Bulletin for October 14, 2018

O Holy Apostle Philip,
Intercede with the merciful God
That he may grant our souls forgiveness of sins.

*************

Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory to Him forever! + Slava Isusu Christu! Slava i vo viki!

From the Fathers of the Church …

St. Basil the Great

Store up in your minds the Lord’s words which you receive through your ears, for the word of the Lord is the nourishment of the mind. When His word is heard but not stored away in the memory, it is like food which has been eaten and then rejected by an upset stomach. A person’s life is despaired of if he cannot retain his food; so if you receive the food of holy exhortations, but fail to store in your memory those words of life which nurture righteousness, you have good reason to fear the danger of everlasting death. Be careful that the seed does not fall along the path, for fear that the evil spirit may come and take it from your memory. Be careful that the seed is not received in stony ground, so that it produces a harvest of good works without the roots of perseverance. Many people are pleased with what they hear and resolve to undertake some good work, but as soon as difficulties begin to arise and hinder them they leave the work unfinished. The stony ground lacked the necessary moisture for the sprouting seed to yield the fruit of perseverance.

Good earth, on the other hand, brings forth fruit by patience. The reason for this is that nothing we do is good unless we also bear with equanimity the injuries done us by our neighbors. In fact, the more we progress, the more hardships we shall have to endure in this world; for when our love for the present world dies, its sufferings increase. This is why we see many people doing good works and at the same time struggling under a heavy burden of afflictions. They now shun earthly desires, and yet they are tormented by greater sufferings. But, as the Lord said, they bring forth fruit by patience, because, since they humbly endure misfortunes, they are welcomed when these are over into a place of rest in heaven.

Announcements

Last Sunday, 92 souls came to pray at St. Philip’s, our tithes to the Lord were $, candles $, Priests’ Medical Insurance $. Thank you for supporting our church, may God bless you abundantly for your generosity. Please consider making St. Philip’s parish a part of your estate planning.

Prayer requests. Fr. Basil, Fr. Marcus, Fr. Chris, Fr. Jozef, Fr. Randall, Fr. Brendan, Fr. Ted & Barbara, Sr. Patricia, Gary and Ingrid, Margaret and Don, Walter, Adam, Margaret, Oceana, Becky, Alexis, Marion, Curtis, Ronald, Taylor, Lorrie, Rosa, Frances, Maros, Alex, Ted, Juraj, Joan, Stefan.

Hospitality signup sheet:  Oct 21 – open. Oct 28 – open, Nov 5 – open. Please sign up for hospitality for the upcoming Sundays; the signup sheet is in the parish hall. Thank you to Murin family for providing hospitality for us last Sunday.

Priests’ Medical Insurance Collection is taken today, Sunday, October 14th. This special collection helps subsidize the medical insurance premiums of our priests. Your outstanding generosity in previous collections has been extremely helpful. Bishop John, thankful as always, asks each eparchial household to pray and consider what it can contribute this year. Medical insurance premiums, as you undoubtedly know, are very expensive and still on the rise. Our Eparchy has been burdened financially with these increased premiums. Each month is a new struggle to make ends meet, even with practical efforts to curb expenses. The goal this year is $ per household, please be as generous as your financial situation allows. God bless you for your continued support and generosity.

Please help with the goods for Christmas around the World Festival held at the Greek Orthodox Church in Sacramento (on November 10).  We are hoping for more baked goods, as well as crafts and Christmas rummage for our tables.

Thank you to our baking crew who volunteered their Saturday for baking rolls (nut, poppyseed and apricot) for St. Philip’s table at Christmas Around the World Festival.

Altar Server Vestments. Thank you all for your generosity. We collected $ and have ordered new vestments.

Our Future Cantors, if you wish to learn liturgical singing, all Metropolitan Cantor Institute (MCI) Online classes are enabled for guest access for free. If you want to do the coursework and receive personalized feedback and assistance with your singing, you can register for the classes and they are inexpensive. The link is http://mci.archpitt.org/classes.  You are also invited to approach one of our serving cantors and ask to sing with them.

Upcoming events:

* November 10th – Christmas around the World Festival (at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church across from McKinley Park in Sacramento).

Liturgical schedule

Mon
Oct 15th
6:30 AM Divine Liturgy:  *Priests and Seminarians of FSSP.

Weds
Oct 17th
5:30 PM Akathistos to the Mother of God.

Sun
Oct 21st
8:30 AM Confessions.
9:10 AM Office of the 3rd Hour.
9:30 AM Divine Liturgy.
21st Sunday after Pentecost. Tone 5. Cantor: Gene Ford. Reader: Steve Prescott.

For Confession, please come half an hour before the scheduled services, or schedule an appointment. Fridays in general are days of penance and fasting. Let us remember one another as we offer our prayers and sacrifices to the Lord.