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
FATHER THOMAS O’CONNELL, PASTOR FATHER MICHAEL MAPLES, ASSISTANT PASTOR FATHER DEACON RON VOLEK, PASTORAL ASSISTANT HOLY FAMILY CATHOLIC CHURCH 307 BLACK OAK RIDGE ROAD PO BOX 817 SEYMOUR, TN 37865 PHONE: 865-609-1081 www.hrbcc.org
Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!
Divine Liturgy begins at 4 p.m. Every Sunday
Ninth Hour Prayer precedes Liturgy at 3:30 p.m.
Potluck supper follows Liturgy on the third Sunday of the month
Also at this time non-perishable foods and items for those in need
APRIL 13, 2008
SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC THE HOLY PRIEST AND MARTYR ARTEMON AND HIS COMPANIONS
Our Offerings
SUNDAY OF THE PARALYTIC: Gospel Thought John 5: 1-15
Jesus performed many miracles during His earthly ministry, but these miracles do not form the core of His mission. His
miracles are a proof of His ministry — that it was a divine ministry. They show that Jesus was the Christ for whom
the world had long awaited.
That Jesus cured the physical ills of many is a marvelous fact, but it is even more important that He came to cure our
spiritual ills. The physical cures and miraculous signs Jesus performed point to the spiritual healing that our heavenly
Father sent Jesus to administer.
After being cured, the paralytic met Jesus in the Temple, and our Lord warned him: “Sin no more unless something
worse befalls you.” What could be worse than spending 38 years lying in a bed? A person dying from the sickness of
sin — the sickness of the hands that are not dedicated to God, church, and neighbor; the sickness of the eyes
involved in jealousy and evil desires; the sickness of the feet in carrying us to forms of entertainment that are less than
wholesome — all these spiritual illnesses are worse than any physical ailment.
At the center of Christ’s ministry is the lesson of love, the power by which we can be cured of the spiritual sicknesses
and weaknesses caused by sin, which affects the use and health of our physical senses.
Perhaps you wonder why this parable appears during the Paschal cycle of Gospel stories. The Church Fathers tell us that in
the telling of the paralytic raised from his bed, we have a foreshadowing of our own resurrections.
—Rev. James Melnic
CELEBRATION OF MID-PENTECOST
On the Wednesday after the Sunday of the Paralytic, our Byzantine Catholic Church celebrates the “half way”
mark between Pascha and Pentecost. The Synaxary of that day explains the reason for this feast: “On the Wednesday
following the Sunday of the Paralytic, we celebrate the feast of Mid-Pentecost for the sake of honoring the two great feast
days—the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Feast of Pentecost.”
The Feast of Mid-Pentecost unites and joins these two feasts. The reason for this is based on the Gospel of St. John:
“When, however, the feast was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.”
(John 7:14) There He spoke of His divine mission and of the miraculous water: “If anyone thirsts, let him come
to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture says, ‘from within him there shall flow rivers of living
water.’”
(John 7: 37-38)
Here we meet both the Pentecostal theme of the Holy Spirit and the theme of Living Water. The Troparion for mid-Pentecost
explains: When the Paschal Feast is half completed, quench my thirsty soul with the waters of devotion: for You, O Savior,
have announced to all: “Let him who is thirsty come to Me and drink.” O Christ our God, source of our life,
glory be to You!
The Kontakion for the day continues the theme of living water: O Christ God, Creator and Lord of all, when the Paschal
Feast was half completed, You told those present, “Come and draw water of immortality.” Let us, therefore,
adore You and cry out with faith: “Grant us Your goodness, Lord, for You are the source of our life.”
THE BLESSED THEOTOKOS AS THE NEW EVE
Throughout the universe the cry is head
of those who celebrate today’s feast in unison. Death came because of a man; but because of a man salvation came as well. The first man fell into sin; the second man lifted up the one who had fallen. Woman defends us from woman, the first one opened the path to sin; the second prompted the entrance to justification. The first followed the serpent’s counsel, the second presented the serpent’s killer, and brought forth the author of light. The former, by means of wood, introduced sin. The latter, in contrast, also by means of wood, introduced good. By wood, I mean the cross; and the fruit of this wood is always green and becomes immortal life for those who taste it.
PASTORAL PONDERINGS
A pastor was discussing the 23rd Psalm with some children in his congregation. He told the children about sheep, that they weren't smart and needed lots of guidance, and that a shepherd’s job was to stay close to the sheep, protect them from wild animals and keep them from wandering off. He pointed to the little children in the room and said that they were sheep and needed lots of guidance. Then the pastor put his hands out to the side, palms up in a dramatic gesture, and with raised eyebrows said to the children, “If you are the sheep, then who is the shepherd?” He was pretty obviously indicating himself. A silence of a few seconds followed. Then a young girl said, “Jesus: Jesus is the shepherd.” The young pastor, obviously caught by surprise, said to the little girl, “Well, then, who am I?” The girl frowned thoughtfully and then said with a shrug, “I guess you must be a sheep dog.” Woof!!
—Father Thomas O’Connell
Last updated: 13-Apr-2008 |
