Update for the week Thursday, June 30 - Thursday, July 7, 2016
THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY'S
THURSDAY, 6/30 - The Bible Study group will meet tonight - Thursday, June 30 - at 7:00 pm in the church library. The next meeting will be Thursday, July 14. For more information contact Marianna Sayeg (mksayeg@gmail.com) or Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). New members are always welcome.
SUNDAY, 7/4 - Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONGRATULATIONS: BIBLE BOWL TEAMS - On the last and 27th question of the Teen Bible Bowl, St. Mary’s came from 2 points behind to tie Pawtucket and Cotuit, forcing a three-way tie-break round. Cotuit ultimately won the tie break, but congratulations to our teens - Amanuel Kassa, Thanasis Flessas and Gaby Mazzoni - on an outstanding job! Many thanks to coach Violet Robbat, who always prepares our team well for the competition.
Our Adult Team of Charlie Marge and Theo Smith beat out Worcester by 4 points to win the Adult Bowl with a near-perfect score of 53 out of 54. Congratulations to both teams!
CONGRATULATIONS: SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS - Anthony Marge and Rachel Bargoot are recipients of the 2016 New England Region FSJD Scholarships, which were presented to them at the Parish Life Conference in Lawrence. The scholarships are awarded to those high school seniors who are faithful and active Orthodox Christians whose high school records indicate a potential for being successful in an accredited college.
DORMITION – There will be a Paraclesis service for the Dormition of the Theotokos on Wednesday, August 10, at 6:30 pm. (The actual Feast of the Dormition is August 15, but there will be no service on that date at St. Mary’s.)
VESPERS – While monthly Saturday Vespers will not be held at St. Mary’s on the first Saturday of July and August, as announced previously, note that there will be a Great Vespers service on Saturday, August 13.
FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN - On Thursday-Saturday, August 18-20 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 www.fmsc.org/mobilepack.
• Donations - Donate online at www.fmsc.org/mobilepack. Also, checks made out to FMSC, Memo line Mobil Pack #1608-054, 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 fr.milad.selim@gmail.com
REMINDERS
TANGLEWOOD OUTING – Join your music-loving friends from St. Mary’s as we carpool out to Tanglewood after Liturgy on Sunday, July 24, 2016. We’ll picnic on the lawn and listen to music by Ginastera, Mozart and Beethoven, featuring violinist Veronika Eberle, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Juanjo Mena. For more information see https://www.bso.org/Performance/Detail/77811. The concert starts at 2:30; lawn tickets are $21.00 - pay at the door; children are free. Bring lawn chairs if you want them, and picnic food for yourself and to share. 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).
TRANSFIGURATION – Vespers and Divine Liturgy for the Feast of the Transfiguration will be held at St. Mary’s on Friday, August 5 at 6:30pm
NEW SKETE PILGRIMAGE – The annual New Skete Pilgrimage is set for Saturday, August 6 this year - Transfiguration. This year is extra special as they will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary! (Metropolitan Tikhon will be there.) In years past, a number of St. Mary people have gone out for the weekend to help the Communities with this event - to be extra sets of "helping hands" for the day. They are hoping a number of us will do so again this year. In the past, this has been a wonderful community building activity for all of us. Moreover, if you have never been to the monastery, this may be a good way to be introduced to their life and work. In addition to the services, there are tours of the church and talks by various members of the communities about their lives. There are also the dogs, great hiking trails, nearby tubing, etc. Once again, Teva Regule (teva@mit.edu) will be coordinating the Boston helpers and as much housing as she can. (In particular, any women wanting to "camp out" at the nuns’, let her know. The Emmaus house is now a guest house - anyone wishing to stay there should contact Br. Gregory directly at brgregory@newskete.org)
CHURCH SCHOOL TEACHERS NEEDED – New teachers will be needed next fall for Kindergarten/Grade 1, and Grade 2-3. Two teachers are needed for each of these classes. Please contact Barbara Shoop at barbara@dsaarchitects.com to volunteer or to learn more.
RIDES TO CHURCH FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS - Do you live near a college or university? Are you able to offer a ride to and from St. Mary Church for a student? Are you a college student in need of a ride? Contact St. Mary’s Young Adult Ministry at 617-564-3344 or rides@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org to sign up or to learn more!
COFFEE HOUR MADE EASY! - To make sponsoring a Coffee Hour a little bit easier, St. Mary’s will be offering a delivery service through “Instacart”, for the basic foods necessary to host a Coffee hour. Simply select a date, mail a check to the office and we will order the food and have it delivered to the church on that Sunday between 9:00 and 10:00 am. You will need to be at the church to accept the order and you will be required to set up for the coffee hour and clean up both the kitchen and hall at the end of the coffee hour. Two menus will be offered. Menu one will include: bagels, mini muffins, fruit, hummus/Syrian bread, juice and coffee for $160. Menu two will include: bagels, juice and coffee for $70. Prices DO NOT include a 20% tip for delivery and are subject to change based on current market pricing of items. Cream cheese, peanut butter, jam and coffee creamer are included with each menu. As usual, St. Mary’s will provide the plates, cups, napkins, utensils, serving platters, and sweetener for coffee. If you are interested in taking advantage of this service and signing up for a coffee hour please contact the office at 617-547-1234 or e-mail secretary@stmaryorthodoxchurch.org.
+ In addition to the sign-up sheet, our contact Barbara in the church office and the Instacart option, we also have LINDA ARNOLD serving as our volunteer Coffee Hour Coordinator. Her contact information is MMarmee52@aol.com and 978-270-0346. Please feel free to let her know of your interest and be open to hosting a coffee hour especially if you have not done so in the past. She will be happy to guide you through the process!
SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR THIS SUNDAY
Epistle:
Brethren, glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
- Romans 210-16
Gospel:
At that time, as Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left their boat and their father, and followed him. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
- Matthew 4:18-23
REFLECTION
The law was not only for the Jews, nor on their account only were the prophets sent: they were sent to the Jews, and persecuted by the Jews, but they were for the whole inhabited world a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the soul.
- St. Athanasius the Great
If a man reads in the Prophets, he hears there of righteous wars. But if a man meditate in the story of Jesus, he learns of grace and tender mercy.
- St. Ephraim the Syrian
The God of the two Testaments is One, who in the Old Testament foretold the Christ who appeared in the New; who by the Law and the Prophets led us to Christ's school. “For before faith came, we were kept in ward under the Law,” and, “the law has been our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Gal. 3:24). And if you ever hear any of the heretics speaking evil of the Law or the Prophets, answer in the sound of the Savior's voice, saying, Jesus “came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it” (Mt. 5:17).
- St. Cyril of Jerusalem
When we think of the height of God's infinity we should not despair of His compassion reaching us from such a height; and when we recall the infinite depth of our fall through sin we should not refuse to believe that the virtue which has been killed in us will rise again. For God can accomplish both these things: He can come down and illumine our intellect with spiritual knowledge, and He can raise up the virtue within us and exalt it with Himself through works of righteousness.
- Maximus the Confessor