Byzantine Catholic Mission
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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
Christos voskrese! Voistinnu voskrese!
Third Sunday of Pascha
Divine Liturgy Intentions
Our Offerings
Art and Spirituality of the Icon Lecture, Workshops Offered
Father Brendan McAnerney, a Dominican priest of the Latin Rite with faculties to serve in the Melkite Rite, will present a
free lecture on icons at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension across from Sacred Heart
Cathedral in Knoxville.
Father McAnerney will also conduct two icon painting workshops at the Church of the Ascension during the weeks of May 16
and 24. The cost, which includes materials, painting instructions, and lectures on the spiritual traditions associated with
iconography, is $350.
For details about the lecture or the two workshops, call Leona Phelps at xxx-xxxx or
Ann Maxwell at xxx-xxxx.
From the Church Fathers
“The Sign of the Cross is an act of worship of God, of faith, of hope, and of love, an act of public confession of
one’s allegiance to Jesus Christ, an act of searching for salvation in Christ, an act of expressing faith in the Holy
Trinity, in redemption through the death of Jesus, in the three Persons of God and the two natures of Christ. All this is
contained in the Sign of the Cross!”
—Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky
A Woman’s Part
In the beginning of his public life, Jesus often went to Galilee, where He performed many miracles. A group of holy women
followed him around, ministering to Him out of their own resources. They even accompanied Him to the foot of the Cross. On the
morning of the third day after his death they came to the tomb bearing ointments to embalm His Body. Seven of them are known
by name: Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of James and wife of Cleophas, Joanna, the wife of Chusa, a steward to Herod
Antipas, Salome, the mother of the sons of Zebedee, Suzanna, and Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus.
Two secret disciples of Christ are also commemorated today: Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, who came to visit Jesus at
night and believed in Him, as told in the third chapter of the Gospel of St. John, and Joseph of Arimathea, a rich and
noble citizen of Ramuh, or Arimathea. After Christ died he had the courage to claim His Body and place it in his own new tomb.
Today is called the Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. The Myrrh-Bearers are those women who, in spite of the fear spread by
the enemies of Christ, dared to go to Golgatha before Sunday’s dawning to anoint Christ’s body with myrrh. Because
of their ardent love and faith, they became the evangelists to the disciples who were hiding at a friend’s house. The
disciples were timid; the myrrh-bearing women were brave. The women proved to be incomparably greater than the men.
God, as we all know, created Adam, the first human being. He created Adam “according to His image and likeness”
and put him in paradise. But the all-wise and all-kind God did not want to leave Adam alone. While he slept, God took one of
his ribs and fashioned the first woman, Eve. When Adam awoke, he was amazed. Of all creation, Eve appeared in Adam’s
eyes to be the most beautiful. God fashioned man and woman in such a way that the one fulfilled what was lacking in the other.
That which man had, woman did not have; that which woman had, man did not have. A man has certain abilities and talents, and a
woman has others. With their union, the one completes the other, and a human being is brought to perfection.
Let’s remember what St. Cosmas Aitolos said: “Look and see how God created woman. He did not take a piece
from the head of the man because He did not want her to be superior to him. But he did not take a piece from a man’s
foot, because He did not want her to be a slave to him. He took one of man’s ribs, which is over his heart, to show that
woman is dear to him — equal and beloved.”
The Bible wants woman to be a myrrh-bearer, like the myrrh-bearers of today’s scripture reading. A woman like that can
offer a great service to the world. Such a woman surpasses man in heroic achievements of faith and virtue. A woman like that
appears to the world like an angel who spreads the myrrh of love.
Pastoral Ponderings: Church Decorum Is a Sign of Faith
Those who remember when “Saturday Night Live” was actually funny will recall “Church Lady”, whose
droll reactions to common church-related people and episodes were usually accompanied by the phrase, “Now isn’t
that special.” Every once in a while there was a grain of truth, sometimes lots of grains, in what was being held up for
amusement.
While there are more important issues than church manners, the decorum with which Catholics deport themselves when in church
is a visible sign of our faith. I am sure that you have noticed that when you visit churches of other denominations, the buzz
of conversation preceding a service is quite noticeable. This should not be the case in a Catholic Church. We believe strongly
in the presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, which in the case of Holy Family is reserved in the church itself.
This is the primary reason we should enter into a period of silent prayer, as well as the need to put ourselves in a
preparatory mind-set for celebrating the Liturgy. Greeting people should be done outside before or after Liturgy, but not
after you have entered. Being considerate of those who are already in prayer is also part of the picture. A smile or nod of
the head is another way of acknowledging the presence of someone you know, but the time for extended conversation needs a
different venue!
—Father O’Connell
Last updated: 25-Apr-2004 |
