ST. N ICHOLAS WEEKLY BULLETIN February 18, 2018 This Week’s News
GREAT LENT begins tomorrow, Febru - ary 19th. THE WEDNESDAY PRE-SANCTI - FIED LITURGIES will begin on Wed - nesday, February 21st. We’ll be rotating the celebration of this Lenten Liturgy among our sister Orthodox Churches in the area. Plan on attending these serv - ices. Set aside your Wednesday evenings Cheese-Fare Sunday and use this as one way to spiritually Sunday of Forgiveness — The Casting out of Adam & Eve from Paradise prepare for Pascha. Each Liturgy will Apostolic Rding: Romans 13:11-14:4 • Gospel: Mahew 6:14-21 start at 6:00 pm. Check out the full Tone 4 • Mans Gospel 4 schedule in the Bulletin. ere is a “pot- luck” Lenten meal aer the service. e conclusion of the Divine Liturgy. e Contact Fr. Nick if you’d like to help pre - first PreSanctified Liturgy will be held adults can hold theirs high from the pare the meals or underwrite the costs. pew. We ask that parents bring their at St. Spyridon Cathedral OUR COMMUNITY SUFFERED THE children’s icons to Church to make the A PITA DOUGH ROLLING Session LOST this past week of two members. procession even more meaningful for will be held, THIS COMING SATUR - Dimitraq Lolo, husband of Vasilika them. DAY, February 24th, 9:00 am to noon. Lolo, and Raphael Masterjohn, father Questions? talk to Betty Anderson VESPERS AND CONFESSION will be of Christine Masterjohn. May our (508-756-4848) or Chris Toda, 508- held each Saturday evening at 5:00 pm good Lord receive them in his King - 832-6271. Also, let us know if you’ll be during Great Lent. Fr. Nick will be dom. available for confession each week aer available. Remember: ere’s a job for COFFEE HOUR SPONSORS ARE Vespers, and before Vespers by appoint - everyone! NEEDED for the coming weeks. Please ment (e-mail Fr. Nick) BRING YOUR FAVORITE ICON TO speak with Presvytera Maria if you CHURCH NEXT SUNDAY! Sunday THANKS TO THE MUSTARD SEED would like to sponsor one. February 25th is the Sunday of Ortho - VOLUNTEERS! ose who doxy. We’re asking the children of the cooked and those who served Dates to Remember Parish to process with Icons toward the the meal this past Friday! e Mustard Seed is a Catholic Sun, Feb 18 Cheesefare Sunday; Sun of Forgiveness Greete Tm 4: Worker home providing din - Mon, Feb 19 Great Lent beGinS ILIANA & S EAN FAHEY , ner to about 150 people in Wed, Feb 21 PreSanctified Lit at St. Spyridon 6pm DIMITRI SAFFRON & MACLYNN TROJAN need each day. We are also Sat, Feb 24 Pita Dough rolling, 9am - noon CHRISTOS &SPIRO SPYROU looking for donors to cover Wed, Feb 28 PreSanctified Lit at St. George 6pm Coffee Hour Cln-up: the cost of the meal—around Sat, March 3 Staff Orthodox Food Pantry, 9am-noon HELP NEEDED! P LEASE LEND A HAND $400.00 for the 200 meals we Sun, april 1 Palm Sunday (Western easter) usually serve. Our next All Altar Serve Invited Sun, april 8 Great anD HOLy PaSCHa scheduled meal is April 20th. 34 Gold Street, Shrewsbury, MA 01545-6238 Voice: 508.845.0088 Fax: 508.845.8850 e-mail: FrNick@ StNicholasChurch. org web: www. StNicholasChurch. org A Parish of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of the Americas WE OBSERVE TWO 40- DAY MEMO - Namedays RIALS TODAY: for the servant of God T Prayer of February 22 Marjeta Kristo, and for the servant of St. Ephraim e Holy Martyr Anthousa God Evanghelia , the mother of Ma- toula Bougouris. May the Lord rest Syrian and her 12 Servan ts their souls among the just! Anthi Eleeriou Feb ruary 24 TODAY’S COFFEE HOUR is spon - Lord and master of sored by the Lolo family in memory of St. eodore of Tyre Omy life! Dispel from Marjeta Kristo . eodore Belba UP-COMING me the spirit of discour - eodora Collins agement and slothfulness, Theodhoraq Lolo PRESVYTERA MARIA has been in - of ambition and vain talk! Teodor Nedelcu vited to speak at Sts. Anargyroi, Marl - eodore Peter Tonna borough, by the Enosis- Philoptochos eodore russell Tonna on Sunday, February 25th at 3:00 pm. nstead, give me the Derek Wilder She will be talking about her responsi - Ispirit of prudence and bilities as the Child Advocate of the humility, of patience and Commonwealth and her work on behalf A Prayer of Fr. Laurence of especially children in need. e con - charity. versation is open to all. Please mark LET uS PrAy TO THE LOrD , your calendars. es, my king and Lord, t times, O forgiving Lord, it Communi News Ylet me look at my own Ais difficult not to harbor TODAY IS MISSION SUNDAY . What sins and refrain from judg - grudges when we have been of - better way to approach our journey to - ing others: For you are fended by treacherous speech and ward Pascha than to pray for and sup - hurt by words that bruise our port the Church’s mission to share the blessed unto ages of ages. Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. pride. We desire to rid ourselves of with the world! On February 18th such feelings, but our own powers please say a prayer for Orthodox Mis - are not up to the task. Nor would sions and Orthodox Missionaries serv - we want, in any case, to rely solely ing around the world, consider volun - teering to serve as part of an Orthodox on our own strength. you yourself Mission Team, and support this eternal must give us what we need to pu - work of the Church with a gi to the rify our minds and hearts, to dispel Mission Center. For more information all these negative sentiments, lest or to get involved, visit the Orthodox Christian Mission Center ( OCMC) we perish for breeding and nurtur - website: www. ocmc. org, e-mail: mis - Holy Trini News ing them. sions@ ocmc. org, or call 1-877-463-6784. Holy Trinity has an opening for an Ac - For blest and glorified is your most tivities Director. Also, Holy Trinity Notre Dame Academy (Catholic, col - honorable and magnificent name, lege prep school for young women) is has an openings on all shi for RNs, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: now inviting seventh grade and transfer stu - LPNs and CNAs. For m ore informa - dents to spend an academic day at NDA tion: call Michelle Williamson at (508) and forever, and unto ages of ages. through May 1st. If you’re interested 852-1000, ext. 218 or e-mail: Amen. contact the Admissions Office at ad - mwilliamson@ htnr.net. Or, stop by missions@ nda- worc. org. Holy Trinity and fill out an application. Live Honorably, as in e Day omorrow we begin Great Lent. far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay fasting rules that present a similar spir - Te Scripture readings chosen for aside the works of darkness and put on itual challenge. this Forgiveness Sunday are meant to the armor of light.” (v. 11-12) e early St. Paul says: “Welcome those who give us some guidance as we set out. In Christians (St. Paul included) believed are weak in faith, but not for the pur - the Gospel of Matthew (6:14-21) the that the Lord would be coming again pose of quarreling over opinions. Some Lord tells us to forgive one another, as soon. In addition, everyone in these believe in eating anything, while the well as to fast with joy and in secret. In communities was a convert to faith in weak eat only vegetables. ose who eat the selection we read from St. Paul’s Let - Jesus Christ. Both the darkness they had must not despise those who abstain, and ter to the romans (13:11-14:4) we also re - le and the day drawing near were very those who abstain must not pass judg - ceive some sound advice on the proper palpable to them. It is hard to feel this ment on those who eat; for God has wel - way to approach the Fast. As a way to same immediacy for us who have grown steel the resolve of the roman Chris - up in the Good News of Jesus Christ. comed them. Who are you to pass judg - tians, he reminds them of the sleep and Nevertheless, part of our objective dur - ment on servants of another? It is before darkness from which they have ing Lent is to heighten and deepen their own lord that they stand or fall. emerged, and the day of salvation that within us the experiences of which St. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is draws every closer. He also counsels Paul speaks. able to make them stand.” (v. 14:1-4) them not to judge how and what people St. Paul next turns to how we should e first thing that strikes us is that eat — this is an echo from last week’s actually live now: “Let us live honorably the ‘weak’ are eating vegetables, and the reading from First Corinthians. as in the day, not in reveling and drunk - ‘strong’ are eating freely. Our fasting One of the powerful themes during enness, not in debauchery and licen - rules are the absolute inverse: the strong Lent, especially at both the beginning tiousness, not in quarreling and jeal - are those who abstain and the weak are and end, is the Lord’s return — His Sec - ousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus eating freely. Fasting is an important ond Coming. Not only did we hear of Christ, and make no provision for the spiritual discipline, but it is our own this in the last Sunday’s Gospel lesson, flesh, to gratify its desires.” (v. 13-14) It personal discipline. We fast not because but the same subject was also present in would be easy to interpret these lines as God needs our fasting, but rather be - all of the weekday readings during the St. Paul being ‘prudish,’ but this is not cause we need to change our focus from past two weeks. Many of these same the case. St. John Chrysostom says that our stomach and desires, to the deeper readings, as well as others on the Lord’s St. Paul is not speaking against normal Coming, will be read during Holy Week. partying, drinking, socializing or conju - reality of our love for God and His love As Christians we experience and gal relations. He is warning us against for us. When we are tied down to the live the reality of the Kingdom on two the excesses of these that lead us to per - things of earth, it is hard to ascend to - levels. e first is in the changed reality vert our true human nature — our na - ward Heaven. we now live because Jesus our Savior has ture in Christ. Because fasting requires us to be come. St. Paul reminds the romans of e fast is meant as a time for us to disciplined, it is very easy to fall into the this in the first part of the reading. e regain our sense of who we are and what sin of pride. We may feel our fasting de - second level is the expectation of the we are called to be. To “live honorably serves some recognition, by God and Lord’s coming-again. We await the great as in the day” is to embrace our true others. We can feel we are better than day of judgment when the Lord will selves — who God created us to be and those who do not fast, or, do not fast rig - come in glory. en everything and to which He calls us again. orously. But, “who are you to pass judg - everyone will be sorted out. is is the e second theme in this week’s ment on servants of another?” Our fast - Judgment spoken of in last week’s reading concerns judgment: forming ing is our own, something private Gospel reading. opinions about and criticizing others. between us and God. Our good works When we hear words like ‘sleep’ and He uses the same categories of ‘weak’ are our own, a secret between us and ‘waking’ or ‘night’ and ‘day’, these are and ‘strong’ as he did when writing to God. Our prayer is our own, the quiet used to give us a way to understand a the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 8:8ff). deeper spiritual reality: our movement is suggests that the matter of whether conversation we have with our Lord. from captivity by evil, to freedom in or not a Christian could or should eat But, may each of us grow together dur - Christ. So, St. Paul tells the romans: food offered to idols was being dis - ing this time of the Fast, and so be wor - “you know what time it is, how it is now cussed in Churches throughout the an - thy to see the Light of Christ’s resurrec - the moment for you to wake from sleep. cient world. While today we might not tion. For salvation is nearer to us now than face the question of food offered to when we became believers; the night is pagan gods, we do have the Church’s Fr. Nichos Aposto Expnaons from e Lenten Triodion
THE SUNDAY BEFORE LENT. e last of the preparatory Sundays has two themes: it commemorates Adam’s ex - pulsion from Paradise, and it is also the Sunday of Forgiveness. ere are obvi - ous reasons why these two things should be brought to our attention as we stand on the threshold of the Great Fast. One of the primary images in the Trio - dion is that of the return to Paradise. Lent is a time when we weep with Adam and Eve before the closed gate of Eden, repenting with them for the sins that have deprived us of our free commun - PRE-SANIFIED ion with God. But Lent is also a time when we are preparing to celebrate the LIRGIES saving event of Christ’s death and rising, 2018 which has reopened Paradise to us once more (Luke 23:43). So sorrow for our Wednesday, February 21, 2018 exile in sin is tempered by hope of our St. Spyridon re-entry into Paradise: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 O precious Paradise, unsurpassed in e second theme, that of forgive - St.George beauty, ness, is emphasized in the Gospel read - Wednesday, March 7, 2018 Tabernacle built by God, unending ing for this Sunday (Matthew 6:14–21) St. nicholas gladness and delight, and in the special ceremony of mutual Glory of the righteous, joy of the forgiveness at the end of Vespers on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 prophets, and dwelling of the saints, Sunday evening. Before we enter the St. Mary With the sound of thy leaves pray to the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Maker of all: can be no true fast, no genuine repen - May He open unto me the gates which I tance, no reconciliation with God, un - St. nicholas less we are at the same time reconciled closed by my transgression, Wednesday, March 28, 2018 And may He count me worthy to par - with one another. A fast without mutual Sts. Anagyroi take of the Tree of Life love is the fast of demons. As the com - And of the joy which was mine when I memoration of the ascetic saints on the previous Saturday has just made clear to dwelt in thee before. Each Liturgy of the Presanctified Gis us, we do not travel the road of Lent as will begin at 6:00 p.m. e faithful Note how the Triodion speaks here not isolated individuals but as members of should prepare themselves for Holy of ‘Adam’ but of ‘me’: ‘May He open unto a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from our fellow me the gates which I closed’. Here, as Communion in the usual way: prayer, men but link us to them with ever throughout the Triodion, the events of fasting, almsgiving, and regular confes - stronger bonds. e Lenten ascetic is sacred history are not treated as hap - called to be a person for others. sion. ere will be a modest ‘pot-luck’ penings in the distant past or future, but lenten meal offered aer the Liturgy. as experiences undergone by me here and now within the dimension of sacred People are encouraged to bring some - time. thing to share with others.