Today’s Readings:
Epistle: Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2
Gospel: John 1:43-51
Schedule of Services:
-Wednesday, March 8th, Pre-sanctified Liturgy at 6:30pm.
-Saturday, March 11th, Great Vespers at 4pm.
-Sunday, March 12th, Forgiveness Sunday: Divine Liturgy at 10am. Hours begin at 9:40am.
Announcements:
-Thank you, Nellie, for hosting coffee hour today! God bless you!
-Our Lenten Retreat begins at noon on Saturday. It will conclude with Great Vespers at 4pm. Perhaps there are still a couple of food items that need to be prepared for the Retreat. Please consider signing up to bring one. We will be having guests. Thank you!
-A reminder that the weekend after our Retreat, Fr. Deacon Corrado will be presenting at St. Mark’s Orthodox Church in Wrightstown, PA, for a Retreat entitled “The Face of God?” The retreat is from 10am to 3pm. The address: 452 Durham Rd. Wrightstown, PA 18940.
-The flyer for the Deanery Mission Vespers for our Diocese is downstairs near the side door.
-Thank you to those of you who donated clothes and food items for the victims of the earthquake in Syria and Turkey. Mila has delivered all the items. We are very grateful for her willingness to make the trip! Thank you!
-As we embark on our Lenten Journey to Pascha, we can commit as to how we are going to give ourselves to God, his Church, and to our neighbors. For today, aside from simply fasting, we can ask ourselves, “What things can I limit myself to during this time?” That could be anything from extra coffee to how we spend our time on the internet or in front of the television. Are there habits we could build that could take place of some of those things—like prayer, a good book, a walk, a spiritual book, or the reading of Scripture? May we keep in mind that Great Lent is given to us to re-orient ourselves to our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prayers for:
Departed: Anne Marie, Richard, Archpriest Daniel
Living: Archpriest Nicholas, Steven, Nellie, Paul, Melissa, Helen, John, Stephen, Michele, Janet, Teresa, Irina, Alla, Ira, Victor, the child of God, Gideon; the servant of God, Brendan; 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:
In the Christian life, temptations and tests or trials of our spiritual condition are necessary, and since our life, like the furniture of a house, becomes covered with various stains, it is necessary to clean it. In order to test the hardiness of certain objects, such as silver, instruments are required. In a similar way, in order to test the state of the soul, other people are required, like for like, who, willingly or unwillingly, intentionally or unintentionally, show us by their conduct, in a manner apparent both to ourselves and others, whether we are obedient to God’s commands declared to us in the Gospel or not. Thanks to other people, we see whether we live according to the spirit, mortifying in ourselves the desires of the flesh, or according to the flesh, being obedient slaves of the will of the flesh and of canal thoughts and passions. In this way we—recognizing that we are not living according to the will of God, not fulfilling the commandments of our Sweetest Savior, but according to our own sinful and blind will—can quickly amend our lives and zealously follow the commandments of the divine Gospel.
St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ
Next Week’s Readings:
Epistle: Hebrews 1:10-2:3. And,“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end. And to which of the angels has he ever
said,“Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard.
Gospel: Mark 2:1-12. And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”