Sunday Homily

Posted on by Fr. Peter
No homily to post this week. I have a guest preacher today so I get the week off. Today is National Fallen Firefighter Memorial Sunday and I am hosting the fire departments from the Towns of Southbridge and Dudley, Massachusetts. The chaplain from Southbridge will be preaching.
As a way of remembrance I thought I would post the firefighters prayer.

When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage;
Give me strength to save some life, whatever be its age.
Help me embrace a little child before it is too late
Or save and older person from the horror of that fate.
Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout,
And quickly and efficiently to put the fire out.
I want to fill my calling and to give the best in me,
To guard my every neighbor and to protect his property.
And if, according to my fate, I am to loose my life;
Please bless with your protecting hand my children and my wife.

The Rosary

Posted on by Fr. Peter
As a convert to Orthodoxy I still hold to some of the “old” catholic practices of my youth. Well not really of my youth but of mu younger days. I am speaking of the Rosary. A few weeks ago I began a search for how the Rosary figured in the history of the Orthodox Church. It seems that the Rosary is some for or another has been part of Orthodoxy for many many decades. So I have begun researching this and will be writing an article in the near future.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a talk given by Greg Willits of the Rosary Army Podcast in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Greg and his wife Jennifer have been running this apostolate out of thier home for a few years and they make knotted twine rosaries very much like our Orthodox prayer rope. They are faithful Catholic Christians raising a family in this crazy world. If you get a chance take a listen to their podcast. It was not long ago that we rejoiced in the news that Jennifer was pregnant with another child. In their last episode they announced it appears that the child did not survive and Jennifer had a miscarriage. Please pray for them as they come to grips with this news.
The talk was hosted by Fr. Jay Finelli another podcaster. As I begin to Podcast I start to listen to others to see what they are up to and it is nice to meet the folks from behind the microphone. We are all trying to convert the world and maybe bring a little sanity to this crazy world. Orthodox, Catholic it does not matter we are all in this together.

Busy Day

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Yesterday morning I was about to write a post about how busy the day was going to be when the door bell rang at 8:15am and the day began. We had a contractor come by to start the process of assessing the needs of the church heating system. I hope this will not be a long process as I am sure one of these days it will get cold here but for now we are all set.
Our problem is we have an old building with little or no insulation and a dome on the roof that is maybe two stories high. As well all remember from science class, heat rises, so I bet if I could get seats up in the dome it would be nice and warm up there. So we have the people who know what they are doing come and give us some help. So far things have been great. Watch for more information on that.
On Friday’s I usually head off to the Fire House for some lunch. I did my usual with a brief stop at town hall to pick up a permit for the function we have here at the church tonight. I spent a few hours with the guys talking about work place stress and then I returned back to the office to clean off my desk. I don’t know why I say that as it never gets cleaned off. I seem to just the pile from one side of the desk to the other, but it makes me feel like I am doing something.
Got to bed early as today promises to be busy and as is the usual case at 11:30pm we caught a three alarm fire. So I was off again. Back in bed by 2am but could not get to sleep so I read for a little bit then dozed off.
Today I am off to a talk in Tiverton, Rhode Island and some laundry. Must produce the bulletin for tomorrow’s Liturgy and prepare for that. Tomorrow is National Fallen Fire Fighters Sunday and the chaplain from the town and I are hosting our two departments here for Liturgy and some grub after. Please remember your Fire Fighter’s and other Public Safety folks tomorrow and everyday.
Oh by the way, the Red Sox lead the series 2-0 over the Angels. They are off to the West Coast now to finish the job. The Tribe in Cleveland is doing their best to get rid of the Yankees for us so all looks well. I do not follow the other side but it sounds like the Rockies are burning up the field.

Work Crew

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Lots going on around the place today. We have a work crew installing a drainage thing in the parking lot and two contractors coming to look at the work that needs to be done in the church. Will be busy around here today.
Please check out the PODCASTS that have been posted and let me know what you think.

Pope Promises Catholic Help for New Patriarch

Posted on by Fr. Peter
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 2, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI told the newly enthroned patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church that he can count on collaboration from Catholics.
The Pope sent a delegation to Bucharest on Sunday to participate in the solemn enthronement celebrations of Patriarch Daniel Ciobotea, the new leader of 19 million Romanian Orthodox.
The Vatican delegation was led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and included Bishop Brian Farrell, secretary of the same dicastery, and Archbishop Jean-Claude Périsset, apostolic nuncio to Romania.
As a “pledge to search for full communion,” Cardinal Kasper gave the patriarch a chalice in the Pope’s name. He also delivered a letter from the Holy Father, written in French, which told the patriarch that “Catholics are standing with their Orthodox brethren, with prayer and availability, to offer useful collaboration.”
“The one and only Gospel waits to be proclaimed by everyone together, in love and reciprocal esteem,” wrote Benedict XVI.
The message recalls the good relations established by Pope John Paul II and the then Patriarch Teoctist.
Patriarch Teoctist died July 30, at age 92. He had served 19 years as patriarch.That meeting of religious leaders and the words spoken at that time, said Benedict XVI in his message, “continue to be relevant for me and the Catholic Church, highlighting that it is especially necessary to intensify the bonds that unite us for the good of the Church.”
The Bishop of Rome said that strengthening the friendship between Catholics and Orthodox will be decisive “to respond to today’s needs in Europe and the world, on both the religious and social levels.”
“A common witness of Christians is ever more necessary to respond to our shared vocation and to urgencies of our time,” concluded the message.
Patriarch Daniel, 56, was the metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina. A renowned intellectual, the patriarch boasts three doctorates, two received abroad, 12 years of ecumenical studies and more than 10 years as a monk.
Among the Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Church is second only to the Russian Church in the number of faithful.

Sunday Homily

Posted on by Fr. Peter
September 30, 2007
II Corinthians 9:6-11
Luke 6:31-36
PODCAST

How hard is it to love someone? How hard is it to love someone who does not love you back? Now imagine trying to love someone who is your enemy? How hard would that be? “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return,; and your reward will be great…”

Jesus is telling us in this Gospel passage today that we must do just that. He is not suggesting that we love our enemies, no, He simply says, “But love your enemies.” All through the Gospel Jesus is trying to get us to reconcile with those who for one reason or another have wrong us. I have spent many homilies speaking about confession and reconciliation with God but little time on our relationships with others.

Why is it important that we love our enemies? Well for one reason it takes less energy to love than to hate. Hate destroys but love brings life. Hate builds walls but love builds bridges. Hate destroys the soul but love restores it up. But Jesus is asking us to love those who hate us and to expect nothing in return. He does not say to love your enemy only if they love you back. He simply tells us to love them and leaves it at that. Love is a big and complicated word. Thousands upon thousands of books have been written on the subject. But we can make it very simple, “Love one another as I have loved you.” It is this love of God that passes all understanding.

So how can we do this, how can we love those who do not love us back? For starters we need to forgive them for the wrong they have committed or for what we have done to them and do not expect anything in return. DO not place a condition on your forgiveness. Forgive them in your heart and let the love of God replace that hate and anger with love. Replace the coldness of hate with the warmth of love. Pray for them. Ask God to send the same warmth upon them to replace their coldness with warmth. Then simply let it go and move on. Continue to pray for them, but do not dwell on it. It is only when we are able to forgive that we then are able to be truly forgiven.

The other day while preparing for this homily I came across a great quote that I would like to end with. I would like each of you to think of this quote and to pray about it this week and see how we can make this our own. St. Seraphim of Sarov was an 18th century saint and monastic. He wrote many letters to his spiritual children on the topic of forgiveness. Listen to his words.
“Acquire the spirit of peace, and a thousand souls will be converted around you.”

New Patriarch

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Today in Bucharest His Beatitude Daniel was enthroned at the new Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. We pray for him and for his ministry and wish him a long life.

New Project

Posted on by Fr. Peter

I have begun a new research project on the use of the “Rosary” in the Orthodox Church. I use that term “Rosary” to appeal to a larger audience. For the Orthodox it would simply be called prayer rope or komboskini in Greek, Tchotki in Russian, matanii in Romanian. Very interesting stuff out there in the web. In searching around I found this great quote from St. Seraphim of Sarov.

Acquire the spirit of peace, and a thousand souls will be converted around you!

I think this is like the greatest thing I have ever heard, save the Gospel of course. We all need to acquire the spirit of peace.

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