The theme of the second Sunday before Lent is THE LAST JUDGEMENT (meat fare) and the Gospel lesson is Matthew 25:31-46 in which Christ describes the last judgement.  It is a lesson about Christian love.  For we all need love and each have been given the gift and grace of Christ’s love.  Thus, on whether or not we have accepted this responsibility (of Christ’s gift), and on whether we have loved or refused to love, shall we be judged.  For “inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me….”

 

Troparion of the Resurrection:  Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad; for the Lord hath done a mighty act with his own arm.  He hath trampled down death and become the First-born from the dead. He hath delivered us from the depths of hades, granting the world the Great Mercy.

 

Troparion of the Chains of St. Peter: O Holy Apostle, Peter, thou dost preside over the Apostles by the precious chains which thou didst bear.  We venerate them with faith and beseech thee that by thine intercessions we be granted the great mercy.

 

Kontakion of Meat Fare Sunday:  When thou comest, O God, to earth with glory, and all creatures tremble before thee, and the river of fire floweth before the Altar, and the books are opened and sins revealed, deliver me then from that unquenchable fire, and make me worthy to stand at thy right hand, O righteous Judge.

 

 

 

Sunday, February 22 (Sunday of Meat Fare)
 8:50 a.m. – Orthros
 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School
 10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy
 TEEN RETREAT ENDS

 

Monday, February 23
 Office Closed – Father John’s Day Off

 

Tuesday, February 24 (1st and 2nd Discover of the Head of the Forerunner)
 6:00 a.m. – Festal Orthros
 6:30 p.m. – Choir Practice
  
Wednesday, February 25
 6:30 p.m. – Daily Vespers, followed by Parish Council Meeting

 

Thursday, February 26
 6:00 a.m. – Daily Orthros
  
Friday, February 27
 6:00 a.m. – Daily Orthros
        
Saturday, February 28
 6:30 p.m. – Great Vespers

 

Sunday, March 1 (Sunday of Cheese Fare)
 8:50 a.m. – Orthros
 9:00 a.m. – Sunday School
 10:00 a.m. – Divine Liturgy
 12:00 p.m. – Fund-raising meal for Teens
 6:00 p.m. – Young Adults

 

 

Eucharist Bread: …was offered today by Deacon Richard and Margaret Root.

 

Please remember the following in your prayers: Karen Cooper (recovering from knee surgery), Aidan Milnor, the Milnor family, Penny and Dean Bruner and their family, Deborah and Paul Finley, Effie Johnson (Kh. Susan Cushman’s mother) and the Cushman family (St. John’s in Memphis)

Eucharist Bread and Coffee Hour Schedule:
                     Eucharist Bread          Coffee Hour
February 22         R. Roots                     Fahmys
March 1              Hendersons                 Pigotts & Teens
March 8              Algoods                      Dansereaus
March 15            Katools                       D. Roots
March 22            Schelvers                    Morrises
March 24 (Tuesday evening) Morrises      Katools
 Feast of the Annunciation
March 29            Joneses                      Schelvers

 

Schedule for Epistle Readers   –  Page numbers refer to the Apostolos (book of the Epistles) located on the front pew.  Please be sure to use this book when you read.
                        Reader                     Reading             Page #
February 22     Walt Wood                I Cor. 8:8-9:2            273
March 1  Sh. Charlotte Algood          Rom. 13:11-14:4        279
March 8          Warren Strain            Heb. 11:24-26, 32-40  281
March 15         Mildred Morris           Heb. 1:10-2:3            283
March 22  Kh. Be’Be’ Schelver          Heb. 4:14-5:6            285
March 24 (Tues. eve.) Brenda Baker  Heb. 2:11-18             376
March 29  Kh. Sharon Meadows        Heb. 6:13-20             287

 

We are in need of some men volunteers to help our ladies with some service projects at Amy Oliver’s house.  Please see Christina Katool.

 

Our Teens will be holding a fund-raiser meal for the Sunday of Cheese Fare next  Sunday. Please make plans to participate in this worthy cause.

 

If you are the last to leave the building, please make sure that the heating and cooling unit in the Fellowship Hall is set to the optimum temperature for the building when unoccupied.  We are trying to keep our utility costs down.  If you do not know how to operate the thermostat, please consult with either Father James or Deacon Richard for instruction. 

 

House Blessings!  A sign-up sheet is available to sign up for your house blessing.  Please schedule these as soon as possible.  Everyone should have their house blessed.  However, the responsibility for scheduling lies with individuals and not Father John.  No house blessings will be done once Great Lent starts (March 2nd this year).

 

Please supervise your children to avoid spills, ink stains or marks from their writing and drawing on our new chairs.  We also ask that you not allow them to stand on the kneelers.  Thank you for your help with this.

 

The forms for camping scholarships (to the Village and Camp St. Thekla) have arrived.  We have $700 to be divided among as many as 7 campers.  The deadline for scholarship application is March 1st, and this is a strict deadline.  If you are interested in camping scholarships, please see Father John ASAP.  We have also received the applications for this year’s camp.  They are located in the foyer.

 

Help needed for PLC 2009 Souvenir Journal!!   The PLC committee is starting to sell ads for the souvenir journal for the Parish Life Conference and we need your help! Our goal is to sell $20,000 of ads by May 1. Please consider talking to your employer about donating for a corporate ad, and if you have any suggestions of businesses to go to or people to talk to, please let Anna Kathryn know.

 

Those hosting Coffee Hour or feasts MUST be sure to place fresh trash bags in the trash cans when cleaning up afterwards.  If this is not done, items get thrown into the empty trash cans and then dumped as is into the cans outside.  The trash people will NOT pick up loose trash from the cans and have even dumped it out in the past.  This means that Father John has to pick these items up by hand and bag them!  Please help us with this!!

 

Calendar Items:
 * Teen Fund-raising Dinner on Sunday, March 1st (Cheese Fare Sunday)

 
 * Great Lent will begin on with Pure Monday on March 2nd . The schedule for services during the first week of Lent are as follows:
      Monday, Tuesday, Thursday evenings (6:30 p.m.) – Canon of
                   St. Andrew of Crete (parts I, II and III)
      Wednesday evening (6:30 p.m.) – Presanctified Liturgy
      Friday evening (6:30 p.m.) – Akathist

 
 * The Vespers Service for the Sunday of Orthodoxy will held this year at St. George’s in Vicksburg on Sunday, March 8th ..  The time has yet to be determined.

 
 * The next meeting for the PLC 2009 Planning Committee will Thursday, March 19th at 7:00 p.m.

 
 * Pascha falls on April 19th this year.

 
 * St. Peter’s will be hosting the Parish Life Conference next year.  The dates for the conference will be June 10-14.  This will a wonderful opportunity to showcase our parish.  More information will be available in the future.

 

 Major Commemorations During February
 February 22  Sunday of Meat Fare
 February 24  1st and 2nd Discoveries of the Head of the Forerunner
 March 1  Sunday of Cheese Fare (Forgiveness Sunday)
 March 2  Clean Monday (First Date of Great Lent)

 

Fasting Discipline for February:
   The traditional fasting (no meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, wine and oil) is observed on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the month until Monday, February 9th.  Sunday, February 22nd is Judgment Sunday (Meat Fare Sunday), the last day until Pascha that meat poultry, and fish are permitted.  But during the following week, beginning Monday, February 23rd, dairy products (milk, cheese, eggs, etc.) are permitted, even on Wednesday and Friday.  March 1st is Forgiveness Sunday (Sunday of Cheese Fare), the last day until Pascha that cheese, dairy and wine (some also include oil) are permitted.  Monday, March 2nd, is Clean Monday, the first day of Great Lent when the traditional fasting discipline is observed on all days of the week until Pascha (except Annunciation on March 25th and Palm Sunday on April 12th, when fish, wine and oil are permitted).

 

   On days when the Holy Eucharist will be received at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, no food or drink should be taken until after the Liturgy.

 

Quotable: “The saints must offer repentance not only on their own behalf but also on behalf of their neighbor, for without active love they cannot be made perfect.  So the whole universe is held together; and each of us is helped providentially by one another.”

    – St. Mark the Ascetic

Weekly Quote: “So in order that we may not destroy the grace that we have received, but preserve it to the end and depart this life in possession of the treasure, there is need of something human, of endeavor on our part.  In ordinary affairs, it is neither reasonable nor usual for us merely to be content with having received life. . . .Rather we must seek the means of preserving it.”
    – St. Nicholas Cabasilas

 

 

 Scripture:  Romans 13:11-14:4; Matthew 6:14-21
 Celebrant:  Father John
 Homily:  Father Leo
 Deacon:  Deacon Richard
 Epistle Reader  Sh Charlotte Algood
 Acolytes:  TBA
 Prosphora:  Hendersons
 Coffee Hour:  Pigotts and the Teens
 Teen Hosts:  Fund-raising Meal following Divine Liturgy