SUNDAY 22 JULY
† 8th Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 14: 14-22
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School Classes
Continue reading
Category Archives: Readings
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 22 – 29 JULY 2018
Comments Off on WEEKLY PROGRAM | 22 – 29 JULY 2018
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
Loaves and Fishes
8th Sunday of Matthew, Matthew 14: 14-22
“In the hands of the Master, ordinary means can be used to accomplish extraordinary ends.”
Often, when families and friends get together, favourite old stories will come up. Someone begins, “Do you remember when …” and people either groan or chuckle, depending on the story or the storyteller. The same anecdotes seem to be told again and again. In my own family, these stories abound. One of my favourite family stories is the time my grandfather and his brothers, who were legendary pranksters, tiptoed one of the family horses up the stairs to the second floor parlour on a sleepy Sunday afternoon while their father was taking a nap. It turns out that taking a horse up a flight of stairs is not really the hard part; it is coaxing him back down again that is a challenge! Continue reading
Comments Off on Loaves and Fishes
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
Do that which is good
~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
“Do that which is good, and no evil shall touch you. Prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold: For alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life: But they that sin are enemies to their own life.”
+ St. Raphael the Archangel, Tobit 12:7-10
Comments Off on Do that which is good
Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
Sunday of the Holy Fathers – Matthew 5: 14-19
Not One Dot or Iota will be Changed
The Reading is from Matthew 5:14-19
The Lord said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Continue reading
Comments Off on Sunday of the Holy Fathers – Matthew 5: 14-19
Filed under Readings, Sunday Homilies
The love of God
~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
When the soul knows the love of God by the Holy Spirit, then he clearly feels that the Lord is our own Father, the closest, dearest Father, the best. And there is not greater happiness that to love God with all the mind and heart, and our neighbour as our self. And when this love is in the soul, then all things bring joy to the soul.
~ St. Silouan the Athonite, Writings, IX.15
Of all the afflictions that burden the human race, there is not one, whether spiritual or bodily, that cannot be healed by the Holy Scriptures.
~ St. John Chrysostom, Conversations on the Book of Genesis, 29.1
Comments Off on The love of God
Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 8 – 15 JULY 2018
SUNDAY 8 JULY
† 6th Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 9: 1-8
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School Classes
Continue reading
Comments Off on WEEKLY PROGRAM | 8 – 15 JULY 2018
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
Preparing for Prayer – St Theophan
Preparing for Prayer
So, morning or evening, immediately before you begin to repeat your prayers, stand awhile, sit for a while, or walk a little and try to steady your mind and turn it away from all worldly activities and objects.
After this, think who He is to whom you turn in prayer, then recollect who you are; who it is who is about to start this invocation to Him in prayer.
Do this in such a way as to waken in your heart a feeling of humility and reverent awe that you are standing in the presence of God.
St. Theophan
Comments Off on Preparing for Prayer – St Theophan
Filed under Prayers, Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
What Helps Spiritual Progress
~ Words of the Church Fathers ~
People who have been buffeted by rough winds, either because God allowed it in order to rein them in, or because of the devil’s envy, are in need of much sunshine and spiritual refreshment before they can blossom and bear fruit. They are like trees that have grown bold during winter’s halcyon days, only to face the cold north wind afterwards; they will need constant spring sunshine and showers for their sap to circulate again and to blossom and bear fruit.
…Trust in God, simplicity, and struggle with philotimo will lead to inner peace and security and then the soul fills with hope and joy…
Christ helps those who are fighting the good fight that all Saints embraced in order to subdue the flesh to the spirit. Even when wounded, we must never lose our composure, but should instead ask for God’s help in continuing with the struggle courageously. The Good Shepherd will hear us and rush to our aid, just as a shepherd responds to the bleating of a lamb that is lost or wounded, or threatened by a wolf.
– Elder Paisios, Spiritual Awakening
Comments Off on What Helps Spiritual Progress
Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 1 – 8 JULY 2018
SUNDAY 1 JULY
† 5th Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 8: 28-34 – 9:1
† Saints Cosmas and Damian, Unmercenaries
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School Classes
Continue reading
Comments Off on WEEKLY PROGRAM | 1 – 8 JULY 2018
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church 