ST JOSEPH THE BETROTHED
Melkite-Greek
Catholic CHURCH
725 W. Mt. Hope
Ave, Lansing, MI 48910 517-575-6264
FMailing Address: 921 Westover Circle, Lansing, MI 48917E
Rev. Father James
K. Graham, Pastor frjamie@earthlink.net
Rev. Protodeacon
Joseph Daratony
248-719-5169
Phone or
email Fr James with items for the bulletin by Thursday night.
Troparion of St John Klimakos (Tone 8)
Your abundant tears made the wilderness sprout and bloom,
and your deep sighings make your labor fruitful a
hundred-fold.
You became a star shining over the world with miracles,
Holy Father John.
Intercede with Christ God that He may save our souls.
15 March 2015—Fourth
Sunday of Great Lent: St John
Klimakos. Holy Martyrs Agapios & His
Seven Companions. (Tone.7)
Readings Apostolos: Hebrews 6:13-20 Gospel: Mark 9:17-31
10:30 am Orthros (Morning Prayer)
11 am Divine
Liturgy of St Basil the Great for the health and salvation of Fr Brendan McAnerney, Fawaz Fawaz, Joseph Mondalek, Maarouf Khouri, Dennis Flint, Eleanora Lindo, Mikayla Slocum, Samira El-Chaer, Awatef
Chahine, Raymond Rashid, Bonita Saba, Griffin Barna, Jim Covello, David
Georges, Elias Atallah, Ralph Farhat, Robert Kuri, Pam Nakfoor, Isaac Salim,
Iva Butler, BJ and Liz, Cam, Janice, Jeanne, Wayne Gowdy, Lucy Palmer, Kelsey, Kathleen
Edwards, Edgar & Katherine Fickenscher, David & Sandi, Kamal &
Eugenie Neimat, Clay Thomas,
Michael Maslowski, Antonio Carvalho, Elaine & Eva-Genevieve Scarborough,
Michael Harmuth, Elias Haggar, Dn. Joe & Marge Daratony, Fr Joseph Haggar; in
memory of Iskandar Indraous (Michael
Skouri), Nickolas Nakfoor (Aleen
Jabo), Louis Zarka (Rosette
Kalouche), Mitzi Mogannam & Gladys
Lemmons (Fr James).
21 March 2015—2 pm:
Great Vespers.
22 March 2015—Fifth Sunday
of Great Lent: St Mary of Egypt. Holy Hieromartyr Basil of Ancyra. (Tone 8)
Readings Apostolos: Hebrews 9:11-14 Gospel: Mark 10:32-45
10:30 am Orthros (Morning Prayer)
11 am Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great in
memory of Iskandar Indraous (40-Day Memorial by His Family), Nickolas Nakfoor (Bonnie Dysinger), Louis Zarka (Mr & Mrs Joseph Soyad), Julia Axmacher & Jack Lysaght (Fr
James).
Troparia and Kontakion for Today
- Troparion of the Resurrection, in Tone 7, Liturgikon, page 193.
- Troparion of St John Klimakos, in Tone 8, page 204.
- Troparion of St Joseph, in Tone 4, page 30A.
- Kontakion of the Annunciation, in Tone 8, page 240.
Mana’eesh for Coffee Hour Today Made by NAMY
Members of NAMY, our parish
youth group, spent several hours in the kitchen yesterday making mana’eesh with zaatar for today’s coffee hour.
They are not charging for these delicious treats, but will gratefully
accept donations to support the work of Fr Tom Steinmetz, the National Director
of the National Association of Melkite Youth.
Please be generous.
Parish Pastoral Council Meets This Monday,
16 March
The Parish Pastoral Council
will meet at 6:30 pm tomorrow, Monday 16 March, in the parish hall.
Lenten Services on Wednesday and Friday at 6
PM
This Wednesday we will
celebrate the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Come and receive the Body and Blood of Christ
to strengthen your soul and body as we draw closer to the end of Great Lent. On Friday we will sing the complete Akathist
Hymn, our last chanting of it for this year.
A Lenten (meatless) supper will follow the Akathist this Friday, 20
March. Fr James will be available to
hear Confession after these services.
Second Lenten Evening of Reflection, 20 March
The
second evening of Spiritual Reflection on the topic “Our Vision: What Our Church Should Be” will be held on 20
March after the Akathist. Fr James will take us through the Vision
Statement and explain what each part means.
At this session, there will be time for questions and discussion. You can read the proposed St Joseph Church Vision
Statement on the back of this bulletin
and on our parish website and Facebook page.
Flea Market Items Needed
Our Lady's Society will be
having the flea market during the Food Festival this year as in the past. We are looking for donations of nearly new
and lightly-used items, such as glassware, dishes, scarves, purses, home
interior items, children's games that are complete, toys, books, music, jewelry,
and accessories. No clothing. Please see Dee Farhat about bringing your
donations. Do not just dump them in the
Flea Market room. Food Festival dates
are Thursday-Friday, 7-8 May.
Choir Will Practice on Fridays of Great Lent
On the Fridays of Great
Lent, the choir will have a short practice either before or after the
Akathist. All choir members must join in
the practices, which will concentrate on the chants for Holy Week and
Pascha. People who sing only for those
services also need to come to the practices.
The Fourth Sunday of Great Lent—St John
Klimakos
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
commemorates St John Klimakos, the 7th Century monk of Mt Sinai, who
wrote a spiritual treatise called The
Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is read in monasteries during Great
Lent. It teaches Christians about
climbing step by step, working to be holy, until we reach union with God. St John is called “Klimakos” because klimax is the word in Greek for “ladder.” His feast day is 30 March. The Gospel reading (Mark 9:17-31) tells of
Jesus’s healing of the boy possessed by a demon that seeks to destroy him. Christ tells the disciples that they could
not heal the boy because “this kind can come out only through prayer and
fasting.” Then He tells them that He
must be betrayed, killed, and rise again on the third day.
Services for the Feast of the Annunciation
The Great Feast of the
Annunciation to Mary that she would be the Mother of God occurs every year on
25 March, exactly nine months before the Nativity of Christ. We will celebrate Great Vespers for this
feast at 6 pm on Tuesday 24 March and the Divine Liturgy at 6 pm on Wednesday
25 March.
Set Aside Money for The Shepherd’s Care
The Shepherd’s Care is our nationwide
diocesan Lenten charity collection. All
donations to The Shepherd’s Care are given to charity. Please use the Mite Box you have received to
give something every day in Great Lent for charity. Remember, the Mite Boxes
are not just for children.
Books About Great Lent Now Available
We have two excellent books
about Great Lent available in our bookstore at the amazing price of $1
each. Great Lent, by Fr Alexander Schmemann, looks at the history,
practices, and spirituality of the season.
The Lenten Spring, by Fr
Thomas Hopko, offers reflections on the services and hymns of Great Lent. These classic books are informational and
inspirational.
Proposed Vision Statement of St Joseph
Church
At our Evening of Reflection
after the Akathist on Friday 20 March, Fr James will present and lead
discussion of the Proposed Vision Statement for our parish. It is printed here so that you can read it,
think about it, and pray about it before that night. Remember that a Vision Statement says what we
believe our church should be. It does
not lay out a plan for what our church will do.
And it is not a criticism of what we are now or what we are doing now.
St Joseph Melkite-Greek
Catholic Church envisions itself to be
a self-sustaining, always-renewing
Christian community
in which all people are welcomed and included
so that they can use their gifts of time, talent, and treasure
for sharing
the Good News of Jesus Christ;
for
building up the Body of Christ
through worship, education, service, and social activities
according to the Holy Tradition of Byzantine Christianity;
and
for working
together with other Churches with whom we have so much in
common.
common.
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