Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission

HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
PASTOR REV. THOMAS O'CONNELL
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH
307 BLACK OAK RIDGE ROAD
P.O. BOX 817
SEYMOUR TN 37865
PHONE: 609-1081

We welcome all visitors among us always! We hope you find our worship true and reverent and our people here friendly and cordial. If you are seeking a spiritual home, we would be honored by your presence in our family. We are glad you chose to worship with us.

January 19, 2003 - 35^th Sunday after Pentecost - Venerables - Sts Macarius of Egypt and Macarius of Alexandria.

If you would like the Divine Liturgy offered for a loved one who is deceased or living, please give your offering to Father O'Connell and obtain a Liturgy intention card from William Gogar. Please write down the intention so it can be put in the bulletin.

Next Divine Liturgy - February 1, 2003 (Saturday evening), 5:30 PM - Sunday of Zacchaeus - Encounter of Our Lord with Simeon - Akathist to the Mother of God 5:00 PM.

On Saturday evenings at 6:30 PM, Byzantine vespers are prayed here at Holy Family, when there is no Divine Liturgy that weekend. Everyone is welcome to attend.

This Wednesday, January 22, is the 30^thanniversary of the Supreme Court's infamous decision to legalize abortion in Roe vs. Wade.

Pope John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) says: "We need to bring the Gospel of Life to the heart of every man and woman and to make it penetrate every part of society ... [This] involves making clear all the consequences of this Gospel. These case be summed up as follows: Human life, as a gift of God, is sacred and inviolable. For this reason procured abortion and euthanasia are absolutely unacceptable. Not only must human life not be taken, but it must be protected with loving concern." (Sec. 80-81)

Psalm 139:13-16 For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Jeremiah 1:4-6 The word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'

Galatians 1:15 But when God, Who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me ...

The helpless, voiceless, unique human being that peacefully and confidently rests in the womb of its mother needs to be protected and given the opportunity to be born. Each of us has the special role to illumine our times with a reverence for human life. Its sacredness must be protected everywhere, but especially in the womb of the mother.

JANUARY 30^TH: FEAST OF THE THREE HOLY HIERARCHS:
ST. BASIL THE GREAT, ST. GREGORY THE THEOLOGIAN, AND ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM

The celebration of the Synaxis of the three great Doctors of the Church originated in the year 1100 in the days of Emperor Alexis Comnenus. A great quarrel as to which one of these three theologians as the greatest then divided the people of Constantinople. Patriarch John, appointed as arbitrator, being an learned and holy man, resorted to fervent prayer and asked God to help him find a solution. Basil, Gregory, and Chrysostom appeared to him in a dream and told him they were equal before God, and that each one had his own personality, genius and value. They asked him to institute a feast honoring all three of them together. John chose January 30 for this feast adn composed for it a beautiful office (prayer service). Peace and unity came back to the Church of Constantinople.

O teachers of the universe, equal to the Apostles, pray to the Lord of all to grant peace to the world, and abundant mercy to our souls.

"The more grace God gives to the man of faith, the more He reveals to him the abysses of evil in the world and in man. At the same time, He allows greater and greater temptations to assail him, that he may test the God-given power of grace and may feel and learn that it is only by the help fo grace that he can overcome the ever more-fearsome and scandalous temptations. For as soon as grace perceives that a man's soul is becoming self-sufficient, making him great in his own sight, it leaves him and lets temptations assail him until he becomes aware of his sickness and humbly takes refuge in God."

God allows us to be tempted that our faith may be tested. Is not this why the Fathers of the Church keep saying, "No temptation. No salvation?"

It is said that after a long period of struggle against temptation, when he was brought close to madness and despair, St. Anthony saw the roof opened and a ray of light descending toward him. Suddenly the demons vanished and the pain in his body ceased instantly. "Where were you, Lord?" he asked. "Why did You not appear at the beginning and put an end to my distress?" And a voice came to him, "I was here, Anthony, but I waited to see you fight."