“Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.” Luke 6:35

Dear Christians, you must know, that whoever helps the poor lends to God!

Your acts of good deeds will follow you in the afterlife, and on the Day of Judgment, they will stand up for you before the Righteous Judge, Who will judge the living and the dead. Our Christian love must be as the sun and the rain that God sends not only for the just, but for every man on the face of the earth, even to those who oppose His Will.

In the same way, the faithful Orthodox Christian loves not only those who love him, but even those who hate him: He loves those who harmed him, those who envy him, those who persecuted him and those who work evil against him on a daily basis. As our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forgave those who crucified Him, when He was on the Cross, at that moment when He felt the utmost pain; just the same, we must also forgive all those who have done wrong to us.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the Gospel reading gave us His Teachings and showed us the Way of Life in which we should follow. We need to know the Lords words, and to live by the Lords words! As we want others to do good to us, we must also do the same to them. As disciples of Christ, we must become imitators of God in His Love. Only, when we surmount the boundaries of natural human love, we will be able to partake in Divine Love, which does not know boundaries, prerequisites and charges no interest. Then, and only then, we will be children of God.

May His Divine Grace come upon all of you!”

“At that time, as Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, he saw two boats by the lake….”                                                           

Nothing!

That’s what the disciples caught after an exhausting, back-breaking night of fishing. When Jesus found them, they were getting ready to go home. Yet Jesus did something surprising in Sunday’s Gospel reading. He told the disciples to try again.

“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4)

Did the disciples grumble? Well, maybe a little… But then they were obedient.

“Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5)

And you know what? The disciples caught so many fish that their boats began to sink! We all face moments of failure and weakness… Moments where it’s easier to lash out at others than love them. Moments when we rely on our own illusion of strength rather than the “the power of God.” (2 Corinthians 6:7)

But the Lord doesn’t ask us to toil under our own power. He doesn’t want us fishing all night and coming up empty. Because Jesus is the only strength we need. And His strength is made perfect in our weakness….

When the disciples came up empty, they turned to Christ. Why should we do any different?

“If anyone would come  after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  (Mk. 8:34)

At the heart of our faith, at the center of the Gospel is the Cross. Remember, ours isn’t a faith invented by someone, it has been given to us by Christ, and is the direct result of his life, teaching & miracles. So, truly, we can say that our Church is the product of the Son of God becoming the Son of Man!

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

With these words of Jesus, dear Christians, we’re invited to offer to Him, not flowers and basils, but our hearts.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the Cross of our Lord was ‘foolishness for the Greeks’ and a ‘scandal for the Jews’. However, for those who believe -whether they’re Greek, Hebrew, or Roman- ‘the Cross is the power and wisdom of God.’ As we come to know and accept Christ -the crucified Christ- the Cross will become our greatest consolation -it’s a sign of God’s love for us. When Christ ascended the Cross, He offered salvation to the whole world, for all nations. But in order to gain our salvation, for each of us, every man, woman and child, it requires that we also choose to ascend the Cross. It means accepting the way of the Cross.

And whoever now ascends the cross can become a heavenly being, can find true life and see the glory of God! To ascend the Cross requires sacrifice and self-emptying, which is the opposite of self-gratification or self-indulgence. Nevertheless, for the race of Christians, self-sacrifice becomes our way to life; we lose our life to find it.

You can’t give something you don’t already have, this is undeniable, and the Lord didn’t promise earthly thrones because He Himself didn’t have these things: “My kingdom is not of this world”, he said. But what DID Christ promise? Sacrifice, self-denial and the Cross: “If anyone would come after me”, He said, “let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”.

My dears, our life will be a cross, however, “through the cross joy has come to the entire world.” Do you know joy?

Today many Christian men and women approach the Church but never quite commit themselves to Christ for various reasons. Others will draw near and see Christ in the icon, feel something peaceful, sense the richness of Orthodox theology, the beauty of worship, but just don’t ever get too close. Why? What’s the reason?

The reason is that what we really want is an easy life. But Christ wants something else from us!

And for this reason some can no longer even come into the Church, because Christ really is here, and in Church we come face-to-face with the Crucified One and his love -his self-denying love- and we are judged by this love, because we know the Lord waits for our love in return.

Meanwhile, those who take up their cross continue to serve the Church and the world patiently, whoever they are, clergy or layperson, man, woman or child, there are always those who commit themselves to Christ, who joyfully offer themselves as a sacrifice for the glory of God as well as for society’s betterment, and for the peace of the world.

What do we say to this? How will we respond?

My dears, we will improve the world not with accusations and slanders, knives or guns – but with the Cross. The Cross, not some ornament or jewelry, not as a banner or emblem of war, not topping the king’s crown or a flagpole, but the Cross inscribed in our hearts and minds.

“The Cross,” as St John Chrysostom says, “let it become the instructor and the symbol of our life!”

God’s logic is different from ours; this is the mystery of life. Because of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can now enjoy eternal life. And the cross is the symbol of the power and authority of the philanthropic God on earth – a triumph of death – through His death as a human but His resurrection as God.

Therefore, our greatest power is not what we have, but who we are. And we are Orthodox Christians – communicants of the Risen Body and Blood of Christ – and we are transformed into this new logic and new life.

But we must put into practice this new life that Christ has given us. This is the life of the Church, the life of the Divine Liturgy. Then we will gain the full extent of the power of this new mode of life – which death cannot destroy – it merely changes its external form and improves it!

And so, we venerate the cross of Christ which tells us of God’s coming to us, and of our return to Him – both accomplished by the death of the cross. We have been given the ability to die, and yet to live. This is the logic of the Divine Liturgy.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross is Monday, September 14th. Orthros and Divine Liturgy begin at 8am.

This weekend marks what would have been our Annual Greek Festival. Let us reflect on this while offering prayers for the health and resilience of our parishioners, their families, our community, and our world.

Let us look forward to the days we can once again come together without restriction to work in fellowship and share our church home with the community safely!

Until that time, the loss of our festival does present us with a significant financial hardship. As you know, all festival proceeds go directly towards supporting the operating expenses of our parish. This has been a primary catalyst for embarking on our “FAITH and LIGHT for All Generations” campaign with the goal of raising $125,000 to offset losses caused by the pandemic.

This weekend, when we would normally be enjoying our festival–the fellowship, the fun, the music, the dancing, the food, the pastries, the Greek beer, the Ouzo–we humbly ask that you reflect on what you may have spent leading up to the festival and throughout festival weekend, and consider offering this amount as a donation to our FAITH and LIGHT campaign.

We understand this time is impacting everyone in many ways and, therefore, all expressions of love for our church are deeply appreciated. It is your love that keeps alive the Faith and Light of our church, now and for generations to come.

May you have health and God’s blessing! Ygeía kai evlogía Theoú na éhete!

To Offer a Donation…

Please click on our Donations and Stewardship tab and select the Faith and Light option. Alternatively, you can mail or drop off a check to the church office. Please be sure to note “FAITH and LIGHT” in the memo so your funds can be attributed to this campaign