Palm Sunday

On Sunday, five days before the Passover of the Law, the Lord came from Bethany to Jerusalem. Sending two of His disciples to bring Him a foal of an ass, He sat thereon and entered into the city. When the multitude there heard that Jesus was coming, they straightway took up the branches of palm trees in their hands, and went forth to meet Him. Others spread their garments on the ground, and yet others cut branches from the trees and strewed them in the way that Jesus was to pass; and all of them together, especially the children, went before and after Him, crying out: “Hosanna: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, the King of Israel” (John 12:13). This is the radiant and glorious festival of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem that we celebrate today.

The branches of the palm trees symbolize Christ’s victory over the devil and death. The word Hosanna means “Save, I pray,” or “Save, now.” The foal of an ass, and Jesus’ sitting thereon, and the fact that this animal was untamed and considered unclean according to the Law, signified the former uncleanness and wildness of the nations, and their subjection thereafter to the holy Law of the Gospel.

Saturday of Lazarus

Yesterday we saw the final service of the Lenten season for the Orthodox, well almost the last service Palm Sunday is th e bridge between the two so I guess you could say it was the last. This is the Saturday that we recall the rasing of Lazarus. One of my favorite Gospel passages is read at this liturgy with the most amazing verse of all, “and Jesus wept” This shows his humanity and although he knew he was going to raise his friend from death he still wept for him I find this a truly amazing thing and will be the center piece of my sermon today.

Here is a little snipit from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese website on the Saturday of Lazarus:

According to an ancient tradition, it is said that Lazarus was thirty years old when the Lord raised him; then he lived another thirty years on Cyprus and there reposed in the Lord. It is furthermore related that after he was raised from the dead, he never laughed till the end of his life, but that once only, when he saw someone stealing a clay vessel, he smiled and said, “Clay stealing clay.” His grave is situated in the city of Kition, having the inscription: “Lazarus the four days dead and friend of Christ.” In 890 his sacred relics were transferred to Constantinople by Emperor Leo the Wise, at which time undoubtedly the Emperor composed his stichera for Vespers, “Wishing to behold the tomb of Lazarus . . .”

Brother of Mary and Martha and friend of Jesus we recall his raising from the dead. The troparion of the feast tells the entire story. Again from the GoArch Website:

O Christ our God, before Your Passion, You raised Lazarus from the dead to confirm the common Resurrection for all. Therefore, we carry the symbols of victory as did the youths, and we cry out to You, the victor over death, “Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. “

… to confirm the common resurrection of all. … we carry sysmbols of victory… Much of our theology is contained in this little verse that unfortunatly almost no one heard yesterday as the church was mostly empty. Could you not wait an hour with me?

Lazarus is symbolic of all of us and, as the troparion says, the common resurreciton of us all. The difference between the raising of Lazarus and that of Christ is very interesting. When Lazarus came forth from the tomb his head was still wrapped and for Christ is head wrapping was left behind. Lazarus remained covered because he was to die again. Not so for Christ as he will be raised of all of us.

Easter blessing to my family and friends of the Western Tradition and please pray for us as we enter the holiest of weeks on the church calendar. Pray also that one day we may truly be as the Creed states, “One”

Pastoral Letter of Archbishop Nicolae

PASTORAL LETTER FOR THE FEAST OF THE LORD’S RESURRECTION 2009

† NICOLAE
through the mercy of God
Archbishop of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in the Americas
To our beloved clergy and right-believing Christians,peace and holy joy from Christ the Lord,and from us hierarchical blessings.

Most Reverend Fathers,
Beloved Faithful,

Christ is risen!

On the morning of the Resurrection, following the reading of the Holy Gospel proclaiming the discovery of the empty tomb by the myrrh-bearing women and the angel’s explanation of the Lord’s rising from the dead, we sing the troparion Christ is risen from the dead…. We hear first the announcement of the historical event related by the first witnesses, the myrrh-bearers, and only then do we proclaim to one another the wonder of the Resurrection. The historical event takes on an eternal significance by means of this proclamation throughout the ages until the end of the world.

The Lord’s Resurrection is the feast of feasts and the holiday of holidays. We call this feast Holy Pascha, using the name of the Hebrew feast of Passover or Pesach, which means passing over. For the Jews, Passover meant the passage from Egyptian slavery to the freedom promised by God. This change was effected through an actual passing through the Red Sea, under the guidance of the Prophet Moses, after many punishments suffered by the Egyptians because of Pharoah’s hardness of heart. The last of these was the death of the firstborn males of the Egyptian families and the salvation of the firstborn of the Hebrews. This meant that the passage from slavery to freedom took place through suffering and human sacrifice because of a failure to understand the commandment of God.

The Savior’s Resurrection is also a passage; not simply a passage from one state of being to another, but one which shakes the very foundation of human nature, for it is the passage from death to life, as we witness in the songs from Resurrection Matins: Today is the Day of Resurrection! O nations, let us shine forth; for this Pascha is the Pascha of the Lord, in that Christ did make us pass from death to Life and from earth to heaven, who now sing the song of victory and triumph! Christ has taken us also from the bondage of sin to the freedom of being sons of God. Through His sacrifice on the Cross, Christ has gained our liberty, transporting us from earth to heaven. He set us free from the death of sin, which was the result of our alienation from God and our ignorance of His will, and he brought us into the life of communion with God which flows from the intimacy of being sons of God by grace. Christ descended into the deepest abyss of earth, into the darkness of death, in order to bring to the light those who awaited redemption, liberation from the bonds of hell, and eternal life. This is the first passage accomplished through the Resurrection of Christ: man’s passage from the death of ignorance and estrangement from God to the life which flows from communion with God.

The second sense of the Lord’s Resurrection as passage refers to the abolition of death as the failure of human existence, as the seal of sin, of man’s separation from God. Witnessing Christ’s Resurrection from the dead, we affirm that the death of the believer no longer means the end of earthly life, but passage from this life into one of more perfect communion with God. Earthly life is not terminated in the grave; the Christian does not pass into nonexistence as unbelievers say, but passes into another life. It is about this meaning given to death, as a passage, that the Church Fathers speak when they talk about the remembrance of death as a call to mindfulness and to keeping God’s commandments. St. Anthony the Great says, Death, if one keeps it in mind, is immortality; but to not keep it in mind is death.

But there is yet another sense of the Lord’s Resurrection as passage. St. Paul the Apostle speaks about this to the Christians in Corinth: Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. (1 Cor. 15:51-53). Our passage from death to life will be completed at the end of the ages, when the dead will rise, and those still alive will be changed. This is a change of our bodies, their passage from corruptibility to incorruptibility, from death to life. St. Paul speaks very clearly about the changing of our bodies and their being clothed in incorruptibility. At the end of the ages, when the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God (1 Thess. 4:16), the soul will be reunited with the body and together they will present themselves at the judgment. And this passage, this transformation of the human being at the end of the ages is a proof of the Savior’s Resurrection. For St. Paul continues the revelation of this mystery: When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”(1 Cor. 15:54-55). The victory of life over death brought by Christ will be fulfilled thus at the end of the ages, when the body and matter will be clothed in immortality.

Beloved believers,

Through the Resurrection, Christ gives us the opportunity to attain immortality, eternal life. Through baptism, each of us receives this gift. The entirety of Christian living has as its purpose the cultivation of this gift. The gift of the Resurrection works a gradual change, a progressive passage of the Christian from death to life. The passage will be completed, in the words of St. Paul, at the second coming of the Lord, at the resurrection of the entire creation. My challenge to you at this glorious feast is that we may receive the revelation of Holy Scripture regarding the Savior’s Resurrection, and our own resurrection as passage, in several stages, from death to life; that we may receive the gift of the Resurrection and make it operative in our lives; that we may proclaim to everyone that because of the Resurrection of Christ we too will arise to true life.

The year 2009 is an anniversary year, for 80 years have passed since the founding of the Orthodox Episcopate for Romanians in America. Let us ask the Risen Lord to grant us the wisdom and power this year to complete the plan of uniting the two Romanian Orthodox Eparchies on the North American continent. And let us bear our own witness to the fact that the gift of the Resurrection is functioning and fulfills all things that are necessary for our salvation.

May Christ the Lord grant you the light of His Resurrection together with His peace and the joy of proclaiming to the world the triumph of life over death!

With a brotherly embrace in Christ the Risen Lord, I wish you Happy Holidays!

Christ is risen!

Your brother in prayer before God,
† NICOLAE
Chicago, the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection, 2009

Update on Mom

If you follow me on either Twitter or Facebook you know that yesterday afternoon I received a call from my father that my mother had yet again gone to the hospital. She had gone to the doctor for a follow up to a procedure she had earlier in the week and was not feeling well so the doctor had her sent to the emergency room.

I just got off the phone with her and she is home and feeling a little better. She is having trouble standing on her own two feet for very long and they told her she needs to drink more water and eat regular meals. So the mending begins.

Thanks to all for your prayers and this shows why facebook and twitter are such great tools. In a moment of hearing the news I posted and I got word that people were praying. Odd thing is just before I posted my friend Huw posted about his dad having a heart attack and he did the same thing and in an instant prayers were being said all around the world. This is why I belong to all of these social networking sites. Keep those prayers for Huw’s dad Walter and my mother Barbara if you would.

Collect for Good Friday

Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Prayer Book Office

Maundy Thursday

Collect for Maundy Thursday
Almighty Father, whose dear Son, on the night before he suffered, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood: Mercifully grant that we may receive it thankfully in remembrance of Jesus Christ our Lord, who in these holy mysteries gives us a pledge of eternal life; and who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer Book Office
Readings for Maundy Thursday

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14

Giving During Lent

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you know that today was foodshare radiothon day here in the Village. Once a year we turn the radio station over for a 12 hour radiothon raise money for the local food pantries in our area. We serve an area of about 20,000 people and so far this year, keeping in mind that the year is only finished the first quarter, the food pantry in Southbridge alone had feed 1,500 people. They are on track to service more than 6,000 people this year alone. All of the food pantries are staffed by volunteers and there is very little overhead.

I was amazed at some of the stats that were being mentioned during the day today. It costs $.16 for a pound of food at the Worcester Food bank and that $5.00 will feed a family of four for five days. Imagine $5.00 for five days that is incredible!

Well today the organizers were a little nerveous about what was going to be collected. With the economy the way it is it was not looking good. The contributions began coming through the door and the phone was ringing but not like in years past. Everyone was working hard and at the end of the day at 6:00pm the final tally was $23,000 raised for the food pantry! Simply Amazing!

That is only the beginging and we will get the final tally in a few weeks as donations keep coming in through the mail and what not. But a big thank you to all who participated in anyway. If you live in the Southbridge area consider making a donation to foodshare and send it to the Catholic Charities building on Elm Street. If you don ‘t live in the Southbridge area consider making a donation to the food pantry in your local area.

God Bless All of You!

Food Share Radiothon

Today is Food Share day at the radio station. We will stay on the air for 12 hours from 6am to 6pm and raise money to keep the food banks open in the area. We need to raise about 20k this year as the need is great.

So far this year the food pantry has feed well over 1000 people, that is only for three months! They are on track to feed more than 6,000 people this year. We need your help, I need your help.

I am challenging my readers to call into WESO 970am at 508-909-0970 and donate some fund, give us a dollar give us a can of soup give us anything and pray for us as we move through the day. Call and listen live at www.fatherpeterlive.com

Thanks and when you call tell them you read Fr. Peter’s Blog. Do it!

Wednesday of Holy Week

 
The Collect of Holy Wednesday
 
Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Prayer Book Office
 
Lectionary Readings for the Wednesday of Holy Week

Isaiah 50:4-9a

 
 
 

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