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SUNDAY,
November 22nd,
2020 –Ninth
Sunday of Luke
·
8:30 am
-Matins/Orthros
Click
this link to Orthros/Matins Gospel Reading
9:30 am -
Divine Liturgy.
Click
this link to Epistle Reading
Click this link to Holy Gospel Reading
·
There will be NO 12:00 pm Paraklesis to
Saint Nectarios.
·
The
General Assembly Meeting will be held this day, November 22nd,2020. No
quorum requirement. Election day will be held on December 6th, 2020.
The voting will take place under the tent and patio, unless Los Angeles
County allows indoor meetings or services. Voting will be held
following Divine Liturgy service.
Reading
LUKE 12:13-21 – THE PARABLE OF
THE FOOL RICH
The Gospel:
13Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher,
tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” †
14But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge
or an arbitrator over you?” 15And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of
covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the
things he possesses.”
16Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The
ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17And he thought within
himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my
crops?’ 18So
he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater,
and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul,
“Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat,
drink, and be merry.”’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required
of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’†
21“So is he who lays up treasure for himself,
and is not rich toward God.”
SOURCE: Bible, Crimson Publishing. The Orthodox
study bible (updated old and new testament) (Kindle Locations
73850-73851). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Question: "What is the meaning of the Parable of the
Rich Fool?"
Answer: The Parable of the Rich Fool can be found in Luke
12:13–21. The key to understanding this parable is in verse
15 (and later summarized in verse 21). Luke 12:15 says, “Take care, and be on your guard
against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the
abundance of his possessions.” Jesus says this to the man who asked
Him to arbitrate between him and his brother. In ancient times, the firstborn
was guaranteed a double portion of the family inheritance. More than
likely, the brother who was addressing Jesus was not the firstborn and
was asking for an equal share of the inheritance. Jesus refuses to
arbitrate their dispute and gets to the heart of the matter:
Covetousness! Jesus warns this person, and all within earshot, that our
lives are not to be about gathering wealth. Life is so much more than
the “abundance of possessions.”
Jesus
proceeds to tell the man the Parable of the Rich Fool. This person was
materially blessed by God; his land “produced plentifully” (verse 16).
As God continued to bless the man, instead of using his increase to
further the will of God, all he was interested in was managing his
increase and accumulating his growing wealth. So, the man builds larger
barns in place of the existing ones and starts planning an early
retirement. Unbeknownst to him, this was his last night on planet
earth. Jesus then closes the story by saying, “So is the one who lays
up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
So the point
of the Parable of the Rich Fool is twofold. First, we are not to devote
our lives to the gathering and accumulation of wealth. There is an
interesting point made in the parable. God says to the man in the story,
“And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” This echoes the
thought expressed in Ecclesiastes 2:18 (“I hated all my toil in which I toil under the
sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me”).
You see it all the time in people who are singularly devoted to the
accumulation of wealth. What happens to all that wealth when they die?
It gets left behind to others who didn’t earn it and won’t appreciate
it. Furthermore, if money is your master, that means God is not (Matthew
6:24).
The second
point of the Parable of the Rich Fool is the fact that we are not
blessed by God to hoard our wealth to ourselves. We are blessed to be a
blessing in the lives of others, and we are blessed to build the
kingdom of God. The Bible says if our riches increase, we are not to
set our hearts upon them (Psalm 62:10). The Bible
also says there is one who gives freely and grows all the richer (Proverbs
11:24). Finally, the Bible says we are to honor God
with the first fruits of our increase (Proverbs 3:9–10). The point is clear; if we honor God with what
He has given us, He will bless with more so that we can honor Him with
more. There is a passage in 2 Corinthians that summarizes this aptly (2 Corinthians 9:6–15). In that
passage Paul says, “And God is able to provide you with every blessing
in abundance, so that having all contentment in all things at all
times, you may abound in every good work.” We are blessed by God, so we
can in turn “abound in every good work” and be a blessing in the lives
of others. So, if God has blessed you with material wealth “set not your
heart on it” and “be rich toward God.” That is the message of the
Parable of the Rich Fool.
Source link: https://www.gotquestions.org/parable-rich-fool.html
Resurrectional Apolytikion
Grave Mode.
By means of Your Cross,
O Lord, You abolished death. To the robber You
opened
Paradise. The
lamentation of the myrrhbearing women You
transformed, and You
gave Your Apostles the
order to proclaim to all that You had risen, O Christ our God, and
granted the world Your
great mercy.
Ἀπολυτίκιον
Ἀναστάσιμον.
Ἦχος βαρύς.
Κατέλυσας τῷ Σταυρῷ
σου τὸν
θάνατον, ἠνέῳξας τῷ Λῃστῇ
τὸν
Παράδεισον, τῶν Μυροφόρων
τὸν θρῆνον
μετέβαλες,
καὶ τοῖς
σοῖς Ἀποστόλοις
κηρύττειν ἐπέταξας· ὅτι ἀνέστης
Χριστὲ ὁ
Θεός, παρέχων τῷ
κόσμῳ τὸ μέγα
ἔλεος.
Resurrectional Kontakion
No longer will death's
dominion have power to detain mortal men. For Christ went
down and smashed and
destroyed its powers. Now Hades is bound, and the Prophets in
unison exult and
declare: The Savior has appeared to those with faith. Come out, you
faithful, to the
Resurrection.
Κοντάκιον Ἀναστάσιμον.
Οὐκέτι τὸ
κράτος τοῦ θανάτου,
ἰσχύσει κατέχειν τοὺς βροτούς·
Χριστὸς γὰρ
κατῆλθε συντρίβων,
καὶ λύων τὰς δυνάμεις
αὐτοῦ, δεσμεῖται
ὁ ᾍδης, Προφῆται
συμφώνως ἀγάλλονται.
Ἐπέστη λέγοντες Σωτήρ, τοῖς
ἐν πίστει,
ἐξέρχεσθε
οἱ πιστοὶ
εἰς τὴν
ἀνάστασιν.
NOVEMBER 25th – CATHERINE THE GREAT
MARTYR OF ALEXANDRIA
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WEDNESDAY, November
25th,
2020 – Catherine
the Great Martyr of Alexandria
·
8:00 am
-Matins/Orthros
Click
this link to Orthros/Matins Gospel Reading
9:00 am
- Divine Liturgy.
Click
this link to Epistle Reading
Click this link to Holy Gospel Reading
·
There will be NO 7:00 pm -Paraklesis
Service to Saint Nectarios.
Reading
Saint Catherine, who
was from Alexandria, was the daughter of Constas
(or Cestus). She was an exceedingly beautiful maiden, most chaste,
and illustrious in wealth, lineage, and learning. By her steadfast
understanding, she utterly vanquished the passionate and unbridled
soul of Maximinus, the tyrant of
Alexandria; and by her eloquence, she stopped the mouths of the
so-called philosophers who had been gathered to dispute with her. She
was crowned with the crown of martyrdom in the year 305. Her holy
relics were taken by Angels to the holy mountain of Sinai, where they
were discovered many years later; the famous monastery of Saint
Catherine was originally dedicated to the Holy Transfiguration of the
Lord and the Burning Bush, but later was dedicated to Saint Catherine.
According to the ancient usage, Saints Catherine and Mercurius were
celebrated on the 24th of this month, whereas the holy Hieromartyrs Clement of Rome and Peter of
Alexandria were celebrated on the 25th. The dates of the feasts of
these Saints were interchanged at the request of the Church and
Monastery of Mount Sinai, so that the festival of Saint Catherine,
their patron, might be celebrated more festively together with the
Apodosis of the Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos.
The Slavic Churches, however, commemorate these Saints on their
original dates.
Source link: https://www.goarch.org/chapel/saints?contentid=307&PCode=10LW&D=W&DT=11/25/2020
Apolytikion of Great Martyr
Catherine
Plagal of the First Tone
Let us praise the
most auspicious bride of Christ, the divine Katherine, protectress of
Sinai, our aid and our help. For, she brilliantly silenced the
eloquence of the impious by the sword of the spirit, and now, crowned
as a martyr, she asks great mercy for all.
Kontakion of Great Martyr Catherine
Second Tone
O friends of
martyrs, now divinely raise up a renewed chorus, praising the
all-wise Katherine. For, she proclaimed Christ in the arena, trampled
on the serpent, and spat upon the knowledge of the orators.
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