Byzantine Catholic Mission
|
Holy Resurrection Byzantine Catholic Mission |
| Home | Location | Schedule | Photos | Bulletin | History | Prayers | Contact |
|
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:
|
HOLY RESURRECTION BYZANTINE CATHOLIC MISSION
Slava Isusu Christu! Slava Na Niky!
Divine Liturgy begins at 4 p.m. Every Sunday
Potluck supper follows Liturgy on the third Sunday of the month
JULY 29, 2007
THE DORMITION FAST
This two week fast precedes the great summer Feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos on August 15. It is a
short but intense fasting period that takes us from the Feast of the Procession of the Cross—an appropriate beginning to
the fast—through the Feast of the Transfiguration to the Feast of Dormition. Some have called this feast our
“Summer Pascha.” Like Pascha, the Dormition or Falling Asleep of the Theotokos shows forth an image of the
Resurrection and Life. The usual mitigations on Saturday and Sunday and on the Feast of the Transfiguration are similar to
what we would try to do during the Great Fast. In some Byzantine Churches, the Parclisis Service, a devotion to the Theotokos
is said frequently during this season or may be prayed as a family or in private.
AUGUST 1: Feast of the Procession of the Honorable and Life-giving Cross / Commemoration of the Seven Holy Macchabees, their
mother Salome, and their instructor the Elder Eleazar
In the Church of Constantinople, it was customary to organize on this day a procession to honor the Holy Cross. It was carried
from place to place until August 15. The Macchabee brothers, their mother Salome, and their instructor, the elder
Eleazar, were martyred for having supported the faith of their Fathers and the traditions of the Jewish religion. The
Seleucide conquerors of Syria—more particularly King Antiochus Epiphane (175-164 BC)—attempted to impose
paganism upon the Jews. Among his victims were the Macchabees, whose story is told in the Canonical Book of that name in the
Bible, 6:18 to 7:41.
THOUGHTS ON THE GOSPEL
THE NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (MATTHEW 14:22-34) by Rev. James Melnic
St. Peter dramatically shows our absolute need of Christ. At the invitation of Jesus, he walked upon the water to meet
Jesus. Seeing the wind grow stronger and the waves higher and higher, he became alarmed, took his eyes off Jesus and began to
sink. Drowning, he calls out to our Lord to save him. Jesus extends His hands and lifts him from the waters of the turbulent
sea.
Sometimes our lives become struggles against the storms of illness, sorrow, problems and temptations; waves of adversity rise
higher, trying to engulf us. On occasion, our difficulties so increase in number and size that we tend to lose confidence.
Like Peter, we take our eyes off Christ and slowly sink into the deep waters of discouragement and despair.
Jesus reassures us He is in command and can calm all the storms that confront us in our lives. His soothing voice tells us not
to be afraid. He will be with us to lend a helping hand to overcome all obstacles. St. Francis de Sales writes:
“We shall steer safely through every storm so long as our heart is right, our intention fervent, our courage steadfast,
and our trust fixed on God. If at times we are somewhat stunned by the tempest, never fear. Let us take a breath and go on
afresh.”
SAYINGS FROM THE CHURCH FATHERS
“Even though your most holy and blessed soul was separated from your most pure and immaculate body, according to the
usual course of nature, and even though it was carried to a proper burial place; nevertheless, it did not remain under the
dominion of death, nor was it destroyed by corruption. Indeed, just as her virginity remained intact when she gave birth, so
her body, even after death was preserved from decay and transferred to a better and more divine dwelling place.”
—St. John Damascene
“We truly love God and keep His commandments if we restrain ourselves from our pleasures. For he who still abandons
himself to unlawful desires certainly does not love God, since he contradicts Him in his own intentions.”
—St. Gregory the Great
“The Son of God came down to earth so as to recreate man...to give life to him who had become dead, and to call him from
deception and error.”
—St. Symeon the New Theologian
What God Did for Us
As one of Christ's ambassadors, the apostle Paul pleads his cause in the words: For our sake God made the sinless one into
sin. If God had done nothing more for us than to give up his Son for those who scorned him, we should still need to marvel at
the greatness of the gesture. But in addition to this tremendous generosity, God permitted him who did no wrong to be
crucified for wrongdoers.
The sinless one, who was holiness incarnate, God made into sin: that is, he allowed him to be judged as a malefactor, to die
as one accursed, for a man hanged upon a tree is accursed by God.
Such a sentence was far worse than mere death. Saint Paul implies this elsewhere in the words: He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Let us constantly remember, therefore, the many blessings we have received from him.
—St. John Chrysostom
Last updated: 30-Jul-2007 |
