What is a Mother

A mother, human though she is, is that wonderful person whose love knows no bounds, never wavering, never wanting. She is, perhaps the rarest of all God's creations, for she is the truest.

From the very first day she becomes a mother, hers is a strange destiny. She has no eight-hour days, no five-days-a-week, no employee benefits, no paid vacations. Hers is a seven-day-a-week, twenty-four hours a day job crowded full of chores and crises. Her nerves seem made of steel and her fortitude near super-human. She is a specialist, a chauffeur and countless other things. She is endowed with a gift of knowing: knowing when to laugh, when to cry, when to be firm and when to be tender.

A mother is skilled at wiping away tears, soothing hurt feelings, mending broken toys, ironing frilly dresses, patching blue jeans and a multitude of things belonging to a child's world.

A mother copes with all types of situations. The first day of school, the first date, the first broken heart, and many nights of worry.

But after all is said and done, a mother finds a special kind of fulfillment when her children are grown and yet her concern and love do not end. She then becomes a woman wondering about adult children, where they are and what they are doing. A mother, then, is the one person you always expect to be there when you need her. She is that wonderful memory of childhood, that tender guide of youth, that strong stability of adulthood, in a few words, that one unforgettable person who made out of a house a loving home.

Mother's Day and Father's Day

Just as the second Sunday in the month of May is set aside as Mother's Day, so is the third Sunday in the month of June commemorated by all the people of our land as Father's Day.

The idea of honoring mothers and fathers has its root directly in the Old Testament. Thousands of years ago, Almighty God gave mankind his Ten Commandments. These were called God's "centerpiece" for right living -- "Honor thy father and thy mother."

When we examine this commandment, we find that it contains two ideas. One is that parents must be honorable. Parents must be such mothers and fathers to their children that they deserve to be honored. My, how much this needs to be said in our day! Many states, for example, have recently enacted special legislation for dealing with ill and injured children. It seems that in too many instances injuries were inflicted by parents and sicknesses came through parental neglect. It is obvious in such cases that parents themselves are not abiding by the spirit of this commandment of God.

Of course by far, many fathers and mothers do deserve to be honored. That is why the people of our land have taken the step of having a Mother's and Father's Day. It is only right that we do pay a token of our appreciation to those fathers and mothers so often forgotten, so often in the background, who are the backbone and foundation of true Christian homes.

The second idea in the commandment is the obvious one: Children are to honor their parents. Notice that no time is specified  not only are young boys and girls to honor their parents, but older children who are grown men and women are to keep this law. And they are to honor parents as long as they live, as well as after they die.

What exactly is meant by the term "honor parents?"  Here are some of the things involved in this commandment.

1. Children are to help their parents. There is so much that even youngsters can do to assist in the work around a house. And grown children, too, can be of great assistance to their parents.
2. Children are to love and respect parents. How often elderly mothers and fathers yearn to be loved and wanted by their children.
3. Children should care for their parents.
4. Children should obey them in everything. Parents, being older and more experienced than their children, exercise a proper authority over the home, they want the best for the family.

These are some of the ways, then, we can really honor our fathers and mothers. To have a day set aside for fathers and mothers once a year is far from enough; but in the ways enumerated we can truly honor them day-by-day and year-by-year.

These two days have very special meaning. 

It is interesting to compare the relationship of God to mankind and Parents to their children. God is the creator.  It is from Him that all life comes. In the family, a mother and a father pass on life to their children. God is the Great Provider.  It is from Him that mankind receives the necessities of life. In the family, both parents become providers to their children. God is the law-giver.  It is from Him that we received the great rules for living. In the family, both parents represent authority and law as they act on God's behalf. God is the Great Lover of man.  It is He who sent His Son to suffer and die for us. In the family, the parents so love their children that they often expend their very life on their behalf.

There is so much more that can be said about these two very special days. Parents, although only human, are wonderful people whose love knows no bounds nor any wavering or wanting. They are perhaps the rarest of all God's creations for they are the truest.

From the very first day that they become parents, theirs is a strange destiny. They have no eight-hour days and no five-day weeks.  Theirs is a seven-day-a-week, twenty-four-hour-a-day job crowded full of chores and crisis. Parents are endowed with a gift of knowing - knowing when to laugh, when to cry, when to be firm and when to be tender.

But after all is said and done, parents find a special kind of fulfillment when their children are grown and yet their concern and love never ends. Mothers and fathers are that wonderful memory of childhood, that tender guide of youth, that strong stability of adulthood.  In a few words, that unforgettable person who make a house a loving home.

I Respectfully Remain In My Lord's Service,
Your Pastor, V. Rev. Michael S. Petrides

Dearly Beloved,
On March 19 we will once again be entering Great Lent, a period of forty days set aside for the Fathers of the Church to give us an opportunity to morally and spiritually improve our lives and prepare ourselves properly to experience the full joy of (the feast of) Christ's Holy Resurrection. Only by faithfully adhering to the prescribed guidelines and spirit of Great Lent will it be possible to vividly and consciously experience the drama of our Lord's Holy Passion as though it were our own. What awaits us is a resurrection into a new, eternal life with Christ the Savior, who arose from the dead and vanquished death.

The Church, viewing Great Lent as a time for all of us to make significant dramatic changes and adjustments in the way we conduct our lives as recorded the following text in its services for the Sunday before Great Lent: "The arena of the virtues has been opened. Let all who wish to struggle for the prize now enter girding themselves for the noble contest of the fast." The arena of the virtues is open. Come, let everyone enter and exercise and become outstanding, like champion contestants seeking the crown of victory. Enter, gird yourselves and make ready for the good fight - the spiritual exercise of fasting. The arena is open, and we have before us a training period of forty days. Let us become participants in our own spiritual contest. The purpose of fasting is to help man find reconciliation with God, with his fellow man, and all the eternal ideals that merit their being crowned in victory.

Beyond the physical aspect of fasting, however, the Church has also established and indicated to us, "the arena of virtues." Whereas fasting is designed to strengthen and prepare the body, contests of another nature are also set forth to provide exercise for the soul. The reason is clear and simple. In the same way that the soul is considered by the Christian to be more precious than the body, so also are the spiritual exercises even more important than physical exercises.

The first contest sponsored by the Church in the "arena of virtues" is repentance. Most of the hymns sung during Great Lent speak of repentance. They tell us about a contest that is extremely difficult because it necessitates many basic changes in our lives, changes that seem almost unattainable to us. How can we alter habits that are dear to us but are not very Christian in nature? How can we overcome weaknesses and shortcomings that often seem to control us like an obsession? How can we find the way and the strength to stand erect when we seem to prefer to allow in the enchanting mire of our uncontrollable passions?

The Church, knowing full well our human frailties and dangerous tendencies, calls forth to us to enter the "arena of virtues" without hesitating, without fear, and with full determination and confidence. We cannot attain moral perfection and spiritual regeneration unless we apply ourselves through strenuous exercise. True repentance presupposes a contrite heart, self-humiliation and constant prayer. We need to pray to God often and fervently. Unfortunately, however, it seems that prayer is something that is absent from our everyday life. Modern man seems to be preoccupied. No time is left for even the slightest effort to improve ourselves in spiritual pursuits, as for example, studying Holly Scriptures, introspection, or conversing with God in prayer. Spiritually fatigued as we are, we try to solve our problems by ourselves, refusing to accept the fact that we need a power greater than our own to solve them. This greater power is Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The third and perhaps greatest fear of all is our spiritual cleansing and elevation, to the point where we can honestly say that there is no room in our life for "The dumb and deaf spirit" (Mark 9:25). We need a purification of body and soul that will forbid impure acts and words which compromise and debase the human being. This type of purification and rejection of the dumb spirit demands rigorous training and self control during Great Lent, the type described in the Gospel according to St. Mark, where we find Jesus quoted as saying: "This kind of spirit can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting" (Mark 9:29). We need to persevere in prayer that will redeem us from worldly pursuits, and a kind of fasting that will redeem us from physical wrongdoing and weakness.

My beloved children in the Lord, the "arena of virtues" is open. Let no one remain outside. Our Church directs us to enter the "arena of virtues" of Great Lent prepared for the contest to fight the good fight of fasting. It is for the benefit of our soul. We need to exercise spiritually to help us correct our shortcomings and frailties which lead us into sinful acts. The voice of our Christian conscience cries out to take action and do all that is required for a rejuvenated life in Christ and the eternal glory of His Holy Resurrection.

I Remain in my Lord's Service,
Your Pastor, Father Michael S. Petrides

The constant call to renewal reminds us that we can have a new year through the creation of new attitudes.

For most of us new year does not mean any appreciable change in outer circumstances or conditions. It will be the same job, the same problem, and the same self to live with.  If anything is going to be new, it will have to come through a new attitude. Part of the blessed hope of our faith is the knowledge that, although we cannot change outer circumstances, we can be masters of our reaction to them. We do not need to live at the mercy of events.

This is what Paul meant when he wrote: "I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content...I know how to live when things are bad and when things are good." It is far from saying that Paul was satisfied with all outer circumstances. He too had the brooding heart that yearned and hoped for a better day with finer circumstances and conditions. To that end he set about to change some things that bothered him but which he would not let o overwhelm him.

Inwardly he found an attitude of heart, mind, and soul that would let nothing crush his spirit. He was saying, "I can take anything the world can throw at me and more, b because I am armed with a strength that nothing can break." With his acceptance of things as they were, he also held an attitude which said, "In all things we are more than conquerors through him that love us."

Something bigger than ourselves helps us push back the horizon, starts us growing in new endeavors, thought and action; and life's limited vista begins to offer breath-taking possibilities.

This was the method of our Lord, in a defeated day he linked the lives of his followers to the kingdom of God. Immediately their little words gave way to the infinite possibilities of God's vastness and man's potential in the image of God. So people who were quite ordinary in their little lives became great individuals through anew love and cause and left their mark on all humanity.

The constant call to renewal involves a renewed program of personal prayer.

Prayer holds the greatest resources for maximum experience in the Christian life. Here is where our enthusiasm is rekindled, our perspective enlarged, and our sense of the presence of the Almighty reinforced.

In I Thessalonians 5:17 Paul writes: "Pray without ceasing," or in another translation "Pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "Life for him was filled with prayer, and it can be the same for us.

Prayer is a gift of God, a great source of spiritual power, and the channel of God's Holy Spirit as we open ourselves to him. The constant call to renewal means using this great spiritual tool, developing our ability and enlarging our capacity until consciously and unconsciously our lives become a total prayer experience, not necessarily in the formal words we say or the particular posture we may assume but in a sense of communion with God constantly. So his peace, presence, power, patience, and perceptivity will give us the grace to be and to become sons of God in Christ.

The Meaning of Faith

"Giving Thanks to God Almighty"
"Giving thanks always for all things unto
God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:20

The words of both the Old and New Testament speak out so clearly of God's constant reminder to man that we are indebted to the Almighty an that offering thanks is one of His commandments to man. God's message through Jesus Christ was given to the Apostles who in turn passed it on to man as we read in II Thessalonians 1:3 "We re bound to give thanks always to God" and I Thessalonians 1:3 "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

For what reasons must we give thanks to God? The fact that we are alive! His gift of life to us! That God sent his only begotten Son to save us! His supreme sacrifice on the cross for our salvation! For his Divine Grace and faith which he bestows upon us every day! For even the moving service of the Divine Liturgy which was instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ during the last supper with his Disciples which is a service of thanksgiving known by the theological term as the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist because Our Lord offered a "Eucharista" which in English means Thanksgiving to God the Father. We thank God for this service because it is the unique means of uniting Divinity with humanity.

As we read in the Acts, the early Christians offered the service of the Divine Liturgy to express thanks to God not only for His sacrifice, but also for the privilege they had to beak bread together as one family sharing whatever they possessed. "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Acts 2:42.

In this world of confusion and uncertainty, we all experience moments of trials and sorrows, for which we should thank God, because through them we grow spiritually which divides us from the world of vanity, falseness, and materialism, and unites us with the world of security, light, eternity and immortality.

he act of thanksgiving is divine... and we can all show it by true and sincere forms of gratitude. Let us thank God through prayers and praises, let us thank God by forgiving those who trespass against us, let us perform deeds of virtue, because under His guidance, we are all brothers. Let us not forget those who are in need, who are poor,. who are sick, for Christ spent his time on earth remembering all who needed help and gave it to them.

It is very painful to experience in our contemporary life the apathy and indifference of the faithful to express thanks to God Almighty by attending Church services once a week. The Divine liturgy is not only an act of thanksgiving but it is in reality a deep understanding and appreciation of God, who gave Himself for us. And in the end, all shall be rewarded for their thanksgiving on this earth, for "All that they did for their brothers and sisters, they did for Him."

We must not forget that in troubled times and in the midst of our despair, we are living and enjoying all of God's beneficence, with which He has enriched His earth. We must utilize November 26th as a day to renew our thankfulness to God with a deeper and more conscientious meaning.

Indeed, in today's rapidly changing world, our only true source of strength, hope and encouragement can be found in the teachings of Christ. Through the Holy Bible we can experience the continuing loving concern of God who so loved the world that He sent Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, to offer His own life so that we might be freed of our sins and the bonds of death.

Thanksgiving is a celebration with double meaning, for it is both a national and religious holiday. It is a day when we thank our Creator for all that He has bestowed upon us and for the blessings He continues to bring forth. We also remember those early pioneers who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1621 - pilgrims who ventured to the new world in order to praise His holy name.

On November 23rd, Thanksgiving Day, before sitting down at our embellished tables, let us give some serious thought to what will precede this festive meal - the reading of a favorite passage from the Holy Scripture, a brief prayer by each member of the family and possibly a hymn. For unless our heads and hearts are first bowed in prayer and gratitude before the Thanksgiving meal, then the day is devoid of its basic meaning and purpose. Amen.

Elevation of the Holy Cross - September 14.
"Six little words of Christ have presented man with the
 greatest challenge of all time. How do we respond to that Challenge?"

Take up Your Cross ! Follow Me

In the Gospel of St. Mark, Christ tells His Disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34). In no uncertain terms, Christ tells us that we can only begin to follow Him if we are willing to take His cross and make it our own. Yet this concept is often misunderstood and misinterpreted by Christians.

Very often, when we are facing problems and difficulties in this life, some well-intentioned individual will tell us that it is our cross to bear. What is often implied is something radically different from that demanded by Jesus Christ. Bearing one's cross in no way means that we should give our problems over to God in such a manner that we expect Him and Him alone to do something about them. While we seek God's help, we must not think that bearing our cross is the same thing as forgetting our problems. It does not absolve us from actively seeking solutions to our difficulties. If anything, bearing one's cross doesn't simplify life at all. It complicates it.

Christ was crucified on Golgotha. He was forced to carry His cross up that hill. He alone bore that cross, a difficult task indeed. Yet, in bearing His cross, His troubles were not over. To the contrary, they had just begun. After bearing it, He was nailed to it, He died upon it, and was ultimately taken down from it. Taking up His cross was only the beginning of Christ's sufferings, not a means of ending them. As the old saying goes, things got worse before they got better.

When that cross was first laid upon His shoulders, a commitment was made, yet only beginning - a commitment to die for our sake and for our salvation. Carrying the cross to Golgotha was a beginning, not an end.

Once we commit ourselves to taking up our crosses, our commitment to Christ is only beginning. We set out to die a thousand deaths to the problems of this life, to sin, to temptation. We arm ourselves with the cross in order to enter a battle, not end one. Christ asks us to bear the cross as a means of struggling with problems, not as a solution to all of them. He doesn't expect us to just sit back to wait for everything to be okay anymore than he thought that carrying His own cross fulfilled His own mission. The cross gives us the incentive to get out there and fight, to take a new look at our lives, to struggle with evil, all with the help and assistance of God. But if we think that bearing one's cross lessens our burden, or that in bearing the cross we can just let God worry about it, we are simply wrong.

Life isn't easy. The cross doesn't make life any easier. Christ Himself admits that following Him is indeed difficult. He calls His path the narrow path; He notes that the gate is also narrow. He is indeed the Way but it is a treacherous way indeed. Many are called to follow Him, but He will be the first to admit that few are genuinely successful.

A rich young man once asked Jesus what was necessary to attain salvation. "Give away all that you have," Christ replied, "and follow Me." "That's just too hard," he thought.

If we respond to Christ positively, by taking up our crosses and bearing all that goes with them, by actively battling with sin and evil, by struggling as Jesus Himself struggled on the road to Golgotha, and by avoiding the temptation of expecting God to do that which we must do, we will attain that salvation offered to, yet rejected by, the rich young man. Bearing the cross is difficult, yet Christ guarantees that if we follow this simple command, we shall be greatly rewarded in Heaven.

"Take up your cross. Follow Me!" Christ could not be more clear as to what He expects. Christ could not be more loving in sharing His victory over evil, brought about by His own cross. But, just as in football, a goodly amount of toil and struggle goes into the final victory. If we are victorious, it will be due to our positive response to Christ. If we fail, we cannot blame God anymore than a losing football team can blame the spectators. It will be our own failure for not taking up our crosses and following Christ. Amen.

September 26, 2006
My Dear Parishioners:

The commencement of the Ecclesiastical New Year on September 1 is a welcome occasion for us to consider the abundant blessings of God in our daily lives. In the liturgical calendar of the Orthodox Church this day inaugurates an annual cycle of worship, which complements our lives with order and structure, and reflects and informs the teaching of the Church concerning the relationship of humanity to God, our Creator, and to the natural world.

Our relationship with God and the natural world is at once a physical and spiritual dynamic. It is both an earthly and a sacred reality which communicates that we are an integral part of the Creation; and, thus, we bear a special responsibility to its protection, care, and wholesome cultivation. Appropriately in this regard, September 1 also coincides with the beginning of the cycle of the agrarian harvest a physical process with a tremendous spiritual application, as reflected by the highly suggestive saying of the Apostle Paul, Whatever a man sows that he will also reap (Galatians 6:7).

Our act of sowing seeds of spiritual growth is an intense exercise, a deeply personal and all-encompassing labor of love that is characterized by a conscientious intensification of our prayer life, acts of philanthropy, and personal devotion to the reading of the Holy Scriptures. More than this, it is a manifestation of the conscience of the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) uniquely imparted to Christians, a conscience which is rooted in service to others, responsibility for our natural environment, a thirst for education and learning, and an awareness of our spiritual potential as children created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26).

Yet the task of sowing and reaping is a work that moves beyond the scope of the personal. Within parishes, the task of sowing seeds of growth takes on a communal and social dimension. More than a physical setting, the parish is a space of sacred communication and unity, defined by the intersection of the person, family, and community into a single body of worship and ministry. As such, the parish is foremost a spiritual entity, a microcosm of the entirety of the Church, the Body of Christ. It is in the parish where we grow as persons and families through corporate prayer and worship, through ministering to the physical and spiritual needs of one another, and through the guided study of the Holy Scriptures. The beginning of the Ecclesiastical New Year accords our communities the opportunity to grow in new, challenging, and ever-expanding directions. This festal time is an especially fitting occasion to examine more closely our immediate surroundings, to raise environmental awareness within our communities, to identify and attend to the specific needs of our neighbors, and to enhance the ways in which we welcome strangers into our midst. By these labors, we may be assured of an abundant harvest of spiritual fruit, rightfully honoring God's creation, and we may rest securely in the knowledge that he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).

May the beginning of this ecclesiastical year mark a radiant beginning for each of you as you continue to sow and reap the abundant blessings of God, our Creator, and may your homes and your hearts be filled with His infinite grace, mercy, and love throughout this and every ecclesiastical year.

 I respectfully remain, in my Lord’s service and yours,