Seventh Sunday of Pentecost July 1, 2018
Once upon a time there was a chef who cooked beautiful, elaborate, and delicious meals. He learned all of the techniques and recipes from the world's best chefs. However, the chef never tasted the food he prepared. He had never tasted the meal he had prepared, or any well prepared food. Every day he would eat dry toast, three meals a day. His meals were bland and stale, although the food he prepared for others were magnificent. He would wonder why people would come to his restaurant and eat the meals he prepared, when they could just eat stale bread like he did. He worked hard, but never saw the fruit or joy of his labor.
Some people live their whole life going to church, without ever knowing the joy and beauty of the love of Jesus and without ever knowing the joy of being one of the people of God.
I have met people whose joy in the worst of circumstances surpasses the pleasures of this world. The saints were not miserable, they were not mere practitioners of self-discipline and self-sacrifice, they were the happiest people in the world. St. Lawrence when being roasted to death said, "flip me over, I am done on this side." St. Peter wrote, "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter:8-9) St. Paul wrote, "For the kingdom of God is [a matter] of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." (Romans 14:17)
-Fr. Alex Harb
Upcoming events:
-Join us this Sunday, July 1 after liturgy to help parishioner Will Barakat in landscaping our church.
- St. Vincent de Paul men’s shelter dinner service June 7, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. 1921 S Gettysburg Ave
- House of Bread 9 Orth Ave, Dayton July 23 9 pm - 2:30 pm
- Summer camp for kids (Registration Required): July 30th-Aug 3rd from 9:30am-2:30pm. Registration forms will be available in church or by email (upon request). Kindly fill and submit the registration form by July 22nd, 2018.
-Initiatives- To what is God calling you? What are your hopes, dreams, and ideas for our parish? What do you want to do? Mission, charity, prayers, work, fundraisers, or maintenance? How can we support you?
- Veneration and welcome of the relics of the Blessed Massabki Brothers Sunday, July 8th.
- Veneration and welcome of the relics of St. Sharbel Sunday, July 22 and Monday, July 23 7pm.
- We have a great opportunity for our $15,000 matching grant, we are are at $2300 and can accept donations of $250 or more. The donations can go towards naming rights for any part of our building project.
- (Event pending) Maronite University a for college or graduate credit Syriac class July 16th-August 3rd
- Pilgrimage trip to Our Lady of Lebanon Shrine and Basilica August 15
- Women's prayer group- no announcements
- High School and Middle School group (MYO)- dates to be announced
- We are exploring the idea of English classes. Anyone interested in teaching or taking the class please let Fr. Alex know.
- Please turn in your pledges. Fr. Alex will begin calling this week to ask for pledges. Design meetings will begin soon. The majority of votes have been for building a $600,000 to $700,000 project on the property to include new church, parking, and upgraded to kitchen and hall. However, we are still short on firm commitments of pledges.We are at $1085 in committed monthly pledges with an additional $500-$1000 in soft pledges, "Father, you know we will pledge." There is much reason for optimism.
POSTPONED Church-wide garage sale small fundraiser. POSTPONED. The event will be held in the next few months and we will collect furniture and household donations to sell to benefit the Church.
Weekly events:
- Due to lack of interest liturgies will be rescheduled Wednesday 6pm and Saturday 10am
- Bar Louie meetup Tuesday 8pm
- Children's Arabic class Saturday 10 am
- Adult Arabic class Saturday 11am
- Children's Dabke class Saturday 11 am
- Adult Dabke class Sunday 8 pm
- Children's Art class Saturday noon
- Bible Study Sunday 10am