Dear all.
Gospel reading
- Yesterday’s gospel reading (Matthew 6:14 – 21), read on the Sunday of forgiveness, is a timely reminder of the triumvirate of the practical virtues necessary for the Christian life. This is what we need to do: forgive, pray and do good works that can be stored in heaven. To complete the Christian life during this Lenten period all three need to be activated by each and every one of us and applied to ourselves. This is orthodoxy in action.
- Today, we commence the Great and Holy Fast our. St John Chrysostom puts it quite neatly when he says that the fast should be kept not by the mouth alone, but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, hands and all members of the body. The eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip and the hands from acts of injustice. St Basil, puts it even more bluntly when he says that you do not eat meat but you devour you neighbour. Of what value then is fasting if we lack the virtues?
- Forgiveness to the one that is caused you harm I think is the hardest of the virtues to cultivate. Yet, for all that, we are called upon to forgive and our obligation is put at such a level that if we do all things and give all things to our neighbour, whoever that neighbour may be, and do not forgive we have achieved nothing. Salvation will elude us.
- Some may say that the other person may not be ready to engage with us. They may not want our forgiveness. They may not wish to “bury the hatchet”. That is their business. Our obligation is to carry out the business of the Lord and the business of the Lord is to forgive neighbour. You see once you forgive then it ceases to be your problem. Then the other person who has rejected forgiveness will have to make his peace with the Lord.
- We are all bound this Lenten period one to another. We are bound through forgiveness of each other. We are bound by praying for each other. We are bound by doing good works one for the other. It is only then that our heavenly Father will say to you “well done good and faithful servant.”
Around our church
We have now entered the Lenten program which is as follows: great Compline Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM; on Tuesday, due to my radio commitments the program will commence at 3 PM.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, we will continue with our adult Bible class at 7 PM and the subject of our topic will be St Paul. Please bring your Bible.
On Wednesday and Friday the liturgy of the pre-sanctified gifts from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM.
On Friday evening: salutations to the mother of God – 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM.
On Saturday morning (St Theodore) matins in Greek from 7:30 AM divine liturgy in English 9 AM to 10:15 AM; Vespers4 p.m.
Food store
We need the following for our food store: rice, sugar, plain flour, self-raising flour, coffee, tea coffee long life milk, oil, tinned peas, tinned corn, tinned beetroot, tinned chickpeas, corned beef, tuna, salmon, pasta, biscuits, toothpaste, soaps, toiletries, ladies personal hygiene items, toilet paper orange and apple juice, jam and breakfast cereals. As can be seen all help is greatly appreciated. If you wish to contribute financially the new can do so on BSB 082057 account number 616004624
Beautification of our church surrounds
The building of St Basils we understand is now completed and what a wonderful building it is. Unfortunately, you may have seen that many of our fruit trees dried out during the build because of a lack of water from the bore which was removed during construction and was not in working order during the heat waves and major period of its construction. Indeed, reticulation is still yet to be operational on the property. You may also have noticed, ( and we have received many favorable reports) that we have constructed a new limestone wall and the Eastern end of the church to make movement through this area safer so that no child or elderly person is at risk of falling down the steep embankment as was previously the case. We will landscape the area. Although we are confident that some of the cost will be reimbursed by St Basils the balance costs will have to be met by the church. The cost of the exercise is anticipated to exceed $28,000 in total.
The church council has now the job of making all the gardens, the landscaping, the olive trees and the fruit trees good so they can be enjoyed by all. We call on all parishioners and friends of the church to assist with donations for this purpose. You may forward all donations to the Panagari, or pass on to myself and they will be passed on to the council for banking reserved for this project. Alternatively you can make contribution to BSB 082057 account number 608494969
Thought of the week
Determination is a wonderful thing. It motivates us not to give in, to keep on fighting, to acknowledge oppression but to overcome it. Sometimes we do not always succeed in what we set out to do but unless we have a fire in the belly we will get nowhere. So we press forward and press forward even further when we think we can do no more. If we can understand that about our human nature then why do we have difficulty in finding time, motivation and effort to serve Christ?
Till next time.
In Christ.
Father John Athanasiou 0411 061 554
