Today’s Readings:
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:2-12
Gospel: Matthew 18:23-35
Schedule of Services:
Sunday, August 27th, Divine Liturgy at 10am. Hours begin at 9:40am.
The Upcoming Feasts:
Friday, September 8th, Divine Liturgy at 10am for the Nativity of the Theotokos.
Thursday, September 14th, Divine Liturgy at 10am for the Exaltation of the Cross.
Announcements:
-Thank you to the Bartoshs’ for hosting coffee hour today.
-There is a new coffee hour sign up sheet located on the freezer for the months of September and October.
-Please text Robert Fisher at (609) 306-4714 if you would like to visit or are able to bring him to church. He is at Country Arch Care Center, 114 Pittstown Rd., Pittstown, NJ.
-Please consider donating to the Building Preservation/Rectory Fund. Sign up is located on the bulletin board. All donations are appreciated.
-Don’t forget the needy. Shop Rite gift cards or non-perishable foods are greatly appreciated.
-Fr. Tristan will be attending his sister-in-law’s marital engagement ceremony in Massachusetts this weekend. He will be out of town from Wednesday to Sunday. Please welcome Fr. Kieth Andrew Lowe next Sunday, as he will be our substitute priest. If there are any emergencies, please contact Bill Cordasco, and he will contact Fr. Tristan.
-There will be no Great Vespers this upcoming Saturday.
Prayers for:
Departed:
Living: Nicholas, Nicholas, Karen, Steven, Paul, Archpriest Paul, Melissa, Helen, John, Stephen, Michele, Janet, Teresa, Irina, Alla, Ira, Victor; Vinni, Caroline, Tyler, and Aubrey, Metropolitan Onuphry and the faithful of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; the suffering people and innocent victims of the Ukrainian/Russian war and those being persecuted; the suffering people of Yemen, Syria and Turkey, and Palestine.
Words for the Day:
Happy is the man in whom there is love for God, for he bears God within himself. The one in whom there is love is with God, above all things. Whoever has love in himself does not fear. He is never mad at anyone, nor does he exalt himself above anyone. He does not calumniate anyone, nor does he listen to the calumniator. He does not compete with anyone, is not jealous, does not rejoice in the fall of another, does not slander the fallen, but sympathizes with him and helps him. He does not disdain his brother who is fallen into need, but helps him and is ready to die for him. Whoever has love fulfills the will of God.
(St. Ephraim the Syrian, Spiritual-Moral Letters)
Orthodox Christians must steadfastly remain in Orthodoxy, preserve oneness of mind with one another and unhypocritical love, guard purity of soul and body, reject evil and unclean intentions, temperately partake of food and drink, and above all adorn themselves with humility, not neglect hospitality, refrain from conflicts and not give honor and glory in anything to earthly life, but instead await a reward from God: the enjoyment of heavenly goods.
(St. Sergius of Radonezh, Life, 32)
Next Week’s Readings:
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. Brethren, Now I would remind you, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—
unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Gospel: Matthew 19:16-26. At that time, a man came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”