Saint Joseph Melkite Greek Catholic Church

130 North Saint Francis Cabrini Avenue Scranton, PA 18504

Rev. Protodeacon Michael Jolly
Administrator pro tempore
570-213-9344

Reader Michael Simon Parish Office 570-343-6092

E-Mail: Web: Webmaster:

scrantonmelkite@yahoo.com http://melkitescranton.org Sal Zaydon

January 22, 2012 Tone 7 and Orthros Gospel 10 Liturgy Schedule: Saturday Vespers 4pm Compline Weds 8:30PM

15th Sunday after the Holy Cross Sunday of Zaccheus Sunday Orthros 8:55 am Sunday Divine Liturgy 10:00 am

Liturgy Intentions:
January 22, 2012 Margaret Jolly - Deacon Michael Ann Couryby her nephew John Coury Peace, health and salvation of Kimberly Herman January 29, 2012 Ann Couryby Karen Kane
Todays Icon: Todays GospelChrist calling to Zaccheus: Today salvation has come to this house, since he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Parish Notes:

Parish Rummage SaleFebruary 11you can drop off your excess treasures after liturgy or call Terri Patchoski for further details Last Chance 2012 Calendars and envelops are available in the narthex of the church. Qurban today was baked by Dn Michael Welcome back Father Jerome Wolbert who serves at our altar today. The perpetual candle in the month of January burns in thanksgiving for Dn Michaels 25 years of service by the Patchoski family Miss a bulletin, want to see the parish calendar? Visit our website at http://melkitescranton.org Young Adult Get Together: Next Sunday 5-8PM

The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom

Antiphons:
First Antiphon Through the prayers of the Mother of God... Second Antiphon O Son of God, Who are risen from the dead... Hymn of incarnation Third Antiphon Entrance Tone 2 Tone 4 Tone 7

Hymns:
Resurrectional Troparion Troparion of St. Timothy Tone 7 Tone 4
O holy apostle, Timothy, master of unction and measured in all your deeds, clothed with right conscience as befits a priest, you had drawn ineffable truths from Paul, the vessel of election. You have kept the faith and completed a course equal to his. Intercede with Christ God that He may save our souls.

Troparion of St. Anastasios

Tone 4

Your martyr, O Lord, received the crown of immortality from You, O Our God, on account of his struggle. Armed with Your strength, he has vanquished his persecutors and crushed the powerless arrogance of demons. Through his supplications, O Christ God, save our souls.

Troparion of Saint Joseph Kontakion for the Presentation of Our Lord

Tone 2 Tone 1 Pg. 137

Prokiemenon

(Tone 7) Ps. 28:11,1

The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace. Stichon: Give to the Lord, you sons of God, give to the Lord glory and praise.

Reading from the Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians

3:4-12

My son Timothy, this saying is true and worthy of full acceptance: for we work and are reviled for this reason, that we hope in the living God who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Command and teach these things. Let no man despise the fact that you are young, but be an example to the faithful by what you say and do, by love, faith, spirituality and chastity. Until I come, be diligent in reading, exhorting and teaching. Do not neglect the grace that is in you, granted to you as a speaker for God through the laying on of the hands of the priesthood. Meditate on these things, give yourself entirely to them, so that your progress may be evident to all.

Alleluia (Tone 7) Ps. 91:1,2

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High! Stichon: To proclaim Your kindness at dawn, and Your faithfulness throughout the night.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

19:1-10

At that time as Jesus was passing through Jericho, behold there was a man named Zacchaeus; and he was a leading publican, and he was rich. And he was trying to see Jesus, to find out who He was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay in your house today. And he made haste and came down, and welcomed Him joyfully. And upon seeing it, all began to murmur, saying, He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Behold, Lord, I give one-half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold. Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, since he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

Someone who undertakes spiritual discipline devotes himself to developing spiritual strengths or virtues just as an athlete strengthens physical muscles. These strengths, or virtues, enable spiritual athletes to remain faithful in the face of PHYSICAL FITNESS IS BIG BUSINESS today. People persecution or hardship. How could the martyrs and run to gyms and exercise programs, or they just run. confessors have endured the torments they suffered St. Paul sees the value of keeping ones body in without the fortitude spiritual discipline produces? shape, but puts it in a perspective of his own. Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise for the life that now is and of that which is to come (1 Tim 4:8).

ZACCHEUS, COME DOWN!

We may readily grasp that spiritual exercise may bear fruit in the life to come, but what promise does it have for the life that now is? A great part of spiritual training is concerned with the control of the passions. We strive to free ourselves from the compulsion to pursue pleasure so that we can pursue a relationship with the living God. If we follow this training, the result in our life now is that we are no longer driven to acquire or possess. We are content. When a person is beset by greed he is never satisfied with what he has. There is always more, there is always something better to be acquired. While he seems content with his latest acquisition it is only for a moment, because nothing he has truly satisfies. The same is true of people governed by gluttony, lust, popular acclaim or pride. They never have enough. A person who has learned to control the passions, on the other hand, is content knowing that all he is and all he has is the gift of God. He has learned that material wealth, physical pleasure, or the good opinion of others are all passing and insignificant when compared with the possibility of knowing and serving God. He is happy to devote energy and resources to others as much as possible because he controls them; they do not control him. Controlling the passions makes us free here and now. How could people like Father Damien in a leper colony, Mother Teresa on the streets of Calcutta, or Dorothy Day in the tenements of New York have served day after day in such atrocious conditions without the patience and dedication of a spiritual athlete? Without the endurance which spiritual discipline produces believers would quickly fall away from their commitment and collapse on the sidelines. Spiritual discipline develops the endurance to live for God in the here and now.

Another aspect of spiritual discipline is concerned with fidelity to prayer. Many people pray or say prayers from a sense of duty. Praying, they feel, is something we ought to do. A person of prayer is rather one who senses an authentic relationship with God and who prays out of love rather than a sense of obligation. Such a person reaps the fruits of a commitment to prayer in this life, becoming someone who experiences the presence of God in his life on earth.

not even curious nothing will happen. If we seek Him in an inappropriate way such as only coming to Him when we want something He may remain silent. Zacchaeus repentance is not mere sentiment; it has concrete exterior manifestations. One is the desire to repair any wrongs he may have done to others. if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore it fourfold (v. 8). We cannot move ahead unless we correct what we can of our past sins. When material things are at the heart of our sin it is relatively easy to make restitution. But how does anyone restore a broken relationship, heal a damaged childhood or re-establish anothers reputation which we have smeared? The one we have harmed may demand something from us or our spiritual guide may offer alternative acts of reparation. But something concrete must be done.

The presence of God may be experienced in many ways. There are saints who have experienced God directly in visions or in charismatic gifts. But the presence of God may also be experienced in consolations or in the assurance of blessing from God without any exterior manifestation. In either case to experience the presence of God in ones life that now is is clear evidence of the truth of St. Pauls statement: godliness profits a person in this Zacchaeus does not only look back, he also looks life as well as in the life to come. ahead. I give half of my goods to the poor (v.8) Zacchaeus actually does something to fulfill the Lords precept to love in a concrete way. This Repentance: Warm-up to the Spiritual Life dynamic was explained most clearly by St We have all seen runners stretching their leg Diadochos, the fifth-century Bishop of Photiki in muscles before beginning a run. Their stretches are northern Greece: When a man begins to perceive a warm-up in anticipation of the effort ahead. the love of God in all its richness, he begins also to Similarly there is a warm up necessary at the start of love his neighbor with spiritual perception. This is a spiritual effort. Repentance is the necessary the love of which all the scriptures speak. (On prerequisite to any effective spiritual effort, whether Spiritual Knowledge and Discernment, 15). it is the encounter with Christ in the Liturgy or any of the mysteries, the Great Fast, or any spiritual In the Church calendar the story of Zacchaeus is work which we pray may be fruitful. Ignoring our read as the herald of the Triodion, the last Sunday personal spiritual state before any of these borders before we open that guide to repentance and the on presumption. Even world-class athletes, whether Great Fast. As we recall the movements of physical or spiritual, always begin each contest at Zacchaeus repentance we should be led to ask the beginning, with a warm-up. ourselves about the quality of our love for God. To what concrete action are we being led to perform The Gospel story of Zacchaeusconversion (Lk 19:1 during the coming Fast? What tangible form will -10) offers some valuable insights into repentance. love take in our lives as we look to the celebration His spiritual journey begins with an encounter with of Pascha? And what past offenses to others which Christ. At first Zacchaeus is moved by a kind of have yet to be righted hang over us and taint our curiosity to climb the tree and see who this Jesus is. intentions for this season? Like Zacchaeus we are Then Christ calls him personally and they go off to called to begin our spiritual exercise with the warm Zacchaeus house. True repentance always involves -up of repentance in deed as well as in thought. both our work and the Lords. If He calls and we are

The Example of Zacchaeus as a Prelude to Lent

The spiritual application of the story of Zacchaeus has been used widely as an example of one returning to the things of God. Coming as a lead-in to Lent, Johanna Manley wrote a very good summary of the application of this to our lives today: We Gentiles, through Christ, are also sons of Abraham (cf. Galatians 3:7-9). Like Zacchaeus and the publicans, we have extorted, gouged the land, borrowed against our progeny, and accumulated gains falsely for our own ends. Like Zacchaeus, we need to raise ourselves above the passions and jostling of the masses and reach out to invite Christ. We have turned away from God. We are all lost. But our Savior still seeks us. He is inviting Himself today to our house, though we are sinners. Let us give of ourselves to the needy to Christ. Atheistic governments have prevented us. Yet under governments of freedom we have prevented ourselves by indolence, and by the delusions of busy worldly pursuits. Let us rejoice and welcome Him with open arms and make recompense for our sins.

works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:17-19). We have learned how a camel can pass through a needles eye, how an animal with a hump on its back, when it has laid down its packs, can take to itself the wings of a dove (Psalm 55:6) and rest in the branches of the tree, which has grown from a grain of mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32). In his commentary, Cyril of Alexandria pointed out that with Zacchaeus in a tree and dressed in long robes, the crowd below him could clearly see whether or not he was wearing his loincloth. Cyril saw in this a riddle. For in no other way can a man see Christ and believe in Him except by mounting up into the sycamore (fig) tree, by rendering foolish his members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, etc.

The sycamore fig tree was often planted by roadsides and reached a very large size. Cyril likened the fig tree to the Law and the fruit on the fig tree to the application of the Law to the thoughts and intents of the heart, such as circumcision from vice and a Sabbaths rest from bad practice. Zacchaeus was ready to change from vice to virtue; wherefore also Christ called him, and he will leave the fig tree to gain Him. That is, he will climb into the Jerome wrote to the recent widow Salvina on the death of Law and apply it to his own life. her husband, Nebridius, encouraging Salvina to continue her husbands almsgiving in order that she, like a camel, Restoring Theft Fourfold might pass through the eye of the needle like Zacchaeus Zacchaeus responded to the murmur of the crowd with a did. Salvina later was one of John Chrysostoms correct interpretation of the Law. He said that if he had deaconesses. taken anything from anyone, he would restore it fourfold. This came from the Law where anyone who stole a sheep These remarks are intended to show that the youth had to repay the owner fourfold (Exodus 22:1). Nebridius used his kinship to the royal family, his abundant wealth, and the outward tokens of power, as In addition, Zacchaeus went well beyond the letter of the helps to virtue. As the preacher says, wisdom is a Law in his generosity. The Law prescribed a tithe for the defense and money is a defense (Ecclesiastes 7:12). Lord (used to support the priests, Numbers 18:20-24), a We must not hastily conclude that this statement secon tithe for the festivals (Deuteronomy 12:17-19), and conflicts with that of the Lord, Assuredly, I say to a third tithe every three years for the poor (Deuteronomy you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom 14:28-29). While this part of the Law was only followed of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a sporadically, due to the continual backsliding of Israel, camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich Zacchaeus quintuple tithe (half of all his goods) for the man to enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:23poor was much more than the Law required. 24). Were it so, the salvation of Zacchaeus the publican, described in Scripture as a man of great John Chrysostom noted that the Scriptures teach wealth, would contradict the Lords declaration. But almsgiving as a medicine for our sins; the greater the sin, what is impossible with men is possible with God the more medicine that is needed. (Mark 10:27) we are taught by the counsel of Paul, Can there be pardon for great impieties? Yes! There Command those who are rich in this present age not is no sin, which alms cannot cleanse, none, which to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in alms cannot quench; all sin is beneath this; it is a the living God, who gives us richly all things to medicine adapted for every wound. What is worse enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good than a publican? The matterof his occupation is

altogether one of injustice; and yet Zacchaeus washed away all these sins. Note how Christ shows this, by the care taken to have a money box, and to carry the contributions put into it (John 13:29). Paul says, Only that we remember the poor (Galatians 2:10); and everywhere the Scripture has much to say about this matter. The ransom of a mans soul is his own wealth (Proverbs 13:8 OSB LXX), and with reason; for Christ said, If you want to be perfect, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and come, follow Me (Matthew 19:21). This may well be part of perfection. Chrysostom used Zacchaeus and Matthew as examples of how people can rid themselves of a lust for money. Other examples in the Scriptures speak of how people were destroyed who couldnt rid themselves of this; people need to hear this. Those who are seized by lust for money and broken down, if they will consent to put themselves into the hands of the Word for healing, I promise large hope of salvation by the Grace of God. If they will consider those who have suffered and fallen into that derangement and have recovered, they will have good hope of removing the disease. Who then ever fell into this disease, and was easily rid of it? The well known Zacchaeus! Who could be fonder of money than a publican? Yet all at once he became a man of strict life, and put out that whole blaze. Matthew in like manner; for he too was a publican, living as a plunderer. But he likewise all at once stripped himself of the evil, quenched his thirst, and followed after spiritual gain. Considering these and those like them; dont despair; you shall be able to recover quickly if you want. If you wish, we will prescribe accurately what you should do according to the rule of physicians. It is necessary then, before all other things, to be right in this that we never despair of our salvation. Next, we must look not only at the examples of those who have done well, but also at the sufferings of those who have persisted in sin. Just as we have considered Zacchaeus and Matthew, so we also ought to take account of Judas, Gehazi, Achan, Ahab, Ananias and Sapphira, in order that by the one, we may cast out all despair, and by the other we may cut off allindolence. The soul should not become reckless in the remedies suggested. Let us teach people to say what the Jews said on Pentecost, approaching Peter, What must we do to be saved? (Acts 2:37, 16:30) Let people hear what they must do.

Chrysostom also stated that if fourfold-restitution under the Law is required, much more is required under grace. And far more restitution is needed for violent theft, if restitution can ever be made at all. On the contrary, some people take whole fortunes by violence, and then give a tithe of their spoils. They live under the delusion of actually hoping to be saved. Giving alms in the same proportion as ones covetousness does not cure the evil result of covetousness. If you have unjustly gotten a denarius, it is nota denarius that you need for almsgiving, to remove the sin that comes from your unjust gain, but a talent. Therefore the thief being taken pays fourfold (Exodus 22:1), but he that spoils by violence is worse than he that steals. If the thief ought to give four times what he stole, the extortionist should give tenfold and much more. It is a big deal whether he can ever make atonement for his injustice; and just making atonement does not entitle him to any reward for almsgiving. Therefore Zacchaeus said, I will restore what I have taken by false accusation fourfold, and the half of my goods I will give to the poor (Luke 19:8). If under the Law one ought to give fourfold, much more under grace; if he that steals pays fourfold, much more he that takes by violence. Do you see why I said, If you take only a denarius by violence, and pay back a talent, you barely compensate for it? If this is just barely compensating, when you reverse the order, and have taken by violence whole fortunes, yet bestow but little, and then not to them that have been wronged, but to others in their stead; what kind of plea will you have? What hope of salvation? Understand how bad a deed you do in so giving alms! Listen to the Scripture, As one that kills the son before his fathers eyes, so is he that brings a sacrifice of the goods of the poor (Ecclesiasticus 34:20 LXX).

Among Todays Saints

The Holy Apostle Timothy was from the Lycaonian city of Lystra in Asia Minor. St Timothy was converted to Christ in the year 52 by the holy Apostle Paul (June 29). When the Apostles Paul and Barnabas first visited the cities of Lycaonia, St Paul healed one crippled from birth. Many of the inhabitants of Lystra then believed in Christ, and among them was the future St Timothy, his mother Eunice and grandmother Loida (Lois) (Acts 14:612; 2 Tim. 1:5). The seed of faith, planted in St Timothy's soul by the Apostle Paul, brought forth abundant fruit. He became St Paul's disciple, and later his constant companion and co-worker in the preaching of the Gospel. The Apostle Paul loved St Timothy and in his Epistles called him his beloved son, remembering his devotion and fidelity with gratitude. He wrote to Timothy: "You have followed my teaching, way of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, and patience" (2 Tim. 3:10-11). The Apostle Paul appointed St Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, where the saint remained for fifteen years. Finally, when St Paul was in prison and awaiting martyrdom, summoned his faithful friend, St Timothy, for a last farewell (2 Tim. 4:9). St Timothy ended his life as a martyr. The pagans of Ephesus celebrated a festival in honor of their idols, and used to carry them through the city, accompanied by impious ceremonies and songs. St Timothy, zealous for the glory of God, attempted to halt the procession and reason with the spiritually blind idol-worshipping people, by preaching the true faith in Christ.

The Monk Martyr Anastasius the Persian was the son of a Persian sorcerer named Bavi. As a pagan, he had the name Magundates and served in the armies of the Persian emperor Chozroes II, who in 614 ravaged the city of Jerusalem and carried away the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord to Persia.

Great miracles occurred from the Cross of the Lord, and the Persians were astonished. The heart of young Magundates was inflamed with the desire to learn more about this sacred object. Asking everyone about the Holy Cross, the youth learned that upon it the Lord Himself was crucified for the salvation of mankind. He became acquainted with the truths of the Christian Faith in the city of The pagans angrily fell upon the holy apostle, they Chalcedon, where the army of Chozroes was for a beat him, dragged him along the ground, and certain while. He was baptized with the name finally, they stoned him. St Timothy's martyrdom Anastasius, and then became a monk and spent seven years in one of the Jerusalem monasteries, occurred in the year 93. living an ascetical life. In the fourth century the holy relics of St Timothy were transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Reading the Lives of the holy martyrs, St church of the Holy Apostles near the tombs of St Anastasius was inspired with the desire to imitate Andrew (November 30) and St Luke (October 18). them. A mysterious dream, which he had on Great The Church honors St Timothy as one of the and Holy Saturday, the day before the Resurrection Apostles of the Seventy. of Christ, urged him to do this.

Having fallen asleep after his daily tasks, he beheld a radiant man giving him a golden chalice filled with wine, who said to him, "Take this and drink." Draining the chalice, he felt an ineffable delight. St Anastasius then realized that this vision was his call to martyrdom. He went secretly from the monastery to Palestinian Caesarea. There he was arrested for being a Christian, and was brought to trial. The governor tried in every way to force St Anastasius to renounce Christ, threatening him with tortures and death, and promising him earthly honors and blessings. The saint, however, remained unyielding. Then they subjected him to torture: they beat him with rods, they lacerated his knees, they hung him up by the hands and tied a heavy stone to his feet, they exhausted him with confinement, and then wore him down with heavy work in the stone quarry with other prisoners. Finally, the governor summoned St Anastasius and promised him his freedom if he would only say, "I am not a Christian." The holy martyr replied, "I will never deny my Lord before you or anyone else, neither openly nor even while asleep. No one can compel me to do this while I am in my right mind." Then by order of the emperor Chozroes, St Anastasius was strangled, then beheaded. After the death of Chozroes, the relics of the Monk Martyr Anastasius were transferred to Palestine, to the Anastasius monastery.

Memory Eternal

The Servant of God

Dr. Thomas Zaydon

Grant rest. O Lord, to the soul of your servant and appoint his place in paradise. Where choirs of saints and righteous ones shine forth like stars. O Lord, grant rest to your departed servant and forgive him all his sins

Devotions and Readings for this week

Mon 1/23 Tues 1/24 Weds 1/25 Thurs 1/26 Fri 1/27 Sat 1/28 Hieromartyrs Clement and Agathangel Venerable Mother Xenia Gregory the Theologian Xenophon and his relatives Transfer of the remains of St. John Chrysostom St. Ephrem of Syria 1 Peter 2:21-25, 3:1-9 1 Peter 2:10-22 Heb 7:26-28; 8:1-2 1 Peter 4:12-19;5:1-5 Heb 7:26-28; 8:1-2 2 Tim 2:11-19 Mk 12:13-17 Mk 12:18-27 Jn 10:9-16 Mk 12:38-44 Jn 10:9-16 Lk 18:2-8

SANCTITY OF LIFE SUNDAY

Metropolitan Jonah (OCA) The Church is like St John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, or Jesus baptizing by the Jordan. We, like them, preach a message of repentance and the remission of sins in the new desert, the decadent culture of the modern West, mired in the chaos of moral collapse. The Churchs message is a message of hope, of healing, of the transformation of ones life, of attaining to the fullness of personhood, of the realization of the divine potential in each human being. Yet, this message requires not only acceptance, but a voluntary cooperation by those who accept this message. The Church demands a serious discipline of all who would be members, all who would follow this straight and narrow difficult path that leads to salvation. It is a way that demands that we be crucified to the world and its desires, dead to the flesh and its demands, so that we can be focused solely on God. The culture of this world cries out for justice. It demands vengeance, and it despises the forgiveness of God. It cries out for bread in the wilderness; and when it is not satisfied with bread, it demands meat. It ignores the radiant Presence of God, and laments the fleshpots of Egypt. Nothing can satisfy its endless lusts for money, sex and power. In terror it refuses to even stand in silence and contemplate the abyss of death, ever trying to distract itself from the ultimate annihilation it so boldly preaches. This complete denial of death thus leads it to the kind of decadence that has overtaken us: greed, hedonism and licentiousness, which have led to gender confusion, depersonalization, and the loss of value of human life. A culture of hedonism leads only to the narcissism of a solitary individual, enslaved by his/ her lusts, using others for the gratification of the passions.

mother, oblivious to the suffering it will cause that very woman. It depersonalizes the child, as a fetus; while at the same time developing technologies to save nearly identical fetuses in troubled pregnancies. The criterion is not the life of the child; the criterion is simply the desire of the parent: whether the parent wants the child or not. If so, no expense is spared. If not, it is a useless bother, a mass of flesh to be excised like a tumor. What is left, however, is a lifetime of regret, guilt, self-hatred and self-loathing. This is not just an act, but a state of sin. The last thing the world wants to hear about is sin. And if it refuses to admit sin, neither can it receive forgiveness. Often rightly it cries out against the injustice of the hypocrisy of judgment and condemnation by those who are righteous in their own eyes. But no matter how loud the outcry, the reality of the sin remains, the broken lives and broken hearts. What it needs is to hear the call to repentance, and to heed it. It is the bitter medicine that alone will bring healing. But it is only bitter in that it is the toxin that destroys pride, which is the cancer at the heart of the illness. The Lord Jesus cries out through the Church, Repent and receive the remission of your sins! Whether those in the Church heed it or not, it is this good news that gives hope. To receive it is an act of humility. To accept the message of repentance, to transform ones life in obedience to Christs teachings, is the means of life itself. It demands that we accept responsibility for our sins. But by accepting this responsibility, we overcome them and their effect through repentance. For having accepted responsibility for our own sins, we are no longer controlled by them, but rather, we gain control over our own lives. We can no longer live by following our mindless passions and desires; rather, we must live deliberately, in a disciplined way, denying the passions of the mind and of the flesh.

The Churchs discipline of life is strict, but ultimately, it is the path to true freedom. It is a path to salvation and sanctity, shown again and again in the The world validates abortion, the sacrifice of the life lives of the saints; it is the path to true personhood of an innocent child for the convenience of the and true maturity. Those who would try to change it,

so that it accords with the values and standards of the world, miss the point that the Churchs discipline, morality and life is not of this world, and calls us above and beyond it. The Churchs discipline, the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Apostles passed on through the Fathers, is not judged by this world, but in fact is the conscience of the world, judging the world. The Churchs discipline is the only way out of the morass of sin and brokenness, bitter self-enslavement and selfcondemnation, and cycles of abuse. The discipline of the Church brings us to freedom, because it not only is a code of behavior, but heals our souls, and allows us to give and accept forgiveness. This forgiveness, through repentance, cleanses and purifies, and allows us to accept ourselves and others without judgment. Thus, we are free! We live in Gods freedom, and the fullness of his love.

Thus, however we have sinned, we can be forgiven. Whether we have aborted a child, or consented to it, we can be forgiven. If we bear a child as a single mother, we can be accepted in the community of the Church with love. If we have judged and condemned others, and burn with resentment, we can be freed through repentance. No matter what we have done, no matter how broken we are or how completely we have messed up our lives, we can be healed, forgiven, accepted and loved. And then maybe we can forgive ourselves, and attain to that true freedom. The Lord said, My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. How true these words are! They are freedom and they are life. No matter how much the world has pulled us down, how deeply it has had us in our grasp, if we accept this light burden and easy yoke of the discipline of life through repentance, He is faithful to forgive us our sins. And thus with Christ and in Christ, we overcome the world.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son, Who are in the bosom of the Father, True God, source of life and immortality, Light of Light, Who came into the world to enlighten it: You were pleased to be conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary for the salvation of our souls by the power of Your AllHoly Spirit. O Master, Who came that we might have life more abundantly, we ask You to enlighten the minds and hearts of those blinded to the truth that life begins at conception and that the unborn in the womb are already adorned with Your image and likeness; enable us to guard, cherish, and protect the lives of all those who are unable to care for themselves. For You are the Giver of Life, bringing each person from non-being into being, sealing each person with divine and infinite love. Be merciful, O Lord, to those who, through ignorance or willfulness, affront Your divine goodness and providence through the evil act of abortion. May they, and all of us, come to the life of Your Truth and glorify You, the Giver of Life, together with Your Father, and Your All-Holy and Life-giving Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Saturday February 11
We need your surplus treasures! Time to start bringing them to the church hall.

Prayer Requests

Rev. Father Philip Azoon Rev. Deacon John Karam Rev. Seraphim Michalenko Rev. Basil Samra Rev. Peter Boutros Rev. Deacon Bryan McNiel Rev. Deacon Irenaeus Dionne Rev. Father David White

Parish Calendar
January 29 Youth Meeting February 1 Vespers for the feast of the presentation 7PM 2 Divine Liturgy for the Feast 7PM 11 Rummage Sale 19 Cheesefare SundayIce Cream Social and beginning of Great Lent
Sacrificial Giving 1/15/2012 Candles Weekly Monthly Holyday $ 6.00 $ 416.00 $ 65.00 $ 25.00

Marie Abda Marie Abda Marie Barron Joseph Barron Mary Sue Betress Chris Carey Nikki Boudreaux Dr. Frances Colie John Colie Margaret Dillenburg

Mark Dillman Karen Haddad Kimberley Herman Karen Kane Niko Mayashairo Mary McNeilly Marie Patchoski Theodore Petrouchko Jr. Ruth Sirgany

All those Serving in our Armed Forces The Christian Community in the Middle East

The Weekly Quiz

The angel of the Lord said to Hagar, "Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands." Who was the mistress of whom he spoke? Esther Rebekah Sarai Job's wife Last Weeks Answer Q. Just before Jesus was betrayed, he prayed to the Father, that those which had been given to him would be... A. be as one.