Today’s Readings:
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14
Schedule of Services:
Thursday, September 14th, Divine Liturgy at 10am for the Exaltation of the Cross.
Saturday, September 16th, Vespers at 4pm.
Sunday, September 17th, Divine Liturgy at 10am. Hours begin at 9:40am.
Announcements:
-Thank you Valli for hosting coffee hour today.
-Many years to Brendan Allatta! This past week he began a residency choir directing program at St. Tikhon’s Seminary. Please keep Brendan in your prayers as he continues to do such good work for the life of the Church.
-Our Parish Picnic will be held at the Cordasco’s on Saturday, September 30th at 2pm. We will hold Vespers at the Cordasco home on that day. An attendance sign up sheet is posted on the freezer. If you would like to bring something, vegetarian dishes or desserts are most welcome. Please sign up by September 20th, so the Cordasco’s can prepare accordingly.
-We will hold our monthly Memorial Prayers for the departed at the Parish Picnic.
-The Lopes family will be received into the Orthodox Church on Sunday, October 1st—the Feast of the Protection of the Theotokos.
-There is a parish council meeting today.
-Steve W’s sister, Jane, passed away on Thursday, September 31st. Memory eternal! We prayed memorial prayers for her on Friday.
-This upcoming Thursday is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. We will serve Divine Liturgy at 10am.
-Fr. Tristan will be away to Boston following Liturgy on Thursday to attend Archimandrite Nikodim’s consecration as Bishop of the Albanian Diocese. Fr. Tristan will not be returning home until Friday, September 22nd, as he will then be in Washington D.C. Please contact our Dean, Fr. Gary Breton, if there are any emergencies. His contact number: 1-848-333-7055.
-Fr. Dn. Corrado will be leading Diaconal services this upcoming weekend. Therefore, our weekend schedule is as normal.
-Since there will be no bulletin next week, please note the weekly blitz for any possible new information, and please see the website for any information needed from today’s bulletin.
-We will hold services, as normal, on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of September.
-Please text Robert Fisher at (609) 306-4714 if you would like to visit or are able to bring him to church. He is now residing at 47 Lincoln Ave., Lambertville, NJ
Prayers for:
Departed: Jane, Elizabeth
Living: Nicholas, Nicholas, Karen, Steven, Paul, Archpriest Paul, Melissa, Stephen, Michele, Janet, Teresa, Irina, 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:
Let them push you, but do not push; Let them crucify you, but do not crucify. Let them insult, but do not insult. Let them slander, but do not slander. Be meek, and do not be zealous in evil.
(St. Isaac the Syrian, Homily, 89)
As fire is not extinguished by fire, so anger is not conquered by anger, but is made even more inflamed. But meekness often subdues even the most beastly enemies, softens them and pacifies them.
(St. Tikhon of Zadonsk)
Next Week’s Readings:
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 4:6-15. Brethren, For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
Gospel: Matthew 22:35-46. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,“‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.