5th Sunday of Matthew
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:8
Matthew 8:28-9:1
Feast of Ss. Peter & Paul
Message of His Eminence, Archbishop Nicolae for the Fast of the Holy Apostles
Following the Feast of Pentecost which occurs fifty days after the Resurrection, the Church observes a fast which is longer this year than usual, the Fast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. On the first Sunday of this fast, the Sunday of the Romanian and American Saints, the Holy Gospel reminds us about the calling of the Apostles to their mission: first Simon Peter and Andrew his brother, then James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Each one was called to be a fisher of men. And they immediately left their nets and followed Christ. „And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23).
The Apostles were called by the Lord to proclaim the Gospel and to heal diseases. Christ Himself started the mission, preaching to all that the Kingdom of Heaven had come near, and healing people of their sicknesses. After the Lord’s Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Apostles fulfilled the same mission. In the Book of Acts we find an example of this mission, in the healing of the crippled man by St. Peter at the gate of the Temple: „Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). The healing became an occasion to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.
This mission continues to be fulfilled in the Church through Word and Sacrament. In the Church we hear the Word of the Gospel and we receive the Holy Mysteries which bring us healing. Christ works in the Church through the Holy Spirit, calling some to be fishers of men and others to receive the fruits of the proclamation of the Word and the administration of the Holy Mysteries. Only in the Church can we have the blessing of the revelation of God through the Word, a revelation which works righteousness in us. And to the blessing of revelation through the Word we add the ministry of the Sacraments, such as our healing through the Mystery of Holy Anointing, the union of a man and a woman for a Christian life together through the Mystery of Marriage, and our being built into the Body of Christ through the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist.
This fasting period gives us a chance to enter into these realities of the Kingdom of Christ. As we fast, we pray more, and we strive to attain spiritual growth by letting go of earthly things for awhile. When we fast, hunger and thirst take on a spiritual aspect, and we understand the Savior’s words: „Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes out of the mouth of God”. When we fast, our body becomes transparent for the work of the Holy Spirit. The evidence is found in the fruits of the Holy Spirit mentioned by St. Paul the Apostle: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22-23).
My challenge during this Apostles’ Fast is that we strive to attain the fruits of the Spirit. God will add His grace to our efforts, and thus we will become co-laborers in our own sanctification.
† NICOLAE
More on Liturgical Language
One thing I forgot to mention in my other entry on this topic was history. One of the reasons that the church of the east spread the way it did was that it did not force the faithful to learn a new language. At that point in history, the church of Rome functioned in Latin everywhere in the world but the Church of Byzantium used the vernacular. When Cyril & Methodius came to Kiev they did not force the people there to learn Greek. No, they learned the language of the people and in fact wrote it down for the first time.
So now fast forward to the new world. The Orthodox Church arrives and first is strictly an immigrant church so they stayed with the language of the faithful, Russian, Greek, Romanian, Arabic etc. But now, some two hundred years hence, and we still look upon ourselves as an immigrant church. If we want to remain that way fine keep praying in Greek, Russian, etc. However if we want to mainstream, and not loose the next generation, then a change must be made. I am not saying to throw out all of the language and switch directly to English, but there needs to be a balance between English and whatever other language you wish to use. I said it before language is culture and we need to hold on to that.
My family came to Nova Scotia from Scotland many years ago. They settled in Cape Breton and began their lives. After a fashion my grandfather came to America to find work. He spoke English. Rumor has it his mother spoke Scots Gaelic. No one in my family speaks Scots Gaelic anymore. In fact Gaelic is in decline in the world and is in danger of being lost forever. More than that, the area in Scotland where my family comes from they speak what is called Scots. But you would be hard pressed to find anyone who still speaks that language. So we need to hold on to language, and we Americans needs to learn more than just the bad English we speak now. But there needs to be a balance.
So there you have it another rant on Language. Maybe it’s the heat!
Reality TV
I guess you could say I am a TV junky. Sometimes the box is on and I am not even watching it and other times I do watch. There are many good programs on TV as well as trash so we have to pick and choose. There are some shows that I watch, like Law & Order (Only the original) Jericho, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch, etc. However I am a fan of reality TV. It all started years a go with Survivor and has blossomed into many, many other shows. One of my favorites, other than Survivor is the Amazing Race. What a great program and you get to see the world.
However, some of my real favorites are the reality shows that have to do with food. For the past few seasons I have been watching The Next Food Network Star, Hell’s Kitchen, and Top Chef. I love to cook and love to watch cooking shows so why not combine them into a great night of TV. As one can imagine from the name, the Next Food Network Star is just that. If you win you get a show on the Food Network. By the way who ever had the idea for a 24/7 TV channel about food was a genius. Hell’s Kitchen features Gordon Ramsay and his ability to get you to do just about anything by screaming at you. If you win his show you get a restaurant in Vegas. Just like that. You survive his yelling and you get your own joint! Kinda cool I think. Sort of like Survivor with out the sand. Top Chef is a show on Bravo and it is just that. It is Tops in everything from the food they use to the quality of the competitions. If you win you get $100,000.00 and a feature in Food and Wine Magazine.
So tune in if you have a chance. Not much on during the summer anyway.
Liturgical Language
I believe I have spoken of this before on this blog but maybe not. There is a very heated discussion going on on the Catholic Blogs about the possible use of the Tridentine Mass for the Catholic Church. Most of us might know this as the “old mass” or the “pre-Vatican II Mass” either way some people would like this restored and it seems the Pope is one of those people. So this has given me cause to think about liturgy and language.
The Orthodox Liturgy has not changed much in the last thousand years or so. Yes some of us priests like to cut parts out to shorten the liturgy so our parishioners don’t complain. When I arrived here in the village almost three years ago, that does not seem possible and I will blog on that another time, the liturgy was short and sweet. As the new guy on the block with new vestments and a newly printed degree from seminary I was going to serve the Liturgy cover to cover. So I did. Boy did I hear about it. But now three years hence Liturgy runs about and hour and fifteen minutes to and hour and half depending on how much I have to say.
Here in the village we use English as the liturgical language. That switch was made years before I arrived. You see you are in the third generation, and the fourth generation is about to graduate from high school. The sad part is that most of the people only have a passing knowledge of the language of their ancestors. For me language is culture, and although we are in America we should be proud of where we have all come from and language is part of that. So we use English with a smattering of Romanian and this seems to work.
There is the argument that if the language is not English then converts wont come to the church. So I have been here almost three years, and the language has been English, and I have not seen any converts that were not already here. But the argument still goes on. I guess people could argue that the younger generation does not speak their native language so they feel left out. That could be, but Fr. Greg at St. Spyridon’s in Worcester will tell you about the full church on Sunday and the language goes back and forth between Greek and English. While here I average 35 out of 75 members on Sunday and the language is English!
So will the Latin Mass bring more Catholics back to the fold? If I was to switch to Romanian in the Liturgy would people stop coming? Not sure. However, we do live in an English Language society and we need to get our people to speak the language of the people around them. No this applies to us Orthodox as we still have immigrants coming from some other place. Not many Latin immigrants coming to America, unless the Roman Legions are re-forming somewhere. So Latin for the Catholics is like Church Slavonic for the Russians. It is a liturgical language used in Church.
I think we have lost some of the mystery of liturgy. Liturgy is not entertainment it is worship. We as priests need to set an atmosphere of worship and prayer not a concert where people hold up lighters at the end. Although now I understand concert goers hold up their cell phones and not lighters.
This draws the point to preaching. I have written about this before and received lots of responses both here and in the email. Preaching is not about being PC or saying what people want to hear. As a Priest my job is to teach and correct. We are called father, and that is the roll of the father in a family to teach and correct his children. Sometimes the topic is uncomfortable but we need to discuss it none the less. Christianity is not a habit it is a life style. Not a piece of clothing we put on on Sunday and then take off on Monday. It is something we wear all the time.
So what are the thoughts on Liturgical Language? Let us try and stay away from name calling and such other things let us just have a discussion. I reserve the right to remove comments I find distasteful. If you want to write those comments get your own blog its free and easy. Also no anonymous comments. Put your name on them and take a stand.
23 June ~ St. Mochaoi
Born in Ireland; died c. 493. Saint Moeliai was baptized by SaintPatrick, who appointed him abbot over Nendrum, where he had SaintsFinian and Colman among his disciples (Benedictines).________St Mochaoi has been anglicised as St Mahee pronounced Mah hee with thestress on the ee.
His monastic site is at Nendrum on Mahee Island. Mahee island is nowlinked to another island and to the mainland bycauseways that can take a single car. It is a lovely drive there, thehedgerows are in bloom with wild flowers and fuscias and the clear waterof Strangford lough was smooth and windless.The Nendrum monastic site has a small carpark for about 8 cars. Thefirst thing you realise is how high it is up the island which is itselfa submerged drumlin – the advancing iceflows rounded the landscape tomake this part of Ireland look like a basket of eggs – and this eggalong with others got flooded.The monastery is on the highest peak and is surrounded by an outer wallor cashel and an inner cashel. There is a causeway bridge up to thefirst level between the two cashels and it is believed that this wouldhave been a hive of activity. Although the monastery is quiet today, inthe 5th century the waterways of Ireland were the main roads so themonastery was likely tohave been a thriving community.To enter the inner cashel one has to walk in single file through a smallpassageway, probably this was some form of defence as was the roundtower of which only the stump remains. The remains of the church areclearly seen and face due east. At the South west corner the old sundialhas been reconstructed. There is a graveyard just beyond the west doorand if you go beyond the inner cashel wall again on the west side thereare the foundations of many round monastic cells.
22 June ~ Fillan of Loch Earn
Fillan, son of Feriach and St. Kentigerna, was also known as Foelan. He became a monk in his youth and accompanied his mother from Ireland to Scotland where he lived as a hermit near St. Andrew’s monastery for many years, and then was elected abbot. He later resigned and resumed his eremitical life at Glendochart, Pertchire, where he built a church and was reknowned for his miracles. Various legends attribute the most extravagant miracles to him, such as the one in which his prayers caused a wolf that had killed the ox he was using to drag materials to the church he was building, to take the ox’s place. Fillan died on January 19.
Back Home Safe
Well the trip home was uneventful thanks be to God. So now it is back to the regular schedule. Today I am off to the Western Massachusetts Highland Games in Greenfield, Massachusetts. If you are in that area stop on by. I will be at the St. Andrew’s Society of Massachusetts tent.
Tomorrow is the annual picnic at St. Nicholas Albanian Orthodox Church here in town so we are all going there for Liturgy. So I guess my vacation continues another day. It is nice to be able to participate in a liturgy and not worry about anything just pray.
Severe Weather
Right now, in camping land, we are having quite the thunder storm. It comes and it goes, the wind is howling and pounding my poor little pop up trailer. This is the third thunder storm we have gone through since we have been here. With nothing else to do I thought I would blog. Thank goodness the wireless is still up so I can watch the weather report.
More on yesterdays trip letter on today or maybe tomorrow when I get back home. Vacation ends tomorrow and back home to the village. Six hour drive so pray for us as we head back home.