Newsletter November 1, 2024

The first Saturday in November (tomorrow) is the feast day of St. Raphael of Brooklyn. Liturgy at 9:00 AM.

Well, we made it back to Church for Liturgy on Wednesday evening, and there was no water at all at Church… I spent this morning on the phone with the City of Greeley and working at Church. We now have some water pressure… Enough, I think, for use to be able to use Church.

Sorry to be so mundane: but please bear this in mind when using the water and facilities. Please be mindful to leave time for the toilet tank to refill… If we can avoid flushing sometimes, it will leave more water available for the next use…

The Christian Approach to Crises, Part Two

Question: In your book “Words from the Heart,” page 63, you say, “The weakness of a family’s spiritual life makes it more fragile and prone to fracturing by any blow.” To what extent should we focus on developing spirituality in human life, especially in the family, so that it becomes able to avoid crises?

Answer: The spiritual weakness of the family is unfortunately the core of its problem. All or most of the attention is focused on raising children for what is believed to be the best upbringing for earthly life: food, sports, study, etc. Neglected is the spiritual or other-worldly dimension; and I mean by that how the Christian lives on this earth in order to continue his full life in the kingdom of heaven. This, which we call “eschatological theology,” is often absent, and we need this to focus on raising our children from childhood.

Read the entire article: https://www.antiochian.org/regulararticle/2224

We will celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Baptism next Sunday (Nov. 10) for the newly born handmaid of God Adelaide G. in place of Sunday Orthros. The Batism will begin at 8:45 AM. All are encouraged to attend!

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

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Prosphora/Docs/prosphora sched 2024 web.pdf

Full schedule: https://stjfc.org/Pages/Ministries/Altar/Docs/epistle readers for 2024.pdf

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS 11:31-33; 12:1-9

Brethren, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for ever, knows that I do not lie. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands. I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven — whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise –whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows — and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. Though if I wish to boast, I shall not be a fool, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Gospel: LUKE 16:19-31

The Lord said, “There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazaros, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazaros in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazaros to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazaros in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses, and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to them, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’

Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask the Church)

Fr. Lawrence Farley

I chose the title because although the Church has its own teaching about sexuality, many young Orthodox Christians are afraid to inquire diligently about it for fear the Church will give unwelcome advice. Which of course it will.

Particularly unwelcome is the Church’s teaching that sexual activity must be confined to faithful heterosexual marriage, and that so-called “casual sex” before marriage is sinful. Many if not most young people, including some raised in the Church, find this teaching simply incomprehensible. There is a genuine failure to understand the underlying rationale for the prohibition of pre-marital sex.

Taught by the prevailing and triumphant culture of their time, they can see nothing wrong with the notion of two consenting adults of whatever gender being sexually intimate with each other as long as no one “gets hurt”. It is assumed that as long as both consenting adults agree regarding the obligations or non-obligations arising from intercourse all is well and that no moral infraction is involved.

Read the entire article: https://nootherfoundation.ca/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-sex-but-were-afraid-to-ask-the-church