Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord.
Thanks to everyone who made the Annual Community Meeting such a success. Special thanks to Elena Cabeza de Vaca, Sandi Andrews, and Jeremy Howell for running for the Parish Council, and very special thanks to Seth Hart and Michael Ruse and Nick Crown on their election and appointment to the Parish Council. Please express your gratitude to each of these people when you see them next.
Our Calendar
Fasting Days
Wednesday, February 19, and Friday, February 21
Daily Services
Monday, February 17-Friday, February 21
Orthros 5am;
Vespers 5pm
(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.)
Thursday, February 20
Choir Practice 7pm
Saturday, February 22
The First Saturday of Souls
Orthros 7am
Divine Liturgy 9am
St Thomas School 4pm
Great Vespers 6pm
Sunday, February 23
The Sunday of the Last Judgement
Orthros 8am
Divine Liturgy 10am
Fellowship Hour Noon
Akathist to the Mother of God, Nurturer of Children Noon
This Week at St Thomas School
Orders for the Blessing of Various Objects. Molebens and Akathists
In this is the final in the last volume of Metropolitan Hilarion’s work on the Orthodox Church. In this volume, he has described the Sacraments and other rites of the Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Book of Needs is a four volume set that, according to St Tikhon’s Monestary bookstore, “contains the prayers and services for all aspects of Church life.” Most of what has been described in this volume are the rites contained in the Book of Needs. The specific content of this book varies depending on the time and place of publication.
In this chapter, the Metropolitan gives us the rest of the story, as it were. He briefly describes rites that have been left undescribed to this point. The Metropolitan divides these into the following categories:
The blessing of liturgical implements and icons;
Molbens (supplications) for various occasions; and
Molebens and Akathists (hymns). Worship according to and outside the Typicon.
The Typicon contains the rules and rubrics for the religious services of the church. Over the past two centuries, the Chruch has become more open to conducting “‘customized’ divine services” for individuals that are unregulated by the rules and regulations of the Typicon.
Next week, we begin in Volume 1, which covers the history of the Orthodox Church. Nearly two years ago, the St Thomas school began and our first study was with Volume 2 of the Metropolitan’s 5 volume set. Completing Volume 1 will take us through the first complete cycle of this work.
546 Pounds
That’s how much food we collected for Hill County Community Ministries over the last twelve months. The basket for that project is located out in the narthex, just beside the entrance to the men’s restroom. We have a dedicated volunteer who transports the canned food and dry goods to HCCM, but, this coming year, we’re hoping to contribute over 700 pounds of food. So, next time you are at the supermarket, throw a couple of extra items in the cart and help our parish battle food insecurity in Central Texas.
Coming Up
As we begin the second week of the Triodion, it’s good to keep in mind the fasting schedule for this period of preparation. During this second week of the season (February 16-22), we observe the normal Wednesday/Friday fast; during the third and final week of the season (February 22-February 29), we abstain from all meat (beef, chicken, and pork), but eggs, cheese and other dairy products, as well as fish, are permitted on all days of the week. Of course, the Triodion is also a good time to prepare for the full fast which begins on Monday, March 2. From that day until Pascha, the traditional fasting discipline (no meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fish, wine, and olive oil) is kept on weekdays (unless otherwise noted on the calendar); if we need to get a blessing to modify the full fast in any way, this is the time to go ahead and contact our spiritual father.
In the past, the women of our community have come together to do daily Psalter readings during Great Lent. Each day, the entire Psalter will be read by our community with each of us reading a Kathisma a day. The women will each work through the Psalter, reading a Kathisma a day with the next Kathisma being read on a subsequent day. In this way, each woman will work through the Psalter twice while it is read in its entirety by our community daily. If you would like to participate, please contact Mary (sarah) Brown.
The first Saturday of Souls for the year will be this coming Saturday, February 22. We will serve Orthros at 7am and Divine Liturgy at 9am. In the narthex, the Memorial Book is now available, so please legibly print the names of the folks that you wish to commemorate in the section for the particular Saturday when you will be in attendance. There are two more Saturdays of Souls during Great Lent—on March 14 and March 21—and our goal is for everyone in the parish to make at least one of those services.
The expectation of our archdiocese is that each of us will make our confession before Pascha. In our parish, we do not offer that Holy Mystery during Holy Week, so that means we have until Friday, April 10 to fulfill that obligation. Confession is offered each Saturday evening following Great Vespers and just about any other time by specific appointment, so let’s be sure and get that done during the next nine weeks.
During Great Lent we always try to do some spiritual reading, so why not get a head start on the Pascha Book Study and read through the book that we will be using during that six week discussion? The book is called The New Media Epidemic; it’s by a French Orthodox scholar, Jean Claude Larchet. It’s a fairly short book, so you can read a couple of pages a day during Great Lent and be ready to join the book study when it kicks off on Wednesday, April 22. The book is available at Christ the Lightgiver Bookstore, so pick up a copy in the next week or so.
There are only two weeks to go in the matching funds offer for you new altar project. If you aren’t yet familiar with the project, just check out the new bulletin board in the kitchen of the Long Hall. It’s got all the details. The project will unfold throughout the coming year, and, when it’s all over, we will have a new carving on the front of our altar, a new crucifix behind our altar, and a polychromed episcopal throne. All of this is being done by our good friend from the UK, Martin Earle, but our very own Baker Galloway is managing and contributing to the project, so if, after you have looked over the bulletin board, you would like to get in on the project by donating in honor or in memory of someone important to you, just let Baker know. Altar Project Update: The overall project will cost between $13,000 and $15,000 (that difference in price is primarily due to the fluctuating value of pounds and dollars). However, a very generous, anonymous donor has promised to match whatever we give to the overall project! So, between now and the start of Great Lent, on Sunday, March 1, if you make a gift in honor or in memory of a loved one, our special donor will match that gift and make it possible for us to double our generosity. For further details, please check with our project manager, Baker Galloway.
Our Moment of Grace and Courtesy
We should always put something in the offering bowl whenever we attend the Divine Liturgy. Even if we support the parish through automatic bank draft, we should still place something in the offering bowl, because it's not just about supporting the parish, it's about expressing our on-going gratitude to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I’m looking forward to praying with all of you at the First Saturday of Souls.
an unworthy priest
aidan