“Thou wast transfigured on the mount, and Thy Disciples, in so far as they were able, beheld Thy glory, O Christ our God; so that, when they should see Thee crucified, they would remember that all Thy suffering was voluntary, and could declare to all the world that Thou art truly the effulgent Splendor of the Father.”
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,
The only one who can see God and His Glory are those who are pure in their hearts.
We just celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration. As the Disciples beheld the glory of Christ, we too every time we celebrate the Divine Liturgy experience His death and resurrection and we have a glimpse of His Glory. Metropolitan Anthony Bloom wrote: “There are moments when we also see something which is beyond us, and how much we wish we could stay, stay forever in this blissful condition; and it is not only because we are incapable of it that we are not allowed to stay in it, but because the Lord says, You are now on the Mount of Transfiguration, you have seen Christ ready to be crucified for the life of the world – go now together with Him, go now in His name, go now, and bring people to Him that they may live! This is our vocation. May God give us faith, and the purity of heart that allows us to see God in every brother and sister of ours! Didn’t one of the Desert Fathers say, ‘He who has seen his brother has seen God’? – and serve one another with love sacrificial, with the exulting joy of giving our lives to one another as Christ gave His life for us. Amen.”
It is very important as Orthodox Christians to attend the services of the Holy Church on Feasts days. There are twelve feasts in the Orthodox Church, and they are days of obligations to attend the Divine Services.
If you haven’t yet done so, please send your donation to help our brothers and sisters in Lebanon.
Next week we will have Paraklesis on Monday and Wednesday at 7 PM. Friday we will celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos starting at 6:30PM. Please, make every effort to attend the services of the Church. We will have a procession around the church with the Epitaphion of the Theotokos.
“Brethren, we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (St. Paul to the Corinthians).
Just a simple worker in the vineyard of Christ,
Rev. Fr. Dr. George Dahdouh, Priest
~Pastor’s Message of August 07, 2020~