Just a few things:

1.  Great Vespers at 5:00 p.m.

2. Divine Liturgy this Sunday:  9:30 a.m. hearing of Confessions and the reading of the Hours.  Divine Liturgy: 10: a.m.  Following the Divine Liturgy, we will be celebrating the Holy Baptism and Chrismation of the servant of God, Mason Lowing.  You are invited to stay, share your prayers, and celebrate this joyous and happy day for Mason and his family.

3.  Forgiveness Vespers – 6:00 p.m., Holy Trinity Metropolitan Cathedral. This year all the parishes of the Winnipeg Deanery are invited to celebrate this beautiful and humbling service together.

4. Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 13, 6:00 p.m. Holy Trinity Metropolitan Cathedral. All children are to bring an icon to participate in the procession of the holy icons.

5. Fundraising: Mom’s pantry products.  Order deadline date is March 13th.  Holy Cross makes about 40% commission off of the sales.  So talk to your friends, your families, your neighbors.

What is the last book of the Old Testament?

Just a few things:

1.  Great Vespers at 5:00 p.m.

2. Divine Liturgy this Sunday:  9:30 a.m. hearing of Confessions and the reading of the Hours.  Divine Liturgy: 10: a.m.

3. Fundraising: Mom’s pantry products.  Order forms will be available this Sunday.  Order deadline date is March 6th.  Holy Cross makes about 40% commission off of the sales.  So talk to your friends, your families, your neighbors.

Holy Trinity Cathedral is hosting a video presentation on the saints.  Each session will begin with a video of Orthodox priests and iconographers discussing the lives and significance of incredible saints. This will be followed by a discussion and fellowship.

Monday, January 31 – 7:00 pm

Monday, February  7 – 7:00 pm

Monday, February 21 – 7:00 pm

Location: Holy Trinity Cathedral Auditorium
5.   On February 13th is the beginning of the Lenten Triodion.  Our journey to Holy Pascha, the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ begins.  It begins with the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee.  It is a Sunday that tells us that the journey to that Feast of Feasts begins with what is probably the most difficult of tasks:  learning to be humble, learning to shed our self-righteous delusions.

That being said, I wish to share a story with you:

In September 1994 the Associated Press reported on a demonstration by Indian farmers in New Dehli, India.  They were protesting the government of India’s plans to import three million tons of Dutch dung to be used for farm fertilizer.

Why? asked Indian farmers.  There is no shortage of cows in India.  And dung from Indian cows would not be tainted by pesticides.

So in protest, about 100 Indian farmers rolled six ox-carts piled high with top-quality, home-grown dung right up to Parliament.  Presumably they got the legislators’ attention.

Our dung is better than their dung. That is a claim that resembles the pride of the self-righteous person: I am more righteous than they are.

“The seventh virtue is humility and the humility of wisdom.  Humility of heart without labor saves the old, sick, humble, poor, uneducated man.  For its sake all sins are forgiven.  It leads up a man from the very pit of sin.  Through humility of wisdom all the nets of the enemy and his plans are destroyed, and it enroots the spiritual life and preserves it from fall.” St. Pasius Velichkovsky

Answer to last week’s question:

Who is the only disciple whose is recorded in the pages of the Bible?

The Way of the Cross the Cross – February 13, 2011

Just a few things:

1.  Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m.  Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

2.  Dormition Fast begins on August 14 and goes until August 28.

3.  The Holy Sacraments of Baptism and Christmation of Sanchira Elena Maximiuk will be celebrated on August 14th.  Please keep her in your prayers.

4.  I found an article written by Fr.  Vladimir Berzonsky.  I would like to share part of it with you for the simple reason that in a few short weeks, the new ecclesiastical year will begin for the Holy Orthodox Church.  The Liturgical Cycle begins anew.  Within our various parishes the church schools will begin again, church organizations will be back from their summer hiatus, the pews in the churches will be a bit fuller because the holidays are over.  Fr. Berzonsky’s article is title, “Attributes of a Perfect Church”.  Let’s take a look at them.

“St. Paul set forth the attributes of the perfect Church.

They are people who are devoted to one another: “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” [Romans 21:10] When we read this, how does it resonate on the conscience of each member of the community we call Church?

These are people who can say of their fellow parishioners that they: “Honor one another above [them]selves.” [Romans 12:10] It means that each member in good standing holds all others in the congregation above themselves. They feel it an honor to be part of such a community of believers. Does this really happen?

It’s mandatory to dwell in harmony with one another: “Live in harmony with one another.” [Romans 12:16] It means that nothing is as important as to preserve peace among the family of Christ. Of course there are differences of opinion in the parish — everybody understands that — but they also realize that without the peace of God that passes all understanding, their Eucharist is hollow because their relations are shallow and worldly, not godly.

Love one another: “Let no debt remain outstanding except the debt to love one another.” [Romans 13:8] Until we can realize the order from the Divine Liturgy: “Let us love one another that with one accord we may confess…Father, Son and Holy Spirit…” as Jesus said, we are talking nonsense when we say we love God. Here the expectation is that by the time we approach heaven, we have made love a way of life.

Accept one another: “Accept then one another, just as Jesus accepted you.” [Romans 15:7] To accept is to realize there are differences, and yet they do not prevent us from forgiving. The French say: To understand is to forgive. Acceptance is not approval — not even tolerance. It is compassion.

Serve one another: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature. Rather serve one another in love.” [Galatians 5:13] Is this not the meaning of foot washing? What more powerful an example can there be than the Son of God washing the feet of fishermen? Are we above the Master?

Forgive one another: “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” [Colossians 3:13] You will be stopped and forbidden entry into heave if you come with a grudge defiling your soul.

Encourage one another: “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” [I Thessalonians 5:11] We are ordered to build up the confidence and to reinforce the positive images of all your sisters and brothers in Christ. There’s no place for a downer or defeatist in Paradise.”

So, the attributes are devotion, honour, dwelling in harmony, love, acceptance, service.  These are the defining qualities of a church, of a congregation.  It is not how beautiful the choir is, not how amazing the icons are, not how many perogies you sell at the Friday night all you can eat perogy supper.  It is not the size of the membership list or the number of committees.

It is a group of people, inspired by the example of and the teachings of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, coming together and making the attributes St. Paul describes a reality.  That is how we are to explain/define what our Holy Orthodox Church is all about.  It is a place of devotion, honour, dwelling in harmony, love, acceptance, service and it is the continual pursuit of these attributes that must be at the heart of every action a church takes.

Answer to last week’s question:
In Matthew’s Gospel, which two women were the first people to see Jesus alive again?  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary.  (Congratulations to Alexis who answered correctly.)

This week’s question:
When Jesus said, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which psalm was He quoting from?
See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – August 15, 2010

Just a few things:

1.  Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m.  Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.

2.  This year, to honour our fathers for Father’s Day, Holy Cross will be making a special collection towards our building fund.  Donations can be made in memory of our fathers who may have passed away, are still with us, or are possibly fathers to be.  The collection will be made on June 20th.  We will also serve the Litany for the Departed at this service for our beloved fathers who have fallen asleep in the Lord.  Please pass along those names to Fr. Evan at this service so their names may be commemorated.  Those of you who would like to support Holy Cross but live outside of the city can mail your donation to Holy Cross Mission, 29 Dysart Road, R3T 2M7.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.

3.  On June 20th will also be the Manitoba Marathon.  That means we have to take an alternate route to get to St. Andrew’s College as University Crescent will not be accessible for us.

Go to Dalhousie Dr., follow along to Silverstone Ave., and then turn left onto King’s Dr. and follow it to the campus. Turn right once you get onto the campus and follow along until you come to St. Andrew’s College.  I think we should alter the running route and have them come through St. Andrew’s College.  Who is with me?  It isn’t mischief or vandalism if we change a few signs or turn a few arrows around…think of it as “creative evangelism”.

4.   I was reading a booklet of essays by Fr. Dumitru Staniloae, a noted Orthodox writer called Prayer and Holiness.  I wish to share a few excerpts from his essay “Pure prayer, or prayer of the heart, and obstacles in the way”.

“Pure prayer is concerned with the reuniting of the mind (nous) and the heart.  Neither mind nor heart can be allowed to remain alone.  Prayer that comes only from the mind is cold; prayer the comes only from the heart is sentimental and is ignorant of all that God has given us, is giving us now and will give us in Christ.  It is prayer without horizon or perspective, prayer in which we do not know what to thank God for, what to praise Him for, what to ask Him for.  The man who prays in this way has the feeling of being lost in an impersonal infinity.  Such a feeling knows nothing of encounter with a personal God.  And thus it is not prayer.”

“We must also be quite clear that this meeting between mind and heart is not brought about by the ascent of the heart into the mind, but by the descent of the mind into the heart.  In other words, it is not in the mind that the heart finds rest; but it is in the heart (or rather where the depths of the heart meet the depths of God) that the mind finds the rest for which it is searching.”

“In the heart it finds the infinity of God.  It is not the heart that comes to rest in the mind, for that would mean that the feeling of the infinity of God had become a theory, chilled by thought.  It is not feeling that must be chilled by thought, but thought which must warm itself in the feeling of the heart in real contact with the infinity of God, and thus give this feeling a different content.”

Answer to last week’s question:
In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times.  What was the second name? I am THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

This week’s question:
In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times.  What was the third name?
See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – June 13, 2010

Just a few things:

1.  Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m.  Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.  This Sunday is also kid’s sermon.  We tried to do it last Sunday, but, um…we didn’t have any kids in attendance.  So we will try this Sunday.

2.  Thank you to all that donated to the Thelma Wynne Project.  We collected a lot of items that I know will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your generosity.

3.  Parish Meeting after the Divine Liturgy this Sunday.

4.  As some of you may or may not be aware, July 12-18 is the Sobor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada.  Every 5 years delegates from the parishes of the UOCC gather together to map out the course/direction for the next five years.  Resolutions are presented to give goals for the church as a whole to achieve.  There is sharing amongst the clergy, amongst the laity, and amongst the clergy and the laity.  Issues and concerns are addressed and at the end of the week, the course for the next five years has been plotted and by the grace of God, we will hopefully have smooth sailing.

One of the other big things that happens is that there is the election for the members of the Consistory Board, which is a governing body made of up of clergy and laity that work with the Hierarchy to implement those resolutions passed and guide the ship that is our Holy Church.

I have been thinking about leadership.  What we expect from those that we ask to lead us.  Do we have the right to be disappointed in those we choose if we ourselves elect said leader?

In Romans 12:8, St. Paul writes, “If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.” There are many different styles of leadership.  “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  “Lead by example.”  “A great leader puts his vision into action.”  Every on us has probably encountered someone who embodies one of these styles or we ourselves, if put into a position of leadership, we will exhibit one of these styles.

Our role-model for leadership is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  He never wrote a book on leadership.  Never elected to public office.  Never ran a company and even though he spoke to a crowd of 5000 people, our Saviour focused much of His attention on His disciples.  Christ really preferred to relate to people one on one.

Our Lord and Saviour, in preparing His Apostles to carry on His teachings after He was gone, was concerned about their ability to lead.  That is why one of the last things He told His Apostles was about leadership.  “Those who are the greatest should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant…” (Luke 22:26)

That is the greatest leadership principle…ever.  If you want to lead, you have to be ready to serve and realize, above all else, that the opportunity to lead is a blessing from God and to use that opportunity to build up the body of Christ on earth, His Holy Church.  Humility, patience, discernment, forgiveness and above all else, love.  Those are the qualities are the qualities to look for and more importantly demand that those who wish to take on a position of leadership in our Holy Church exhibit.  Ego, pride, delusions of grandeur our Holy Church can do without simply because the struggle to proclaim the Holy Gospel is hard enough without us sabotaging ourselves.

“If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.”


Answer to last week’s question:
In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times.  What was the first name?  I am THE BREAD OF LIFE.

In John’s Gospel Jesus gave Himself a name by saying “I am…” seven times.  What was the second name?

This week’s
See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – June 10 , 2010

Just a few things:

1.  Vespers at 5:00 p.m. this Saturday.

2.  Divine Liturgy: Hearing of confessions and the reading of the hours at 9:30 a.m.  Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m.  This Sunday is also kid’s sermon.  Yay!!!!!!!!

3.  In honor of Mother’s Day, Holy Cross will be collecting baby layette items for new mothers in need for the Thelma Wynne Project located in Winnipeg.  The Thelma Wynne Project has been in existence in one way or another for over 50 years. For much of that time it has been located within St. Matthew’s church building. Dedicated women from Anglican churches in the city make or collect items and then prepare layettes for newborns. The layettes are distributed through social agencies in the city to new mothers who need them. The project has evolved somewhat over the years but originally was started by Thelma Wynne after whom it is named.  The items are to be new and include:  diapers, blankets, sleepers, caps, booties, baby soap, lotions, etc.  Holy Cross will be collecting these items for the month of May until May 30.  You can bring your donation to Holy Cross on Sundays or you can contact either Fr. Evan or Sylvia Kitzul at 256-8370 and we can arrange a pick up.

4.  This Sunday is Holy Pentecost, or as I like to refer to it, Rider Sunday.  Why?  Because Fr. Evan gets to wear green and white vestments.  Woo-hoo.

I came across a quote by St. Gregory Nazianzus.  “So that by gradual increase…and progress from glory to glory, the light of the Trinity might shine upon the more illuminated…for this reason it was, I think, that He gradually came to dwell in the disciples.  He measured Himself out to them according to their capacity to receive Him:  at the beginning of the gospel, after the Passion, after the Ascension, making perfect their powers, being breathed upon them, and appearing in fiery tongues…”

I find the line “He meaured Himself out to them according to their capacity to receive Him” really interesting.  Each and every one of us is on an individual spiritual journey.  It is true that we come together in common confession of faith and belief that will shape our journey, that we can share that journey with family, with friends, but when all is said and done, the journey is a singular one.  Our Lord and Saviour is not only the Saviour of humanity as a whole, but is the Saviour of the individual.

The reason I make mention of this is that the spiritual journey that each of us is on is not always going to be easy.  There will be moments that we will feel that we are totally closed off from God, that our prayers go unheard, that we will feel that we have not deepened our spirituality, failed in our ascetic attempts.  And then there will be days that we will feel like the Apostles on Holy Pentecost, feel the power of the Holy Spirit, that we will be bursting with love and joy.

What we have to remember and hold onto each and every day of our life is that just as Christ Himself gradually came to dwell in the apostles, so to does Christ gradually come and dwell in us.  As we mature spiritually our capacity to receive Christ into our hearts grows.  There will be times in our life when our capacity to let Christ fill our lives will great, and there will times when it is not so great.  That is why constant prayer is so important.  Prayer is our asking Christ to be a part of our life because we are engaging Him, asking Him to fill us.  Holy Confession is so important.  It is realizing that we have filled our heart, filled our soul with so much sinful junk that we have made it impossible to allow Christ in.  Holy Confession is the emptying out of the bad to allow the good in.  The Holy Eucharist is so paramount to our spiritual health because it is the actual filling of the vessel that is us with Christ Himself.

What we have to remember is that it is progression.  Just as it was for the Apostles, so too it is for us as well.  I guess what I really want to say is, never get discouraged, never give up.  Christ is there, Christ is always there and He responds to our needs in the most perfect way, His way.

5.  Don’t forget!  Holy Cross has a newly designed webpage. Check it out.  You can download any missed bulletins.  Maybe make a collection of them.  Get them bound in fine Corinthian Leather or genuine Saskatchewan Seal Skin, gold lettering on the cover, and Fr. Evan will personally autograph each copy.  Our website is: www.holycrosswpg.ca Take a look, post a comment, let us know what you think.

Answer to last week’s question:
Jesus only once gave someone a name in His parables.  Who was it?  Lzarus the beggar.

This week’s question:
How many loaves of bread did Jesus use to feed the 4000?

See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – May 23, 2010

The Way of the Cross – March 14, 2010

Just a few things:

1.  Great Vespers are at St. Nicholas OCA, (5635 Henderson Hwy), 4:00 p.m.

2.  Divine Liturgy:  Hearing of confessions and reading of the Hours at 9:30 p.m.

3.  Passia Service: St. Michael’s, 6:00 p.m.

4.  Get your perogie orders in.  March 15 is the last day for perogie orders.

5.  This Sunday is the Sunday of St. John Climacus, or St. John of the Ladder.  St. John wrote a book called the “Ladder of Divine Ascent”.  In it he talks about 30 rungs of a spiritual ladder that stretches from earth to heaven that one must climb in hopes of attaining the Heavenly Kingdom.  I am not going to go through all 30 rungs.  I will do that this Sunday at liturgy.  So if you are free, please join us for our 7 hour divine liturgy.  (I am just kidding.  I can just picture my wonderful parishoners who read this saying, “Can’t he just talk about strudel instead?”)

I just wanted to make mention about one of the rungs.  I would just like to talk about obedience.  This is the fourth rung on the ladder.  St. John describes obedience as “a total renunciation of our own life, and it shows up clearly in the way we act.  Obedience is the burial place of the will…”

The reality is that unless we learn to be obedient, heaven is unattainable for us.  But what we have to remember is that obedience is not about fulfilling external rules in hopes of obtaining God’s favor and love.  The reality is that while obedience is good and is encouraged, obedience does not earn us salvation.  We are called to come to church, come to the sacraments, pray, fast, give, but there are many that do that only because it is something “they are supposed to do”.  They are obedient to the external rules because someone told them to be.

True obedience changes us and if we understand the true nature and purpose of obedience we don’t chafe under it, we don’t resist, we don’t revolt.  Obedience makes us ready to receive the love which God has already given to humanity in the His beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Disobedience placed us in the state we are in.  Only obedience will regain what was lost.

Why is obedience so important?  Because, as Fr. John Mack states, “Obedience is necessary because to obey is to cut off our self-will and pride.  To obey is to learn not to judge.  To obey is to practice patience.” Humanity fell due to self-will and pride.  Pride destroys us spiritually and the only cure for that is obedience because out of obedience comes humility.

It is okay to be humble.  It is okay to be obedient.  “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”  James 4:10 We are called during this time to fast, to pray, to give of alms.  But without humility, without obedience all of these actions will be empty.  That is why in the Sundays before Great Lent we hear the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.  At the heart of all of our spiritual actions must, I repeat, must be humility.  If not, we stand before God exhalted only in our own minds.

Answer to last week’s question:
Complete the fourth beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”  “…for they will be filled.”  (Congratulations to Alexis and Georgina for answering correctly)

This week’s question:
True or false?  In Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus is depicted as the water of life.

See you in church!

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

Glory be to Jesus Christ!

Just a few things:
1.  Great Vespers this Saturday will be at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church at 5:00 p.m.  Last Saturday was at Holy Resurrection Russian Orthodox Church and it was a fantastic turnout.  Please make every effort to come out and participate.

2.  Divine Liturgy at 10:00 a.m. this Sunday.  Reading of the Hours and the hearing of confessions will be at 9:30.

3.  Passia Service is at 6:00 at All-Saints Parish in Transcona.

4.  If you have not gotten your Perogy orders in yet, please do so as soon as possible.  Please get them into Sylvia Kitzul.

5.  Please see the bulletin for the schedule of services during Holy Week.  You will notice that I have stated on Holy Pascha that we begin at 5:15 a.m. with Paschal Matins.  Please don’t ask me when the Divine Liturgy will start.  Just show up at 5:15 a.m. and enjoy.

6.  So, this past Sunday was the first Passia service.  In Winnipeg here, it was held at the Metropolitan’s Cathedral.  Many of you who have been to that Cathedral, know that it is pretty big.  Seats, oh I don’t know, 800, maybe more?  So, even if you put 100 people in there, if they are spread out it can look…sparse.

We did not have 100 people at our passia service.  Maybe half that, maybe a bit less.  Here is what I don’t understand.  If you are in a church that big, and everything is happening at that front of the church, why are people still compelled to sit very far away and so spread out?  I don’t understand.  You could have driven a bus through the pews and no one would have been hit because that was how spread out they are.  One of my parishoners put forward that theory that maybe there is almost a barrier between what the priests are doing and laity who come for the service.  That maybe somehow, what we as clergy do is somehow “off limits” to the laity.  The clergy come out, all vested and that it can be, somehow intimidating.  That the laity are only there as observers and not as actual participants.  Sadly that is how many non-Orthodox view our church.  It is a church where there is no real involvement or investment made by the laity.  The priest stands up there and says everything, does everything, the choir sings the responses and the laity just sit there.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  Our liturgy is one hundred percent interactive, our services are one hundred percent interactive.  We pray together.  We worship together.  We commune together.  Liturgy comes from the Greek word Liturgia which means “the work of the people”.  So Divine Liturgy means the divine/holy work of the people.  There is no service without the people, there is no service without the priest.  Both are necessary.  And yet there is this disconnection, this barrier/separation.

To be honest with you, those that chose to sit that far back, I personally think it is rude.  I really do.  No one has yet to give me a good reason to sit that far back.  There are only two reasons I can think of why my parishoners would sit that far back.  One is that I am so incredibly handsome that they need to be that far back so that they will not be distracted by my devastating good looks.  Two, I am such a bad priest that they are always looking for the closest exit.  More than likely it is the second one.

I think sitting that far back is like being invited to someone’s house for a gathering/celebration and then spending your time avoiding and distancing yourself from your host and all the other guests.  For some reason, we have this tradition in our church that we fill the church up starting at the back instead of starting at the front.  But just think about it for a minute how much more connected we would be to the Liturgy, to each other if we did the opposite of what we currently do.  We sat up front, we sat together.

You want to be connected and interested in the liturgy, it doesn’t happen at the back of the church.  Maybe that is why I have always liked the smaller churches I have been blessed to serve in.  Everyone is close together, you can see the faces, see who has stayed awake during one of my boring and rambling sermons.  There is a sense of true community, of being a family when we make that effort to connect with the priest, with our fellow parishoners.  When we actually decide to sit closer to one another.

If you sit at the back of the church you attend, move up a pew or two.  It won’t kill you, honest.  If you sit up front, here is a novel concept: invite the person that sits at the back to come up front and sit with you and tell them that you want to sit with them and pray with them and share in the service with them.  Tell them that you want to share the best seat in the house with them.

Answer to last week’s question:
True or False?  In Chapter 5 of John’s Gospel Jesus heals a man who had been ill for eight years.  False.  The man had been ill for 38 years (John 5:5)

This week’s question:
Complete the fourth beatitude, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”

See in church!

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

Just a few things:

1. Great Vespers: Saturday 5:00 p.m., Divine Liturgy: Sunday 10:00 a.m., hearing of Confessions and the reading of the Hours 9:30 a.m.

2. Please bring your clothing donations for our Winter Clothing drive to Liturgy this Sunday. We will be making our donation this coming week.

3. Holy Cross will be donating it’s January 31 collection to relief efforts for the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Whatever you can give helps. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:35-40

4. If you wish to have your home blessed, Fr. Evan will be still doing them this week. Please contact him and arrange a time. He is housebroken and promises not to leave dents in the ceiling like he did at the Koop house. (I feel really, really bad about that) You don’t have to feed me or anything although, if you have strudel…

5. Holy Cross is taking perogie orders again. Please contact Sylvia Kitzul and get your orders in. Holy Cross is also looking for donations of flour as well.

6. Want to share something I came across in regards to this Sunday of the Prodigal Son: It is from an article written by John Kapsalis:

The Christian life is an endless sea sawing between redemption and downfall: between being ‘beloved’ and ‘unforgiven.’ Christ calls us to a perfection that seems so elusive. We know of God’s promises, but we still seem to go through life filled with anxiety and discouraged at the futility of it all. God’s joy only momentarily and occasionally breaks our dark moments. Our transformation to the person we want to be, and ought to be, is at best a dream to read about. Though we are often a shelter for the wounded, we can be, at times, so sheltered from the world’s suffering that our callousness becomes a stumbling block to others. And so we drift, and sometimes run away, from the One who is running to embrace us.

Henri Nouwen describes our human condition quite accurately and writes: “Yet over and over again I have left home. I have fled the hands of blessing and run off to faraway places searching for love! This is the great tragedy of my life and of the lives of so many I meet on my journey. Somehow I have become deaf to the voice that calls me the ‘Beloved,’ have left the only place where I can hear that voice, and have gone off desperately hoping that I would find somewhere else what I could no longer find at home.”

God waits for us, His ‘beloved.’ He wants to love us and care for us. He wants to make His home with us. God’s forgiveness clears the path for us to be with Him, to know Him and to be known by Him. But God expects our forgiveness of others to clear the path for them to know Him too. If God forgives us, shall we also not forgive? If God accepts us, even though we are sinners, shall we also not accept those who we consider sinners?

Answer to last week’s question:

To whom did Jesus say, “…with God all things are possible”? His disciples.

This week’s question:

Lazarus had two sisters. Martha was one sister. Who was the other?

See you in church,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – January 31, 2010 – PDF File
Feb 2010 Calendar