Advent ~ Climbing the Mountain

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have to constantly remind myself that we are still in the season of Advent and that the Christmas Season does not start until the 24th of December. Yesterday did not help as I completed the decorations in the Church. We have now transformed our temple to be ready to welcome the Christ Child.
At the end of Great Vespers last night, I reminded the people present that Advent is a journey, a journey towards to the birth of the King of Kings. Advent is like climbing a mountain. I have never climbed a mountain before but I know it takes a slow steady pace to get to the top. You need to stop every so often so catch your breath and admire what is around you. This is hard to do in our material driven world and I believe that is why it is so important to slow down during this season and take a look at what is around you.
Christmas without Advent would be like Easter without Lent! I have tried to remind people what the reason for the season really is. It’s not just about giving gifts; it’s about giving the gift of love. Maybe this is the year you call your brother and repair that relationship. Maybe this is the year you call your son or daughter and tell them you are sorry. Or maybe, just maybe, this is the year you return to Church and repair your relationship with God!
Last night we were treated to a concert by the Mission Choir of St. Tikhon Orthodox Seminary in Pennsylvania. They took us on a journey of Orthodox liturgical music through the centuries and through the countries where our American Orthodoxy comes from. At the end they sang a few “songs of the season.” Christmas has been revealed to us, very slowly, during the services this Advent season. The journey has not ended; in fact it has just begun.
We are almost to the top of that mountain, we can see it from time to time as we turn a corner or two but we are not there yet. If we rush at this point we will be out of breath when we reach the top. Slow down and keep a steady pace and we will reach the top together and we will have breath left to worship the Christ Child.
Happy Advent and Happy Journey!

Busy Days

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well yesterday was the first day of the 30 (40) days of blogging that I did not blog.  Last night I kept saying. “I need to Blog” but alas it did not happen.

The last few days have been a whirl wind of activity and today promises to be just as busy.

Thursday was the twice a month Community Meal that we serve here in Parish Hall.  This is an amazing ministry and I continue to be amazed by what we are able to do.  We served 70 people here and made many news friends.  So the day started with a trip to the store for supplies and then a meeting with representative from the Worcester County Food bank, then cooking for all those folks and the meal itself.  The day ended with a meeting of what I am now calling the steering committee and plan for the future of the meal.  We will be adding a third week starting in January.

I met with the Food Bank folks so we can partner with them to be able to provide more for less.  Food Banks are amazing places and if it was not for them we really would not be able to do what we do.  Well, I should not say that because we have been doing it without them for two years, but this relationship will enable us to do more.  The best part was I found out then contract with local farmers to provide seasonal produce to meals such as ours, so starting in January we will be providing fresh LOCAL produce at our meals.  I am very excited about this!

Yesterday was another long day.  As clergy we are asked to do many things ministry related.  I happen to serve on two boards.  One at the Holy Trinity Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Worcester and the I also serve of the Board of Orthodox Christian Fellowship, the Orthodox Campus Ministry program.  The twice a year board meeting of OCF was held this past week at the Seminary in Brookline.  I was not able to attend on Thursday due to the meal, but I drove out early Friday morning for the second day of meetings.  I have to say that OCF is a wonderful organization.  We have a new Executive Director and she is doing an amazing job.  Campus Ministry is extremely important and I am very happy to be part of it.

After the board meeting I met with the 4 seminarians I have the privilege to supervise in their Nursing Home Field Education program.  This really has been a blessing this semester to be able to give back and help with guys preparing for ordination.  This was our last session for the semester and I am looking forward to starting up again next year.

Tonight we have the Mission Choir from St. Tikhon Seminary in South Caana, PA coming to sing at Great Vespers and then sing a concert for us.  I have been looking forward to this for weeks, but what has to be done to get ready is going to be another full day of activity.

So sorry for no essay yesterday and I am going to try to get back on track! 

Blog

30 November ~ Feast of St. Andrew the First Called

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Today the Christian world celebrates the Feast of St. Andrew the First Called of the Apostles. This is an interesting feast day for me since it brings two parts of my life together. St. Andrew is, of course, the patron of Scotland but he is also the patron of Romania.
Biblical accounts of St. Andrew have him being the first one that Jesus called to follow him. We learn that he then went off to his brother, St. Peter, and told Peter that he had found the messiah and to come and see for himself. Well we know the rest of the story. At the end of his life, St. Andrew was crucified on an “X” shaped Cross in the City of Patras on the Northern coast of the Peloponnese. Legend has it that St. Andrew asked to be crucified on the Saltire rather than the Latin cross because he did not deem himself worthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus had been.
The Official Position of the Romanian Orthodox Church is that St. Andrew came to the area around the Black Sea and converted the Daco-Romanians. Because of this St. Andrew has been called the Enlightener of the Romanians and remains one of the patrons of Romania.
Far more famous than his relationship to Romania or any other place is the St. Andrew’s patronage of Scotland. I find it interesting that this is the patronage that is far more well-known and he actually never set foot in Scotland!
The legend is that in 832 AD, Oengus II led the Pictish army against the Angels. The night before the battle he prayed that if granted victory in the battle he would name St. Andrew as the patron of Scotland. In the morning the clouds formed and “X” shape which emboldened Oengus and he was victorious in the battle and won the day. Oengus kept his word and proclaimed St. Andrew the Patron and Protector of Scotland. The Scottish flag depicts the white “X” against a blue background in honor of the vision of that day. The Scottish flag is commonly known as the Saltier.
St. Andrew’s connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod of Whitby, (664 AD) when the Celtic Church felt that Columba had been “outranked” by Peter and that Peter’s brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland’s conversion to Christianity by Andrew, “the first to be an Apostle”.
Last night we served the Vespers service in honor of St. Andrew. I placed the icon in the center of the church on the icon stand covered with a tartan cloth in honor of his patronage of Scotland. During the vespers we chanted the following hymns in his honor:
O all-wise Andrew,
when the all-holy Word became incarnate,
bringing life and salvation to all the earth,
you hearkened to the voice of the Forerunner
and were the first to follow Him.
You were offered to Him as the first fruits of the human race.
You revealed Him to Peter, your brother.
Pray that He may enlighten and save our souls!
Leaving behind your fishnets, O Apostle Andrew,
you caught men with the net of your preaching.
Throwing to us the bait of righteousness,
you delivered all nations from the depths of error.
Apostle Andrew, brother of Peter the primate,
all-glorious and never-failing intercessor,
may the celebration of your memory enlighten all who dwell in darkness!
Let us praise Andrew, the preacher of the faith and servant of the Word,
for he has drawn men out of the abyss,
fishing with the Cross instead of a rod;
lowering a powerful line,
he leads souls up from the deception of the Enemy,
offering them to God as an acceptable gift.
O faithful, let us praise him, with the choir of the disciples of Christ,
that he may intercede with Him,
to have mercy on us on the Day of Judgment!
Having found the First of things desired,
Who in compassion was clothed with our nature,
O Godly-wise Andrew,
you were united in ardent desire with your brother.
You cried out: “Come, let us find Him Whom the Prophets preached in the Spirit!”
Let us enchant both soul and mind with His beauties,
that, being illumined by His brightness,
we may banish the night of delusion and the darkness of ignorance,
as we bless Christ, who bestows on the world great mercy!
Your preaching gives light to godless nations,
glorious vessel of the ruler of the sea.
Your wisdom calms the stormy waves.
You are the salt of the earth, seasoning us with incorruption,
silencing the ravings of clever orators.
By his prayers, deliver us from the proud ones of the earth, O Lord,
grant purity to our hearts and salvation to our souls!
We honor you in songs, Apostle Andrew,
brother of Peter and disciple of Christ,
fisherman and fisher of men;
you shaped all dogmas with the wisdom of Christ.
As fish are lured into a net,
so you caught transgressors with the bait of truth.
Through his prayers, O Christ, grant us peace and great mercy!
Andrew, first-called of the Apostles,
and brother of the foremost disciple,
entreat the Master of all
to grant peace to the world,
and to our souls great mercy!
Holy St. Andrew Pray for Us!

Gift Giving

Posted on by Fr. Peter
In yesterday’s post I went on about consumerism and we have lost the true sense of what Christmas is all about. It’s less about the gifts and more about expressions of love after all that is what the entire Nativity is all about. Jesus was born so that we might live! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) As a side note this is the most often quoted verse in the Bible.
Last night a friend contacted me via Facebook message. She is too shy she says to comment in the open, I think not! Anyway she said a tradition that her family has used is that they limit their gift giving to three gifts each, one for each of the three gifts that the Magi brought to Jesus when they came to worship Him. I had never heard of this before and I think it is wonderful tradition.
It reminds us that this holiday should be less about the gifts and more about the meaning behind the Christmas Season. Besides the story of Jesus being born we also have the story of St. Nicholas. Not the red suit, white bearded, cookie eating Santa Clause, but Saint Nicholas. The story is told that he was paying the dowry for three impoverished young girls. He threw the bag of coins in the window as he passed by the house. No one knew who this was until years later. St. Nicholas not only gave a gift of gold but he gave the gift of compassion and mercy by helping these girls that would have faced a life of terrible service.
We can learn much from this story. It is not about the gift but about the love behind the gift. Maybe limit your gift giving to three gifts this year, as my friend is doing, and with the remaining funds support the local food bank or buy a gift for the Toys for Tots program. I always say that we need to support the local charities but you can also look on a global scale by supporting the work of Heifer International or other such programs. We need to teach of children the true spirit of Christmas and not just the materialistic part.

Restless Night

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I am usually able to fall off to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow last night was not one of those nights.
We had a wonderful worship experience at Church and then and even greater Parish Council Meeting. We are making plans for the future and expanding our ministry to the working poor in Southbridge and the surrounding communities. This is a ministry that is very dear to my heart and I am glad to see it expand. More on that latter.
The Patriots won their game against the Eagles so the day end on a high as it began. Then I watched 60 minutes. I am not what one would call an avid watcher of 60 minutes, I tune in now and again but last night it came on after the game so I watched.
The first story was called “Hard Times Generation: Families Living in Cars.” As I understand it 60 minutes has done stories like this in the past and this was sort of a follow up. CBS does not allow their video to be imbedded in the blog so follow the link above to watch. Please take a few moments to watch.
During the piece it was reported that 1 in 4 children in the US live in poverty. This stat is based on the Federal Poverty Level. Not the best gauge to the real problem but it is what we to use at the present time. I say it is not the best gauge because it is based on outdated information but until we update the calculation it is what we have.
The family profiled in the story last night was a dad and his two kids, living in a truck. According the scale on the page of the Health and Human Services the Poverty Level for this family would be $18,530 per year. Not much to live on with two kids. This really started to bother me. I am not concerned with the politics of all of this because as far as I am concerned neither party is willing to make a difference they want to use issues like this to get re-elected. Don’t get me started.
After the segment was over I posted on Facebook about the 1 in 4 and a flurry of comments started and a good conversation took place. This is why I really like Social Media. Then I did a little research and found that $11.4 billion was spent on Black Friday! By all accounts charitable giving has decreased in the US over the last few years understandably because of the economy. When people are out of work they tend to give less. But to me spending $11.4 billion on stuff whilst 1 in 4 lives in poverty seems a little off balance.
So I went to bed with all of this swirling in my head. I blame 60 minutes, you will be hearing from my lawyer! Only kidding. So I decided to look at Southbridge, since I cannot change the world I need to look at home first.
According to the census of 2010 the population of the Town is 16,719 with 7,077 households. The per capita income in Southbridge is $18,514 13% of families and 15.4% of the population lives below the poverty level. Of that number 25.8% are under 18 and 10.2% are over 65 (the most vulnerable populations). That’s almost 2,600 people if my math is correct!
Maybe it is just me but it would seem that our priorities are upside down. On Black Friday we heard stories of woman pepper spraying people in a store to get an item, there were shooting, riots and other such idiocy for what? Stuff, stuff that will break or be forgotten about in less time then you stood in line for it. Someone on Facebook said that all of this helps the economy. Well sure, there will be tax revenue but as far as the economy goes, most of this shopping was done in big box stores that do not manufacture their goods in the US. So did we help the economy, yes, in China!
This all leads to a much larger conversation about morality and priorities and where we are headed as a nation. I fear we are spinning out of control and getting deeper and deeper in personal debt. How much of that $11.4 million was put on credit cards? How much of that $11.4 million was spent by people who really cannot afford it? Giving is wonderful and a great thing to do but not if it will continue to enslave us to “the company store.”
I will continue this in future posts like what is the real meaning of Christmas but for now my head is cloudy and I need to clear it and think more about the children living in the truck, which really disturbs me. We can afford to spend more than a billion dollar a day on two wars that we can never win, but 1 in 4 live in poverty. For the record I am no fan of more government programs and we will for sure discuss that more.
What is the real meaning of giving? How about just giving of time to your family and being thankful for what you have now. Is there really that much of a difference between a video game bought last year and one bought this year?
I have a lot to think about.

Tis the Season

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Well here it is the weekend after Thanksgiving and the holiday season is in full swing. Oh how I remember the holiday traditions of my youth, the pepper praying at the mall, leaving the family Thanksgiving table to go spend the night outside some store to buy something that will break by the day after Christmas, the business of the season! Getting so deep in debt on stupid stuff that your home gets foreclosed on, you can’t buy memories like that.
Well those are not actually my memories but the ones that are happening today. Every year I try and tell myself that I will not get all upset with the materialistic people out there but each year it happens. It is so sad how we have replaced the beauty of the season of redemption with the season of not only keeping up the Jones’ but making sure your toys are bigger!
By all accounts millions of people went shopping on “black Friday.” I wonder how many of those people got themselves deeper in debt with their purchases. Do we even know what the word moderation means?
Today’s Gospel comes to us from St. Luke and the story of the rich young man. We have read this story before from another Gospel but it seems to fit very well today. The rich man asks Jesus what we much to follow Him. Jesus replies to keep the commandments and then lists them. The young man replies that he has done this, and Jesus tells him to go and sell all that he has and give to the poor, and the man goes away sad for he was very rich.
Okay all you Occupy people settle down, Jesus is NOT talking about redistribution of wealth here, he is talking about what is keeping us from following God. We approach God, and take His hand and follow Him but we cannot do that if our hands are full. We need to drop what we are holding before we can take His hand. What is keeping us from dropping what we are holding? In a word, PRIDE! Pride is the root of all other sins.
Now there is nothing wrong with having pride and taking pride in a job well done, but when the focus is on us and the job “I” have done then it becomes prideful. Pride is what led to the fall of our first parents, pride is what led to the flood, pride is what kept Moses out of the promise land, and pride is what lead to… you fill in the blank. Pride is when we think we know better than God what is good for us.
Last week in my sermon I said in our world today we have replaced the “we” with the “I” we have stopped thinking of the other and thinking about ourselves. Back to the pepper spray. The woman who pepper sprayed her fellow shoppers so she could get the item was not thinking of others, she was only thinking of herself. She replaced the “we” with the “I” and her pride took over.
We cannot serve two masters; we cannot serve God and our own pride! We need to crucify our pride every day and ask God to help us deal with this. Nothing good has ever come out of pride!
Let’s look at another aspect of pride in this story. Jesus tells the man to love God and love his neighbor. Pretty simple and a very good summation of the law, no this does not mean that the rest of them are gone. Not only can we not serve God when our hands are full, we cannot serve our neighbor when our hands are full! How can we help our neighbor up when we do not have an open hand to help them? Once again, the “I” over the “we”. It is not suggested that we do this, help our neighbor, we are commanded to do it!
Our world is spinning wildly out of control. All of us need to stop and take a long look at what we do and why we do it. We need to take a long look at our relationships and how we treat people and we need to take a look at our material possessions, do they control us? How can we hold all of this in our hands and be able to reach out and take God’s hand. You can’t! And if you think you can, that’s your pride plain and simple.

Prayer of St. Ambrose before Communion

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Tomorrow, the Roman Church, in the English speaking world, will used the Revised Roman Missal at all of their Liturgies.  This is the long awaited “corrected” English translation of the Roman Liturgy.  It is nice to see that some still believe that fidelity to the faith is an important thing.

I noticed that the book contains several “new” old prayers of the Church.  One of those is the prayer of St. Ambrose before Communion.  This is a wonderful prayer by this wonderful 4th century saint of the Undivided Church.  Below is the version of this prayer from the book, “Orthodox Prayers of Old England” by St. Hilarion Press.  I thank my friend Huw for this book.

I beseech Thee, Lord Jesus Christ, by the most holy Sacrifice of Thy Body and Blood, wherewith we are fed and given drink every day in Thy Church, are washed and sanctified, and are made partakers of Thy single and most high Divinity: Grant me Thy holy virtues, so that, filled with them, I may approach unto thine altar with a good conscience, and so that these heavenly, holy Mysteries may be my health, salvation, and life.  For Thou hast said with Thy holy and blessed mouth, “The bread that I will give is my Flesh, for the life of the world.  If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live forever.  And he that eateth Me, liveth because of Me” (Jn 6:51,57).

O most sweet Bread, heal the palate of my heart, that I may come to know the sweetness of Thy love.  Cure it of all inaction, that it may know no sweetness save Thee, seek no love save Thee.  O whitest, most radiant Bread, possessing every delight and every taste of sweetness, Who ever nourishest us upon Thee and Thyself art never diminished, allow my heart to feed on Thee, and with the sweetness of Thy savour let the bowels of my soul be filled.  The Angel feedeth upon Thee with a full mouth; suffer mankind on pilgrimage to feed upon Thee according to his measure, lest he who hath been rejuvenated by such a Viaticum, mayhap, should faint upon the way.

O holy Bread, living Bread, fair Bread, pure Bread that dist come down from heaven and givest life to the world, (Jn 6:51) come into my heart and cleanse me from every defilement of flesh and spirit.  Enter into my soul; heal and sanctify me within and without.  Be the defence and continual safety of my body and soul.  Let all evils depart straightway from the presence of Thy majesty, so that I, outwardly and inwardly armed, may arrive by the right path at Thy kingdom, where we shall see Thee, not in mysteries as it is done at this time, but face to face: when Thou shalt deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, and as God Thou shalt be all things to all men.  For then Thou wilt fill me with Thyself, to a wonderful fullness, so that I will neither hunger nor thirst for ever.  Amen. 

The Passing of Fr. George Papadeas

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Most of you that read these pages will have never heard of the name of Fr. George Papadeas but we all owe him a very large debit of gratitude.  Fr. George is the first one, I believe, that translated the Holy Week book, affectionately known as the quarter pounder, into English.  This was no simple task but one that I am grateful he took the time to do.

Fr. George will rank up there in the collective memory of Orthodox in the English speaking world along side of Isabel Hapgood for giving us the Liturgy and other Liturgical books in the English Language.

With all of the works now available to us in English it is hard to think of a time when these books did not exists.  We need to be profoundly thankful too pioneers like Fr. George and others who made it their mission to provide these works in English.

Based on information in his obituary, he was the first Greek Orthodox Priest ordained in the United States!  He also founded two mission parishes.  He bridged the gap between Greek speakers and non Greek speakers and was able to grow the church in ways that would not have been possible.

Please take a moment and read the obituary of Fr. George.  May His Memory be Eternal!

Thanksgiving

Posted on by Fr. Peter
“O benevolent and beneficient God: When you sent the Word of truth and the sanctifying Spirit into this world, you revealed the great mystery of your godhead. So now, on this, the beginning of another Thanksgiving holiday, and as the darkness of night overtakes us, teach us how to be truly grateful for all we have been given. Let the brilliance of your divine light illumine our lives and lead us to know, love, and serve you in the Spirit and the Truth of Christ. For you are indeed our God, and we give you glory, three divine persons, eternal in glory, one God, incomparable in majesty: now and forever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.” (From New Skete’s Thanksgiving Vespers)
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