Here is a post to let you know of some of the books that have been bought for our library recently. Read some of the Amazon reviews and pique your interest. We have great librarians in Bruce and Darlene. I'm sure they'd love feedback.

"The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks (Penguin Classics)" Benedicta Ward

"Sex and Society in the World of the Orthodox Slavs, 900-1700" Eve Levin

"Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East" Irenee Hausherr

"The Gurus, The Young Man and Elder Paisios" Dionysios Farasiotis (I think those of us who have read this book can attest to it's excellence)

Surprised by Christ: My Journey from Judaism to Orthodox Christianity A. James Bernstein

The Sunday of the Blind Man

This Sunday commemorates the gift of sight to the man born blind by Jesus Christ. The miracle of the healing of the man born blind is very closely connected to the days of Pentecost by Christians: similar to others, it is commemorated by the Holy Church in this period, and by its occurrence this miracle announces the Divine power and glory of the risen Lord (John 9:31-33, 38). According to the explanation in the Synaxarion, the miracle of the healing of the man born blind is commemorated on this Sunday because it was accomplished in Pentecost. In the example of the man born blind, who was healed by Jesus Christ the Holy Church presents an image of any sinner, who is blind from birth, "because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23), but by the spiritual and physical gift of the wonderful light the eyes of the blind man teaches that the Enlightener is truly the Lord alone, and only in His light is it possible to behold the true and saving light. Therefore the Holy Church in the hymns for this day also appeals to us to cry out: "O Christ God, the Sun of righteousness, Who by your most pure touch enlightened all, now give sight to our spiritual eyes and show us to be the sons of the day", and "our sight of sincere feeling"; "Since You were born from the Virgin, filling all with light, fill me with light for You are compassionate"; "On my wretched soul which battles at night with the darkness of passions, hasten and have compassion, and shine in me, O mental Sun, the rays of the bright star by which you took out the night from the light"; "Enlighten my mental eyes which are blind, O Lord, from the darkness of sin, and enlighten, O Compassionate One, my closed eyes being washed by tears of humility and repentance"; "Grant me, O Christ, a stream of inscrutable wisdom and knowledge from on high, O existing Light of those in darkness and Guide of all those gone astray".

Sergius Vasilyevich Bulgakov

College & Career Brunch at K & J's. The pancakes were great! Thanks guys!

Zeal for Piety is a good thing, but when combined with love!

"The zealot according to knowledge, motivated by the love of God and his neighbor, does all things with charity and self-effacement; he does nothing that might bring sorrow to his neighbor; such a zealot is enlightened by knowledge and nothing prompts him to deviate from what is morally right" St. Nectarios of Aegina

"For every pursuit and every endeavor involving great toil that does not end up in love and a contrite spirit is futile, and yields no profitable result" St. Symeon the New Theologian

"Zeal for piety is a good thing, but when combined with love" St. John of Damascus

Liturgy with the Parish of Holy Trinity

Today we were joined by Fr. Calin Marincas and Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Parish. Here is a quote from a Ch. 6 Maryland TV Newscast Recently on the Glory of the Liturgy of the Orthodox Church:

"We could take a cue from Orthodoxy, whose priests stand with their backs to their congregation, leading a liturgy that is neither clever nor impassioned, but simply beautiful, like stone smoothed by centuries of rhythmic tides. It’s an austere ritual, in the sense of – there’s nothing new here; it’s sublime, in the sense of – creating a clearer view into Heaven. The priest can be any priest. Who he is, what he looks like, how he speaks, and what he thinks matter little. He hasn’t written the service that he officiates. It isn’t about him or his prowess. He’s an interchangeable functionary draped in brocaded robes, obscured by incense, and, as such, never points to himself, a flawed human,pointing ever and only to the Perfection of the Mysterious Divine. That is the role of every priest or preacher – invisibility, while making God seen.”

Jill Manning

Valuable Link to Lecture on the Social Costs of Pornography and Its Impact on Women by Marriage and Family Therapist Jill Manning

Social Costs of Pornography

The Feast of Mid-Pentecost

"After the Saviour had miraculously healed the paralytic, the Jews, especially the Pharisees and Scribes, were moved to envy and persecuted Him, and sought to slay Him, using the excuse that He did not keep the Sabbath, since He worked miracles on that day. Jesus then departed to Galilee. About the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, He went up again to the Temple and taught. The Jews, marveling at the wisdom of His words, said, 'how knoweth this man letters, having never learned?' But Christ first reproached their unbelief and lawlessness, then proved to them by the Law that they sought to slay Him unjustly, supposedly as a despiser of the Law, since He had healed the paralytic on the Sabbath.

"Therefore, since the things spoken of by Christ in the middle of the Feast of the Tabernacles are related to the Sunday of the Paralytic that is just passed, and since we have already reached the midpoint of the fifty days between Pascha and Pentecost, the Church has appointed this present feast as a bond between the two great Feasts, thereby uniting, as it were, the two into one, and partaking of the grace of them both. Therefore today’s feast is called Mid‐Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading, 'At Mid‐feast'—though it refers to the Feast of the Tabernacles—is used.

"It should be noted that there were three great Jewish feasts: the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover was celebrated on the 15th of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish calendar, which roughly coincides with our March. This feast commemorated that day on which the Hebrews were commanded to eat the lamb in the evening and anoint the doors of its houses with its blood. Then, having escaped bondage and death at the hands of the Egyptians, they passed through the Red Sea to come to the Promised Land. It is called 'the feast of Unleavened Bread,' because they ate unleavened bread for seven days. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after Passover, first of all, because the Hebrew tribes had reached Mount Sinai after leaving Egypt, and there received the Law from God; secondly, it was celebrated to commemorate their entry into the Promised Land, where also they ate bread, after having been fed with manna forty years in the desert. Therefore, on this day they offered to God a sacrifice of bread prepared with new wheat. Finally, they also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles from the 15th to the 22nd of 'the seventh month,' which corresponds roughly to our September. During this time, they lived in booths made of branches in commemoration of the forty years they spent in the desert, living in tabernacles, that is, in tents (Ex. 12:10‐20; Lev. 23 LXX). "

From the Great Horologion