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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
Slava Isusu Chrisu! Slava Na Viky!
Divine Liturgy begins at 4 p.m. Every Sunday
Every Third Sunday of the Month is Food Sunday
Sunday Before Christmas
Divine Liturgy Intention:
Our Offerings
Divine Liturgy will begin at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 24. to celebrate
Our Eastern-Rite Christmas Greeting
This is the greeting we offer each other during the Christmas season
Christ is born! — Glorify Him!
Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; His is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved. — Psalm 84
The Genealogy of Christ
The second Sunday consecrated for the preparation of the Nativity is that which immediately precedes the feast of Christmas.
It is called “The Sunday of the Fathers” or “The Sunday of the Genealogy.” It falls between
December 18 and 24.
During the service, the choir sings, “Turning our thoughts to Bethlehem, let us lift ourselves in spirit to
contemplate the great Mystery that is taking place in the cave... Now that the time of our salvation draws near... prepare
thyself, O Bethlehem.” Mention is made of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the holy women of the Old Covenant, who
“through faith shine like the stars.” The Church’s idea seems to be to bring the righteous who lived before
Christ into the joy of the Nativity and “include them all by praises and divine songs to prepare for the birth of
Christ.”
The Gospel read at the liturgy—the entire first chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel—traces the genealogy of
Jesus according to the flesh: “The generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat
Issac, and Issac begat Jacob.” And so it continues down to Joseph, “the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus,
who is called ‘Christ.’” We have read or heard this genealogy many times. We may have the impression that
this reading is of purely historical and documentary interest. What can this list of names bring us that has any spiritual
import? But each one of these names does have a particular meaning, if we remind ourselves of the story of the person who bore
it. What needs to be clearly understood is that the ancestors of Jesus were not all just and holy men. Among them are sinners:
those who have committed incest, adultery, murder; an alien woman. The names of Judas, of Thamar, of David and Ruth are filled
with spiritual significance. Jesus wanted, humanly, to be linked with “all that” and “all those.” He
wanted to clear a way for Himself through the sins and crimes of men. And so it is the history of each one of us that He takes
upon Himself and overcomes. For each one of us has some of the features of those of Jesus’s ancestors who are the
furthest from holiness. In each of us can be found, either dormant of awakened, the sins of the patriarchs and of their
children. All the same, however, Jesus must be born in us. We must, in ourselves, overcome and go beyond the misdeeds that
certain names in the genealogy of Jesus represent. It is necessary for us to live this genealogy, for us to acquire a personal
experience of it, so that through falling and starting afresh we shall eventually reach Joseph and Mary. This does not mean
sinning deliberately so that we can identify ourselves more closely with the genealogy of the Lord. Rather, it means simply
recognizing certain elements of this genealogy in the sins that we commit, and of uniting ourselves in spirit to the
progressive purification that prepared for the birth of Jesus. Then the genealogy of Christ will become an integral part of
our own lives.
Pastoral Ponderings: A Christmas Story
Artaban, in pursuit of the King of the Jews, misses his three friends. He misses the child because he meets a dying beggar and
a frightened mother, to whom he gives two of the three jewels saved for the child. After 33 years, he still searches for the king.
It is Passover. Artaban, now an old man, hears a commotion, and someone says, “We’re going to Golgotha to see two
robbers and Jesus of Nazareth hanged on a cross. Jesus calls Himself the Son of God, and Pilate has sent Him to be crucified
because He said He is the King of the Jews.”
Artaban knows this is the king he has been searching for. He rushes to the scene, but on the way he meets a young girl being
sold into slavery. She sees his royal robes and falls at his feet and begs him to rescue her. He exchanges his third and final
jewel for her freedom. Darkness falls over the land, the earth shakes, great stones fall into the street. One crushes
Artaban’s head.
Dying in the girl’s arms, Artaban gasps, “Three and thirty years I looked for You, Lord, but I have never seen
Your face nor ministered to You!” A voice, strong and kind, replies, “Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least
of my brothers or sisters, you did it to me.” Artaban’s face grows calm and peaceful. His journey has ended. He
has found his king!
— Father O’Connell Last updated: 21-Dec-2004 |
