Holy Cross Mission Bulletin Feb. 28, 2010

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Just a few things:

4. Please get your perogie orders in.

5. Parish Executive meeting March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kitzul residence

6. Thank you to all that donated to our Haitian Relief efforts. Holy Cross has made a $685.00 donation to the Red Cross.

7. I want to share a quote with you from St. John of Kronstadt:

“When you are praying alone, and your spirit is dejected and you are wearied and oppressed by your loneliness, remember then, as always, that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun; also all the angels, you own Guardian Angel, and all the saints of God. Truly they do; for they are all one in God, and where God is, there are they also. Where the sun is, thither also are directed all its rays.”

Prayer is so vital to our lives on a spiritual, physical, emotional level. It truly is. We often refer to it as this personal dialogue between the individual and God, but as we can see in St. John’s quote, it transcends that. Prayer is a conversation with the Church Invisible, the Church Triumphant and through prayer, we are never truly alone. Fr. Anthony Coniaris writes, “There is a great sense of community in the Orthodox Church. Orthodox Christians never pray alone. We pray together with all the saints who have passed on. We pray not as individuals but as memebers of the body of Christ, i.e., the Church.” We pray with the Theotokos, the apostles, the angels, the martyrs, and the saints of all ages. They are present at every liturgy as depicted in the iconography of our Church.” Sometimes we may feel that our prayers fall on deaf ears and it can make us feel as if we are alone and insignificant. We must remember that we are not. Our prayers are heard and answered by God according to His will.

There will be moments in our life that we will face adversity, challenges, loneliness, despair and we will pray and ask God to take away these burdens. What we have to remember is that our prayers are not heard by God alone, but by the Church as a whole and that their voices are added to our prayers. That is why the Holy Orthodox Church does not teach prayer as a last resort, as a sign of weakness or desperation. Prayer is always our first response, it is a sign of our strength and depth of our faith.

Prayer is our boldest statement of faith. Everytime we pray we announce to those around us that we are Orthodox Christians who believe in the resurrected Lord. It is our statement that what is at the end of our Lenten journey, the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ actually happened. That Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the risen Lord.

Answer to Last week’s question:
What reply did Jesus give to the trick question posed by the disciples of the Pharisees and the Herodian? “Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” (Congratulations to Dennis L. for correctly answering)

This week’s question:
True or False? In Chapter 5 of John’s Gospel Jesus heals a man who had been ill for eight years.

See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – Feb 28, 2010
2010 Calendar