As we are quickly approaching Christmas, I want to remind you of a beautiful talk in the library of God With Us Online by Fr. David Anderson called The Gift of God: Preparing for the Nativity of the Lord.
I invite you to take a little time in the bustle of the next few days to watch it and let the Church’s hymns for this holy season prepare your heart for Christ’s coming!
Today is the Sunday or Synaxis of the Holy Forefathers. Two weeks until the feast of the Nativity of Lord and Savior.
God With Us Online has provided us with some resources for our personal preparation for actively participating in the worship of the Holy Trinity. The Gospel Reflection is host by Father Daniel, a priest for St. George Byzantine Catholic Church in Olympia, Washington.
God With Us Online has new 3-week study of Genesis starting TONIGHT, November 3rd at 8 PM ET! It’s not too late to register or invite someone else to join us!
Join us as we immerse ourselves in the study of Genesis, which St. Ephrem the Syrian called “the treasure house of the Ark, the crown of the Law.” With Saints Ephrem, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great & Gregory of Nyssa as our guides, we will dive deeply into the Sacred Word which created the world in the beginning.
Dr. Hayes has asked that we provide a handout for you for this week’s class, which will focus on St. Ephrem. You can find it among the resources on the registration page!
Most importantly… don’t forget your Bible! We don’t have Bible studies at God With Us Online without Bibles!
UNITY IS NOT UNIFORMITY
The Development of the Apostolic Churches, a presentation to be given by Fr. Hezekias Carnazzo of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton.
Wednesday, June 30 @ 8 – 9 p.m. ET
REGISTER here
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” Only after Jesus has shown the hurt to be unspeakable, then and not before does he make the instruction stricter. He not only asks us to cast away what we have but also forbids us to take thought even for the food we need, saying, “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat,” not because the soul needs food, for it is incorporeal. He spoke figuratively. For though the soul as such needs no food, it cannot endure to remain in the body unless the body is fed. (St. John Chrysostom)
As always, God With Us Online, there are several things to help us go deeper in knowing and following the Scripture we hear at the Divine Liturgy. So, at the link above for the resources there is a very brief piece on the Domestic Church (the church at home) by Melkite Deacon Thomas Moses. Most importantly listen to the Gospel reflection.
Can you feel it? Can you notice the warmth of the Holy Spirit? We are moving toward the great feast Pentecost. You can feel the dramatic intensity of the praying Church getting ready for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit the Church gives us this weekend the gift of the Sunday of the Paralytic.
Resources from God With Us Online
Don’t miss the April reflection –only one page– by Fr. Vasile Colopelnic, “Developing a Eucharistic Lifestyle.” Fr. Vaisle is a priest the Stamford Eparchy serving in New York State.
There is also the Resurrectional Troparion in Tone 3 to listen to as well as the resources for catechism class.
Prepare for hearing Sunday’s Gospel by listening to the Gospel Reflection.
St. John Chrysostom teaches: “What kind of a cure is this? What mystery does it signify to us?… It was the greatest of gifts, a baptism purging all sins and making people alive instead of dead. These things then are foreshown as in a picture by the pool.… so that those [at the pool] who had learned over and over how it is possible to heal the diseases of the body by water might more easily believe that water can also heal the diseases of the soul.”
Three weeks ago we celebrated Pascha. Now we are at the Second Sunday after Easter (April 18, 2021) — the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women. These women pour the oil of our salvation over the bodies of those who belong to Christ Jesus; the oil announces LIFE. Who are these women? Do you know who we are talking about? Scripture reveals to us the names of the women, each with a personal history and each with a mission (like us). They are Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jose, Mary, the mother of James, and Salome. Plus, we have Joseph of Arimathea. Each person here is essential for making the Risen Lord known and loved and followed.
When the women encounter the Risen Lord at the tomb He tells them not to be afraid at the sight of Him and of His announcement: the crucified is now risen. His promise is true; the offer to be united with God is made good, Life is bestowed upon us. The first act of the Risen Lord is to give the women a central mission, a particular service (a diaconia) for the spread of the Gospel: go and tell the disciples and Peter, that crucified Jesus is now risen, He is alive.
The Church understands this biblical narrative of vocation and place in the Way –the Way of the Lord– in generations: the first generation are the Apostles, then the disciples, and the deacons (seen first in the person of Joseph of Arimathea, then the other deacons we read about in the Apostles). No one group can exist without the other because of the particularity of each God-mission given to each person. This mission we speak of, as St John Henry Newman tells us, is the mission given by God is unique, unrepeatable, not transferable, given for a specific purpose. Some are called to be priests, some deacons, some catechists, some nurses, some bakers, some gardeners, some machinists, some writers, some lawyers, etc. The mission the Lord gives us links us to him and those others who have served the Gospel and the Church through 2000 years.
St. Peter Chrysologus speaks of the mission of the Women and the apostles, “The women were first to honor the risen Christ, the apostles first to suffer for him. The women were ready with spices; the apostles prepared for scourges. The women entered the tomb; the apostles would soon enter the dungeon. The women hastened to express their eulogy; the apostles embraced chains for his sake. The women poured oils; the apostles poured out their blood.”
The Church is honoring the 10th Anniversary of the election and enthronement of His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
A special program has been prepared for His Beatitude’s 10th anniversary (March 27, 2011). There is a review of the Patriarch’s first ten years and there is a revelation of his vision for our Church for the next ten years.
The TV presentation is mostly in Ukrainian with English subtitles.
You may watch the presentation here.
On Saturday, March 27, at the 9:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy we will have part II of the Parish Mission given by Father Gregory Lozinskyy, pastor of St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, Trumbull. Father Gregory will preach in both Ukrainian and English.
Part I of the parish mission happened at last Sunday’s 10:30 a.m. Liturgy.
The Sunday of the Pharisee and Publican is a fitting day for us to familiarize us with the Jesus Prayer. Father Iura spoke of the Jesus Prayer in today’s homily.
The Jesus Prayer
Alice Herro
Prayer, essential to Christian life, is one way we may communicate with God. It is the means by which we experience Jesus. Liturgical prayers conclude with the phrase, “through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” he name, Jesus, is at the heart of faith and prayer. It is through Jesus that heaven’s gates are open. It is in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, that we ultimately return to the Father.
To early Christians, Jesus was not only a belief, but an experienced reality. Early Christians understood the healing, comforting power of the name, Jesus. From this understanding arose one of the earliest Christian prayers, the Jesus Prayer. It is simple, concise and direct, but rooted in the name of our Lord. It is an insistent prayer that can be said anywhere and anytime.
Jesus emptied Himself as His gift to us. Likewise, we return the gifts and empty ourselves as our gift to Him. How do we empty ourselves? How do we achieve this exchange of gifts?
Repeating the Jesus Prayer continuously is one way. With the Jesus Prayer, heart addresses Heart. Thus, the Jesus Prayer establishes communion between your heart and the Heart of Jesus. With practice, the Jesus Prayer will lead you into the Presence of Christ.
How does one pray continuously? A simple breathing technique will help sustain continuous repetition of the prayer:
~Inhale
~Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, (invocation)
~Exhale
~be merciful to me, a sinner. (petition)
Many people recite the Our Father on the crucifix, the Jesus Prayer on all the beads, and the Glory Be on the crucifix. Although the Jesus Prayer is traditionally recited, you may say any prayer, word or group of words. Whatever leads you into the Presence of Christ is correct. Examples beside the Jesus Prayer: + Glory be to the Father, etc.; + Jesus; + My Lord and my God; + Lover of mankind; + Blessed be God (or any of the Divine Praises).
