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Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission |
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O ye incorporeal angels who stand before the throne of God, luminous with the brilliance thereof and everlastingly shining with radiance. As secondary luminaries, entreat Christ, that He grant unto our souls peace and great mercy. O immortal messengers of the truly incorruptible Life, ye most blessed ones who received life from the first Life, ye have become holy beholders of the eternal Wisdom, full of light, and reflecting lamps shown forth as is meet. O ye archangels and angels, principalities, thrones, dominions, six-winged seraphim, and divine, many-eyed cherubim, instruments of wisdom, virtues and powers most divine. Pray ye to Christ, that He grant our souls peace and great mercy. Archives:
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HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
PASTOR: REV. THOMAS O'CONNELL
HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH 307 BLACK OAK RIDGE ROAD PO BOX 817 SEYMOUR, TN 37865 PHONE: 865-609-1081 www.hrbcc.org
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST! GLORY FOREVER!
DIVINE LITURGY BEGINS AT 4 P.M. EVERY SUNDAY
November 16, 2003
Divine Liturgy Intention: If you would like the Divine Liturgy offered for a loved one, 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 printed in the bulletin.
Our Offerings
Upcoming Feast — Nov. 21
Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Temple
After the feasts of our Lord, the festivals of the Most Holy Mother of God occupy first place in our Church calendar. The
chief aim of the Marian feasts is to set before us the majesty, dignity, and holiness of the Most Pure Virgin Mary and her
role in the redemption of humanity, so that we may be inspired to venerate and imitate her. The greatest Marian feasts, such
as her Nativity and Dormition, tell us about the first moments of her life on earth and of her subsequent departure into
eternity. Her Presentation is the only feast that has her childhood for its theme. In our services this feast is called The
Entry of the Most Holy Queen, Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary into the Temple. This feast sheds light on the mystery of her
parents, her training in the temple, and her preparation for the supreme dignity of being the Mother of God.
History of the Feast
The Gospels say nothing about Our Lady’s presentation in the temple. This feast, like the feasts of her Nativity and
Dormition, traces its origin to the tradition of the Church and apocryphal writings. From these writings, we learn that the
parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, SS. Joachim and Anna, being childless, promised that if they were blessed with a
child, they would offer that child to the service of the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem. The Lord heard their prayers and
blessed them with a daughter. When the little one was three years old, her parents brought her to the temple and placed her
under the care of the high priest Zachary, the father of St. John the Baptist. Here the Most Holy Mother of God spent
many years until, as a mature maiden, she was betrothed to St. Joseph.
The feast of the Presentation is one of the 12 great feasts. It has a one day pre-feast and a four-day post-feast. Allusions
are made to this feast in the fifth century, but it was several hundred years before it was universally observed in the East.
Spirit of the Services of the Feast
The services of this feast celebrate the event of the Presentation in the temple with joyful melodies; it praises the dignity
of the Mother of God and extols the great sacrifice of her parents. The songs and hymns of this day are rich in poetic
expression. Profoundly dogmatic, the day’s poetry sings the praises of the Divine Maternity, Virginity, Holiness and
Intercession of the Most Pure Virgin Mary in beautiful analogies and symbols. Mary is most frequently extolled as the Temple
of God, an allusion to the temple to which she was brought by her parents. Here are some expressions from the sticheras and
the canon of the feast: "You are the temple of God," the "Divine Temple," the "Sanctified Temple," the "Temple and Altar of
the King of all," the "Living Temple of the Holy Glory of Christ our God," the "Most Holy Temple of Our Holy God," the
"God-Containing Temple," the "Temple and Palace," the "Temple and Palace and living Heaven."
Come Celebrate The Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Temple with us
A readers service — vigil — including vespers, matins, and first hour,
will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, here at the church.
When did you last visit www.hrbcc.org?
Pastoral Ponderings: Forgiveness
(Continued from last week.)
Forgiveness is a choice — nobody forgives without wanting to. Forgiveness is a process. It requires time and timing. It
is not a single, momentous act. Forgiveness is like hunger. If you get hungry and eat a sandwich, your hunger will go away.
But it will return. Just like eating once doesn’t mean you are “done” with hunger. Forgiving doesn’t
mean you are “done” with forgiveness. Forgiveness is more of a journey than a destination. The process of
forgiveness involves sorting out feelings, thoughts, attitudes, experiences, realities, and expectations.
Forgiveness is the process of moving from a stuck point of injury back to love or healing or peace. Forgiveness involves a
turning away from something (a hurt, an anger, etc) and a turning toward something else (peace, love, freedom, etc). This can
mean that there is an “in between” place of discomfort and incompleteness. The “in between” place is
important — even if it’s uncomfortable. It may not feel healed yet — because you’re not done. It may
take time.
More on this subject next week.
—Father O’Connell
Last updated: 19-Nov-2003 |
