Today’s Readings:

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4

Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

 

Schedule of Services: 

-Saturday, September 24th, No Great Vespers at the Church.

-Sunday, September 25th, Divine Liturgy at 10am.  Hours begin at 9:40am.

 

Announcements:

-Our Parish Picnic will be held at Bill Cordasco’s house this Saturday, September 24th at 2pm.  We will celebrate Vespers and/or some kind of prayer service at his home at 4pm.  Bill’s address: 503 Stamets Road. Milford, NJ 08848.

-Please continue to donate Shop Rite gift cards and/or food items for the food pantry.  Thank you all for your continued generosity!

-On the freezer is a sign-up sheet for those who would like to sponsor a coffee hour after Sunday’s Liturgies.  If you can, please note that we are looking for sponsors for the month of October.

-We received a note of thanks from His Grace, Bishop Michael for the $250 honorarium we gave him during his visit, which he in turn donated to the Distinguished Diocesan Benefactors Program. The letter is posted on the bulletin board. Also, posted in the foyer are two gramotas that our parish received for our donations in 2020 and 2021.

-Please note that there will be no Great Vespers held at the church this upcoming Saturday.

-There is a council meeting scheduled today after Divine Liturgy.

 

Prayers for: 

Living: Melissa, Helen, John, Darlette, Steven, Janet, Teresa, Irina, Alla,                                   

Ira, Victor, Reader Christopher; the suffering people of Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, and Ethiopia.  

Departed: Matushka Anne, +Kallistos, +Herman

 

 

 

Words for the Day:

How mistaken are those people who seek happiness outside of themselves, in foreign lands and journeys, in riches and glory, in great possessions and pleasures, in diversions and vain things, which have a bitter end! In the same thing to construct the tower of happiness outside of ourselves as it is to build a house in a place that is consistently shaken by earthquakes. Happiness is found within ourselves, and blessed is the man who has understood this. Happiness is a pure heart, for such a heart becomes the throne of God. Thus says Christ of those who have pure hearts: "I will visit them, and will walk in them, and I will be a God to them, and they will be my people." (II Cor. 6:16) What can be lacking to them? Nothing, nothing at all! For they have the greatest good in their hearts: God Himself!
(St. Nektarios of Aegina, Path to Happiness, 1)

 

Pride does not allow the soul to set out on the path of faith. Here is my advice to the unbeliever: let him say, "Lord, if you exist, then illumine me, and I will serve you with all my heart and soul." And for this humble thought and readiness to serve God, the Lord will immediately illumine him... And then your soul will sense the Lord; she will sense that the Lord has forgiven her, and loves her, and you will know this from experience, and the grace of the Holy Spirit will be a witness in your soul of your salvation, and you will want to cry out to the whole world: "The Lord loves us so much!"
(St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, III.6)

 

Next Week’s Readings:

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 4:6-15. 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: Luke 5:1-11. On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.