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.

3. Thank you all that came out for Fr. Michael’s farewell barbecue. Fr. Michael will be making his way back to Australia next week. Please keep him in your prayers. It was a joy and a blessing to have him visit our mission and pray with us and hear his words of encouragement for us.

4. Mother’s Day is fast approaching. In honor of that, 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.

5. On the Sundays that follow Holy Pascha we have our Provody or Graveside services. On these Sundays, the priest will go out to the cemeteries, do a Panakhyda/Litia service during which the deceased members of that congregation, of that cemetery are commemorated. Growing up, I always had mixed feelings about it. It meant that the service would go longer, that we would have to drive to the cemetery, it would be hot, and I would just want to go home. But then my baba would give me a plastic bag and I would make my way with my sister and we would go and get “goodies” from the different memorial offerings: cookies, candies, fruit. It was almost like…Orthodox trick or treating.

As I have “matured” (I know, I couldn’t even write that with a straight face), and have had
the opportunity to serve these services, I have a real deep appreciation for the spiritual and emotional importance of these services.

The Holy Orthodox Church teaches that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the body. We are against cremation.

If anyone wants to know how we, as Orthodox Christians, are to understand death, the value of the body, all one has to do is attend the services of Great Friday, the commemoration of our Lord and Savior’s death. Christ’s body is taken down from the Cross with great care, His body is wrapped in linen, anointed with tears, placed in a new tomb.

The Orthodox Church has unequivocally taught since Christ’s crucifixion that the proper way to treat the dead is a reverent burying of the body in the ground, in the context of a proper funeral and prayers for those who have fallen asleep in the Lord. We are called to be imitators of Christ, to live as Christ did, and that includes His death as well. We follow the template that Christ established with His own death.

And like the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb to anoint Christ’s body, to pay respect to one whom they loved, we too return to the cemeteries and pay respect. We pray for those who no longer can pray for themselves. That is true love. That is how we honor those who have passed away. That is how we keep their memory alive, keep on loving them. We pray for them and ask our Lord and Saviour to grant them peace.

Graveside services are a communal event. It should be attended by all the members of a parish regardless if you have a deceased family member resting in the cemetery or not. We join with those who have lost someone dear to them and by our presence and our prayers we pay respect and testify to the victory of Christ over death.

Answer to last week’s question:
True or false: In Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel, Jesus says He is the light of the world? True. John 9:5

This week’s question:
What sin was Jesus condemning in His parable about the Pharisee and the tax-collector?

See you in church.

In Christ,

Fr. Evan

The Way of the Cross – April 25, 2005