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December 17, 2023
This Sunday's Gospel
Stress is something we all deal with at some point in our lives. And the more we think about it, the worse it seems to get.
In today’s Gospel reading, which is about the healing of 10 lepers, we see that Christ can transform our stress into hope. Ultimately, it’s our faith in God that heals our hopeless and desperate situations.
Lepers without Hope
Leprosy in the first century was a very serious thing. In short, the leper’s situation was so hopeless that society declared the person dead!
Yet, something remarkable happens when 10 lepers encounter Christ.
Calling out to Christ
As the story goes, Jesus was walking in region between Samaria and Galilee when 10 lepers called out to him from a distance.
They hoped that Jesus would have mercy on them.
In what may seem to be a surprising response, Jesus tells them to go and see the priests, the very priests who had condemned them to the edge of society.
Nonetheless, they obeyed and something surprising happens–they were healed before encountering the priests.
In the end, only one of the lepers returns to thank Christ for this act of mercy and it was the foreigner who did this.
After being thanked, Jesus simply responds, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Saved by Faith
One key point, that we can’t miss here, is that the lepers were healed before they fulfilled the requirements of the law. Despite their hopeless situation, Jesus invited them to believe, to trust, that they were healed before they went to the priests
Receiving Jesus’s Healing
In many ways, we may feel like the leper.
Our desperate situations may leave us wishing we were dead. We may feel like we’ve been cast out of society and nothing we do can ever make things right again.
But, like the leper, we cry out to Jesus:
Have mercy on us!
Through our faithfulness,
Christ will make us whole.
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December 19th Tuesday Divine Liturgy ay 10:00 a.m.
St. Nicholas Day
For those us on the Julian Calendar...It’s beginning to look a bit like Christmas. We’re getting there, aren’t we? We’re getting there. It’s coming soon and celebrating the memory of Saint Nicholas is always a part of the Nativity season as we get ready to celebrate Christmas, the Nativity of Christ, our Savior, we always before that celebrate the memory of Saint Nicholas. And all of us are very familiar with the things that Saint Nicholas did that are the most easy to remember, the most fun to remember and the most related to Christmas. When we think about giving presents at Christmas, we think a lot about Saint Nicholas. . He did good deeds and he got caught a few times.
We must remember, that Saint Nicholas was made a bishop, he was a deacon and then he was a priest. And then he was a bishop before Christianity was even legal. And as a bishop under the last Roman emperors who were against Christianity, as a bishop he was put in prison with his church, because Christianity was illegal. He was in prison telling people about God, defending the truth about God and loving God. He went through a lot of suffering. That’s barely describing all the suffering that he went through, but he would never give up.
St. Nicholas 's life teaches us many things...we must give ourselves to loving God, no matter what happens, defending the truth about God, no matter what people think or say about us, and telling people about God, whether it’s popular or unpopular, because that is what makes you a great saint like our Holy Father, Saint Nicholas.
We would like to wish all who celebrate today St. Barbara
as their "Slava"
the happiest of days...
Срећна Слава!
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Let's share this message
the world sure needs it!
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Sisters of St. George
Annual Bake Sale...
We would like to both
Thank and Congratulate
the Sisters who both donated and worked at this great success!
A L S O
Our sisters will be taking orders
this Sunday
for nut rolls.
PLEASE SEE Marisa Lazich
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A certain something
that was shared...
And should be shared during the Advent Fast...
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Oh, by the way...
Real questions with real answers
 What's the "Orthodox" response to the arguments that Christmas has lost its religious significance?
Christmas has become a once religious holiday that has become a secular holiday stripped of its original religious meaning. Most people who buy gifts, dress up as Santa Claus and put up a Christmas tree don't keep in mind that this is supposed to be a commemoration of the Incarnation.
But as Christians we can celebrate these feasts while also remembering that they are historically about, and behaving accordingly. People may have forgotten that the star on top of the tree is the angelic star that guided the magi, but we haven't. People may have forgotten that gift-giving is an act of charity and not merely something to make the children happy, but we haven't. People may have forgotten that Santa Claus is St. Nicholas, but we haven't.
People may have forgotten why Christmas is celebrated in winter: because winter is the nighttime, the darkness of the year, and Christ manifested Himself in the winter of history as a light that would enliven everything: the Jews were tensely looking for the Messiah due to the prophecy of Daniel, the Roman empire was the most evil and ruthless and widespread that God's people encountered yet... But also Christ abased Himself to be a man, and not only that but to die, and not only that but to die as a criminal. And, more literally, He was born 9 months after the Annunciation which was 6 months after the Day of Atonement. But, we haven't forgotten.
Christmas becoming secularized doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate it. On the contrary, it helps emphasize aspects of it that we took for granted and that many have forgotten about.
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Also this Sunday
Don't forget your wheat and coins in memory of the gifts given by St. Nicholas to
protect children from a life of hardships...
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There really is a difference!
We are Orthodox by choice!
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