Newsletter Jan. 6, 2023

I would like to create the opportunity to deepen / expand our spiritual life. I am going to start with a men’s group because there has already been some expressed interest. However, I am planning also to develop and start a similar group for Women. From the reading that I have been doing in this regard, it is clear that men and women experience and express their spiritualtity differently and that it is there beneficial to both that unique settings exist for both. I need to hear input from all of you. Please help me discern and formulate what these groups will function / look like. Let me hear from you!

I have set (tentatively) dates for the initial informational meetings. The initial Men’s Spirituality Group meeting will be Monday January 9 at 6:30 PM (at Church). The initial Women’s Spirituality Group meeting will be Tuesday January 17 at 6:30 PM (in conjunction with the monthly Women’s group meeting).

Please remember that our full calendar continues to be available at our parish web site. Here is a link:
http://stjfc.org/Pages/Calendar/calendar.php

Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2023 web.pdf

Full schedule:
https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2023.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS 4:7-13

BRETHREN, grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (in saying, “He ascended, ” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Gospel: MATTHEW 4:12-17

At that time, when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth he went and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The Strange and Perverse Disinclination to Believe in a Miracle
Fr. Lawrence Farley

People today tend not to believe in Christianity precisely because it is a fairy tale come true. That is, some people feel about Christianity (if they ever come into contact with the real thing) that it is too good to be true. They all share what Rod Serling (another great writer) called “the common ailment of all men…the strange and perverse disinclination to believe in a miracle” (from his story The Big, Tall Wish).

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But, I further suggest, the common disbelief in the Christian message is not simply rooted in this common ailment of men to disbelieve something that seems too good to be true. The disbelief also often finds its origin in the way the Church proclaims its message.

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In a word, we have presented our message in a way which obscures it, and makes the shocking news of an incarnate, embattled God sound prosaic and dull. Consider, for example, some presentations of the good news.

The Church needs to recover its recognition of the scandalous nature of its message—the scandalous tale of an incarnate God that we rejected but who still loves us and calls us to join Him in joy. Living this message will not result in its followers becoming dull and respectable (like those who crucified their God), but alive and embattled (like their God Himself).

The message may appear too scandalous and unbelievable to some, but at least it will be recognized as news and (for many) as something new, despite the fact that the message has been around for two millenia. In proclaiming it we may encounter mankind’s strange and perverse disinclination to believe in such a miraculous tale. But we must share it with everyone anyway, because it is the only message that we have to share. It is the real message of Christmas.

Read the entire article:
https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/nootherfoundation/the-strange-and-perverse-disinclination-to-believe-in-a-miracle/