Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Thanks to Randy and Jerrine Hardin and Hubert and Kyra Bays, our 2020 parish calendars are now available. You can pick one up for free at Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore, While you are there, be sure and support your local parish bookstore by doing some holiday shopping, and don’t forget to thank Randy and Jerrine and Hubert and Kyra for their generous gift to each of us.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
The Fast Continues
Daily Services
Monday, December 9-Friday, December 13:
Orthros 5am;
Vespers 5pm
(Also, please don’t forget that since life in our parish community can be pretty busy, sometimes the starting times for the daily services has to be shifted. So, if you know ahead of time that you will be attending a particular service, it’s always a good idea to send Father Aidan a note at fraidan@austin.rr.com to confirm when the service will actually begin.)
Wednesday, December 11
Nativity Paraclesis 7pm
Saturday, December 14
St Thomas School 4pm Father Aidan will be leading the discussion on Chapter 6, Unction
Great Vespers with The Jesus Prayer 6pm
Sunday, December 15
11th Sunday of St Luke
Orthros 8am
Church School 8:15am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
This Week at St. Thomas School
Chapter 6: Unction
The holy oil of the Church heals our pain. In our modern age, just as in the age of paganism and classical antiquity, we still strive to find remedies for our body and mind. The world seems to be thrown in a crisis of mental health and there is also a fascination with books that teach us how to achieve wholeness on our own. There is a genuine yearning for bodily health through education, diet, exercise, pills and food products. These ideas assume that the physical world can help us heal entirely. So too, in the Orthodox Church, we also use matter like oil to find not only physical cures but spiritual rejuvenation.
The sacrament of unction heals the sickness of the body and the soul. That isn’t a superstition or a throwback to pagan worship of nature. In fact, the Old Testament and the Gospels tell us about the use and symbolism of oil in Jewish religious contexts. Oil was also a common product with various uses in many Mediterranean and Near Eastern cultures, and oil was as familiar as bread and wine. Oil represents almost everything we need and want out of life: health, love, beauty, happiness, friendship, joyfulness, and harmony with God and mankind. That may all sound “new-agey” but it is actually Orthodoxy.
In the Greek language there is a wordplay between eleos (mercy) and elaion (oil). In the New Testament, oil and healing are brought together in the sacrament of unction. The Apostle James in Jerusalem records this sacrament and it influences the practice and meaning of unction thereafter. But Metropolitan Hilarion reminds us that the “spiritual healing” comes to us not from mere molecules of oil, but it comes from faith in the prayers that are said in giving the oil.
He also discusses who is meant to receive the sacrament of unction. It was intended for the healing of soul and body. The restriction of the service to the dying only, as in Roman Catholicism, or to the general public without specific need of physical healing, sometimes the Byzantines or Russians, are both a little out of step in keeping with the original meaning of unction, which was to find outer and internal wholeness through the forgiveness of sins with faith that the bodily healing would follow. When we reflect on all the sacraments discussed so far, which are baptism, chrismation, eucharist, confession, ordination, then we start to see that the Church’s purpose is to bring healing to body and soul, and even today the whole world seeks these in various ways. Metropolitan Hilarion explains that although modern physicians are a most highly regarded profession in the Church, we shouldn’t forget to also consult our priests, spiritual fathers, and the sacraments of the Church, which can be said to be the most proven and trustworthy therapy we can receive for our spiritual well-being on earth. Join us this Saturday at 4:00 p.m. to discuss these topics more in detail.
Coming Up
The archdiocese expects each of us to make our confession during the Nativity Fast. In our parish, that holy mystery is available every Saturday night after Great Vespers or just about any other time by a specific appointment. We do not offer on-the-spot confessions, so this is something for which you will need to plan ahead. Also, while you are doing that planning, please be aware that the holy mystery will not be available after Sunday, December 22. So you will need to make your confession on or before that date. The deadline is so that we can prepare for the Feast of Nativity with a minimum of last minute activities.
It's not too early to start planning for the Nativity Services. This year, we will offer the Royal Hours at 9am on Tuesday, December 24, and then we will serve the first liturgy of Christmas, the Vesperal Liturgy of St Basil at noon. On Wednesday, December 25, we will serve Orthros at 8am and Divine Liturgy at 10am.
In Holy Orthodoxy, New Year’s is an important feast day. It’s when we celebrate the Feast of the Circumcision. This year, we will serve Great Vespers at 7pm on Tuesday, December 31, and then, on January 1, we will offer Orthros at 7am and Divine Liturgy at 9am. Start the (civil) New Year off right and join us for this beautiful feast.
But the greatest feast during this upcoming festal season is actually The Feast of Theophany. This year, we will offer The Royal Hours for the feast at noon on Friday, January 3, and on Sunday, January 5, we will serve Great Vespers for the Feast no later than 1pm, following the regular Sunday morning schedule and a short Fellowship Hour. On Monday, January 6, the actual day of the feast, we will serve Orthros at 5am and Divine Liturgy at 7am.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
Every week, our offering bowl is full of checks that adults place there--and we are grateful for each and every one of those checks. But the bowl should also be rattling with the change and overflowing with the bills that children and young people place there--because that's how we are going to teach them about generosity and stewardship. So, parents and grandparents, if you aren't already doing so, please provide your children and young people with money that they can place in the offering bowl; it's an important part of their participation in the Divine Liturgy, and it's how they are going to learn about the joys of giving.
There are just two more Nativity Paraclesis services left! Please plan on joining us for one of those services before Nativity Lent is over.
an unworthy priest
aidan