“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”
Dear temples of the living God,
Peace and Grace to you.
God in His great plan and because of His mercy created us to live in a community of the Church or marriage so that we may practice mercy towards others, and to receive mercy from them. St. Silouan writes: “The soul that has not known the Holy Spirit does not understand how one can love one’s enemies, and does not accept it. Lord, You have given the commandment to love enemies, but this is difficult for us sinners if Your grace is not with us. “He who does not love his enemies, does not have God’s grace”; “He who has not learned to love from the Holy Spirit, will certainly not pray for his enemies.” On the contrary, St. Silouan always teaches that this attitude is a gift of the Holy Spirit: “The Lord has commanded us to love our enemies, and the Holy Spirit reveals this love to us”; “One can only love one’s enemies through the grace of the Holy Spirit”; “When you will love your enemies, know that a great divine grace will be living in you.”
Meeting with His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph: close to 400 clergy met with His Eminence, and he asked us to convey his greetings to all of you. The Archdiocese will be able to send one million US dollars to Lebanon soon. He told the clergy you are not “assigned”, but your are “sent” to your parish.
Since on Sundays our church 30% capacity is only 200 people, those who would like to have memorials for their loved ones and expect many people to attend, may choose to have it on Saturdays with Vespers.
I need your help: some ask for Bible Study, but I get only 4 people. Some ask for Vespers, but I get only 2 people. I need your input, what do you need me to teach, or do to make Bible Study more attractive to you? and how can we increase attendance at Vespers on Saturdays evening at 5 PM?
Sunday school is going very well online, thanks to all the teachers and the team. You may join one of the following organizations: SOYO, YAM, the women organization, OCF St. George for university students.
Today is Life Chain Sunday. At 2 PM some of our community members will be standing on Bayview for one hour to witness that the Orthodox Church stands for Life and the rights of the unborn babies. You may join them. Safety rules must be followed as per Ontario guidelines. Children must be accompanied by their parents.
The General Assembly was very successful last Sunday. We have 4 new parish council members, congratulations to them. Their names are in the bulletin. The Parish Council will meet soon to elect the new officers.
Since we didn’t have Soul Saturdays during Lent, we will have Liturgy for St. Demetrius Soul Saturday on October 24th at 10:30 AM.
We will be collecting canned food for the hungry and needy between October and December. Please, place them in the box in the Narthex.
Fr. Philip LeMasters writes: “No matter whether we live in Corinth, Abilene (Toronto), or elsewhere, we all struggle against the spiritual diseases that make it so hard to forgive, love, and serve those who have violated our pride by offending us or who will probably not respond in kind. We have these struggles because we have turned away collectively and individually from the truth that we are made for a common life in the image and likeness of God…Our Saviour is the embodiment of mercy to everyone, for He came to save and transform the entire world and especially every human being. Even more amazing is the truth that we are able to participate in Him, to be nourished by His Body and Blood, the medicine of immortality and holiness in Holy Mystery of the Eucharist. And, yes, we really are able to become merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful. By being filled and transformed by His grace, we may become living icons of the divine love and light even in our most difficult relationships.”
Join me this Sunday at Liturgy and let us say with St. Paul: “let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.”
Rev. Fr. Dr. George Dahdouh, Priest
St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
9116 Bayview Ave.,
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3M9
Office: 905/731-7210, Cell in case of Emergency: 416/937-6301
~Pastor’s Message of October 4, 2020~