Category: Adult Faith Formation

The Maternity of the Holy Anna

December 8 (December 9) THE MATERNITY OF THE HOLY ANNA

The conception of the all-holy virgin Mary in the womb of Anna is celebrated on December 9 in the Byzantine tradition, for a natural reason, that the Eastern ancients thought a girl was in the womb one day less than a boy. The [Ukrainian Catholic Church in America celebrates the feast on December 8] Ruthenian Church in America, celebrates the feast together with the Roman Church because she is the patron of the United States.

It is clear that this is a preparation for the birth of Christ on Christmas, for the first sticheron of the feast begins: “The barren Anna leaped for joy when she gave birth to Mary the Virgin who in turn will give birth in the flesh to God the Word.” Mary, the daughter of Anna and Joachim by way of natural birth is to be the temple of the Word of God incarnate for our sake and for our salvation.

The Eastern and Western Churches put the accent on different aspects of the feast. In the East, we celebrate the miracle of God taking away the barrenness of Anna’s womb. The Protoevangelium of James portrays the sadness of Joachim and Anna. Joachim lamented, “I have searched whether I am the only one who has not begotten offspring in Israel, and I have found of all the righteous that they had raised up offspring in Israel.” Anna wept, “I will bewail my widowhood, and bewail my childlessness.” (1,3 and 2,1) Two angels came, one to Joachim and another to Anna with a divine message that they would bear a child, even in their old age. When God takes away an emptiness, he fills us more than our faith can grasp, and they gave birth not only a child, but to the new Ark of God’s covenant with us. 

The Western Church, on the other hand, puts the accent on Mary’s purity from all sin from her conception, defined by Pope Bl. Pius IX in 1848 as the Immaculate Conception. The theology behind this is that the incarnation of the sinless Word of God must come from a sinless temple, the womb of Mary which was never touched by sin, even from her conception.

It is unfortunate that this dogma has become a bone of contention between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Both believe in the ancestral sin, but in different ways, so that for the Orthodox the main curse of the sin of Adam and Eve is death, while for the Catholics, it is original sin. May we seek unity and not division. Most Orthodox theologians do believe that the “ancestral sin” has infected the human race, but might disagree about the way it does this. In our dialogue, we must seek a mutual understanding, perhaps in the words of Orthodox theologians who saw a “pre-purification” in Mary. “And in every way [the Lord] became a man, save sin, for he had been conceived from a virgin, after she had been pre-purified with respect to soul and body through the Holy Spirit.” (Gregory the Theologian, Homily 38 on the Theophany) or St. John Damascene, who wrote, “O all-blessed loins of Joachim, from which the all-pure seed was sown. O epic womb, in which the all-holy infant was born, after she was formed, and a little later increased by nutriments from Anne. Her (Anne’s) belly conceived in itself an ensouled heaven, wider than the wide space of heaven.” (Both quotes from Christian Kappes’ book, The Immaculate Conception 21 and 60)

In both cases, the conception of the Theotokos in the womb of Anna today is our preparation for Christmas. For God took away the barrenness of one couple in a conception that would have a cosmic dimension for every one of us: the coming into the world of it’s Creator, who would take away the curse on Adam and Eve by the birth of his Son with the power to bring us all into sinlessness. Receiving his body and blood in Communion, the priest prays, “may this be for the remission of sins and life everlasting.” The Hymn of Light at Matins thus proclaims: “Today Anna conceives the One who will give birth to the Light which illumines all creation. Therefore, let us all gather together, for the one who delivers us from the judgment of Eve now comes forth.”

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Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost 2019

Read: Ephesians 2:14-22
Luke 13:10-17

This Sunday, Jesus heals a woman bent over so she could not walk straight. “And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect. When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, “Woman, you are set free of your infirmity. (Luke 13:11-12)” Being bent over, the woman could see only the dirt before her, she could not lift up her eyes and see the trees, the towns, the horizon or the sky. She was not guilty of her infirmity, and Jesus had mercy.

Again, however, the Pharisees could not see the true moral horizon, putting the Sabbath law above the woman’s health, and so Jesus brands them, “Hypocrites. (Luke 13:15)” We all are that woman, but is it because of illness or our own will? We are short-sighted, we see only the dirt in front of us, and we do not see the horizon. We see only what we want to see, and hear only what we want to hear. We need the gift of wisdom to see the horizon, to see what is true.

See what the first thing the woman does when she is healed – she glorifies God. That is the greatest glory we have as human beings, we are able to see the vast expanse of the universe, something no other creature on earth can do, and we are able to give glory to God who created it all! Fr. Robert Taft gave an interview in November of 2009 in which he responded to the question: What do we get out of the Liturgy? His response was, “What you get out of the liturgy is the privilege of glorifying almighty God.” God, “who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of enmity (Ephesians 2:14),” lifts up our eyes today, glory to God!

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Read: Luke 8:26-39

The idea this gospel is addressing is fear. Jesus comes to the land of the Gerasenes and casts out a legion of demons from a possessed man. The gospel of Luke is succinct on this point and only notes that he lived among the tombs (that is, among the dead).

In the gospel of Matthew, we read the detail that “they were so savage that no one could travel by that road” (Matthew 8:28). Jesus’ cure is like a resurrection to life, making him free from the tombs. The demons are sent into unclean animals, the pigs, and this evil is promptly destroyed. The townspeople come out to see what had happened, and rather than welcoming Jesus as a healer and the conqueror of evil, the gospel says “they were seized with fear,” and St. Luke repeats, they “asked Jesus to leave them because they were seized with great fear” (Luke 8:35.37).

Of what were they afraid, that their commodity (the pigs) had been destroyed, or that the demoniac man was still possessed by demons? We often “demonize” and “dehumanize” what we fear. We, too, are God-fearing, when we approach Holy Communion the deacon warns, “Approach with the fear of God and with faith.” The townspeople were afraid and asked Jesus to leave, but a true “fear of God,” which is expressed in faith and love, draws us nearer to God in Communion.

The Lord can free us from evil, so approach and receive him who told us, “Take courage, for I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, 2019

Our Lord is the Life-giver. The gospels record Jesus’ presence at baptisms and weddings, but never at a funeral, for death cannot remain in the presence of the Giver of Life.

Today Jesus comes upon a funeral in the village of Nain, it seems almost accidently and by chance, though nothing ever happens totally by chance. Jesus stops the funeral and raises up the young man, the only son of a grieving widow. The Gospel continues the theme of last Sunday, “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful, for today Jesus raises the young man, “When the Lord saw (the widow), he was moved with pity for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, ‘Young man, I tell you, arise!’ (Luke 7:13-14)” Here Jesus has compassion on the love of a mother for her child.

Today is a prayer for a mother’s love, especially for mothers pregnant with unborn children, that they may bring them to life. Today shows us also the God’s giving of life is not only for the future world but begins here and now. As we receive Communion, the priest says, “The servant of God receives the precious Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and life everlasting.” We are in the presence of the Lord, therefore in the presence of life. Jesus teaches, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven

The Sign of the Cross

Every time we sign ourselves with the holy Cross, saying “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” we profess that our salvation, accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ, is the work of the Holy Trinity.

Christ Our Pascha, 626
(Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church)

Introducing the NEW “God With Us Online”

Our parishioner John Burger writes on a NEW institute designed especially for those interested in knowing more about Eastern Christianity. John’s article:
 
https://aleteia.org/2019/09/09/eastern-catholic-spirituality-featured-in-free-online-courses/?fbclid=IwAR3bGecBGYod7cIusLLFhipi18GsacZApQ8Ai-QdKHJYzdi2Ok4zdokko8Q
 
All of the Eastern Catholic eparchies in the USA are supporting “God With Us Online” (http://easterncatholic.org).
 
The first FREE webinar is Wednesday, September 11, 8pm.
 
Register for the first webinar, “The Face of God: An Introduction to Byzantine Faith and Spirituality” — http://easterncatholic.org

How to celebrate the New Year in Faith

The previous post (see below) speaks of the new liturgical year. It’s a new year of Grace. Here are some suggestions as to “dig into our new year.”

~Build and/or grow the icon corner in your home

~Make it church frequently as possible

~Pray with Scripture, start with the Gospel of Matthew, reading only a paragraph at a time

~Give yourself an hour of quiet time —without cell phone or TV/radio/computer

~Engage in Byzantine prayer practices

  • pray before and after meals
  • say the Jesus prayer several times a day: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”
  • say thank you to God upon waking and before closing your eyes at bedtime
  • get a Byzantine Hours prayer book and use it

~Do spiritual reading

~Do something charitable for someone in need.

In good relations with God

“A good interior relationship with God is an indispensable ingredient for a happy life. For only when this basic relationship is in order can all other relationships prosper. That is why it is important to learn and practice all one’s life long, from childhood on, to think with God, to feel with God, to will with God, so that love will follow and will become the keynote of my life. When that occurs, love of neighbor will follow as a matter of course. For if the keynote of my life is love, then I, in my turn, will react to those whom God places on my path only with a Yes of acceptance, with trust, with approval, and with love.”

— J. Ratzinger

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Read: 1 Corinthians 9:2-12; Matthew 18:23-35

This Sunday’s gospel is about forgiveness. How God forgives is compared to how we forgive one another. Jesus’ teaching is in answer to Peter’s question: “if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him.” This implies that there is a limit to forgiveness. Jesus does not reply “always,” but “seven times seventy-seven times” In Aramaic, the answers would always be concrete, and this was in reply to Peter’s suggestion of “seven.” You could keep track of seven, but not 7 x 77. It was a virtual “always.” The same is true of the parable. The king forgives his servant 10,000 talents, which was roughly 20 years of daily wages. This was translated “a huge amount,” but again the sum is concrete, it may as well have been “infinite.” Then the forgiven man refuses to forgive his brother one denarius, a day’s wages, again easily countable.

Two questions: the first is the meaning of “forgiveness.” Here it means that someone else has wronged you, and a debt is incurred. To forgive means to write off the debt, saying virtually, “You owe me nothing.” Justice becomes a simple question of mercy.

In English we have the saying, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.” Any debt we would owe God is infinite, since God is without limits and has given us everything that we are or possess. If God, as infinite, forgives us our debts, then we, as limited human beings, should forgive one another our very limited debts, all of which are small as compared to the infinity of God, if we are to become God-like, that is, to be saved. Why then, is simple forgiveness so difficult for us?

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Read: Romans 15:1-7; Matthew 9:27-35

The Gospel for this Sunday can be summarized: Jesus went about doing good, healing the sick and revealing God’s love for all. St. Paul tells us the Jesus did this out of his goodness, not to please himself, not to glorify himself. From love for us, he took insults upon us upon himself. St. Paul concludes, “Welcome one another, then, as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7). In this way, we can heal one another’s spirit. Today’s epistle and gospel, then, tell us what love for one another really is. There is a condition, though, we must be open to God’s love. What does Jesus ask the blind men? “Do you believe I can do this?” If they believed they could be healed, then they also believed they needed healing, unlike the hypocritical Pharisees, to whom Jesus says, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains” (John 9:41). They, in bitterness and unfaithfulness, hurl the insult at Jesus, “He drives out demons by the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:34).

We are blind to the image of God in the other when we “demonize” them, and in reality, makes ourselves into demons. We should, instead, heal one another and not condemn.

Meditation by Archpriest David Petras
#ByzantineCatholicNewHaven