“Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, full of grace, for from thee arose the Sun of justice, Christ our God, lighting those who are in darkness. Rejoice and be glad, O righteous elder, carrying in thine arms the Deliverer of our souls, Who granteth us Resurrection. “
Dear to Christ the Stewards of God Gifts,
As we celebrate the Feast of the Meeting of Christ in the Temple, we remember the great blessing that St. Simeon received when he carried in his arms the “Deliverer of our souls, Who granteth us Resurrection”. We like Simeon and Hannah are blessed to be able to say together with them “we have seen the True Light” at the end of every Liturgy. The Priests sees on the altar what the angels in heaven are afraid to see, the Lamb of God laying on the Holy Altar, and he says: “Blessed art thou on the throne of the glory of thy kingdom, who sittest upon the Cherubim”.
In the Gospel of this Sunday, we read about a man who gives to each one of his servants a talent or talents. We are those servants. God gave us each one of us a talent, a gift. This gifts are not for us to bury in the ground, but to use them to bring more fruits. Fr. LeMasters writes: “Jesus Christ used this story about investing money as a reminder of the importance of being a productive steward of all that God has given us. Life itself and all our blessings and abilities come from the Lord. Ever since He created us in His image and likeness, He has called us to invest ourselves in ways that enable us to flourish as His sons and daughters. He invites us to an abundant life that bears fruit for the Kingdom, blesses others, and radiates the light of holiness throughout the world…Nobody else can save or invest your money; you have to do it. Nobody else can become a faithful steward of your life and blessings; you have to do it. The choice that we all face is whether to cower in fear of failure as we bury our talents in the ground, weaken ourselves, and refuse to do what only we can do for the healing and transformation of the world. Or will we make a solid investment of our talents, no matter how large or small they may be, and grow in the abundant life for which God created us in His image and likeness?” The gifts we have our health, our money, our talents are not ours but Gods gifts to us, if we put them to work for God’s glory, He will multiply them.
Your church of St. George needs your financial support and your talents, share with your church God’s gifts to you.
Let us read what St. Paul writes in his epistle this Sunday: “but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger”. St. Paul suffered a lot, but he was faithful to Christ until the end of his life. He wrote: “who can separate us from the Love of God?”.
My dear fellow members of St. George, our church is full of talented people who are given many gifts spiritually and materially. Let us put them to build the Kingdom of God in Toronto.
Without God we can do nothing. Let us come to Him this Sunday and hear His words: ““He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
In Christ,
Rev. Fr. Dr. George Dahdouh, Pastor
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 February 07, 2021~