Newsletter Sept. 16, 2022

St. James Parish News

September 16, 2022
Feast of the Great Martyr Euphemia

Spiritual Quote

Whoever will not love his enemies cannot know the Lord and the sweetness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us to love our enemies in such way that we pity their souls as if they were our own children.
– St. Silouan the Athonite

Work Day

Hopefully this is the one last one for this summer (and there is no rain this time…): next Saturday Sept. 24. (9:00 AM)

Name days, Birthdays and Anniversaries

Nathanael Vidaurri – Birthday: 09-22
Silouani King – Nameday: 09-24

May God grant you many years!

Upcoming Feasts / celebrations

Wednesday September 7
5:30 PM Divine Liturgy
6:45 PM Spirituality class
Nativity of the Theotokos
Thursday September 8
5:30 PM Divine Liturgy
Elevation of the Cross
Wednesday September 14
5:30 PM Divine Liturgy
6:45 PM Catechumens class
Saturday September 17
10:00 AM Men’s Group
Tuesday September 20
6:30 PM Women’s Group
Wednesday September 21
5:30 PM Divine Liturgy
6:45 PM Spirituality class
St. James Feast Day
Sunday October 23

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

Prosphora

September 18 Tadros (Vidaurri)
September 25 Tadros
October 2 Yadlowsky
October 9 Majors

Readers

September 18 Nate Sunday after Elevation of the Cross Gal. 2:16-20
September 25 Thomas 15th after Pentecost II Cor. 4:6-15
October 2 Christos 16th after Pentecost II Cor. 6:1-10
October 9 Isaac/Micah 17th after Pentecost II Cor. 6:16-7:1

Scripture Readings for this coming Sunday

Epistle: ST. PAUL’S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS 2:16-20

Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Gospel: MARK 8:34-38; 9:1

The Lord said: “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life? For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.

Spiritual Reading

The Zeal of the Forerunner
Hieromonk Gabriel

It is especially necessary for us — the Christians of the latter days — to honor and emulate the holy zeal of the Forerunner, since so many of us are all but overwhelmed by spiritual lukewarmness, laziness, and acedia. But it is also necessary to consider precisely what kind of zeal is set before us today, for there are also those of us who are beset by “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2). Indeed, it can be one of the great temptations of the modern age to forget the great truth spoken by St. Joseph of Optina: “Zeal that desires to uproot all evil is in fact the very worst evil.” So what can we learn from the Forerunner about that true and holy zeal, which is both wise and well-pleasing to God?

It is precisely such joyful love — the joyful love that caused St. John to leap within his mother’s womb at the sound of the Mother of God’s voice, the joyful love that drove him to a lifetime of deprivation in the desert, the joyful love that caused him to lay down his own life in attempting to bring a sinner to repentance, the joyful love with which he preached the coming of Christ even to those in hades — it is this and nothing else that is the genuine mark of true and godly zeal. For as the Apostle says: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance… they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22-25).

Read the entire article:

The Zeal of the Forerunner

V. Rev. Mark Haas
St. James Orthodox Church
2610 S.E. Frontage Rd.
Fort Collins, CO 80525
970.221.4180
This entry was posted in Newsletters 2022. Bookmark the permalink.