Update for the week Thursday, October 27 - Thursday, November 3, 2016
THIS WEEK AT ST. MARY'S
SUNDAY, 10/30 – Orthros 8:45 am, Divine Liturgy 10:00 am.; Church School lesson 6
+ Enquirers’ Class 9:00 am in the library (next door to Fr. Antony’s office).
+ A special collection will be taken this Sunday for the Seminarians
WEDNESDAY, 11/2 - The next meeting of the Parish Council will be on Wednesday, November 2, at 7:30 pm.
THURSDAY, 11/3 - The Bible Study group will meet on Thursday, November 3, at 7:00 pm in the church library. For more information contact Fr. Antony (frawhj@gmail.com). The meeting after this will be two weeks later, Thursday, November 17. New members are always welcome.
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
EASTERN STANDARD TIME – This Sunday, October 30, is the last Sunday of Daylight Savings Time. The following Sunday, November 6, we will return to Eastern Standard time.
BAZAAR - St. John of Damascus, 300 West St , Dedham will hold its annual Bazaar Friday-Sunday, November 4-6. (Friday 12pm-9pm, Saturday 10am-9pm, and Sunday 12pm- 2pm) Middle Eastern Cuisine, Country Store, Christmas Corner and more.
THANKSGIVING BAKE SALE – On Sunday, November 20, the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Women’s Club will be holding its annual Charity Bake Sale. All proceeds will benefit the Convent of Saidnaya. Please call our chairperson Renay DiFiore @ 617-327-6361 or the church office, if you can bake and/or donate.
AABA VILLAGE- Applications are available for Market Value, Tax Credit and Section 8 apartments in AABA Village in West Roxbury. Please call Tom Chapman or Dorothy McNerny at 617-325-1913 and an application will be mailed out.
REMINDERS
YOUTH MONTH – October is Youth Month in our Archdiocese. Throughout the month of October our teens have AABA VILLAGE been taking an active role in the Liturgy by helping with communion, taking collections and reading the Epistle
YOUNG ADULT RETREAT - “From Stranger Danger to Entertaining Angels: Practicing Radical Hospitality as a Way of Life” is the topic of a retreat in Syracuse, NY on Friday-Sunday, November 4-6. Interested in getting to know other Orthodox young adults from a variety of backgrounds in a laid back retreat setting? Want to learn how to live out your faith in a contemporary context using the practice of radical hospitality? Join a diverse group of young adults from all up and down the East Coast and from a variety of different Orthodox jurisdictions for the Syracuse Pan-Orthodox Young Adult Retreat, November 4-6, 2016. For more information on the theme, speakers, schedule, and registration visit
+ NOTE: There will be a large number of people attending from Boston if anyone would like to carpool. Contact Dn. Michael Tishel at michael.tishel@gmail.com for more information!
VESPERS AND YOUNG ADULTS – On Saturday, November 5 there will be a service of Great Vespers at 5:00 pm, followed by Young Adult Trivia Night
SPAGHETTI DINNER – The teens invite you to a spaghetti and meatball dinner on Sunday, November 6, 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.
PARISH COUNCIL ELECTIONS - If you are interested in serving on the Parish Council please speak to Mary Winstanley O’Connor or Fr. Antony by November 6. To be eligible to serve you must be a member of St. Mary’s for two years and in good financial standing.
FALL LITURGY RETREAT - Church School parents, teens, families (and friends) are invited to a St. Mary Fall Liturgy Retreat on Friday, November 11, 2016, from 12:30 - 6:00 pm. This year’s theme is “Christmas Traditions: The Liturgies of Christmas.” Come and explore the various ways that we ritually prepare and celebrate (i.e. “liturgize”) the Birth of Our Lord. The retreat will include baking projects and Christmas rituals, and will culminate with a celebration of the Slavic “Christmas Eve Supper” to which we want to invite families and friends) The Festive Meal will begin at 5:00 pm. Donation: $5/student, $10/family (Includes Supper, snacks and supplies). For more information and registration, contact Teva Regule or Doreen Bargoot.
BYZANTINE MUSIC FESTIVAL - The Fourth Boston Byzantine Music Festival wil be held Friday-Saturday, November 11-12. Tickets and full schedule of lectures and workshops are available at www.Bostonbyzantinemusic.org . Sponsored by the Mary Jaharis Center at Hellenic College.
YOUNG ADULT MINISTRY – The Young Adult Ministry at St. Mary will have a Pre-Advent Brunch at Nick and Dena’s on Sunday, November 13, at 12:30
WOMEN’S CLUB – The next meeting of the Women’s Club will be Monday, November 14, at 7:30, at the church
NATIVITY FAST – The Nativity Fast, also known as the season of Advent, begins Tuesday, November 15. This is the forty days of fasting and prayer in preparation for the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ.
VILLAGE AT HOME – On Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19, St. George Cathedral in Worcester will host “Village at Home.” Village at Home gives our teens and children (ages 9 and up) a chance to experience the typical routine of a camper at Antiochian Village. Contact Rassem El Massih for more information at 781-738-6107.
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 27, at 3:00 pm. Note: Tickets are just $23, because there are enough of us going now to qualify for group rates! We will carpool to (or meet at) Symphony Hall after Liturgy and have lunch together at a nearby restaurant 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 - please contact Melissa Nassiff at mnassiff@gmail.com.
COFFEE HOUR MADE EASY! - To make sponsoring a Coffee Hour a little bit easier, St. Mary’s is 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. 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!
REFLECTION
…when we all find ourselves confronted with our own actions and not with our riches or dignity or the honors we have had or the power we have wielded, when we are asked to give an account of our lives and our works of virtue, ignoring both the feats of our opulence and the humility of our need, when we are asked: "Show me your deeds!" then the disguises will fall and we shall see who is truly rich and who is truly poor.
- St. John Chrysostom, Homily on Lazarus
God teaches you to be as merciful to those in need as He is merciful to you. It is dangerous and sinful to ignore the voice of God, to remain unrepentant and unimproved during times of hardship, to fail to thank God, or not to help others when you have plenty. Even more ruinous is to do the opposite of that to which God is leading us: to grumble and become embittered in difficult circumstances or to forget God and live only for pleasure in fortunate surroundings.
- St. Innocent of Irkutsk, The Way Into the Kingdom of Heaven
The property of the wealthy holds them in chains . . . which shackle their courage and choke their faith and hamper their judgment and throttle their souls. They think of themselves as owners, whereas it is they rather who are owned: enslaved as they are to their own property, they are not the masters of their money but its slaves.
- St. Cyprian
When you are weary of praying and do not receive, consider how often you have heard a poor man calling, and have not listened to him.
- St. John Chrysostom