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.
Kontakion of the
Paralytic (Tone 3)
O Lord, as You raised the paralytic of old, in
your divine goodness
lift up my soul completely paralyzed by many sins
and all kinds of wickedness,
so that I may be saved and may cry out to You,
“Glory to your might, O merciful Christ!”
11 May 2014—4th
Sunday of Pascha: The Paralytic. Holy Martyr Mokios, SS. Cyril & Methodios,
Equals to the Apostles. (Tone 3)
Readings Apostolos: Acts 9:32-42 Gospel:
John 5:1-15
10:30 am Orthros (Morning Prayer)
11 am Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom for the health &
salvation of Dn. Joe Daratony, Griffin
Barna, Jim Covello, David Georges, Elias Atallah, Ralph Farhat, Robert Kuri,
Nick Nakfoor, Pam Nakfoor, Isaac Salim, Louise Hajj, Iva Butler, Michel Badawi,
Kelsey Andrews, Elaine & Eva-Genevieve Scarborough, Michael Maslowski, Clay
Thomas, Michael Harmuth, Elias Haggar, Fr John Leonard, Fr James Babcock;
in
memory of Victoria Hasbany
(One-Year Memorial by Imad and John Hasbany & Families), Louis Zarka (Evonne Alhaddad),
John Rashid (Mr & Mrs Dan Olivett), Abraham
Saba (Joseph Bouban), Rizk Eid
Haddad, and Diane Siegfried and Sister Vladimira (Fr James).
18 May 2014— 5th
Sunday of Pascha: The Samaritan Woman. Holy Martyrs Peter, Denis, and their
Companions. (Tone 4)
Readings Apostolos: Acts 11:19-30 Gospel: John 4:5-42
10:30 am Orthros (Morning Prayer)
11 am Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom in memory of Louis Zarka (Nick & Nickie Joseph),
John Rashid (Mr & Mrs Ron Albert), Abraham
Saba (Deeb Mekhayel), Rizk Eid
Haddad, and Douglas R. Smith (1
Year by Fr James).
Please Turn in All Shepherd’s Care Contributions Today
Today is the last day to turn in your contributions to
The Shepherd’s Care Lenten charity program.
The donations from all the Melkite churches in the US will be combined
and distributed to charities approved by the bishop.
Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!
Troparia and Kontakia for Today
- Troparion of the Resurrection in Tone 3, page 185.
- Troparion of SS Cyril & Methodios, in Tone 4.
- Troparion of St Joseph, in Tone 4, page 30A.
- Kontakion of the Paralytic, in Tone 3.
- Kontakion of Pascha, in Tone 2, page 214.
Our Offerings to the Lord
The collection taken in the Liturgy is part of our
worship. We offer the Lord our lives,
our prayers, our gifts of bread and wine, and our financial gifts. Last Sunday, more than 120 people attended
the Liturgy. Our offering totalled $1820
in the ordinary collection, $90 for the Home Missions Appeal, $105 for the
Shepherd’s Care, and $53.25 for candles.
Vespers at 7 pm Tuesday for Feast of Mid-Pascha
Halfway between Pascha and Pentecost, the Church celebrates the feast
of Mid-Pascha or Mid-Pentecost. We
recall that Jesus proclaimed that He is the Living Water and that all who are
thirsty should come and drink. We will
celebrate Great Vespers for Mid-Pascha at 7 pm on Tuesday 13 May.
Ladies Society Honors Ann Rashid as Mother of
the Year
Ann Rashid was honored as St Joseph’s Mother of the Year at the Tuesday
night meeting of the Ladies Society. Fr
James presented her an ikon of the Mother of God, her daughters and
grandchildren made a surprise appearance, and everyone enjoyed a delicious
cake inscribed with appropriate verses from chapter 31 of the Book of
Proverbs.
Ladies Society Presents $8000 from Food Festival!
At the Tuesday night meeting of the Ladies Society, a check for $8000
from the Food Festival profit was presented to Fr James. Many thanks to all who worked so hard for the
success of our major fund-raising event.
NAMY Will Deliver Truffles Today
Yesterday our NAMY group made 15 dozen chocolate truffles for Mother’s
Day. If you ordered truffles, be sure to
pick them up today. The truffles sold
out, so unfortunately none remain to be sold today. Order early next time.
Great Lakes Protopresbyterate Clergy Retreat 19-23 May
The Melkite priests and deacons of the Great Lakes
Protopresbyterate (Western New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and
Wisconsin) will make their annual retreat Monday-Friday 19-23 May at the
Capuchin Retreat Center in Washington, MI.
Fr James will go on the retreat, but will be reachable by cell phone in
case of an emergency.
New Book Available: The Melkite Church at
Vatican II
At the
Second Vatican Council, 1963-65, the Melkite Greek-Catholic Church had a great
influence on the whole Catholic Church.
A collection of the speeches, memos, and letters of Patriarch Maximos IV
Sayegh and the other bishops has just been published in English by our diocesan
Sophia Press. The cost is $30 per
book. Contact Fr James right away if you
want to order; only a limited edition was printed.
Take a Look at our Reactivated Facebook Page
St Joseph parish’s Facebook page is now very active, with fresh
postings of announcements, Bible quotations, photos, and other parish
news. Friend us and invite your friends
to friend us. See what’s happening in
your church!
The Sunday
of the Paralytic
By
Nimer Haddad, Chair of St Joseph Evangelization Committee
The Melkite Church, along with the other
Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox churches, observes the Sunday of the Paralytic on
the Fourth Sunday of Pascha.
This day commemorates the miracle of Jesus
healing a man who had been paralyzed for thirty eight years, as told in the
Gospel of John 5:1-15. The story relates
that the first person to enter the Shepherd’s Pool in Jerusalem after an angel
troubled (or moved) the water would be healed of his illness.
But because the man was paralyzed, someone
else always entered the pool before him. Jesus had pity on him, seeing he had no one to
put him into the pool, and healed him. Jesus
asked the man, “Do you want to be made well?” And he answered with a quiet and meek voice,
“Sir, I have no one, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool.” The Lord said to him, “Rise, take up your bed,
and walk.” And straightaway the man was healed
and took up his bed. Walking in the
presence of everyoned, he went rejoicing to his own house.
In some places the New Testament seems to support
a link between sin and disability. In John
9:1-3, for instance, the disciples ask Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, the man or
his parents, that he was born blind?” This
question implies that people believed that disability was punishment for an unspecified
sin.
When Jesus healed the paralyzed man who lay by
the Shepherd’s Pool in Jerusalem, He said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse will happen to
you” (John 5:14). At first look, this
might seem clearly to indicate that Jesus thought there was a connection between
the man’s disability and some sin. But
surely it has a deeper significance—that if the man does not stop sinning, he
will suffer a worse fate than paralysis; that is, he will not enter the Kingdom
of God.
The symbolism of this feast is that humankind,
being unable to raise itself from the paralysis of sin by its own power, needs
the Son of Man to come and raise it up, as He rose from the dead on Easter
Sunday.
