaker. $35/couple. RSVP by November 14: make checks payable to NER Deanery, and mail to St. John of Damascus Church, 300 West St., Dedham, MA 02026.
DIOCESAN CHRISTMAS CONCERT - A Christmas Concert, sung by the combined choirs and chanters of the Diocese of Worcester and New England, will be held on Saturday, December 5 at 6:00 pm at St. George Cathedral in Worcester immediately following Vespers, and on Sunday, December 6 at 3:00 pm at St. John of Damascus in Dedham. Mark Haddad, choir director at St. John’s, will be conducting the Diocesan Choir with Charles Marge of St. Mary’s conducting the Diocesan Chanters. This will be a beautiful event open to parishioners, families, and friends as well as the public. Please plan on joining us! For more information or questions, please contact: Mark Haddad at mhh42@me.com or Charlie Marge at marge@alum.mit.edu.
FOOD FOR HUNGRY PEOPLE – Once again St. Mary's is holding its annual Canned Food Drive: October, 2014 – December 31, 2015. Since 1984, we have collected over 3,281,200 pounds of food. Please bring in canned goods ONLY and place them in the plastic bins in the room outside the kitchen. They will be distributed to food pantries in our area.
ADULT CATECHISM – Open registration is now available for the Adult Catechism program at St. Mary's Church. Classes will be held every Sunday morning at 9:00 am, beginning today, October 18, and running regularly through April 2016. These classes are free and open to new members of our community who are exploring the Orthodox Faith. Contact Richard Robbat at learn@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org for more information and registration.
THIS WEEK'S VOLUNTEERS
Greeter: Mike Decerbo
Liturgical Service:
Epistle: Melissa Nassiff
Procession: Tom, Lea, Samuel, Ben, and Nicholas Crea
Communion: TBD
Coffee Hour: Fr. Antony, Khouria Carol and family
SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY
Epistle:
Brethren, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues. ... If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing ... 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.
- 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:8
Gospel:
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; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. ... And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to them, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"
- Luke 16:19-31
REFLECTION
Without godly love we are not benefited in anything, even if we have all other gifts of the Holy Spirit.
- Saint Basil the Great
Love bestows prophecy; love yields miracles; love is an abyss of illumination; love is a fountain of fire, in the measure that it wells up, it inflames the thirsty soul. Love is the state of angels. Love is the progress of eternity.
- St. John Climacus, "The Ladder of Divine Ascent"
Wisdom and spiritual knowledge are both gifts of the one Holy Spirit, as are all the divine gifts of grace; but each has its own distinctive energy. For this reason the Apostle testifies that to one is given wisdom, to another spiritual knowledge by the same Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:8). ... Spiritual knowledge comes through prayer, deep stillness and complete detachment, while wisdom comes through humble meditation on Holy Scripture and, above all, through grace given by God.
- St. Diadochos of Photiki
Many, unable to endure the self-constraint needed for acquiring the virtue of prayer, do not attain a plenitude of divine gifts; but those who do persist are rewarded with greater manifestations of divine aid, which sustain, support and joyfully carry them forward. Then what is difficult to accomplish is easily achieved, for they are invested with what one might call an angelic capacity, which empowers our human nature to commune with what lies beyond it. This accords with the words of the prophet, that those who persist will grow wings and will gain new strength (cf. Isa. 40:31).
- St. Gregory Palamas